sharpharrisonsharp

[sharpharrisonsharp]

blog 6

During our tutorial this week we showed Stu the draft of our film and received useful feedback on the direction of our film and reassurance that our plot structure was sturdy and maintained throughout the film. Stu suggested tht we add cinematic bars across the screen to give our film a more professional look as well as different scenes we should retake due to lighting issues. With this feedback in mind, we concluded filming with our last scene on Wednesday. The last scene we shot was the second last scene of our film where the protagonist runs with the stolen money away from the henchman. Aswell as filming the last scene, we reshot two different shots as suggested by Stu. The reshot footage now has better lighting and clearer quality. I also took a series of photos to be used in the poster. Due to some very untimely technical issues, my phone which all our filming was done with was bricked while being repaired at the shop resulting in us having to use Connors phone as a replacement. Despite this, the quality of footage remained the same with 4k and 24 frames being maintained throughout the entirety of the film. Mason, Connor, Ben, and I are extremely pleased with the direction and quality of our filming process despite the absence of our director through the majority of the filming process. All that remains to be completed is our poster, the editing, and sound design which is aswell near completion. At this time I have still not been able to have my phone fixed so I am unable to include any photos or footage in this week’s blog which i apologize for.

[sharpharrisonsharp]

Blog 5

During this week, my group met multiple times to film. We filmed the majority of our film and began compiling rough edits to prepare to show stu in our next lesson. However, we encountered an issue regarding a plot point in our film. During a section towards the end of our film, we have our protagonist make back the sum of stolen money, only to decide to once again claim it as his own. Originally we intended on explaining this through a scene showing him taking a series of increasingly risky bets at a local tab. However, we felt this was a cheap way of explaining how our protagonist made such a large sum of money as it would be very very unlikely to happen in reality. Instead, Mason suggested be alter the story to have our protagonist resort to crime to earn the money back. We brainstormed different ideas until we finally came to an agreement, a bank robbery. With this idea comes multiple hurdles we needed to overcome such as location, filming process, and most importantly time needs. To combat this we decided to include a scene (after the henchmen’s first appearance) that implied the crime. To heighten the moodiness of the scene we utilized our director’s light boxes to give the scene an ominous dark look as he decides to commit the crime. At the end of the scene, the screen fades to black he pulls a balaclava over his face. Alarms, gunshots, and sirens ring out in the few seconds of black.

[sharpharrisonsharp]

Blog 4

This week i constructed a series of story boards so we could begi filming. I made around 12 boards that followed the script up to the middle of act 2. I didnt story board the whole script to due to needing to dicuss with the group specifics of scene, the montge in act 2 to be specific. Our director has a specific vison for this scene aswell as our script writer. I beleviev by conversing with the two we can come up with a story board to match the scene well so we can film effeciently. 

Despite the unfinished story boards we began filiming our short film up to the montage scene. We began with the end of act one due to the limited availability of our setting (Connors house) which is needed for the end of act 1 and the entirety of act 2. We filmed this scene on wednesday at 7pm, to combat the darkness and limit grain we used a series of light boxes supplied by our director Alexander. Th filming was very successful with a number of very good shots taken that will surely be used in the final cut.

Aswell as the end of act 1 we also filmed the rest of scene 2 on thursday at the newcastle interchange. Connors dad, Justin played our antagonist during the uber ride. Unlike our prior filming the lighting at the interchange was very good and didnt require furthur ligthing except for during the close up scenes in Bens car (our protagonist). 

We plan to finish filming early Week 12 and dedicate a full week to editing with Ben and myself overseeing editing. 

[sharpharrisonsharp]

blog 1

during this week’s tutorial, we discussed topics for our short film. Personally, I wanted to pursue a very dark and moody tone with the film. However, other members of my group wanted to pursue a lighter tone. After a few different ideas, we decided to discuss common themes we wanted to see within the film. As a group, we discussed many different thematic ideas such as crime, psychology, love, comedy etc. Doing this activity as a group helped us understand the different ideas each one of us had in mind. towards the end of the tutorial, Mason suggested an idea for our film. 

An uber driver that is down on his luck and on the brink of homelessness stumbles across an unimaginable amount of money after bussing an important client. A duffle bag was left in the boot of his car and filled to the brim with cash. He proceeds to blow all the money in a very ridiculous nature and then is completely broke once again. Here he discovers that the original owner of the money was a small business owner clinging on and is now in bankruptcy. Out of guilt he surrenders to the police and is arrested.

Originally i disliked this idea as it felt too trivial however over time i know believe after some tweaks it could become a very compelling story. I suggested to the group that may be the original money owner could possibly be a mobster who seeks revenge. At this time the story remains in its current form however  i look forward to see how it evoloves.

[sharpharrisonsharp]

blog 3

During this week’s tutorial we finalized our stories conclusion after feedback with stu, instead of having the end of our film being our protagonist running away after a final pursuit we now have a more finalised ending. during the last two scenes of our film, we have the protagonist escaping his house from the immediate threats of the mobster’s goons and running through the street. Here he calls one of the ubers from his company and jumps inside, the driver attempts to greet him when he blurts out “the nearest train station!”. The driver turns around and drives. The protagonist’s behavior is meant to mimic the mobster’s rude behavior in the start of the film creating symmetry in the film. Once arrived the protagonist jumps out of the car and sprints onto the first train, thinking he escaped he opens the bag of money to discover that he had grabbed another identical bag from the back of his car. He slouches back in disbelief as he sees a duffle bag filled with a variety of inanimate objects instead of money. The camera pans out as we see the mobster and his goons approach him on the train as he sits there and accepts his fate. In the last shot of the film, we see a static shot of the uber driving away unaware of the bag of money in the back of his car.

Some members of our group wanted the protagonist to escape from the mobsters instead of being caught, to solve this we decided to film both endings and see in editing which suited the tone better.

Our filming has ran into some issues, our director has had covid and was unable to attend the last to tutorials limiting our ability to plan a cohesive filming process. Not only this, but complications in some members schedules (mine included). However, this week coming we intend on shooting majority of our film as the additional time has allowed Connor our art director to finalise all props.