Short Films

We decided to go and see a bunch of short films and because i have never seen many before, i was really excited to what they would be like. 

We missed the first showing by 5 minutes, so had to wait outside until the next one came on. When we got in the cinema was packed - and this was a bit of a shock seen as we just came out of an empty cinema for Superhero me. But we managed to squeeze down at the front, and got ready for the first film - Birthday. It was really good. It was so beautiful all the shots, and it was all down in very old colours. There was no dialogue but just music that went a long with their actions and some laughing kids. It was about a man who was getting a table ready for the kids birthdays - but everything was really old and dirty, and the food looked like something i would never eat even if it was free. This lasted for 10 mins - shots of the kids eating, laughing, playing with presents and the man looking on at them. The shots were very close up, so you couldn't see what was in the background. But at the end of the film it zoomed out for the table to be placed on top of a rubbish heap and for there to be no kids at the table but the man standing there. This was a really good ending, and one of the best shorts i have seen. I just loved the dull colours and how it made the atmosphere - and it was shot really nice, all up close without giving too much away.

The second film was completely different which was really weird to watch after watching something so arty. I cant remember the name of it though - but it was in a foreign language with subtitles. It was all shot in one shot from a balcony so you were looking down at the action. It was also a re-construction of something that actually happened, which i think made it more funnier when watching it. It was about these 2 boys that were trying to rob a bank - but went horribly wrong. First of all they went to the wrong place, shot a few shots and ran out realizing so ran over to the actual bank and went in. It was really effective as it was from 2 people standing on the streets view of it, so they were pretty much commentating on what was happening but we couldn't actually see inside apart from screams. Then there was a funny scene where an old man was trying to steal the robbers scooter or something? But made a complete mess of it and had to run behind a pole when the robbers did come out. And when they finally tried to get away the scooter was so slow the police caught up to them in 5 seconds and caught them. It was so funny and i was laughing all the way through. But it was shot so good too as i don't think it would of been as funny if it was shot in a film way with edits - but it was done so effectively shot in one shot. 

There was 2 films after this which wasn't that exciting, and not going to blog about them because i really dont understand what they were about really - and kind of zoned out. But the first two films were so good, and will definitely take some inspiration from :)

Superhero Me

Well we changed are minds a few times at what film we were going to see at this time - but we settled with Superhero Me. Nearly all the group went and saw this, but when we got to the screen it was dead, and only a few people were sat here and there.

It started not really knowing what to expect apart from a documentary type of film. But i must say it was actually quite good - and extremely funny. It was just a fun way to spend an hour or so without hurting your brain so much trying to figure out the plot.

So really what happened was a guy wanted to become a superhero - so went out on a quest to do it. He filmed it on anything he could get his hands on - even a camera phone at one point. But the quality didn't matter on this type of film - as it was just a bit of fun.

We watched him on his journey from trying to diet, to getting the right costume and to even meeting real life superheros. But one part we never really got as the screen ratio must of been off and the subtitles at the bottom for when he met a italian superhereo we couldn't see. Which was a bit annoying but i got over it when they started speaking in english again.

All i can say really is that it was a fun documentary to watch - not too hard hitting, and i really enjoyed it.

Ollie Kelpers Expanding Purple World

Well Edinburgh was amazing.. and thankfully made it back in one piece! :)

The first film that we decided to go see was Ollie Kelpers Expanding Purple World. I must say it was very weird - that was one way to describe it.

It started off not that exciting - the whole girl and boy live together scenario. But then after half an hour of small talk on screen, it got really interesting. His wife died and this completely different character came out of this person. He changed dramatically and started to go crazy gradually. I never really got how people went mentally ill, but this film really showed how people can change just because of one thing in their life disappearing.

Apart from it being very heavy - it was quite funny at parts, for example he started shouting at his kettle because it wouldn't be quiet, and shouting at his friend because he stole his cheese that had the microchip in it that was going to freeze his brain. There was some parts me and Julia couldn't stop laughing - but we didn't know if we should of been laughing because it was a serious matter.

They only part of the film that i hated was when they started speaking about physics. I mean it was about it - and thats where the whole micro chip came in, but at some points it was really heavy. And his face would pop up and behind him would be the galaxy and he would start speaking about physics. I thought this part was really bad - and kinda put you away from the film for 2 minuets because i didn't want to listen to it, so when the film came on again, i wasn't as drawn into it as i was before the physics.

But all in all, it was a completely different film to something i would ever go to see in the cinema. And i am really glad i went to see it as it opened me up to a completely different way of filming i am used to seeing in the cinema.

Another Production Update!

Everything is going splendid so far! really couldn't be happier. Only down side is Silverburn STILL hasn't got back to us whether or not we can use their shopping centre even with Murray phoning them constantly! But we do have a back up plan of Buchanan Gallaries and Clydebank, so its not a total disaster if they say no, but it would be lovely to film there.

Today, we went to the prop store to try figure out some of our props. Fortunetly they have about 20 fake hotdogs so that will be really handy for our film. We are now just trying to figure out how we are going to do this hot dog stand as we cant rent one as it is far too expensive. Adam gave us a great idea about going to the cinema to see if they had an old one or broken one we could use. So fingers crossed when we go there tomorrow are worries will be gone. If not - its going to have to be a hand made one, but hopefully will be able to get some TPA involved and try get them to make one. Also, got the costumes bought from ebay at a very good price - and should arrive soon with any luck. 

We tried to make a budgeting schedule today - and everything is looking fine, at the moment we have about 100/200 left, so that should be plenty incase of any emergencies. We also tried to figure out what scenes we are doing on each day and divided the pages upto 8ths, which does really help when deciding what days to film each scenes on.

Meg is going to be doing the shot list tomorrow, so that will be great when it all gets done and we can now start focusing on what its going to look like - and hopefully we should hear back from silverburn tomorrow!!

The Root Of Love

Okay so production so far is going very well :)

We have almost sorted out our location (fingers crossed), managed to track down a carrot and hotdog suit for VERY cheap :D and held auditions and almost found our 2 main leads.

I am really enjoying producing the film with Murray and Lucy, and we are all taking the same amount of work load which is good - and everything is going smoothly so far!

On Monday we had our first production meeting - sorting what location and just going through the script figuring out what needs to be done. We had a wild goose chase with Adam and Ray - but managed to track them down after running up and down the academy stairs about a thousand times! (trackers defo needed for next year guys!) We also managed to find some lovely costumes on ebay for half we thought the price was going to be so that was a success!

On Tuesday we decided to go and look at our location we wanted - SilverBurn Shopping Centre. It is gorgeous - and just what Meg had pictured in her head for her location which was a very positive thing. We talked to the smoothie bar and got the go a head so all we need now in confirmation from central management, but fingers crossed we will get that. Now all we need to do is track down a hotdog stand from somewhere as there is not a hotdog stand in Silverburn.

On Wednesday we held auditions all day from 9am. Unfortunetly NO one turned up for their auditions between 9 and 10 which was a complete let down because only one said they couldnt make it and they were all RSAMD students. Our next auditions were between 12 and 1, and they were much more successful. We then went down to the Glasgow Acting Academy and auditioned more people down there between 2 and 5. These auditions went really good with a great turn out and saw some potential people here. It was really good to do the auditions and we defo got better at doing them as the day went on. On Monday we are calling people back for more auditions and pairing them up. So hopefully we will get two people on Monday.

This week has been really good - and i have fair enjoyed my self. I am sure next week will be more stressful, but I cant wait until we start shooting the film and to see the outcome of all our work!!

Production Class

Last week was Abigail's production class. I was looking really forward to this class as we had not done production before - and me wanting to be a producer, I was eager to know what it was all about.

First we looked at what a producer does in a whole and i had a fair idea of what the producer roughly does. But was interesting to know what other things they take care of too, and how many different types of people there is in a production team.
We then started looking at pre-production steps. I think this is going to really help the class when we are going into production into our films as she went through every point very clearly, and now I definitely have a clear understanding on how to produce a film hopefully.
After pre-production there is not that much left to do as a producer apart from fill in other paper work etc, and same with post production.

I loved breaking down the script - and never realised this was part of a job as the producer. Think of must of been the highlighters that got me excited!! Ha Me, Meg and Chris split into a group - and were the first people finished, so thought we hadn't done it properly, but we went back over it and only missed a few things out so we were quite glad. Then we had to do a shooting schedule which was also good fun, it was quite hard at times as you didn't know what shoot to choose between but we got there in the end and I think we managed to come up with a good shooting schedule.

There is quite a lot of maths involved in the budgeting side of things - but call me a geek - i quite enjoyed maths in school, I wouldn't say I was great at it, but I fair enjoyed it. So I don't think I would mind doing the budget and think it would be quite an achievement once you finally did it all.

I really enjoyed Abigail's classes and I felt they went by so quickly and wish we could get more of them. I missed her last class which I was pretty gutted about - but I am glad her notes are on moodle as i am very interested to read them.

Easy Rider

Well being opened up to a the whole new world of the 70s the last few weeks i have really enjoyed watching some of these great movies - espesially Bonnie & Clyde which I had never thought to of watched before.

I started watching Easy Rider which an already dissapointing head on that it was not going to be a good film with already two people telling me it wasn't great. But I tried my hardest to keep a honest view of the film. But as soon as Born To Be Wild came on - I knew it wasn't going to be a film that I would rave about in this blog.

Easy Rider is about men wanting freedom. Once they sell drugs to get the money, they take off on the biggest adverture of their lifes. It wasn't a gripping story line for me but one thing Easy Rider did show me is what the 60s were like and I have learnt a lot from just watching this one film. It shows a good potrayal of the use of drugs in the 60s. It shows it in great depth and it goes in to great detail of the hippie movement and how much of a big deal it was in that decade.

Easy Rider was very slow at times - and felt myself getting distracted easily while watching this film - and this is not a good sign to any film!

Overall - I guess it was an okay film, and I do see why it was a hit but I would much prefer to see any of the other films we had watched in class than this one as it never grabbed my attention at all.