It has been a few weeks since we were presented with the script on a film we were going to shoot and since then our group has done quite a lot of pre-production.
Without delay we started working on our project by assigning roles we wanted to have in the production of our short or the ones we thought suited some of the crew the best. And so, after a short discussion - our crew:
(positions colored like this became needed and were established on the filming days)
Alex - Producer
Phagun - Producer Assistant, Director's assistant
Edgar (me) - Director, Actor
Kamil - Director of Photography
Nima - Sound & Audio
Kieran - Lighting, Actor
Jasmine & Jing - Costumes, Makeup, Props, Camera Assistant
After we went on and started planing what is going to be done. All we knew was our own experience from DP1 and what we want to have as an end project.
We met the following tuesday and the guys started trimming the scipt to the size and content we needed. Unfortunately I couldn't help them at first because I had to solve some personal problems. When I turned up a few hours later there already was a a draft or a storyboard and shots we wanted and a fairly trimmed script. With that done I went to the Student Unions office and got a Drama Societies heads contacts so that we could find actors for our film. Unfortunately, even though we did contact them, talked on the phone even, they did not reply to our email and ignored our calls further on. The good side is, that so far, this was the only downfall we had. Later that day we paid a visit to a location Jing proposed as our filming site. She made a whole arrangement for us to come and see the place her friend rented. And I must say it was a great place, but unfortunately we needed something a bit different, more of a house than an apartment. At that point we realised we want something home-like and more of a blank canvas so we could put more of whatever we wanted there rather than removing everything that could be in our way. We decided that everyone who thinks he knows a place that would suit the cause will post photographs of it on our facebook.com group that we started to communicate and share our ideas.
Storyboard draft by Nima Hedayati, day TWO:
Location suggestions, day TWO:
Day three, which was wednesday (must say, work went fast the first week), to me, was a great example of determination shown by my frew. On the day before we were thinking that probably we've made enough progress already and, since we were still having a film lecture on thursday, we could make a little break. However, to my surprise, there were not many refusals after I've put through a thought that we should, in fact, not wait and meet up on our free day and maybe go even further. And so, wednesday, we were all a Phaguns place. Trimming, timing the sript, contacting the drama society, finding most of our costumes, bookijg tye equipment - all that was done in that one day. With this progress we thought we are going to start shooting in a few days. But on Friday lectures are plans have been heavily changed.
Script changes, day THREE:
Costumes, day THREE:
Friday was the day we knew that there were so many other "legal" things we had to do before we even start filming, such as: location visit and risk assesment on location, call sheets, storyboards and location release forms. By that point, just a week after we got the the assigment, we already have booked the equipment, planed a location visit and ect. The only thing we didn't have, and unfirtunately didn't have till the day of tge shoot itself. Everything else was there, but sinse we had so many documents to fill, the group decided to postpone the shooting till next weeks weekend, get everything signed, test the equipment and overall get everything right. The following next went a bit slower, with me developing a storyboard and cutting the script to scenes. Everyone was doing their research on their own and basically that was how the whole week went. With a little diversity as shooting days change (to Monday and Tuesday), and an exciting lighting tutorial on Fridays lecture. This is the first segment of the three-part coverage of our DP1 film project. Pre-production done, now - shooting...
To be continued...
Ed.
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