Sunday, 29 November 2009
Side note
I'm an incredibly paranoid person (ask my boyfriend, he'll tell you) and am constantly worried that I'm not doing enough or I'm too far behind. But reading my previous blog posts just now, I've seen that I really am making progress, and feel reassured.
Catch up
I haven't posted here in a while, but rest assured I have been working! I made a pre-production schedule using the very handy gantt chart. I've planned for pre-production to last until Febuary 1st, when shooting starts. Now the only question is whether I can actually stick to the schedule...
I've also written up an outline of the film, to help both me and the shooting crew get an idea of what the film will look like on camera. After much research and pondering I have a pretty clear idea of how the film will look. I'll just have to wait and see and hope that it turns out that way, or rather that it turns out half decent.
Now I think I'll talk a bit about film style, because it's been on my mind a lot recently. Every creative person when they're starting out needs to develop their own style that suits them best. They do this by looking at others and selecting the ones they like best. It's true that all creative people steal from one another!
I'm in no way an expert in documentary film making, and I don't know if I'll specialise in it later on, but I have given some thought to my documentary style.
The style I like best is the gritty realism - placing a camera in front of some people and watching as they talk and talk and slowly open up. Some examples are The Family, a series that is on right now. I love this series and can't stop watching it. About a month or two ago there was a programme called 'The British in Bed', a simple premise of several british couples sitting in bed with a camera pointed at them and talking about their love lives. There's also Marc Issac's 'Lift'. This is a very interesting documentary to watch as it's simply one guy standing in a lift with a camera for 10 hours a day. At first the residents think he's pretty weird and even kick him out the lift but as it goes on they start opening up to him more and more, revealing things to the camera that they might not be able to tell anyone else. That's why I love this style of documentary film making and that's why I want to use it.
So let's all hope and pray that I get it done!!
I've also written up an outline of the film, to help both me and the shooting crew get an idea of what the film will look like on camera. After much research and pondering I have a pretty clear idea of how the film will look. I'll just have to wait and see and hope that it turns out that way, or rather that it turns out half decent.
Now I think I'll talk a bit about film style, because it's been on my mind a lot recently. Every creative person when they're starting out needs to develop their own style that suits them best. They do this by looking at others and selecting the ones they like best. It's true that all creative people steal from one another!
I'm in no way an expert in documentary film making, and I don't know if I'll specialise in it later on, but I have given some thought to my documentary style.
The style I like best is the gritty realism - placing a camera in front of some people and watching as they talk and talk and slowly open up. Some examples are The Family, a series that is on right now. I love this series and can't stop watching it. About a month or two ago there was a programme called 'The British in Bed', a simple premise of several british couples sitting in bed with a camera pointed at them and talking about their love lives. There's also Marc Issac's 'Lift'. This is a very interesting documentary to watch as it's simply one guy standing in a lift with a camera for 10 hours a day. At first the residents think he's pretty weird and even kick him out the lift but as it goes on they start opening up to him more and more, revealing things to the camera that they might not be able to tell anyone else. That's why I love this style of documentary film making and that's why I want to use it.
So let's all hope and pray that I get it done!!
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Encounters
Today I went down to a screening of some films from the Encounters short film festival, which I am planning to enter. When I saw that the latest Wallace and Gromit film was in it, I started to think 'Aardman are so good. I can never compete against professionals like them. There's no way I can even apply for this festival.' I kept thinking that as I saw the other films because they were all fantastic. I actually cried for a psycopathic serial killer.
But then again, why shouldn't I enter? I know these negative thoughts I have shouldn't stop me and I won't let them. I guess today has given me the drive to make the best film I possibly can. But still, I have 3 other modules as well as this one so my time will be limited and maybe I won't be able to do as much as I want to. I know if this was the only module I was taking I could make a fantastic film.
Still, I've set myself a few goals, like before christmas I must find people to do music and graphics. I have an idea of presenting the opening titles in an instant messenger screen. But I have no idea wheter that would need a graphics person or an animator. I'm good at some things but dense about others.
But then again, why shouldn't I enter? I know these negative thoughts I have shouldn't stop me and I won't let them. I guess today has given me the drive to make the best film I possibly can. But still, I have 3 other modules as well as this one so my time will be limited and maybe I won't be able to do as much as I want to. I know if this was the only module I was taking I could make a fantastic film.
Still, I've set myself a few goals, like before christmas I must find people to do music and graphics. I have an idea of presenting the opening titles in an instant messenger screen. But I have no idea wheter that would need a graphics person or an animator. I'm good at some things but dense about others.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Inspirations
The past few days have been filled with thoughts of 'I have no idea how to make a documentary! I am screwed!' But I've been doing a bit of research - reading books and articles and of course, watching films and now I'm fired up again.
Whilst reading and watching, I keep getting ideas and writing them down or going off into long daydreams about how the film will look, which are surprisenly helpful.
I've realised I'll need to find some people to interview, and they'll have to be in the local area (I've lugged a Z1 camera to Bristol before and it's no easy task). This will be much more interesting than 7 minuits of me talking in a voiceover (it has been established that I am not good at voice acting). But my concern is how am I going to find these people? Where am I going to advertise? And what then? I'm not the most social person in the world, but with my degree on the line I'm sure I'll be brave.
My other biggest worry is time. I'm 6 weeks into the university year already and althought the planning is going reasonably well, I have to submit this project in May. That leaves a very small gap after finishing the edit and getting responses from film fesivals/websites. I'm worried that even if I do submit to them, the responses will come too late and won't be graded. So now it's back to 'I am so screwed!'
Whilst reading and watching, I keep getting ideas and writing them down or going off into long daydreams about how the film will look, which are surprisenly helpful.
I've realised I'll need to find some people to interview, and they'll have to be in the local area (I've lugged a Z1 camera to Bristol before and it's no easy task). This will be much more interesting than 7 minuits of me talking in a voiceover (it has been established that I am not good at voice acting). But my concern is how am I going to find these people? Where am I going to advertise? And what then? I'm not the most social person in the world, but with my degree on the line I'm sure I'll be brave.
My other biggest worry is time. I'm 6 weeks into the university year already and althought the planning is going reasonably well, I have to submit this project in May. That leaves a very small gap after finishing the edit and getting responses from film fesivals/websites. I'm worried that even if I do submit to them, the responses will come too late and won't be graded. So now it's back to 'I am so screwed!'
Friday, 6 November 2009
Welcome
Hello again! This shiny new blog is to record my progress in my new film making project!
I'm in my third and final year of university now and it's a big storm of excitment and utter fear. 2 years ago, I started this Creative Writing course because writing was the only thing I was good at. My old dream of being an environmental scientist was squashed when I got terrible grades in science. Back then, I would never have considered that I could actually make a film. Like most things in life, it was something that other people did and I could complain about because I had no idea what it was like. I didn't realise that a module called 'Film studies' actually meant making a film, but once I did it I realised I loved it. Finally, I had an idea of what I wanted to do after university, rather than sitting at home writing novels in the dark.
Since then, I've worked on a couple of films (which you can read about in my Making a Film) blog and tried to make my own fan parody series, which unfortunatly is left on the back burner with all my uni work. When the last film I worked on won second place at a screening, I knew I had to make more films. Ok that's a lie, I wanted to make more films and I had confirmation that I was good at it!
So I took the Creative Enterprise module so I could improve my film making skills. But as I've found out, I won't be marked on making the film but on getting it out there.
I knew all along that I wanted to make a film with the theme of long distance relationships. It's something very important in my life and something I know a lot about. I've been with my boyfriend for 4 years now and it'll be at least another year before he can move to England. I've seen other students lose their boyfriends and girlfriends because they couldn't handle the sudden distance between them. This is why I want to make this film- To assure people that these relationships are ok and that they can last as long as you truely love and trust each other.
Right now I'm still in the planning stages, figuring out what festivals to submit to and how I'm going to get this film made. I've worked on a documentary before but this is the first time I've been a director. I really have no clue how to make a documentary. Does it need a script or not? Do I just record lots of fottage and bung the best bits together? This is all stuff I need to be learning and I'm constantly worrying that I'm too far behind.
But film making is full of stuff like that and unless you totally give up, it does work out at the end. So I'll make regular posts about my progress here and show how the film will develop from a spark of an idea to a (hopefully) very successful short.
I'm in my third and final year of university now and it's a big storm of excitment and utter fear. 2 years ago, I started this Creative Writing course because writing was the only thing I was good at. My old dream of being an environmental scientist was squashed when I got terrible grades in science. Back then, I would never have considered that I could actually make a film. Like most things in life, it was something that other people did and I could complain about because I had no idea what it was like. I didn't realise that a module called 'Film studies' actually meant making a film, but once I did it I realised I loved it. Finally, I had an idea of what I wanted to do after university, rather than sitting at home writing novels in the dark.
Since then, I've worked on a couple of films (which you can read about in my Making a Film) blog and tried to make my own fan parody series, which unfortunatly is left on the back burner with all my uni work. When the last film I worked on won second place at a screening, I knew I had to make more films. Ok that's a lie, I wanted to make more films and I had confirmation that I was good at it!
So I took the Creative Enterprise module so I could improve my film making skills. But as I've found out, I won't be marked on making the film but on getting it out there.
I knew all along that I wanted to make a film with the theme of long distance relationships. It's something very important in my life and something I know a lot about. I've been with my boyfriend for 4 years now and it'll be at least another year before he can move to England. I've seen other students lose their boyfriends and girlfriends because they couldn't handle the sudden distance between them. This is why I want to make this film- To assure people that these relationships are ok and that they can last as long as you truely love and trust each other.
Right now I'm still in the planning stages, figuring out what festivals to submit to and how I'm going to get this film made. I've worked on a documentary before but this is the first time I've been a director. I really have no clue how to make a documentary. Does it need a script or not? Do I just record lots of fottage and bung the best bits together? This is all stuff I need to be learning and I'm constantly worrying that I'm too far behind.
But film making is full of stuff like that and unless you totally give up, it does work out at the end. So I'll make regular posts about my progress here and show how the film will develop from a spark of an idea to a (hopefully) very successful short.
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