Pre-Production: Skill Set Group - Scriptwriting

There are a few skill-set groups throughout the pre-production unit. These groups allow people in my year who are either writing, directing, producing their major projects, etc. to get help with any problems we may have in this particular area. It gives us a chance to get advice from others that may be in a similar situation to you.

For me I chose to attend the skill set groups for scriptwriters and directors, as they were the areas I am involved in, for this project.

I benefitted more from the scriptwriting group as I was struggling more with the scriptwriting side of production. My main struggle was with creating supernatural characters. I originally decided to include a vampire and a witch, within these short three films, however I was worried in what ways I could take a supernatural monster like the vampire and make it original without it being linked or similar to films and TV shows that are already out there.

One of the students in the group, Helen suggested maybe not to do about a vampire, etc. as they’ve been used and adapted a lot already.  It would be hard to adapt a vampire in a way that is not stereotypical/copying what has already been created.

I decided to go with Helen’s advice and use different supernatural creatures in my stories. I wanted to make sure that I chose creatures that were roughly known, but have also not been adapted as much. I realized that it would be a risk to change my idea at this point, however I’ve previously done an adaptation of a vampire for a different project and if I wanted to create original short films, this would be a risk worth taking.

A screenshot from my fiction adaptation unit, where I adapted a poem about a vampires transformation. 

I spoke to Sei-Kai and she was happy to change the ideas. We immediately started brain storming  into different supernatural creatures we could use.

Apart from that, another tip I got from the group was that when it comes to writing the scripts, to actually go to the location (or somewhere similar). This would help with visualization for when we came to shoot the films; especially as I will also be directing these films.

Pre-Production: Fables

While looking through the book Sei-Kai brought in, I noted some of the fables that stood out to me, but also what I could possibly adapt into a short film.

Here are the fables I chose and their meanings:

Fable: Giving the seedlings a hand

Meaning: This fable tells that things develop in their own way. It is not sufficient for people to do things just with desire and enthusiasm. Maybe the effect can even be contrary to what they wish.

Fable: Birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring

Meaning: This fable story means that if one is frightened in the past, he or she might be scared again in the future in a similar situation.

Fable: The Sky would fall down

Meaning: This fable evolved into an idiom. It is used to satirize those who have unnecessary or unwanted anxieties.

Fable: A loss may turn out to be a gain

Meaning: A loss can turn out to be in fact a gain. Equally, a good thing may turn out to be a bad thing.

Fable: Money or life

Meaning: A person who would rather give up their life than lose their money

Fable: Brothers fight for a wild goose

Meaning: Don’t endlessly argue about how to do something, this missing the opportunity to actually accomplish it.

Fable: Breaking arrows

Meaning: The fable tells the fact that unity is strength.

So far I have some rough ideas on the type of supernatural creatures I want to include, as well as some story ideas. The supernatural creatures I'm gravitating towards is a vampire, a witch and a demon. I need to do some more research before deciding to use these beings as characters.

Pre-production: Research on Fables

I firstly wanted to research into fables. I originally heard of fables through a fairytale adaptation, I wanted to make sure that I understood what the original fables were, so that I didn't get confused.

What are fables?

Fables are short stories that are used to teach children a lesson about a particular moral. The characters in these stories are usually animals who act and talk like people, while retaining their animal trait.

How will you be adapting the fables?

Me and Sei-Kai will be choosing three fables and will take out the morals/meanings in them and create whole new storylines. Our fables will be much darker than the ones told for children, and will be for young adults and older. These fables will contain dark fantasy and horror traits and will also have at least one character that is supernatural.

There are hundreds of fable stories to choose from, however to make things a little easier, Sei-Kai brought in a book (image below) that contained some stories. Now we just need to choose our fables and create some story ideas.

Pre-Production: Major Project and Role Research

For my major project, I will be working alongside Sei-Kai. We decided that we would create three short films for a web series. They will be five minutes long each and will have a supernatural theme/element.

My role in this project will be to write and direct these films.

To find out more about my role I researched into writer-directors, particularly ones who touched upon the horror/dark fantasy genre.

Tim Burton

Burton is a director I have always admired. His style is original in the way that most people can be recognise his work. His films mainly touch upon the horror, gothic and fantasy genres, however also successfully pleasing the younger and older viewers. He has directed, produced and co-written many films. One film in particular that I looked at was, 'Frankenweenie.'

Frankenweenie (2012)

'Frankenweenie' was an original idea by Burton. It's a parody/adaptation to the Mary Shelley novel, 'Frankenstein' (1818). I wanted to look at this film in particular, because it was an adaptation and thought it would help me with ideas and inspiration for when it came to adapting the fable stories. This film is a more child friendly than the adaptation I want to create, however there are still dark themes shown throughout the film.

Guillermo del Toro 

Del Toro is a new director that I have discovered. The films he has created have inspired me a lot for this particular project. His main genre is speculative fiction, which is a combination of horror, fantasy and science-fiction. The characters in his films is what I'm most infatuated with, they are creepy and have a supernatural/monster element to them. He has written and directed many films, however the films I decided to look at are 'Pan's Labyrinth' and 'Crimson Peak'.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Del Toro is mainly known for creating 'Pan's Labyrinth.' This film in particular has inspired me on what type of characters I want to have and is also partly the reason why I wanted to explore fantasy, as a genre. The use of make-up and costume is realistic and very well done, to the point that it would give the audience watching possible nightmares.  The film was inspired by fairytales and many mythologies, which is something I would like to touch upon in at least one of the short films I create.

Crimson Peak (2015)

'Crimson Peak' is Del Toro's newest release. The film is an adult modern take on a gothic romance and ghost story. It is set in the Victorian Era, matching the gothic style. The style of the film was what attracted me the most as well as the use of colours. For example, the poster for the film (image on the right), is quite dark and gloomy, however the red from the dress, the white from the night gown and the yellow from the candles is what stands out most.

Professional Practice: An Act of Kindness - Finished Video

Here is my final video:

Professional Practice: Reflection

Overall I feel that the change of idea and location was a good idea. I felt that I was able to film within a couple of days and get it over and done with.

I have learnt that working with kids is super hard, especially when its only you and another uni student on shoot. Next time, if I ever work with kids again I would definitely make sure there were more people there, particularly someone that looked after the kids between shots, so that filming could get done even quicker.

Even though the kids were trouble at times, they acted well, and hopefully enjoyed their experience on an actual shoot.

I'm happy with how the video turned out, and some of my favourite shots were from the intro and the credits. It was definitely an experience that has broadened my knowledge for future films.

Professional Practice: Music

I wanted there to be music over the top of the video, due to there being a lot of parts in a scene without any dialogue, I also thought that it would help create an atmosphere on what was happening in the film, such as how you feel when you are being bullied or watching it happen.

I tried to find royalty free music on youtube and also on a website that I had used before called,
However there was not a piece of music that I felt would work with my film.

I spoke to fellow student Illy, to see if she knew of other royalty free music sites. Even though she didn't know any music sites, she did send me a link to a person's music she listens to on sound cloud.

Here is his page: https://soundcloud.com/frazer_m

I listened to a couple of his songs and they were ok, until I came across Rising Sea. I immediately knew that I wanted to use this piece for my film. The piece only lasts for 1:11 and my film is over 3 minutes long, I will need to cut the track up and match it together.

Overall I feel this piece of music enhances the atmosphere I wanted to create through this film. Such as sadness, and tension when watching the victim being bullied.

Professional Practice: New Location and Script

I decided that for my new location I wanted it to be in a park area, this was because I needed an area that was quite big, but also where children would 'hang out'. I thought about previous locations that I had used and decided to contact the Allington Cumminuty Association on whether I could film in the field next to the building. I had used them before for my fiction adaptation video, so I was sure that I was going to get permission again.

After emailing the secretary of the chairman of ACA, he agreed to give me permission to use the field.

Now I had my location and actors I now had to create a new script, with a modern storyline.

Here is my new script.


This script is much shorter and simple, however I am happy with it. I feel that the last script I had for my first idea was too complicated and am very glad that I changed my idea.

Profession Practice Shoot: Day 2

From yesterday I learnt that having five kids at once on shoot was very complicated, because once I had filmed a shot, they would run around the park, while I was checking what next show I needed to get. As I had filmed most of the shots with the bullies on day one, I wanted to film some pick ups and other shots that involved them first, so that I could send them home. After I had sent them home I focused on getting the shots of the victim and the bully.

There was one scene that I didn't end up filming and that was the main bully walking towards the park and noticing the victim with her mum. This scene was to be at the beginning. In the end after reviewing my footage I decided that it wasn't needed, as it didn't help with the storyline that much.

I had a lot longer to film on this shoot, I filmed from 11-4pm. The weather as predicted was not as sunny as the day before and was very cloudy, this resulted into doing more pick ups from the day before, such as group shots, so that the light difference between shots didn't notice as much.

The kids did were great both days, even though they had their ups and downs, I feel that they all portrayed their characters very well.

I feel that I got all the shots needed for my film, now time to edit!

Professional Practice Shoot: Day 1

I decided to film this short film over the weekend, as all kids will more likely be available due to attending school from Mon-Fri.

I contacted all parents to see who would be available.
Luckily 4 out of the 5 kids were available however, I still needed to find someone else to be a bully.

I sent Verity an email to see if she could ask around on who would be available, particularly looking for a girl who is between the age of 10-12 from the PQA academy in rochester, from the morning group. Luckily someone replied within 24 hours before the shoot, now I had the 5 people needed for the film.

As on Saturday the PQA students have their lesson in the morning I started the shoot from 2-4 pm.



Surprisingly this shoot went really well, I was able to film half of my script. The only problem was the sun was constantly in and out between the clouds, so I have to make sure my shots aren't too bright, especially if tomorrow is not going to be sunny.
I'm glad that I was able to film most of my script as I would then be able to check through footage to see if there were any extra shots I needed in these scenes or whether I needed to do pick-ups.
After looking at the footage there were a couple shots I wanted to re-shoot and get more of, mainly close ups of faces.

Hopefully tomorrows shoot will go as well as this shoot did.

Professional Practice: Change of Idea

After filming a part of my fairytale anti-bullying film, I reviewed the footage and was not happy with the outcome. The location, the story and the scripting, just didn't seem right.

What didn't help is that I was only allocated 2-5pm on a Saturday to film every week, which wasn't sufficient enough for me.

I decided to take a risk and rescript the anti-bullying story, however this time doing it in a modern day theme.

Here is a rough idea of what my new story is going to be about:

Lou, a bully lives in an unwanted and unloveable environment with her family.

She notices a girl who has the opposite of this and starts to become jealous.

One day the bully notices the girl in a park by herself and gangs up on her with her friends.

An incident then happens between the two girls and they both end up becoming friends.

What I was worried about with creating an anti-bullying story, was being stereotypical and following a victims story.

With this new idea I have focused the story on the bully and her story.

I have contacted the parents of the PQA students that I will be re-using to film this short-film and also have found a location to film it in.

I also have a couple of dates of when I will be filming.

Hopefully this new idea will be a lot smoother than my last shoot.

Studio Live Production: Day Before the Show

I can't believe its the day before our show, we have all our final VT's, credits, titles and indents on our timeline.

As only the seating arrived yesterday, the rest of the set was brought over in the morning. During the morning we was able to rig the lighting, sound, camera positions and where the audience will be placed. After lunch we was able to do one show run.

I feel ready for tomorrow, however i'm a bit nervous, as I will have to make sure the show runs to time.

Studio Live Production: Margate Shoot

Me, Sophie, Danny, Mike, Mark, Illy and Sam, went to Margate to shoot our Politics VT.

Our plan was to film Vox pops, get pieces to cameras and cutaways.

I assisted Sophie, the VT producer to find people who wouldn't mind answering whether they voted and why. We also made sure that whoever agreed signed a consent form before going on camera. Most of the day was successful, however there was one part that didn't go so well.

One of our last shoots of the day was to ask people on a pub, who they would rather buy a pint for out of Al Murray and Nigel Farrage. We found a pub/bar and got permission to film in there however, we had a problem finding people to answer on camera. We finally found two women who were happy to be filmed, however after filming they wanted to review the consent form and ended ripping them up.

It really shocked us as we thought we had a filmed part of the scene. After this incident the day was getting late and we decided to talk back to the Helen, the producer.

Helen understood what happened and said to go back there, however go to a different bar/pub.

The VT team decided to go back to Margate the following week, however I decided to stay behind to start editing the footage I already had from the first shoot.

Studio Live Production: Running Order and Script Examples

To understand what I will be looking at as a PA, I wanted to see what a running order looked like.
Here is an example of what a running order looks like:

Here is a script example, of a previous years script for their live show.

Professional Practice: Fairytale Research

After doing some research I decided to include, 'Alice in Wonderland', 'The Ugly Duckling' and 'Little Red Riding Hood' within my anti-bullying video.

I found that these three stories would work one after each other, to follow the 'victims' day at school.
For example, Lola, the victim would go to class, which would be the ugly duckling story, then it would be break, where we follow Little Red Riding Hood's story and then to lunch, to Alice in Wonderland's story.

The whole point of using fairytales, was to show the bullying, between the bully's and the victims from a fairytale characters point of view. So when the main character enters the scene she would be her modern character and then once the bullies enter the room/ start on her we would then see the main character as one of the fairytale leads.

Studio Live Production: VT Research

I wanted to look at some VT's that are on TV, as I wanted to look into how they are edited. I thought by looking into different VT's it will inspire me for when I come editing the live show VT's

This video is from a YouTube channel called 'The Fine Bros', they are two brothers who make reaction videos with kids, teens, elders and known YouTuber's. In this particular video teens are reacting to Nicki Minaj's music video, 'Anaconda.'

Here is another VT from the ITV show 'Take Me Out.'

In this clip, it shows a guy name Damian, who wants to get a date in the show. In the second round of getting a date, there is a video on Damian's friend telling the girls and audience something about Damian through a video.

Here is another VT from 'The One Show.'

The VT in this clip is from 5:27 - 7:52. In this VT, a reporter finds out why 'Frozen', the Disney film has become popular and how it is continuing the grow.

By watching these videos it has given me an idea on how VT's are edited. I am still going to continue to research for VT's, especially ones that are shown on television shows.

Studio Live Production: Book Research

I've recently been to the library and have found a couple of books that have some information on my jobs roles.

PA Role

'Television Production by Jim Owen and Gerald Millerson'

There was a particular section in this book on page 360-361, where there was in interview with Fiona Catherwood, on her role as script supervisor/PA. This interview was interesting to read as it gave an overview of what she does as well as advice on her role.

'Producing for TV and video by Cathrine Kellison'















Editor Role

'The focal easy guide to: Final cut pro X by Rick Young'

'Final Cut Pro X: Second Edition by Diana Weynand'

'Film and Video editing by Roger Crittenden'

I have found these books quite useful so far, as I have learnt more about my job role as a PA and what I would need to remember when editing, as a VT editor.

Studio Live Production: Production Assistant Research

Researching into the role of a production assistant was hard to do as there weren't much information available for this role.

I went onto the BBC academy website to see if there were any helpful videos, particularly about my role in live television.

I came across a video called, 'Guide to a TV Studio' where floor manager, Ed Sharpe gives a tour on the TV set of 'Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up.' When describing who worked in the gallery he explained the role of a script supervisor, he said 'a script supervisor is someone who makes sure the show is kept to time'. This was exactly my role is in the live show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112135564 - Guide to a TV studio video.

I then started researching into the role of a script supervisor and found a lot more information. I even found another video on the BBC academy website called, 'Profile: Script Supervisor, TV.' This video follows Sally Danton, who is a script supervisor for the TV show, 'The One Show.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112136044 - Profile: Script Supervisor, TV video.

It was interesting to see someone in the television industry do a job that I will be doing for the live show.

From what I have learnt about Sally's her job role, she hands out the running order, scripts and camera cards. Her main role is to make sure the show runs to time. She also sits in between the producer and the director in the gallery.

Professional Practice: Schedule and Risk Assessment

Here is a production schedule I created:



I also created a risk assessment form for this shoot, to show that I know the health and safety risks and how I would avoid them.

Studio Live Production: Role Research

After getting assigned our roles for the show I wanted to look more into what I would have to be doing.
I have two jobs for this production, VT editor and Production assistant.

Out of the two roles I have the production assistant has more pressure. For this particular role, I will be in the gallery managing the time for the show.

I found some bullet points on what my role would consist of:

• checking running orders and scripts;
• keeping track of timings during a programme;
• setting up pre-recorded material in the studio gallery

I found a couple of websites that were quite helpful into finding out more about my role. Even though Production Assistant is known for helping throughout the whole of the production, for this particular show I will only be working on it when the show is being filmed.

These websites were very useful in giving a basic outline on the descriptions, what type of activities a production assistant does as well as skills that are needed if wanting to work in this area.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/television_production_coordinator_job_description.htm

https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/job-descriptions/279425-television-production-assistant-job-description

http://filmtvcareers.about.com/od/basics/p/CP_ProdAsst.htm

Professional Practice: Script First Draft

Here is a first draft of the script. It isn't complete as I haven't decided the outcome of the ending yet, however it is nearly done!

Professional Practice: Research 1

After deciding to do a fairytale retelling for the anti-bullying short video for the PQA project, I wanted to research into different TV shows and films that have done an adaptation of fairytales.

TV Show

Once Upon a Time (2011 - present)

'Once Upon and Time' tells the story of a world in which fairytales and modern-day life collides. Emma Swan is surprised when Henry - the child she gave up a decade before - suddenly shows up. He is convinced that she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who sent her away before the Evil Queen casted a spell freezing the fairytale world in time and bringing them to our world.

Grimm (2011 - present)

Detective Nick Burkhardt receives a visit form his sick aunt, who informs him that he is descended from a long ancestry line of 'Grimms'. 'Grimms' are hunters charged with protecting humanity from the supernatural creatures, that merely look human to most people, however Nick can see the creatures. He must take on the responsibility of his ancestors and deals with the mythology of the Brothers Grimm.

Films

Into the Woods (2014)

A baker and his wife can't have children, due to a curse given from a witch. Three days before a blue moon, they go into the forest to find ingredients to reverse the spell. They have to find a milk-white cow, hair as yellow as corn, a blood-red cape and a slipper of gold. During their journey they meet cinderella, little red riding hood, Rapunzel and Jack.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Alice is now a teenager with no memory of wonderland, except in her dreams. Her life makes a turn when at a garden party she spots a white rabbit and tumbles down a hole after him. Reunited with her friends, the mad hatter, the cheshire cat and other, she learns it is her destiny to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

I mainly focused on recent fairytale adaptations for inspiration. I already have an idea for the anti-bullying video, however it needs to be researched into a bit more before I make it final.

Rough idea outline

Four friends are in secondary school and three of them are being bullied. One is physically bullied, the second is emotionally bullied and the third is cyber bullied. The characters in this film will be from different fairytales, they will have adapted names and will have certain characteristics, so that they are recognisable from their original stories.

One thing I definitely want to include in this film, is more than one type of bullying. This is so that people are aware that there are different types of bullying.