Production photographs

I suggested to the crew that it would be a good idea to take photos of us while on set to show our working environment and processes. Johnny volunteered and took photos for most of the day.

However I am still waiting to see/be sent the photos. I will add them here if/when I receive them.

Inspiration - Misfits

Misfits is probably my favourite TV show of all time. Every time I watch an episode I notice something new that I didn't the last time I watched it. I really love the style and the natural-sounding dialogue.

• Locations and styling - The whole series is set on a dingy, grey concrete council estate, and in contrast, the characters orange jumpsuits and everyday clothes really stand out. The crew have gone to great lengths to choose props and costumes that make the show more colourful and I really think that's one of the reasons why I am so drawn to it.
• Prop choices - In one of the episodes, set at a house party, someone at the party is taking photos with a Polaroid camera. Later on these photos become useful evidence, and the fact that they are a pile of printed Polaroids looks aesthetically much more appealing than a character flicking through a digital camera. The show is full of interesting, bold stylistic choices like this - like an iguana going missing, which we later discover has been a snack for a hungry zombie - and I love that they are included.
• Scripting - One of the best things about the show is the dialogue and actions of the characters, which are very realistic and believable without being dull and predictable. The characters speak with accents and use slang and curse when appropriate, and this is where most of the humour comes from. Sometimes I almost forget I'm watching something that has been scripted, rehearsed, recorded and edited..

What was and wasn't successful about our piece

• Coverage - Some of the shots needed several more takes to provide enough coverage in the edit; this was down to changes in light levels, unanticipated movement from the actors, or the actors making mistakes/not giving quite the performance I would have liked. We did run into problems towards the end of the day, though, namely camera batteries running out and not having any spares. I also think the cast and crew were getting tired and fed up of trampling through mud at the end of the shoot, which is understandable, and could have been avoided with call sheets and a proper production schedule. However, we ended up with some really good quality footage in the end, and although I'm not so keen on some of the shots, others I am really enthusiastic about, and personally I think Hannah has done a fantastic job of cutting the myriad of footage we had into something visually appealing and narratively sound.
• Aesthetics - The Canon DSLRs really came into their own in this environment, and gave us some shots with beautiful colours and scenery. The soft focus lenses Poppy made use of also gave the film a definite recognizable look - I really loved how some of the shots came out when I went over them with Hannah in the edit.
• Storyline - I'm not sure the whole story came across properly in our final film - but then that may have been because I wrote the script and had a different image already in my head. The way I had written the first scene ended up too long, but Hannah agreed to cut some of it so hopefully that will be a lot better upon final viewing.

On the set

Our shoot went fairly smoothly, although it could definitely have been better. For my own reference, here is a list of things I will aim to do differently on set next time:

• Location scouting - no-one actually did any location scouting, although Jonny and Poppy mentioned that they had been to both the possible locations previously. Once we arrived at Endecliff Park we discovered that there were an almost unlimited number of different locations to film in. For example, there was a disused mini fairground (presumably closed until summer) which would have made an excellent backdrop. If only we had known it was there beforehand, we could have tried to get permission to film a scene there, and we certainly should have visited to plan where to film all the scenes, which would have saved a lot of time.
• Rehearsals - Most of the other groups I have spoken to did rehearsals, and I would have liked to do so, only our original actors dropped out, and there wasn't really time to have rehearsals with the replacements. While we were able to run through the script on the day, I was frustrated with the fact that although the actors had been given copies of the script, they hadn't actually learned any of their lines, and I had to spend valuable time going through scenes with them. Next time I would have at least a few hours of rehearsals to get the best performance out of the actors.
• Call sheets - I know these are usually the producer's job, but without them (as our producer didn't make any) it was difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time and actually get things shot. I met Hannah, Poppy, Peter and Fiona at stores, all of whom were on time and ready to go, and we were at the location by 12:30. However, the rest of the day was a bit of a muddle, with Jonny turning up with our first actor at around 1:00 (around an hour later than had been said), and the other actors appearing at 2:00 and 2:30 (also an hour late each). I get really tetchy when people are late or unreliable and I had to try really hard not to get snappy or bossy for the rest of the day (it isn't fair to take out personal annoyance on your crew, especially when they are doing such a great job all day). Call sheets are like an informal written contract to make everyone get to the place at the right time, and next time, if my producer doesn't make them, I'll draw them up myself.
• Having a base - The amount of times I had to send a member of the crew away from the set to look after our huge pile of rucksacks and equipment bordered on ridiculous. I don't want to have to give up a valuable member of the crew to "stand guard" over our empty kit cases. Being able to drop unnecessary kit somewhere and pick it up later would be a much better idea, because the kitbags often get in the way of shooting too. I suppose this is why film crews have vans, and tents...

Initial Treatment

“Simon Says” [working title] is a refreshing, modern 5-minute comedy drama exploring the romantic misadventures of an awkward twenty-something male as he attempts to land the girl of his dreams.
We follow the main protagonist, Simon, as he embarks on an emotional journey, trying to create an original, heartfelt romantic gesture that will win him the beautiful Hattie’s love. He writes poetry, buys her flowers, psyches himself up to ask her out, and generally fails at all his earnest attempts. We eventually discover that all his efforts have gone to waste – Hattie is not romantically interested in him after all. Simon is heartbroken, but soon finds another girl to capture his attention, suggesting that this storyline is a never-ending cycle.
While the film draws on conventions from the romantic comedy genre, using carefully-written humour as an underlying theme, one of the original aspects to the plot is that the story is told from a male point of view, rather than female. Exploring different degrees of perception in romantic endeavours, and the different emotions surrounding love and relationships, as well as touching on intimacy while still having an overall theme of innocence, the film will be a fresh take on a widely experienced life event, creating an end product suitable for and relevant to most audiences.
Taking inspiration from the new-style generation of programming which exemplify the use of new technological camera, sound and editing developments, such as E4’s Misfits and Skins, the film will explore the capability of DSLR technology by employing stylistic techniques such as bright, clean, recurring colour themes (as well as using filters and visual effects to distinguish mood and emotion), shallow depth of field, POV shots, and soft focus to create emotion and intimacy, shooting from and cutting between a variety of angles to keep the pace modern and fresh, and generally creating a aesthetically pleasing visual piece, including techniques such as lens flare, well-composed establishing shots, inventive camera movement and use of 2-camera set-ups. Layers of ambient piano and guitar music will be merged with wild tracks and manipulated sound recordings to create a soundtrack that complements the visual elements, including sequences with sound warped and muffled by the character’s internal thoughts and emotions.

 

- I used this treatment in my pitch to our tutor, and one of the points he made was to try and keep the number of specific techniques to a manageable level. For my final treatment I will try to rectify this! 

Equipment and Prop lists

Equipment list:
Canon 550D
+ Lenses
+ Tripod
+ Possibly a 2nd camera (although I'm sure we'll be fine without it)
Field Monitor [booked]
Marantz 660 [boooked]
Rifle Mic [booked]
Boom pole
Extra long XLR lead
Clapperboard?

We decided to use two cameras to speed up the shooting (we could cover two angles of a scene at once) since we only had one day to shoot all our footage. In the end we didn't take the field monitor because we were told that they are incompatible with DSLRs. Since we were recording sound and video separately, we took a clapperboard to make syncing the sound easier in post-production. Poppy also had a collection of different lenses for her camera and we came to the conclusion that these would be useful, especially in creating the soft focus for the dream sequence.

Prop List:
Bunch of flowers (preferably including tulips, but no worries if not)
MP3 Player/Ipod + headphones
Makeup for Hattie's runny nose (I may be able to supply this, I'll have an experiment over the weekend and see what I can come up with)
Makeup for actors? (If needed)
Notebook with scribbled poetry + Pen
Tissues for Hattie

*We also need to speak to actors about costumes.

 I experimented beforehand with makeup to make Hattie appear to have a runny nose - the simplest way I found was to use a dark pink lip balm and rub it around the bottom of the nose. This would be simple to apply on set and used in conjunction with tissues would be obvious on camera.

Shooting prep: Shot List

As cinematographer, Poppy created a shot list for us to use on the shoot by breaking down the script into sections and noting enough angles to cover the shots in an interesting way.

Scene 1

1. Extreme Long shot, Simon is to the right of the shot in profile, it looks out onto the rest of the park.
2. Close up, Soft focus on the background so we can get the details of the character. Shot will be filmed through the entire scene.
3. Close up, a cut away of the pen and paper same amount of focus. Again filmed the entire scene.
4. Extreme close up of the writing on the paper, Simon possibly writes the film title on a page and then tears it out?
5. Long shot, Simon fills the frame and is still sat to the right of the shot. Filmed for the entire of the scene.
6. Mid shot, ¾ view of Simon, Filmed for the entire of the scene.
7. Front Long shot of Simon, Simon is in the centre of the shot. Filmed for entire of the scene.
8. Establishing shot, Pan of the park scenery.

Scene 2

1. Soft Focus, close up of Hattie. POV straight on shot.
2. Reverse shot of Shot 1.
3. Return to shot 1 as Hattie runs off.
4. Return to Shot 2 for Simon’s reaction.
5. Profile long shot, Hattie is running off and Simon makes to follow her.
6. A couple of long shots of Hattie and Simon running through the park.
7. Cut away Close up of Hatties feet running and Simon’s too.
8. Long shot of Hattie going to duck behind a bush.
9. Long shot Profile of Hattie hiding behind the bush and Simon joins him. Filmed until the end of the scene.
10. Over the shoulder shot of Simon as he ducks behind the bush, Filmed until the end of the scene.
11. Reverse of Hattie’s line filmed until the end of scene.
12. Close up Profile of Hattie as she leans in to kiss Simon.

Scene 3

1. Big Close up Front shot of Simon as he emerges from his dream sequence.
2. Long shot of Simon sat on a bench to the left of the frame. Filmed until the end.
3. Close up of Simon as he looks up at the sky. Filmed until the end.
4. Cut away to the sky.

Scene 4

1. Mid shot of Simon as he walks with the tulips toward the camera (potential steady cam, if I can do this with a tripod) Filmed until the end.
2. Long shot of Simon doing the same as shot 1.
3. Big close up of Hattie’s mouth as she says her first and second line (up until blowing her nose)
4. Close up of Simon as he talks over the phone, until the end of scene.
5. ¾ mid shot of hattie as she sits by a fountain on the phone, filmed until she hangs up.
6. Cut away of the tulips Simon is looking at.
7. Long shot of Simon throwing the flowers to the floor and walking off.
8. Close up, Low angle shot of the tulips on the floor, in the background out of focus you can see Simon walking away from them.

Scene 5

1. Long shot of Simon pacing back and forth. Filmed until end of scene.
2. Mid shot of Simon doing the same thing. Filmed until end of scene.
3. ¾ mid shot of Simon’s requests, made to look more gallant, cheesy or sweet than they are.

Scene 6

1. Close up of Hattie on the bench, Focus pull to Simon running towards her.
2. Long shot of the bench Hattie is sat at as Simon sits at the bench, film for entire scene.
3. Close up, Cut away of Simon’s fist punching Hattie on the shoulder.
4. Over the shoulder shot of Simon, film for entire scene
5. Reverse shot of Hattie, film for entire scene
6. Close up profile of Simon’s reaction to Hattie telling him about Laura.
7. Slow zoom on Simon’s face, straight on the realisation settling in. He snaps out of it after Laura’s voice comes in again.
8. Over simon’s shoulder shot of Hattie walking off to Laura.
9. Long shot straight on of Simon’s reaction, Another girl walks past.
10. POV shot of the girl walking by and flicking her hair, turning to smile at simon.
11. Slow zoom on Simon’s face as he falls in love with the new girl.

Final Draft of Screenplay

In total, I wrote three different drafts of the screenplay, acting on feedback from other members of the group, but the final copy reads as follows:

SIMON SAYS

          EXT. THE PARK - DAY

          SIMON is sat under a tree in the park. He is holding a small
          notebook and pen. It is apparent that he is attempting to
          write something he finds difficult.

          Simon chews on the pen and frowns at the open page in his
          notebook. He is not impressed with what he has written.

                              SIMON
                         (With gusto)
                    Hattie, you are the hat I never
                    want to take off.

          He stares at the page for a moment, before furiously
          scribbling through what he has read.

                              SIMON
                         (Muttering)
                    No, that's shit.

          Simon flips through a couple of pages in his notebook. It is
          clear he has been working on this for some time.

                              SIMON
                         (Reading)
                    Your eyes sparkle like the milky
                    way, I could stare into them all
                    night and day.

          Simon pauses for a moment to consider this line.

                              SIMON
                         (Shaking head)
                    Definitely not.

          He flips through a few more pages, stopping to read extracts
          from his scribbled notes.

                              SIMON
                    With hair like a scented garden
                    of.. wild plants? ..You're perfect
                    because.. you always.. let me
                    finish the popcorn?

          Simon shakes his head in frustration and flicks to a clean
          page in his notebook.

                              SIMON
                         (Writing while speaking)
                    Hattie, you keep my soul as warm as
                    my head... If you weren't around
                    I'd wish I was dead...

          He finishes writing this down, then looks contemplatively
          across the park, chewing his pen.

                              SIMON
                    You like watching scary movies late
                    at night in the dark... Sometimes
                    when I look at you I think you'd
                    make a very pretty shark.

          Simon reflects on this for a moment. He stares at the page
          in his notebook. He then calmly closes the notebook, tucks
          the pen into the spine, and holds it for a moment.

                              SIMON
                    Oh, screw this.

          He throws the notebook violently across the park and drops
          back into the grass in frustration. He slips his headphones
          into his ears - music starts to play and he closes his eyes,
          losing himself in his imagination.

                                                          FADE TO

          EXT. THE PARK - DAY (DREAM SEQUENCE)

          We open on a soft-focus, fuzzy, bright close-up of Hattie
          smiling (this is Simon's POV). We swap to Hattie's POV,
          revealing Simon smiling shyly back at her.

          Suddenly Hattie turns and runs out of frame. Simon quickly
          starts after her.

                              SIMON
                         (Internal and muffled)
                    Hattie! Wait..!

          Simon follows her across the park. She keeps slipping away
          from him, but continuously stops to let him catch up. She
          skips behind a bush, and crouches down in the dirt.

          Simon follows her behind the bush, and crouches down next to
          her. He peers at her quizzically.

                              SIMON
                    What are we..?

                              HATTIE
                    Shhh!

          Hattie slowly raises a finger to Simon's lips. She pauses,
          giggles, and removing her hand, slowly leans forward as if
          to kiss him.

                                                          FADE TO

          EXT. THE PARK - DAY

          We fade from the dream sequence onto a close-up shot of
          Simon, who is still dreaming about kissing Hattie. His lips
          move as if kissing her, until he opens his eyes and realises
          what he is doing. He slowly takes out his headphones, stares
          up at the sky thoughtfully, and then suddenly jumps up out
          of shot.

          EXT. THE PARK - DAY

          Simon is holding a large, expensive-looking bunch of TULIPS.
          He admires them for a moment, nods, and dials HATTIE on his
          mobile phone.

                              HATTIE
                         (On phone)
                    Yeah hello?

                              SIMON
                         (Still smiling at his tulips)
                    Hi Hattie. Are we still on for
                    later?

          Hattie's nose is red and she is sniffling.

                              HATTIE
                    Oh, hey Simon! Yeah, of course.
                    Four thirty, right? (She blows her
                    nose)

                              SIMON
                         (Looking pleased with himself)
                    That's right, yeah.. Hey, you don't
                    sound too great. Are you okay?

                              HATTIE
                    Oh, I've just got hayfever. It's
                    the time of year.. The tulips have
                    just bloomed, so I'm a snivelling
                    wreck. (Laughs)

          Simon looks in horror at the tulips in his hand.

                              SIMON
                    That sounds like shit. Are you sure
                    you don't want to stay home?

                              HATTIE
                         (Brightly)
                    No, no, I'll be fine. I've got a
                    jumbo box of tissues. (She giggles)
                    I'll see you later Simon.

          Hattie hangs up, leaving Simon staring at the tulips. After
          a moment he walks to the nearest bin, dumps the tulips, and
          leaves. As he walks away we see a price tag on the bunch of
          flowers - it reads £14.99.

          EXT. THE LAKE - DAY

          Simon is walking through the park trying to come up with a
          way to tell Hattie how he feels about her.

          He stops and addresses an imaginary Hattie.

                              SIMON
                         (Gallantly)
                    Hattie, how would you like to be my
                    girlfriend?

          He pauses to consider this, but shakes his head and
          continues walking.

                              SIMON
                    Too formal.

          Simon stops to address another imaginary Hattie.

                              SIMON
                         (Cheesily)
                    Hey Hattie, wanna come back to mine
                    and see what happens?

          He shakes his head in mild horror and continues walking.

                              SIMON
                    Urgh, definitely not. Too creepy.

          He kicks a stick into the lake, and stands there watching it
          float away.

                              SIMON
                         (Quietly)
                    Hey, Hattie. Would you like to go
                    for a drink sometime, with me?

          He nods to himself, satisfied, and walks away to meet
          Hattie.

          EXT. THE PARK - LATE AFTERNOON

          Simon runs to catch up with the red-nosed Hattie. He is
          panting slightly when he reaches her.

                              SIMON
                         (Red-faced but grinning)
                    Hattie! Hi. Hey.

          He punches her awkwardly on the shoulder, but regrets it
          immediately. She looks at him, bemused, rubbing her nose
          with a tissue.

                              SIMON
                    So.. how are you?

                              HATTIE
                    Not bad, besides the hayfever.

          She gives him a quick smile and then scans slowly across the
          park. There is an awkward silence.

                              HATTIE
                    Uh.. So.. How's your goldfish?

                              SIMON
                         (Quickly)
                    Kevin.

                              HATTIE
                    Yeah, Kevin. How's Kevin?

          Hattie's PHONE buzzes in her hand. We hear a text message
          tone.

                              SIMON
                    Kevin's fine, yeah.

          Hattie nods distractedly as she reads her message.

                              HATTIE
                    Ok, great. Listen, Simon, I'm gonna
                    have to go, I'm sorry. Laura just
                    got off work early.

                              SIMON
                         (Confused)
                    Laura?

                              HATTIE
                    Yeah, you know Laura, right? It's
                    silly really, but it's a year today
                    since we went on our first date.
                    (She giggles) I can hardly believe
                    she's been my girlfriend for that
                    long!

          Hattie smiles up at Simon brightly and then peers past him,
          looking for Laura.

                              SIMON
                    ..Y-... Your girlfriend?

                              HATTIE
                         (Still on the lookout for
                         Laura)
                    She said she'd be along any minute.
                    Although, that doesn't mean much
                    from her, I mean one time I was sat
                    waiting for her for an hour and all
                    she had to say for herself was that
                    her cat had got stuck in the
                    bathroom, I was like, what kind of
                    excuse is that...

          Hattie's voice fades out, and we see Simon's face drop as he
          realises the girl of his dreams is out of his reach. Tears
          well at his eyes, but Hattie doesn't notice.

                              HATTIE
                         (Sees Laura in the distance)
                    There she is! Well I've gotta go,
                    Simon, I'll see you some other time
                    okay.

          Hattie walks away before she has even finished her sentence,
          leaving Simon standing alone with tears in his eyes. He rubs
          his eye with a sleeve, and as he does so, a pretty girl
          walks past him down the path.

          Simon's attention is captured by the girl. In beautiful
          slow-motion, we see her flick her hair over her shoulder,
          smile back at Simon, and continue walking.

          Simon grins, and follows her down the path.