4th February 2020
Tutorial
- Feedback on the first draft of the screenplay
- Beginning to find references and influences from other science fiction films and TV shows
- Starting to develop a visual style for the film
First Draft Feedback
- Find the essence of the story I want to tell, the core of the idea, so that the story can be told in a simple way and thus communicate the premise/message more effectively to an audience. Aurelija gave the feedback that she felt like she wanted the screenplay to be longer, which was helpful, because this signifies that there could be too much story crammed into a short time, thus reaffirming that the story would be more effective if it focused on the core of the idea.
- The core of the idea is that a scientist, who is an ordinary person living a somewhat mundane existence, discovers something extraordinary - that her decisions affect those of every other version of her - and then has to figure out what to do about this.
- The story could be made simpler by using only one character - only the main character - and have her located in one room. She discovers (or could she be discovered?) a way to see a version of her in another universe, leading to her realisation that her decisions affect them - and thus many other versions of her. Having only one character like this allows for less exposition as the existence of many other versions and many other universes can be implied (this could be done through visual storytelling, for example, by having the main character in a lift surrounded by mirrors, which show her reflected several times). Using one room allows for a focus on having a window into other universes, undistracted by cutting to other spaces in this universe.
- Simplifying the story to cut down the amount of visual effects needed, such as those required to duplicate one actor as well as the use of a tablet which has a split screen showing other versions of the main character. Cutting these will help with logistics (for example, using the tablet monitoring other versions of the main character could create continuity errors).
Initial Influences/References
- Rick & Morty - an animated series which explores the concept of the multiverse through episodes which show alternate timelines, the characters travelling to other universes, and other versions of the characters. Could help with our film as it also explores the multiverse.
- The Black Hole - a short film about a black hole which is printed out of a photocopier, leading to an office worker using this to get a free chocolate bar from the vending machine - and later stealing money from the office safe. Our film also explores an ordinary character who discovers something extraordinary and has to work out how to use this.
- Primer - a film about two engineers who create a time machine in one of their garages. This influenced the development of the project during the pre-production unit when developing the relationship between the two main versions of the main character, since the main theme of Primer is friendship. During this unit, the grounded, ordinary style could influence the visual style of our film, since grounding the extraordinary science and discovery through visual style could make it more believable for the audience.
Visual Style Development
- Start Pinterest boards on topics such as colour palette, production design, sci-fi references etc. so that these can be shared with and added to by the group. This will allow everyone to contribute ideas which can be narrowed down as the film progresses to create a final, cohesive visual style.
Production Meeting Notes
We then set objectives based on the points discussed in the tutorial:
25th February 2020
Tutorial
- Discussing the previous drafts of the film - I wasn't satisfied with them due to not being able to work the science into the fiction as well as feeling like I had been working on the story so long that it had become too convoluted and complicated to me.
- Due to this, we decided to break another story together. I found that collaborating as a team with this helped me work out the story in a more visual way, because as the editor and cinematographer, the rest of team were more likely to think in visuals helping me to combine this with story and structure.
27th February 2020
Production Meeting Notes
- Focusing on setting up test shoots - for lighting, any special effects, or shots which use special equipment.
- Discussing references and influences for lighting and visual style, building on the Pinterest boards created to make the style more cohesive.
3rd March 2020
Script Feedback from Beth
- From this script feedback, I added more background to the script about Monica as a character, starting by writing a character biography which helped me figure out events - such as the champagne parties - to add that would reveal details about Monica and the downfall she goes through.
- I also limited all of the scenes to Monica's dining room, since we don't have long until we film, so getting access for one location will be more achievable in the time we have than trying to secure several locations, especially since some were only in one scene, and these scenes were short.
- Also reducing the amount of props needed for the story - again, as we don't have much time left until filming.
- I felt that this feedback made the story better by making it tighter as I was considering when writing further drafts if everything contributed to the story, and cutting it if it didn't, or if it could be achieved in a more manageable way. This helped me to achieve what I had been struggling with when writing the previous story - making the story simpler.
13th March 2020
Lighting Plan Meeting
- Had a meeting with Aurelija, the director of photography, to discuss a lighting plan for the film. I wanted to see her ideas so I asked her to print out reference images of shots which had similar lighting to her aims, and place these on the scenes in the script where this would be the lighting style. I asked Aurelija to do this because I thought that if I disagreed with any of her ideas, I could add my own reference images to the script, and we could then discuss these further.
- However, I really liked all of Aurelija's ideas, since she had a good understanding of the emotions of the story, and how to reflect these in the lighting, as well as ideas of how to make Vera stand out, so that it is apparent to the audience that she is a book character.
15th March 2020
Script Feedback from Mike
- Mike's script feedback helped me to refine Monica's conflict, thinking about the theme of the screenplay, loneliness.
- Thus, Monica's fear is of Vera leaving her. I added a segment to show this to audience, where Monica goes to write the ending, watches Vera leave, and then backspaces her in panic, only becoming calm when she is sitting back at the monitor.
- This also helped me with further simplifying the story since it pointed out what was left over from my previous ideas, and what I needed to build on to improve the new idea for the story.
25th March 2020
Production Meeting Notes
- After the announcement that we would no longer by filming due to lockdown restrictions, we discussed how we could each still achieve the unit learning outcomes.
- Allowed us to determine how we would collaborate even though we couldn't physically meet any more, by figuring out how each of our roles could contribute work to the final output of a mood reel. For example, as the director I could pick the music, and set the tone, the editor could find archive footage, and cut this together, and the director of photography could colour grade this.
31st March 2020
Tutorial
- Discussion of reading and research.
- Book recommendations - The Art of Dramatic Writing, Respect for Actors, and Grammar of the Film Language.
- Suggestion of holding a table read.
Reading & Research
- Helped me see that I could still expand my knowledge of filmmaking in lockdown without making a film through reading and research. Was actually beneficial since I had more time to read about acting and screenwriting, which gave me knowledge I could use to more effectively plan the film, without the rush of impending production.
- Reading 'The Art of Dramatic Writing' allowed me to improve the script by learning about theme, character and conflict.
- Reading 'Respect for Acting' helped me to learn how actors work, which I was able to research more. Mike also suggested that I hold a table read so I could use this knowledge and practice directing actors.
7th April 2020
Production Meeting Notes
- Further discussion of aims based on work we had finished to determine what we planned to do next before Easter.
- We also discussed the tone of the film so that this would be apparent in the mood-reel.
4th May 2020
Tutorial
- Discussion on directing & framing. It can be said that directors have to balance emotion and information when making shot choices, since there is a certain amount of information the audience will need to know to understand the film.
- The director's job can be considered as directing actors, along with framing, which is how they direct the audience's attention.
- This helped me to consider my aims for my directing style, since I intended to focus on conveying Monica's psychological state with my shot choices - yet, from this I realised that there would be a certain amount of information I still needed to convey to the audience.
12th May 2020
Tutorial
- Considering balancing emotion and information helped me when writing my director's statement since it influenced me to include shots such as the point of view shot of Monica's blank page. This conveys information to the audience - that Monica has writer's block - but backs up the shots showing her emotions by showing the audience the reason for her change in emotion towards writing.
- Mike also suggested that I do a storyboard analysis - by mentioning the challenges, reasons, and decisions behind the storyboards. Therefore, I decided to treat my director's statement as part storyboard analysis, since, as we didn't film, storyboards were the best way for me to show my intentions for shots, so I felt it was important to mention why I had made these decisions.
- When storyboarding, I did find visualising the transitions between scenes hard. Yet, rather than knowing how to solve the problem, it is important to know what they are.
- I could also extend my knowledge of directing actors by evaluating the table read. I found that this allowed me to see what I already knew about directing actors, as well as how I could improve.
19th May 2020
Tutorial
- Discussing further ways I could extend my knowledge after university.
- To get more experience directing actors, Mike suggested I could see if I could join actors at an amateur dramatics society and direct a scene a week with them. I could also take a course on directing actors, as well as read books such as 'The Stanislavsky Toolkit', which outlines Stanislavsky's method of acting, or 'Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus', since this includes an alphabetical list of action verbs, which could help me further learn the best way to give more playable direction.
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