We cast suitable actors for each role and decided exactly how they would look to create believable characters that fully lived up to the expectations of our story and representations. We created a list, encompassing actors, their costumes, and even their hair and make-up where relevant, to keep track of the larger-than-average amount of characters our project has, as well as all the little details needed to create their finished look, and the changes made to these details as we developed our ideas.
Our complete character, casting, and costume list, split into four images. Click each of them to enlarge.
Another benefit of the list was that we could simply give a copy to each of our actors and they could fulfil some of the requirements such as clothing and make-up, and tell us what we had to provide for them. Although each character went through a few iterations, all the little changes to costume we made, such as adding jewellery to Cherish, were tracked by the list. When we had trouble casting, such as when an actor dropped out and had to be re-cast, or two actors swapped roles based on performance in the test shoot, the list reflected that. In the end however we learned that keeping track of everything related to the characters meant we always knew exactly who and what we needed on set to ensure each character lived up to their role.
Our chosen filming location is my garage. We chose it because it is a very plain room once all the items stored in it are removed, and lighting is easily manipulated as there are no windows. Thus we were able to build the exact mise-en-scène we want, as described in earlier posts, and create a believable interrogation room.
A basic floor plan of the garage after it was turned into our set. It also shows where the miscellaneous items were moved to so that they were out of the way, where the entrance and exit door is in relation to the main set (both in real life and in our video,) the garage door, which we had to work around as we couldn't move it but also couldn't allow it to be seen in any shot, and a few other things. Click to enlarge.
The area on the right of the garage after walking in. This picture was taken during the search for a suitable location, and shows the exact area we eventually used to create our set while it is still full of the items being stored there. Click to enlarge.
We couldn't find any better alternatives so we worked out what we would need to do (as well as the basic items we would need) to turn the above picture into a working set.
After the basic layout of the room was decided, we put together a set and props list and worked on the details of the room, such as where the lightbulb should be (hanging directly above the table,) what we could add to the table to add to the mise-en-scene (such as the audio recorder,) and so on.
One page from our Set, Props, and Location List. It keeps all the information about the aforementioned things in one place, in an easy-to-use table. Click to enlarge.
We ended up with a final dressed set that was representative of the image we saw in our heads. We tried a few different kinds of lighting to compliment it, including various set-ups using the large lighting kit, before eventually deciding that using the lightbulb by itself would produce the desired lighting most effectively. This was because we wanted light to be coming from only one source in the film, so we made it come from only one source in real life to best achieve this.
The final version of the dressed set. Earlier versions had the clock in the centre and the audio recorder lying flat, as well as a larger table. We moved the clock to spread the props out, raised the audio recorder to ensure the audience knew what it was, and the smaller table made shooting easier as we could get closer to the actors. Click to enlarge.
We learned how to work with a location's limitations to create a good set. Working around problems, such as keeping background items out of shot to not ruin continuity, was quite important, was one such limitation. Between the test and main shoots we changed a couple of item locations to further refine the set and create better mise-en-scene, but overall the set remained mostly unchanged and very effective throughout the project.
To ensure the filming stayed on track, we decided to create dedicated shoot arrangement documents, for both the test and the main shoot. For the test shoot, we wanted to (as the name implies) test every part of the shooting and editing process, and this included arranging everything. So we created a shoot arrangement form as if we were doing the main shoot, in order to troubleshoot it at a later point. In fact, the document is designed to be used for all of our shoots, so we can see the progress and changes made as well as to keep everything in one place.
The shoot organisation form art the time of the test shoot. As you can see, all relevant information has been filled in, and it has even been checked over by the teachers as well as each member of the group, to ensure all is well. Click to enlarge.
The test shoot arrangement form included the set, as well as the date and time, and even the actors. Everything that would be needed on the day was listed and accounted for. Thus we made sure it would go smoothly before even starting to shoot. Our group didn't have to change much on the form going from the test shoot to the main shoot, although we did learn how the process worked, as well as how the process keeps everything running smoothly. The main change we will make, if we make any, will be to the actors section, as of course all the actors have their own lives and we have to work to their schedules as well as ours, and resolve conflicts by replacing them if necessary.
We decided to do an animatic so that we could see any flaws in the current iteration of our opening that either we didn't pick up in the previous plans of our opening, like the timeline and storyboard, or possibly flaws that we couldn't pick up because of the static mediums we were using up to this point. It would also be the first time we saw our opening in video format, with all the different components working together live.
Our finished animatic. This post will describe why we created it as well as how we created it. Overall it was quite a useful thing to do for a number of reasons. Click to play.
First, we took one lesson to shoot all the shots needed as still photos, using our storyboard as a guide. We decided to shoot it in a classroom, without the full range of props and so on, to save time. We had a dilemma that other groups didn't, namely our large group of characters, but we simply had people play multiple characters while wearing slightly yet noticeably different clothing to signify who they were. Then we recorded all the lines at the specially set-up microphone computer, doing different voices for each of the characters to further set them apart. It was a very short process compared to doing a full video, which was quite beneficial as the animatic was supposed to be a quick test to ensure everything was going well.
Next was the edit, which was the most time-consuming part. Thus, we created an edit schedule to split the editing time fairly between us while making sure we finished by the deadline.
The animatic editing schedule. It made sure we all knew when we had to come in to do some editing, and allowed a lot of time so that we would easily make the deadline. It let us choose slots when we had free time, such as at lunch or during free periods, and organised us all on one master copy so that we would have less chance for mistakes than across three copies. Click to enlarge.
The editing itself went quite smoothly. We worked in logos, titles, camera movements (with visual indicators) and basically everything we would have in the real version.
At the end of it, we had learnt that our opening actually did work quite well as a video- stuff that was harder to plan on the previous documents, such as the opening logos and the music, were able to be reviewed, and we learnt that they worked well too. However, some of the shots with the Officer didn't flow very well, especially in terms of the zoom into the Detective as the Officer leaves, so another thing we learnt was that we had to change those to be more natural, which we did as soon as we were done.
After the timeline, we decided to create a storyboard. Although the timeline mapped out our opening in a clear way for the first time, we wanted a detailed, visual guide to each shot in order, as even with diagrams the text-based format of the timeline wouldn't really cut it going forwards, for example when the time came to create a shootboard and so on. We thus decided on a storyboard- it would allow us to see how each shot worked individually as well as together.
This is a shot of the whole storyboard. As with the timeline, closer, easier-to-read pictures will be provided where relevant, but hopefully this wide picture shows you how every shot has been planned out to work together yet are also robust and detailed on their own. You can also see the colour key, explained later, in action, one of the ways we made information available at a glance. Click to enlarge.
To start, we created a key for the sticky-notes we would be using. This would ensure we could take one look at the shot and, simply from the colour, know what the framing should be. This, combined with the simple style of illustration, meant that it would be incredibly easy for us to get information from the storyboard quickly and visually.
A closer shot of the storyboard key, along with some of the shots. Hopefully from the illustrations you can see how the colour of the stickynotes matches the key, and how easy it is to get information such as basic framing from the storyboard. Here you can even see how we integrated overlaying titles into our storyboard. We knew at this point that we were going to use them, so including that information in the storyboard's simple visual layout was quite beneficial. Click to enlarge.
Then, we started turning the fairly brief shot ideas on our timeline into more detailed stickynotes for our storyboard, combining all three tracks into one. This meant the actual visual component of the shot, as well as basic dialogue, special camera movements and so on, were all available by just looking at the shot. This was very useful for us- it helped avoid the confusion of swapping characters by showing us each character's intial, as well as how each shot naturally flowed into the next, through dialogue creating a conversation as well as shot reverse shot. This meant we should, if all went well, never get confused again.
An extract from around the middle of our storyboard. You should be able to see the variety of shot types, as well as how we have illustrated zooming the camera in one of the shots. Some dialogue forming part of the conversation can be seen, as can swapping between characters- look at the initials. Click to enlarge.
When we finished, we had learnt that we needed to be careful about how each shot moved into the next so as not to be too confusing, because of our unique situation with the high amount of characters changing places. We also realised we didn't have to change anything at this point, as we had succeeded in creating a quick visual guide, although we acknowledged we may have to change things in the future, which is why we chose the medium of stickynotes that can easily be moved around and changed.
We decided to create a timeline to plan out our opening sequence. We decided to do this because of the nature of our plot- lots of interviews are condensed into what is essentially one conversation, so to avoid the confusion of crossing story threads we wanted to map out exactly what was going to happen.
Here is our full, finished timeline. As you can see, on the left it contains the three tracks we needed to plan to map out our plot, namely video, voice, and sound. Do not worry if you cannot read much else, close-ups of relevant areas will be provided later on. Click to enlarge.
The first step of the process was planning out the visual component of our opening, which we then used as a base for the other two tracks. We used simple yet expressive terms as well as visual aides to create what was for us an easy-to-read basic layout of our story. We found that not all our shots would necessarily fit, so we tried to compromise by creating extra space on the top right, as you can see in the image below.
The 'END' section of our timeline. You should be able to see our visual depiction of the arc shot on the left, a montage of character shots in the centre (with the initials of the characters concerned taking up the video portion, and the description of the shot being handled by the dialogue,) and where we have tried to make space without ruining the flow of the timeline on the right. Click to enlarge.
Our second step, which actually started during the first step to ensure flow, was to get down dialogue. This started in the first step so that we would have a better idea of what was going on in each shot- the changing characters meant that just the video on its own was confusing, but including dialogue at key points meant we could see how shots fit together. We went on to fill in the rest of the voice track, making sure everything sounded like a coherent conversation.
The 'MIDDLE' section of our timeline. You should be able to see snippets of conversation, with the character's initials being used to save space, as well as areas where we are as of yet unsure exactly what is going to be said. An example of this would be the vague "Raj being banter" on the left- this is quite casual and non-specific but descriptive enough to keep the flow going and let us map out the opening. Click to enlarge.
The third and final step was to simply fill in the sound track and then make final checks. We did this last so we could place the music's beginning and ending exactly at the beginning or end of certain shots. This helped us line up the timeline's story with the shared vision in our heads. We were also able to further build on the previous two tracks by adding detail in the form of sound effects.
The 'BEGINNING' section of our timeline. You should be able to see how the music lines up with the video, and how we have made the music go from non-diegetic to diegetic at a chosen point to integrate it with the visual component of the opening. There is also an example of a sound effect on the right. Click to enlarge.
By the end of the process, we had a full timeline. This gave us a non-confusing text layout of our plot that we could reference whenever we wanted to. We learnt that our story was good and coherent so far, which bode well for later in the project, but also found out that we would have to work on the dialogue more, and maybe shorten the video a bit.
At this stage, I am quite hopeful for the future of the project. Despite still being in the very early stages of the project, we have already made quite a few decisions that will have quite a big influence on our film- however, we are very happy with these decisions, and can all visualise just how they will work together later on to create the opening we seem to all be able to see in our heads. So far, this film idea is shaping up to be something I would actually like to watch were it made full-length, which is good both concerning target audience as of course I am in the target age group, but also bodes well for how interesting and enjoyable our sequence can be. You can make the most conventional, textbook film in the world, but if it isn't entertaining or intriguing or anything like that, then it probably won't be very good. The actual group work itself is also going well, as we seem to all work well together- we haven't had any major clashes yet, just discussions about the viability of each other's ideas that never end with one person annoyed or disheartened, but do result in a higher standard/quality for our project, and I am confident we would be able to overcome it should it happen in the future. We are getting the work done in an efficient and timely manner, and splitting it quite equally too. Overall, I think the project is going quite well. We have set a standard for ourselves, hopefully quite a good one, and are on track to keep this standard up for the rest of the project, plus we have the foundations of ideas for us to build on at this standard.
