Time for an intro

Heya, just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Sarah Noblett, and I am 16 (nearly 17) years old. I got involved with MYVP through my college when they were there, I saw media and jumped to the chance of doing it, you could say i'm a media fanatic because I love it so much, the business side of it and the production side. This is the second time in my life that I have ever blogged and the first time was just maybe a month ago when I had to do it as a part of my A/S Media coursework, and I just thought i'd be good at it again so when this oppurtunity came up, I decided to try it. Not sure if its something I want to carry on in the future but lifes all about experimenting, if you don't experiment how do you know what you want to do in life.

First day of filming

The first day of filming I thought was amazing yet tiring. Our first location was at St.Peters Church in Ancoats which was beutiful, inside was amazing, and there was this one little spot that had three stain glass windows over it and from there the sun just beamed through projecting a little yellow light on the floor, which got used to its full advantage during filiming. We didn't really have to do alot of shots inside the building because it was quiet enough to run through without any distractions because for the bit that they were filming the only sound they wanted was a voice over of our main character as she walks out around this gigantic space that she was in, I presume also they wanted to hear her footsteps walking across the room because the boom was held near her feet sometimes just to get that right sound, after everything was done within the church we decided to have a dinner break, I was able to a little sun tan before I got to hot and had to move in the shade.

After dinner some people went to go and set dress a kitchen in Urmston for tomorrows filming, where as me and 7 people including the two actresses (which were fantastic may I add) stayed behind to film some more, outside of the church this time there was dialouge going on so they needed utter silence, but that didn't really happen that much because of the builders that were working right next to us, also we had to stop because an airplane flew over just as ACTION was shouted, but in the end we got the dialogue and action that we needed for this shot before we went on a walk around the church to do some more takes. This was the hardest to film because there were cobbles on the roads and as cars drove over them they made the loudest noise possible, so everytime a car went passed we had to stop then start again, I ended up being the person making sure that no cars drove past and ran everyone over when they were filming on the road I was so scared because I didn't think the cars would stop, but they did and waited patiently. As we walked around, we found a small hole that looked like a port hole in one of the walls of the buildings that were closed up and when you looked inside it you could see miniature sowing machines moving ever so slightly, it definatly had the WOW! factor this ended up being used because it was just so cute.

At the end of the day, it turned out to be a very succesful day, with alot of good shots to be put into the film.

Day 1 of Filming

Before I even got there our actors had been working hard, recording the dialogue that was going to be the voice over for the church shots. When I arrived it was time to move onto set and begin filming. They were filming inside a big church which had been half converted into an exhibition space. The building was beautiful inside out. It still had some very traditional looking bits as well. One particular place in the church caught my attention. The hall was big and very empty, except from a patch near the side that had a small rug, on it was a chair and a table. It fascinated me as it was the only bit of furniture in the building, and it stood alone.
The crew got to work lining up the shots, setting up the camera. They filmed Patricia (who plays our main character) walking around the church. some of the shots they filmed were going to have voice over. They also wanted to get a few shots of her walking where they could hear her feet moving around. They filmed her walk across the vast space. Patricia was very professional considering how much experience she'd had. For the scenes where they wanted to hear her feet moving, everyone had to keep deadly silent. Of course as you do with filming we had a few interruptions. Unfortunately outside there was a lot of building work going on, so we picked up every noise via the boom. I also managed to take my picture at just the wrong time meaning the flash affected the shot and Maria had to shout cut. oops. All part of the process eh?
After filming inside the church we took a quick lunch break. Actors and crew get very hungry when they've been working hard.
I then went on to dress set the kitchen in Urmston. We set up the kitchen in the community centre to look like a kitchen in a home. It's now set up and ready for filming there tomorrow.

Aimee Sutton

Filming tomorrow!

So tomorrow, filming commences in Ancoats. First in a big massive church, then down Ancoats canal. From what Sasha told me, it seems like it's going to be such a good day. Some of the group are going into Urmston to dress the kitchen for the kitchen scene.
I'll keep you posted on the events of tomorrow right after!

Auditions

This Saturday we started off the audition process by auditioning three actors to play the part of the best friend.
This was a very different experience for me as usually I'd be the one auditioning, so in this case it was nice not to feel so nervous.
The three women we auditioned were very good, professional actors. All of them had different styles. Here are a few things I noticed about them as individual actors. The first actor got into character very well and there was a distinct change from when she was being herself to when she was playing the character. The second actor used the space very well and she also liked to include props with her monologue, this is a technique some actors like to use to help them feel more in character, her audition went well. The third actor was very confidant and filled the room with her lively presence. I felt a little sorry for the women auditioning as I'm sure this was a bigger panel than they've had to audition in front of before, but they managed well. I loved auditioning them, telling them about our film and our ideas for it was great. It felt nice to be the one who gets to make the final decision.
I was worried it was going to be tricky deciding which would play our character best. However after we'd seen them all perform their monologues it was clear who was going to be best for our film. I felt happy about the decision we made about the actors. I thoroughly enjoyed the auditioning process.
Next we will be doing auditions for our main character which I think is going to be a little bit tougher but we shall see.
Not long until we start filming. At the moment we're still sorting out props and fixing our locations, but with one actor sorted we shall shortly be saying "lights, camera, action!"

Interview With Kasim Mitchell

I wanted to find out how the participants of the Uncommon Shorts project thought the process was going. So I did an interview with Kasim to find out about his thoughts and feelings. He had quite an opinion on some particular points, but in general he was very chatty and easy to interview.



How did you find out about the Uncommon Shorts Film Project?
I found out about it through my mother who received an email about it from her work colleagues.

What made you want to join the project?
I like to create and design. I enjoy writing stories and making plays for my friends.

What do you enjoy most about the project?
Interacting with the other people, just chilling and chatting.

What do you think about the film's story?
Awful. I don't like it because it's dull and boring. I do not watch stuff like that on TV, so why would I be involved in making one? I feel like a hypocrite.

Because you're involved with this kind of film, do you think it makes you appreciate it more?
I love what I'm doing, I don't particularly like the storyline. But I'm gaining experience and I'm learning to appreciate it a little.

What are you looking forward to as an end result?
Being able to watch a film that was made by me.

What do you want to take away from this experience?
I want this to go on my CV. I want to be able to go to a job interview with this as my experience. Also just learning about different film and camera shots.

Have you enjoyed the film project so far?
I find it really interesting. Even when we have to get down to work, I still really love it! I find everything really great.

Interview conduction by Aimee Sutton.
With Thanks to Kasim.

The Importance of Storyboarding

Storyboarding, setting all your ideas out and getting an idea of what each shot is going to look like. It can be a daunting task and for major feature length films, storyboarding can take a long time. However it is worth it, it can in fact save you time.
So why do we use storyboarding? Here are a few reasons:

It's economic, it can save you time. If you have a well worked out storyboard, it can save time in editing later. If you know exactly how many shots and what the shots are meant to look like, you won't have to add anything last minute.

It prepares you for exactly what your film is going to look like. In that sense it can save you from disappointment. With your storyboard you will know what each scene will look like and it will give you a clear idea of how it's all going to work out. You can practically see your film just by looking at your storyboard.

It's ready. Hitchcock's storyboards were so detailed and so well worked out that they could be read and fully understood. A bit like a cartoon. This made sure his film was ready to be shot.

So before just going right ahead and filming, we had to make sure we had a well worked out storyboard. We did this by jotting down what was in each scene, then we did some sketched storyboards. Finally we went out and took pictures, lots and lots of pictures. Each was a shot that we would take with the camera. Looking at our full storyboard now we can see what our film is going to look like come shooting day.