Direction Unit: Title sequence

The course group came together and had a discussion regarding ideas for the Title sequence and a lot was I talked about it terms of using shots of the Vinters park as it is a central link to all the episodes.

So I thought of a montage idea in which clips from each episode is used together to make up the title sequence.

Direction Unit: Edit Cut 2

I have now reached the second stage of edit and have successfully but painfully cut down my episode to the required 3 minute mark. A lot of establishing shots that I really hoped to use have had to be rejected; not the easiest decision I have to admit but has to be done.

Direction Unit: Park Story - Edit

I have now uploaded my footage and started editing.
Overall I am pleased with the footage I got from the shoot, the only one I am not too satisfied with is the angle of one of my shots which was too wide and another of the shovel digging into the ground which I didn't watch back instantly and isn't now what I wanted as the digging seems effortless.
The first draft of everything is in place but its up to 3 minutes 45 seconds at the moment so a LOT of cutting out to do!! Oh dear!!

Direction Unit: Filming

My shoot is now successfully over after a few battles with the weather.
The weather today wasn't the worst but frequent brief showers meant interruptions and waiting around a bit but as time went on the weather cleared up especially as we moved to the digging scene where we were protected by the trees.

For this shoot I decided to experiment doing a two-camera shoot. This worked quite well and easier than I pre-judged. It meant being able to get two different shots/angle at a time cutting down the amount of retakes required.
The only negative thing I can think about it is probably the restriction in shot angles while trying to avoid the 2nd camera getting in shot. But then again an extra take could always be done in order to get that tighter angle.
Also, another thing I picked on which could give me a problem in post production will be the fact that both cameras are different - I was shooting with the studio Sony XD cam and a Canon 5D MK II so their qualities were physically different. However, this isn't unsolvable as beauty of Colour correction exists.

Direction Unit: Script Update

 I have had to make some changes to my script due to unforeseen circumstances:

One of my stated props is a BMW which I was going to use one owned by a friend of mine but unfortunately he is unable to make my shoot date so I will have to make do with another.
Possibilities: Mine (Again) or one of my course colleagues.

After the peer reviewing session, I realised that a vital requirement in the brief stated that we begin our episode and end it at the entrance of the park so I will have to change the ending of my story/script.
Instead of ending with a bang as initially intended, one of my characters will now exit the park at the end.

Paper Talk

Our short project brief was to create a 1 minute film using a prop and 2 characters; having one of the characters approach the other with a note which had some sort of message which the receiving character had to react to.
My approach to this was by having a message that would evoke a negative reaction on the receiving character. I also thought as my characters were a male and female, the note could be relative 'divorce' i.e. the female handing over the divorce papers to the male character. During filming I decided to play around with the audience expectations and portray the male character as optimistic and reassuring only to be approached by the female character, leaving him shocked and dissapointed by the message in the note.

Summer project - Mechanical ME

During the summer holidays, myself and Neill Morris helped run a film lab course as ambassadors at the Uca Rochester campus.
People of different ages applied to take part and were divided into three groups to produce an episode each of a web-series titled 'Mechanical ME'. Myself, Neil and the other ambassadors involved had to act as producers for each episodes taking charge of a group each.
The course production ran for just over a week leaving each group 3 days to film and 2 days to edit after pre-production. I was in-charge of episode 2 and due to shortage of time, in-experience amongst the peers and  other difficulties, I ended up also editing the episode.
Here is a link to all three episodes... MechanicalMe Web Series