Weeks 4-8 BLOG 2 - FLM215 (SAE STUDIO)

CASTING AND AUDITION WORKSHOP

On the day of the casting auditions workshop my group was the last to go. We watched how the previous groups worked with the actors and spotted their potential mistakes and what worked for them. So that when our turn came we could come out having the best audition. However I don't believe we achieved this when we sat down with the actors. All the previous groups just read from the script and walked through some simple yet in depth scenes. We quickly learned we could not take the same approach as the others since my script is so different to theirs. We discovered we would have to take more of an improvisational route to get performances out of our actors, since the script required you to be much more in the moment and a much more intense head space than the previous scripts.

We initially just tried reading through scene two where both characters speak together amongst a crowd. This proved a little too awkward to do without actually having a crowd with us. We attempted to block out the rest of the class and try to create the scene for the actors, but the performances felt very forced and the actors had no idea what to do. Partly because they had not read the script and because of how we set the scene and explained the characters to them. After we sensed we weren't getting anywhere with this particular technique we instead went straight to the heart of the script which is it's last scene. Where the characters are displaying the most emotion and where the real struggle is. We gave each actor a goal and then threw away the script. Both of their goals concerned the cure that only one of them had acquired, both characters wanting it for themselves. After a few takes of just letting the characters ad-lib dialogue and play with these characters they felt much more comfortable. By the end of the audition we were successful in extracting an intense and moving performance, and if given a little more time, could have been made even better as the actors by then understood the characters and the story.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP

At this time our pre-production for Quarantined is moving along nicely although could always be moving faster and more efficiently. We have completed many of the tasks on the task allocations sheet and in the process of completing the rest. I feel like the production is moving but I do have some worries which concern our location and actors. We do not have a location locked in as of yet, the current one we are looking at is absolutely perfect but is extremely expensive. I am currently in communication with the current owners which are VicTrack. At the moment they are asking for $700 for two days, this is what I've managed to pull it down to after the initial offer of $1000per day.

So it seems if I cannot bring that price down any lower we will have to look at other options.

Steph has kindly offered some suggestions in Daylesford which do look beautiful and will be free of cost.

This seems like the best option for the moment. She has given me the details of the current owners of one of the locations who I am also in contact with and waiting on a response to whether or not we will be able to film there.

I have been uploading all of my documents concerning locations and casting up on our Google Drive inside the appropriately named folders.

In terms of how the crew is functioning I am quite happy. My only concerns are for Victor, who has a history of not being reliable, and this is starting to become more apparent. He is becoming increasingly more difficult to contact and I find myself completing the work that I've already asked him to do. The other concern is for Vedanth, who is not turning up to class and important meetings. He assures me he will complete his tasks and send it all to me but I am yet to receive anything. Other than this everyone is working very well. I have spent a lot of time with Jelene discussing the script and her plans for the film.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

These cinematography workshops have been extremely useful, not only for the benefit of Quarantined but our work outside of this project. I found both the theoretical class and the practical very interesting. The main point I took away from the theoretical class was how to correctly format out shot lists/schedules and just how much time is needed to complete just one simple shot.

Coming out of the class with a proper shot list and a plan for the practical workshop helped tremendously. It gave Kavin, Jelene a chance to map out their visual plans for the film and establish their visual boundaries for the film, such as having the camera never leaving our main character and always having him on left of frame.

Going into the practical workshop, I do not have the exact references Kavin had, however our style was very Children of Men inspired (along with a few other films). Visual references can again be found in our Google Drive (link above).

We spent the practical workshop purely focusing on how we would shoot our crowd scene, utilising minimum amounts of extras to fill the frame in addition to our camera movement. This workshop helped Kavin get a better feel of the shoulder rig and how to track with it. By the end of the day he was getting exceptionally smooth and clear footage with just the shoulder rig. We also learned a multitude of tips from the wandering lecturers that included how to hold the rig without fatiguing yourself and how to move smoothly with it. We also got given some useful information about how to make a scene look more chaotic through just what lens we are using and playing with stabilization control.

This workshop gave us an idea of what shots will work for us and what won't, by the end of the workshop we had everyone outside in a make-shift crowd while we tracked a subject through it. This test footage turned out great and we are looking forward to how this will turn out once the film is done.

KPI MEETINGS

Soft skills I needed to improve on, was my ability to set deadlines and be stern with crew members. This issue mainly arose through the communication problems with Victor and Vedanth. I had to learn to put my foot down harder than I was. This is something that I have always found difficult because I'm just not that sort of person. However I understand what I need to work on and I am prepared to do what needs to be done and I believe I have improved after having this meeting and going into the final weeks of the trimester. I intend to improve myself by being more prepared to take the initiative and by not being afraid to come down and talk about the serious issues instead of skirting around them and finding other solutions.

I believe that despite the ones mentioned previously the crew is functioning well, some a little bit more than others. Josh has been instrumental through the starting weeks of production, taking on a large of amount of extra work not only from my production but from others as well. This has come back to bite him a little in the long run because now he is so busy and I've had take back over some of the things he was doing previously, but he has put his role as production designer as his first priority which is all I can ask for. He was initially helping me and Victor manage the casting calls and group email, finding actors and extras for our shoot. He picked up a lot of Victor's slack in this department but we were falling behind in the casting department so I had to step in and redo a couple things and organise auditions.

GREENLIGHTING PRESENTATION

We were given an amber light after our greenlighting presentation. I was still waiting on call sheets and a schedule from Vedanth and we had only locked in our main actors that day. I also had to lock a couple more minor roles, one of which pulled out at the last minute, which caused a complete redo of the schedule for our first day. I had a couple of things to print off and place inside the production bible, however other than that we were ready to go. I had all of the location permits and ESTA forms ready and plans for how everyone would get there and our catering for each day.

Everyone had put in and we all knew what we needed to do to get the greenlight. With Vedanth 'officially' dropping out of the shoot we were delayed on getting the greenlight, but thanks to Jelene and myself we sorted everything out and we were able to shoot in our allocated time slot and it went well.

Written by

Aedan Bruitzman