Tidal Barrier project

Edit update

2011-07-14T21:30:00.002+01:00

I never meant to take this long to post, and in this case I have just been too busy to write something. But quickly, I am in the middle of a new edit. I have made some changes in the second segment. I felt that there was something not right in the middle of the film, around the arrangement of the scenes. Last week I though I had found the answer, but I was sidelined by a deadline for a new project I am working on. In the meantime my sound designer is waiting (more on that later). I plan to get back to the edit on the weekend. More details to follow.

Trailers

2011-06-16T22:10:00.003+01:00

So I am also waiting for a revised version of the music from Joakim, plus a few missing pieces. And today I began searching for a sound designer.
Thinking back to the edit I began thinking that perhaps I could think about trailers. Now I don't underestimate the task. I think this is very special skill, in many ways very different from editing the feature itself. But still I thought I could see some ideas coming out of the edit, and the music has helped to solidify them. So here goes.

Well what...?

2011-06-05T13:39:00.002+01:00

Well a long time between posts. It can be explained by a combination of frustration and despondency and a lack of anything substantial to say.
When I last posted I was preparing to go into a studio to begin sound design. That never happened, and today I am preparing to search for a new sound designer. No great surprise that when you begin post-production you are inevitably at the mercy of other people's schedules and decisions.
More than six months later the only progress that has been made is some revisions to the edit, and finally, after a long wait, the music has been added. But I cannot say that I am unhappy. When I showed the revised edit to Lukas (he assisted JC on many occasions) this past Thursday I was filled with a new confidence. The music and the changes have made a substantial difference to the film. I have a new clarity towards the whole film, and the direction I need to take.
All along people have suggested that what I really needed was an editor, and I agree. I know for a fact that the film would've been better, and better faster (though I will say editing it myself has meant that I learned an invaluable amount about writing, directing, and creating a film). The problem, where to find this editor? I needed someone who was experienced, and experienced of unconventional narratives. In both cases such a person would be hard to find, and when found would invariably be busy or expensive or both.
So now looking at the edit? The music has made the future direction of the sound design very clear, which was one of the reasons I waited for Joakim to get me the music before I began the search. I feel so much clearer about it so many ways that, the technical issues aside, I feel I could do it myself. I am actually quite keen to go out in the world and begin to collect sounds and then start layering them into the edit.
And showing it to Lukas, (who make a lot of good comments, but one stood out above all, which is that there was a clear contradiction between a loose abstract structure and certain well-constructed scenes, and why...? This meant in the revisions I began to look for ways I could loosen up these well-constructed scenes, to deconstruct them) another way out of the editor dilemma...which is to find an editor, or even two or three to provide some paper edits, after viewing over a day, which I could use to finalise the edit. Hence the time commitment and costs would be less of a problem. And considering where we are at with the film, that is closer to completion than at the beginning, how much interest would an editor have in the film anyway?
So some revisions to the edit, some revisions to the music, which Joakim has promised to deliver by the end of the week, and then the two-pronged search begins.

Post-production update

2010-10-31T15:58:00.003Z

Well I have not posted in a long time. There is a little news but it is exciting.
Basically I am at the stage where I can collaborate with others on the sound, but that also means waiting for them to clear their schedules.
First, Joakim is busy in Oslo working on the sketches for the music. He expects to send me something by mid-November. Of course this is just the first stage. I will have any number of changes to make.
Several weeks ago I brought the latest edit up to Roland and the rest of the guys at Sound Disposition. From that showing we agreed the next step would be to spend a week playing and exploring. We will be using the sound library but also playing with instruments and other recorded sounds. By that stage I will also have Joakim's music sketches as well. Fundamentally we want the sound to affect the edit, to push back. I imagine myself recutting the picture to follow the sound design.
The playing session is scheduled for the last week of November.
Altogether I am quite excited about this next stage, if rather impatient.

Evolution just doesn't give up...

2010-08-23T20:27:00.005+01:00

So I have just yesterday finished a new evolutionary edit.
I really feel that it the film is ready for the next two steps, so on Thursday I am bringing it to Roland and his sound design colleagues to get their feedback. The other step, is to brief the composer, Joakim, in Norway and get him to begin his sketches.
But I promised more on what the edit it contains.
I already reported that it now includes two sets of abstracts, the void, and Norway. I have done as I said, and began to differentiate them. The Norway footage no longer include slow-motion or any other non-natural effect. What makes them abstract is a combination of their position in the film, that is they break the film time, the juxtaposition of the individual shots, which by their nature are disconnected and incomplete, and then music and/or sound design. I haven't completely abandoned effects, however. Some of the pieces or incidental sound, such as the small boat idling, I have kept at 40% speed. I feel that music and sound effects provide an entry into the unconscious. The viewer might not be aware consciously of the effect, just know it doesn't sound right.
But more on what Robert and Nathan, the editor, gave as feedback...
I think I already reported that Robert said it was the first time he saw the film. I think I put this to the fact that I waded in, and began to attempt to bring a rhythm to the edit. Some of this came from my friend Sarah, who suggested I examine each element closely again - does it serve the film? Is it clear? Of course I had, and each element did serve the film and did point in the right direction, except that there were often three elements achieving the same thing. The viewer was confused because they excepted something new, not the same again. Some choices, and then some cutting.
Now Nathan being editor gave me some basic technical feedback...the way to cut from one shot to another, focusing on the reaction of Claire, instead of Paul's speech. Some of this I could respond to, some of this was impossible. I had made a lot of choices in the shooting which narrowed my choices in the edit. I could not regret it, as there was no other way to make the film. With experience I might have shot scene x differently, but I couldn't have known that before jumping in as I did.
Still the most fundamental suggestion was in cutting one sequence, the domestic fight between Claire and Paul that begins near the top of the film. Now to be fair, Robert and many others have expressed some confusion at this scene. Why does Claire stop Paul from leaving, when later she walks out on him, without even saying goodbye? My response was of course that she was conflicted. She doesn't know why she wants him to say. Relationships are messy. Nathan's and Robert's response was that not enough is revealed to account for this contradiction. So I removed the sequence. I struggled to solve some problems. This scene anchored the abstract sequence that started the film- what could I attach it to now? This was the most fundamental problem I needed to solve in this version.
So this was the edit that I saw with Cameron several weeks ago, and it was very strange the effect it had. Suddenly all the rest came clear. There were no pace problems, except perhaps some sequences were too fast. These were the bits I tightened up previously, fruitlessly trying to solve the more fundamental problem. I had to go in and restore some bits to sort out the rhythm.
So all of this I have included in this new edit which I will see for the first time at Roland's new studios on Thursday. More to report then.

The edit progresses...

2010-08-11T16:58:00.008+01:00

For the first time in a long time I have a lot to report.
But also realise why I have struggled to keep the blog up to date: editing is more akin to writing than directing. It is solitary, introspective and causes me to be more introverted.
So, to update from the last post, I finished what I refer to as the radical edit the week before last. However, it essentially remains unseen, except for the very first section, which I showed to David. He did not have a lot to say, but what he did say came down to this: this seems to open up a whole chapter, this is another film entirely, this is not what you wrote, or directed, this could work, but do you want it to?
So for now I think I will take a look at it myself another night but for now...
The other edit, the evolutionary edit was finished just before the radical edit and now has been seen by David, Cameron, Robert and Nathan the editor (more on that).
I was heartened by the reaction. Clearly we are making progress. Most importantly, the new idea, to develop the abstract sections were well received and have gone a long way to solving the issue that I have been struggling to solve for the past months: what is Claire thinking at the beginning? If the viewer cannot form their own idea they will become bored 1/2 to 2/3 the way through the film due to confusion. I have seen it enough times in viewings.
I created two types of abstracts: one focused on Norway, the other on the forest and the void. I have not been able to understand or articulate why this is the case, but I suppose I could start by stating Claire is preoccupied by both these questions.
I began, as I have already described, by slowing time and playing with film texture. Just yesterday I began to think that this might be appropriate for the forest/void sections, but not for the Norway sections. I am not sure why, but it would solve one problem, which is that some people confused these two parts, wondered why there was a Norwegian tree in the middle of an English forest. So this would go some way in ensuring no one confused them.
I am now in the middle of a new edit, which is a response to the feedback I received last week. Some of this came from Cameron, who came along as a runner on a number of our shoots, but very especially Robert and Nathan. Nathan is an editor, and he and Robert managed to give me a paper edit, which has been more than useful.
More on this feedback in the next post.
In the meantime I hope to have the new edit finished by the weekend.

Radical?

2010-07-20T22:03:00.003+01:00

So my plans for my new edit have so far not come off. Basically just a matter of people being too busy to take a look. It will happen...I just heard from David who had a look yesterday, but in the meantime I have some more time to think and wonder, have I gone far enough?
This is not an entirely new thought. I have been thinking of this for a time, and this came as a suggestion from my friend Sarah on a number of occasions.
First I wondered if the straight, linear structure was ideal. Second, I imagined an editor swooping in, and then announcing a radical plan: move that here, that there, ignore the linear structure.
So I sat in the garden this evening thinking through this as a principle. Of course you can't just decide to be radical.
No, I had to wonder instead if what I wanted to do was attenuate Claire's journey, and to do so was to rearrange, and as a consequence break time. In essence this is creating a film that followed the dictates of an internal journey, expressed externally as sense, emotion, sound, rhythm, feeling, regardless of linear time.
So now my next step. At least I have to give it a try.

Crisis overcome?

2010-07-01T09:17:00.008+01:00

It is one of those situations, where you wonder if the solution is a solution, or just desperation, a confirmation of the true extent of the problem.
What I mean is that these past two weeks I have been very busy editing new material, and making some mid-weight changes to the edit, particularly the first segment of the film. I had planned to show the new edit last weekend, but I had to postpone, as I had not finished all of them yet.
It comes down to fundamental problem with the film, which I have been struggling to solve: the story is still too abstract, the audience becomes bored about half-way through. I had struggled to increase the pace, but I think it really comes down to confusion, they don't know what is going on. My friend Sarah, after seeing an edit in April, said she did not know what Claire was thinking, specifically in the first segment. Almost everyone agreed that the first segment of the film was the weakest, that when Claire leaves Paul the story picks up. Essentially Claire is a passive character in the first segment, which is problematic.
So how to show what Claire was thinking? I dare not write and shoot more material. I believe that at a point you need to make your film with what you have.
So I looked within the film and realised that there was elements present, some developed, some undeveloped, which are abstractions of the story which is in a way all about what Claire is thinking. First there is the title sequence, which uses Claire's trip into Norway as background. In the story the viewer will wondered what this referred to and this was answered when Claire goes to Norway, 2/3 through the film .
Then there are what I refer to as the Rothko sequences, several scenes which are centred around Claire asleep, but referrenced unconscious elements, particularly sounds. In viewings these went unnoticed, and I knew in the back of my mind that I had either to remove them or develop them.
So I have decided to develop these and see where it takes the story. First, I decided that I could think outside of referring to these as Claire's dreams, which freed me to think about how they could take place in the story on a purely emotional level rather as some part of pyschological-realism, a Freudian dream of Claire's. Not for me, this.
So a battle to define these points, first, which means that I may have to radically reshape parts of the edit, shape it to an emotional journey, rather than plot. Of course the story has never been about plot, so this is a good thing.
Then to find and develop the material that would make up these sequences. In this I was thrilled to look about and find all the mistakes I had made could come to value, specifically sequences which I reshot because they lacked detail and did not form a coherent whole. Now these negatives were positives. For example, I reshot the forest sequence, at the end of the second segment, where Claire finally meets her fears. Now the old footage could be a part of an an unconcious idea that Claire has earlier in the story, which she later completes in full. The incoherence and lack of detail in these old version now becomes a plus, an expression of a half-complete idea.
Finally there is the form that these take. I set out some rough rules, first that the static shots were shorter, that shots with motion were slowed down - yes, I am afraid that this could be a gimmick. Sound is especially important, and I played with slowing down and/or reversing sounds that occurred naturally within these sequences.
An unintended consequence was that this meant that some of the other abstract sequences no longer had to carry as much meaning and could be shorter.
Where I am now struggling is seeing the whole picture whent these new sequences are included. For this I need an audience once again.

A crisis or a natural turn?

2010-06-15T22:37:00.002+01:00

So I showed the edit this past week, over two nights.
One to Joe, who acted as our very capable 1st AD, and works as an editor and a filmmaker as well.
The other, two friends, Oliver and Julia.
A lot of comments, good feedback. Oliver and Julia especially were able to find their own meaning in the film, which at the end, is the kind of reaction I wanted.
But overall what I found difficult is that no can agree on what is good, what is bad, where it works and where it doesn't, and so the way forward. I know the edit needs work, I know that are some problems I won't be able to solve, but I thought at least I would be able to see some way forward. But I don't.
The fundamental problem? It is still too confusing. I have always intended it to be an open text, but it is still too open. I need to be clearer but I am not at all certain how to go about this.
So one can conclude either that there is no hope, which is something no one want to contemplate, or that I require an editor with greater skills than mine, and better skills than the average. This needs to be someone special.
I should explain. I have made some changes, and for the most part these changes have been successful, but now I believe that we need to make a lot more progress, a leap.
Next steps? I have some notes from the edit, some obvious problems, a way of making incremental improvements and I will make these and show them in two weeks time. And then I will begin the search.

Music and placement

2010-05-29T14:26:00.008+01:00

I have revised the edit, added the new material, so where is it?
Well two shots did not work, both of them street shots. One, after the 'girl's night in/out', suggests them driving off into the city, into excitement. The other just as Natalie leaves Claire's flat, after she asked her to look after her flat. Claire looks up into the wider world, up and out. But none of this comes across in the shots we did. When JC and I did them I was not convinced. There are compromises and compromises, but this a step too far. So they did not work, but now, in the scheme of the film I wonder if they matter.
But I should feel a sense of accomplishment. If I accept this 'loss' then I have completed the film. It has been over two years now. How could it take so long? Well, one reality hit, in this 'slow cook' method, that as long as you think 'there is still more to shoot' you never have to accept that you have to live with what you have in front of you. So, in the back of mind I didn't want to give in, to accept that this is it, for better or worse. So the last part, the smallest missing bits have taken as long as the larger part of the film.
So here we go.
The other part that I managed was to consider music. When I showed the last edit to my friend Sarah she suggested considering music in the sense of the big piece, not the 'played through' soundtrack, which suited my way of thinking and prejudices (I really hate the soundtrack as compensation for the lack of this or this).
I decided to place some temp track music into key places and think of what they must do after. This then is the beginning of my brief to the composer.

The opening, over the abstractions of the soft-focus void, the tree and the subsequent blackout.
To start I need to establish the film and the sound, the overarching themes, set the tone, suggest Claire's whole position and the scene to come. I need to a lot more thinking what this should be about.

Claire and Paul drive across London to have lunch.
A minor piece that stands for the ellipsis, the argument that turns their afternoon .

The Club scene, which is incidental, but still needs to express the hope and joy they are able to have together, tells us why they are together.

Claire follows Paul into the forest.
This must continue from the opening sequence, and suggest much to follow.

Claire explores her new neighbourhood, and comes across the forest again.
This is a minor piece, it must suggest both an end to this segment, but it is also a continuation, a reminder of what Claire is running from.

Claire's realisation that she cannot run from this idea, she enters the forest and faces the fear she has been running from.
This should also complete the sequence started at the beginning, developed in the forest with Paul, and reinforced above.

Claire returns to the cabin in Norway.
This follows closely on the forest sequence above, and needs to now look forward to the future, but also must speak to Claire's past in the cabin as well. We are entering another part of the film, so there needs to be change of tone and sense here.

Claire goes swimming.
A minor piece, here a suggestion of the peace that Claire could find.

After Claire leaves Natalie at the cabin, a montage of the landscape, of the places that Claire has been , but now without her.
I realised that this sequence is a death of sorts, and it must carry us into this final sequence, as Claire disappears.

So now more showings, and a lot more feedback. I just have to face it and go forward and see where we are.

Production update

2010-05-13T13:46:00.003+01:00

Well a long gap there.
For the most part I have been busy with other things, such as finding new ways to pay for the next phase of the film.
Last Sunday JC and got through the last of the pickups...but we may be still missing one shot. Hard to believe how difficult it is to just finish it. Still, that should be production. I am going off to iLab in a few hours to pickup the transferred footage. I have been two busy to allow this to sink in. I am now in a situation of having to live with what I have. Up until now I have always been thinking I could shoot this or that.
But I am away for a week, now, partly in Cannes. I am trying to set up on meeting, but generally just seeing some films and getting a bit of sun.
When I return it is time for the final rough edit and more feedback.

On to music

2010-04-11T20:39:00.003+01:00

First my apologies for not posting very regularly. It seems the closer I am to finishing the film the longer it takes to get anything done.
The pickups were shot on the 30th, but JC and I haven't been down to iLab to take a look yet. We are planning to go tomorrow. Essentially I finished the shoot and was off to Norway to visit some friends in a cabin high-up in the mountains. An necessary break and worth it.
But it wasn't all play. I spent a few days in Oslo and met up with Joakim who did music for a short film of mine several years ago. I intend to work with him again and I met up with him to brief him on the first steps.
So how did I come to this, deciding to include music in the film? I have said many times in this blog that I wanted to avoid include music to cover for the inadequacies of the film. I think now that I was being too hard. First all films will contain some parts where the director feels it fails and mine will be no exception. Second, music cannot be seen as another element, not as a cover for failure, but as another layer.
Of course I added musical elements long ago. Remember the non-music I wrote about that Roland provided me? The difference now is that those were sounds. There was no melody. The difference now is that I am thinking of melody and the way I saw myself to this point was hearing some music I thought could work.
I heard this music by composer Melissa Hui on a BBC documentary. It is called And Blue Sparks Burn.
You can hear a sample of the piece on Amazon. No. 8.
Of course I cannot use this particular music. I would need permission and some sort of rights deal, complicated and expensive - but hearing it in the edit (a temp track) helps me think how music could be used and in turn allows me to write a brief for Joakim.
What do I hear in this music? First the first violin thread. It is singular, like a voice, seeming to suggest our Claire. It it has an emotional quality, a song, but it is not sentimental or hackneyed. And the piano is never complete, always suggest more. At least that's my starting point.
Finally, it is not my intention to have a soundtrack, music running through each scene. Rather we will hear a piece as part of a montage sequence. With the music I will now need to decide if these sequences stand by themselves or require more cutting. The music will help with the final process of the rough edits.
So more work. JC and I still need to shoot a few more pieces, I need to incorporate the pickups into the next edit, and then include the temp-track music. And then more reaction.

Pickups - tomorrow

2010-03-29T17:17:00.001+01:00

Just a quick note to say that tomorrow we are doing most of the pickups.
We start in the park in Wanstead, and finish in the flat in Dalston.
More details to follow, along with some updates on music and more.

Feedback and music

2010-03-06T06:52:00.010Z

So I decided that I needed more feedback, particularly from some who have neither worked on the film or seen even parts of it previously. This past week I invited Paula, Ronny and Sarah to have a look. Ronny is involved in a way. He owns the cabin in Norway where we shot a third of the film, and he played a small part in it as well. Now Sarah knew nothing about it, but works in documentary in television, so would have a very different view on it.
This edit was the same I had shown in January. I wasn't looking for anything new, just confirmation of what I already knew, and this was the case. There was nothing new to report.
For example, the pace at the top of the Norway sequence is problematic. I did realise something new on this viewing, now that I had been away from it from two months: it is more than just pace or rhythm, but also the fact that Claire is alone for such a length of time. As Robert said long ago at another viewing, the audience already knows this. It looks beautiful but redundant.
So of course I can cut this sequence shorter. I think I know already that a lot of these shots don't work very well when they are shortened by themselves. I believe here you understand what Tarkovsky meant when he said that you can't impose pace upon a shot. Inherent in a shot is it's own pace. Rather I would have to remove shots entirely. My problem has always been not being certain what to cut. Here is where a real editor would do the job and I don't have one.
I thought of other ways that another voice could be added into this sequence, with radio and incidental music, and I will experiment with this on the next edit.
But Sarah's other primary comment: use music. Not incidental music, as I had always planned to use this, but a soundtrack. I have always resisted this, I did not want to use music to cover the failings of the film. Now I am a bit more philosophical: no matter how experienced I may be I will have failings. There is always the danger that a soundtrack could be used to just repeat what should be apparent on screen and in the scene, but I think back to the short film I did many years ago, when I worked with my friend Joakim. He added another layer into the film. So a soundtrack? I will at least consider it. Now I am busy going through my film music, using it to learn and feel my way through what is wrong and what is right for the film.
I still have plans for more making of videos, and then there is long-delayed pickups.

Where to...?

2010-02-21T10:47:00.008Z

Before I finish the all the last of the production, all the final little bits, I have been thinking of the next steps. That is outside of what needs to happen in post-production.
After all the work that has gone into this I really need something with this film. I cannot imagine not making another film, but to what value if no one sees this one? At a minimum I need the film to be seen at some important film festivals. I don't expect to get into the big ones, or even the medium ones. I cannot expect to be in Cannes or Venice, or Rotterdam. I mean the smaller ones. So how?
Over a year ago I went to Cannes to meet sales agents. My thinking was to get interest as soon as possible from the people who will eventually sell the film. But then I began to have doubts. What sales agent would want to sell my film? I am completely unknown. At the same time sales agents get films into film festivals, so if they thought it had potential, or that I had future potential they would take a chance on spending time and money for not return. They would be thinking of sales for my next film, or the film after that.
Another plan: find a co-producer. This would be someone who believes in the film and myself, and would take it to the next level, to finish post-production, and then work to get it into film festivals. Finishing post-production doesn't mean that we have a 35mm print. We could finish on DigiBeta. Let's face it, unless I am exceeding lucky no one is going to put up the money to finish it on film.
The problem with finding a producer is where to start? There are so many people calling themselves producers. Even if someone has a credit it is hard to know who has done what, or if they were any good. I have a few leads, that is people I could approach for names which I will try. Otherwise I would be trolling IMDB, looking at films and sending off emails to people who I don't know and don't know me. This could take a long time and would be probably be fruitless.
Finally, another plan: to finish it myself, then go to the film festival programmers and try to convince them to show my film. This is of course the last resort.
Any of these will take a lot of effort, work, and time could easily fail. So which plan?

Making of...Final Shot

2010-02-11T20:46:00.005Z

Now this is the last of the Norway Making of... In the near term I will be looking at collating some of the material from our work in London.
In the meantime I have met with JC to discuss shooting the last of our pickups. He was rather keen to wait for the weather to warm up a bit, and I didn't argue. So that is our next step.
In the meantime I continue to put together materials for marketing.

Turning point

2010-02-01T21:50:00.001Z

I have been struggling with this post for a few days, just finding the words to explain what I have been feeling. How to put it? I realised this morning that it wasn't so complicated.
It came out of the showing I had over a week ago. Isabella, Ana and Mark came over and I presented the latest edit. I had trimmed a little out of the first and third segments, remixed the sound in other parts, and added new sounds in other areas.
First, I felt more comfortable showing it to them, which I attribute to the fact that the majority of the pieces are in place. I always start a showing by listing out the missing pieces and this time the list was shorter and less critical.
Their was response was quite good. There was some criticism, some thought the pace too slow, but not everyone agreed. Mark thought perhaps, and rightly so, that instead of pace it might be an issue of rhythm, which is something I would leave for an editor. They did not agree on the meaning of this or that sequence, but they all had their own ideas, and since this has always been an open text, this was a great victory for me. They might for their own questions, but I had not confused them.
Fundamentally, the issues are all to do with post-production, whereas before the problems were to do with production, to what I needed to shoot.
It is true I have some more production work to do, some off-screen dialogue, the bedroom shots, which I have referred to as the Rothko shots, the odd shot we need to help with the passage of time and lead us into the next sequence. All told, about 1.5 days of production which I would like to do as soon as possible.
It is soon time to get on with the next phase of production, selling it. So soon this blog will now change, no longer about production, now more mundane tasks, meetings, trying to get money or interest from producers, funding bodies, film festivals, and sales agents.
Before that I think I need a break. I look back at this blog and I cannot believe that I started this in 2006! It really has consumed a large part of my life. I think I would like to set aside one month at least where I do nothing but the day job, have no obligations, no other project to finish, to have a normal life.
It is just part of my mental health. I have even been collecting material for my next project. I think that I need this, need my mind to rest from this project for a little while.

More making of...

2010-01-26T19:04:00.006Z

Okay, so the feedback process continues. More on that later. In the meantime I have completed another making of video, this again from Norway.

Making of...

2010-01-17T20:54:00.006Z

I am now just getting around to beginning the new edit. I have made a few visits to Roland's sound studio, just today raiding his sound library. The plan is to include the new sounds, spend a little time getting the levels right. I don't have speakers in my edit setup so getting levels right has been a problem. This means spending a load of time mixing different sounds into layers has often been a fruitless exercise. Tonight I am going to try to set up my projector and sound system to read directly off the laptop and Final Cut Pro.
I feel I really need a new victim to watch the edit, ideally this coming weekend. So that is the plan.
In the meantime I show some of the Making of... videos and with his feedback did some trimming. Here is the first, a short piece on one of the scenes we shot in Norway. First us setting up, then rehearsing/discussing, and then the actual scene. Note that the sound has not been done, and the actual footage is just the DV dub - this is not the full-fat film by any means.

Editing geek

2010-01-07T20:50:00.007Z

Okay, work has been progressing slowly. The plan is to re-work the new edit with some new sounds, and so I am meeting with Roland next week to go over it. I will be showing the new edit to some new victims next week.
In the meantime I have been busy going over all the other assets. I have completed a first draft of a producer's handbook, which is intended for potential co-producers and includes a long synopsis, director's notes, biographies of all the major cast and crew, the cast and crew list, 25 production photos, some making of... photos, and finally the state of the film.
I have also been logging and editing some Making of... videos. These are very much in the early stages but I will upload them here when I feel they are far enough long.
In the meantime some details of my editing system.

Yes, I did edit this on a Mac laptop, a two-year old 15inch, 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro.
Note the SATA Raid connector inserted into the ExpressBus. This links to my RAID Array below.

I am seeing the edit on a 27inch EIZO monitor. I decided to spend on the money on such a high-spec monitor with the idea I may end up grading the DigiBeta version of the film myself, hopefully with JC's help.

In the meantime the offline edit lives as MiniDV tapes, which I feed into Final Cut Pro 6.0 by way of an old Sony mini-DV camera.

And on the floor, doing the dirty work is a 1.8Terabyte RAID Array in a box purchased from MacGurus.

More reaction

2009-12-31T11:49:00.002Z

So this week I showed the edit again. This was essentially the same edit I have already shown but for a few small details.
First I fixed the sound errors that plagued my showing to Jerry and Maria. I had to go back into Final Cut Pro and do it the hard way. Not easy, but at least it actually worked. I have now layered more sounds into the forest sequence at the end of Segment 2.
Second, I extended some sequences where I trimmed too closely.
John and Amelie had seen the first edit way back in January 2009, and it was their reaction that led me to the large revisions and extra scenes that I created this past year. So, on the one hand they were not seeing for the first time but at the same time they were sufficiently critical that they would not easily overlook problems. And of course it had been a year.
So first, they agreed that so many of the problems that were apparent in the first edit were solved. Claire now seems human, we see her on the rails, before she goes off the rails, and we understand the simple plot points, which were confusing before. So that this is a success. They had some minor issues with the pace. In the forest sequence there still too many shots and not enough development, and the same could be said for what I call the fourth segment, once Claire leaves her sister and goes back into the forest. Now these comments don't correspond to what Jerry and Maria or what David said, so I am now on that phase in a project, where the problems and solutions are not so obvious and clear. Could a few trims of a shot, or the removal of one or two shots solve the problem? Or would all the problems be solved by sound design? And then there is the question of the next phase of the project, in which I look for a co-producer to join me in finishing the post-production. Does this include finding an editor who would solve these problems? And how do I go about finding a co-producer? I am already looking towards this next part, but I still have to remember that I have a few production bits to sort out, a few inserts (JC will hate the thought), and some off-screen dialogue I need to write and record.
Still, I have to say that I feel I have come to the end of one part of this project. I sleep much better, my mind is clearer, I am thinking about the next project, and I imagine a weekend where I don't have anything to do with the Tidal Barrier project.

Reaction

2009-12-22T20:43:00.003Z

So I finished the edit last week and my first viewer was David. I wanted him to see it first, I suppose, for a little security. He has really been involved in the whole project but at the same time has always been able to stand back and see the larger picture. Quite the feat. So I wanted to test the new edit with him first, so that I could make some changes.
This was my first view of the edit now complete, with some shape.
I was still struggling with the club/bar scene. I just could not make this work, no matter how many tricks I tried. David thought I was trying too hard, that what I had achieved was competence primarily because I was trying to make it into something at odds with my own sensibility. I had to admit that whereas it has always been a struggle to find my voice during this project I was at least always singing alone. Now I had all the worlds music videos crowding into my thoughts - how do you escape? So, taking his advice, I simplified, reminded myself what I was trying to achieve with this scene, a mood, and re-cut on the weekend.
I have been thinking of the shape of the film. It has been broken into three segments purely for practical reasons. Now I realised that there other more natural structures arising. The first part of the film ends just when Claire decides to leave Paul. She has been offered Natalie's flat, her sister has just left, she climbs the stairs and comes to the doorway of the bedroom and observes the sleeping Paul.
From this stage a on of the structural piers of the film begins: we move into a realm of singular sound, that is there is no dialogue, Claire has no conversations with anyone, she does, acts, and in each of these acts there is a singular sound, one sound that stands or the scene. She washes the sheets, the sound of the washing machine, she rearranges the closet, the sound of the hangers moving about, she walks into Natalie's living room, the sound of the train across the street. This section ends when she goes out into Natalie's neighbourhood, enters the park, and looks into this void again. That is she has found that void has follower her here too. This structure happened by accident or not. I can't really remember, I only know now that I have to go back to Roland and begin finding quality sounds for this section, as currently these scenes use crude bits and pieces I found in the edit or off free sound fx websites. The quality of the sounds will be everything in this.
This section ends with the void, a blackout, the non-music underneath, and then a sequence of scenes, mostly with dialogue, where Claire has taken on this life. This is less contemplative, less reflective, Claire just does, and this continues until Sophie comes calling Claire, reminds her that she is living a lie.
The next pier now begins where she enters the forest and faces that void. Here now this is not about singular sounds. Is this section I started to play with layers of actual music. This is just temp track stuff, things I could never use, but I wanted to see how they would play out.
David thought that while a crescendo might be true here, it would not be made with melody and I think I knew that before we even sat down and watched it. But you want to certain of the wrong direction, and watching I was certain. Instead I re-edited, working on layering of sounds instead, that is non-music, non-melodic sounds, sound effects, and other incidental and natural sounds, the crescendo achieved instead by the layering of all these sounds.
Finally the question of the overall pace, now that it was running at just 93 minutes? He thought that now it was well within the limits of tolerance, so no longer of the long-take variety. Was this right direction? I don't know yet, as I didn't realise I was going here.
So last night it was the turn of my flatmate, Jerry, and his girlfriend Maria. Now, the showing was ruined somewhat my problems with the sound mix. I was trying with FinalCutPro to mix the sound so decided to try SoundtrackPro. A nightmare. The sound in the second segment was a mess, and with my film it made hard to gauge their reaction.
Still, I would say that I don't think the liked it, but they understood it. I think I succeeded in fixing the club/bar scene and overall the pace was not too long, actually sometimes it was too fast. I think I need to go back to certain scenes and extend them.
Two issues. They seem to find their answers to the questions I posed, for the most part. I had succeeded in making the questions clear, but for one part, in the girl's night-in, where Sarah brings out the book of family photographs. Due to the way it is handled, it seemed to have more significance than it warranted and caused some confusion, as they expected to find out more about this.
And lastly, Maria found the first part of the Norway sequence to be repetitive, but when I asked if it was too slow they said no. So how to solve that problem?
I start the new edit later this week. I am trying to arrange new viewings between Christmas and New Years. More on that.

New edit one week away

2009-12-07T22:29:00.002Z

So I have enough time with the edit these past two weekends to see where I am.
First, the new scenes? Well, I made some mistakes. The club/bar scene is missing a few shots, but of course we were short of time - 2 hours less than I had planned - so that is to be expected. As I have discovered with an edit, it is not that it needs to be longer, rather that you need to have choices, and I don't think I will have many. That would be the down side. Still, I can probably manage something with a few well planned interstitials, and also I have to keep reminding myself that I am still missing the music. I think in the scheme of the whole film I think you have to accept that you will find disappointment and I will probably be the only one who notices.
With the other scenes I am closer to what I had planned. Yes, I also made mistakes in the girl's night in scene, where I forgot a few transitions, but I can manage to get these fairly easily with a few pickups and music. Music in the scene is an essential part of the texture, just as it is in the club/bar scene.
On Sunday I already shot a few of the transitions and sound effects I need to complete the edit.
Onto the edit itself. Other than cutting in the new scenes I have been first trying to give the film more shape, first by deciding where it will be fast and where it will be slow. Fast and slow are relative terms of course. This film never clips along.
So I have been rather mechanical about this to start, but that would be the nature of the edit up until now, which was in some ways just an assembly, with the view to seeing the overall picture. Now I have gone to trim, deciding where I will make it tighter, cutting as close as I dare. I know I will need to work my way up to this, but it is start. This has been more successful than I imagined, as I have trimmed 6 minutes from the length just by this crude method alone.
I was especially happy how I trimmed the second segment. I had decided months ago that the part between moving into Natalie's, and the realisation Claire has in the forest needed to be be shorter and tighter. The incidents were simple, did not require a lot of contemplation, but also they needed to be shorter so that the bookends, moving into Natalie's, and the scene in the forest, when she overcomes her fear and enters the forest, could be longer. Now a shape is becoming clearer, and new ideas, especially around sound and music are arising.
I have included a kind of non-music, provided to me by Roland, since last spring. This was perhaps not a temp track as such, but it was just an idea. Now I can see that in the sequence where Claire enters the forest, before her trip to Norway, can hold more of this non-music, as a way of giving an emotional layer to Claire's internal shift. Next I can begin to think how I could start to think about the nature of this music or non-music.
I am missing a few ideas about sounds in the first and second segments, in the same way that I discovered in the third segment. More on this for the next post.
Next weekend I will finish shooting the new video pickups and then it will be time to show again. Now the true editing begins.

I've said this before...

2009-11-25T23:29:00.002Z

I've said this before, so I am wary of repeating myself.
But this past Sunday we finished the last of the planned shooting. How is that for a caveat. Only a year late!
JC and I had planned to watch the rushes at iLab last evening but they weren't ready yet. So we have the DV dubs and on Saturday I planned to begin capturing. This includes not only the cafe scene and girl's night scenes, but the car/argument and club/bar scenes as well.
I am now going into the next editing session with some trepidation. I can no longer hide behind the excuse that we still had more material to come. This is it. I have to say that, for better or worse, this is what we have to work with.
And how long will it be? And how can I give shape and pace?
More on that to come...

Next...

2009-11-19T23:14:00.003Z

Just a quick update to say that we are shooting the cafe scene, and the girl's night scene this coming Sunday. This is the last of my planned shooting, that is the end of production, other than the odd shot or pickup we will get in the next month or so.
And also to say that JC were at the lab on Tuesday to take a look at the footage, and other than one shot that was a tad soft everything went well. I have not had a chance to place the footage into the edit yet. That will wait until after Sunday.
I can't say how much I am looking forward to getting back to the edit.

Photos of the club/bar scenes

2009-11-15T21:47:00.009Z

So JC and I still have not made it down to the lab to see the footage, so I can't report back on our sucess or failure. I am still nervous about the whole thing. This day was probably our most costly relative to the number of minutes we shot. I wouldn't want to do it again.
I think there are too many other things going, especially getting ready for our next shooting day on the 22nd.
We are planning to take a look this coming Tuesday, but in the meantime David's photos...

Fritz and I discuss shots. Fritz was our 1st AD.

Lukas was JC's First Camera Assistant

JC adjusting lights. He had lights! This is probably the second time we had more than practical lights.

The scene begins with Paul and Claire getting settled in.

Two of our extras doing their part to be a part of the scene.

Thelma worked as our Bargirl, here talking to one of her regulars.

Paul cues up at the bar.

Thelma behind the bar.

Bruno helped us organise the crowd.

Amy was JC's second assistant.

Fred and Flora on the dancefloor. This is what it was about.

Club scene...

2009-11-10T23:06:00.002Z

Just a quick note to say that we shot both the argument and the club scene on Sunday and it all went well. The footage went in yesterday and we expect an answer tomorrow. More news then, along with David's great photographs.

Next: the club/bar

2009-10-26T20:13:00.003Z

Just a quick update. I have been busy getting ready for our next shooting date, November 8th. It took a lot of texts and emails to arrange this, and JC to reschedule his video shoot (thanks JC) to make this happen.
We will start in the afternoon, shooting the argument between Paul and Claire. This happens in the car and on the streets in Shoreditch. In the evening we are in The Camp, a new venture from James Priestly on City Road, from 6pm. So I am busy trying to raise a crowd, with a lot of help from Joana. We need a bar full of happy people.
A lot at stake - I can't afford to make any mistakes with this many people. We are not going to go back.
At the same time I am now busy trying to arrange the next and last shooting date, the cafe scene, with Claire and Sophie, and the girl's night in, with Claire, Sophie and Sarah. I am also busy casting this new part as well. More on that to come.

Feedback and the next step

2009-10-11T21:26:00.002+01:00

So first David came by last Thursday to see the latest edit. This included all the new Norway footage, the footage from the September/Dalston shoot, and the new structure in the second segment. It has become a bit of a blur, all these changes, the point where I forget all the work I have done.
I think that this is the first time that David had nothing to say. So, yes, the edit gets better and better. What before may have caused some discussion or was questioned is no longer. It is coming together, in big and small ways.
And then the next steps. More scheduling problems means that the original plan to shoot the cafe scene and the girl's night in has to be delayed until mid-November. This leaves the bar or club scene to shoot. Does it make any different which we shoot first? None at all. I think I was simply putting off shooting the bar/club scene because of the expense and the risk. I don't have a lot of experience shooting crowd scenes and I can't afford to make mistakes and have to go back again.
I need help with the logistics of this so I turn to Joanna who has helped us in the past. I have just come from meeting her at the Green Papaya. Nothing really phases her (I wouldn't want to get in her way for any reason) so I just set out what I need and she is already on it. We will be looking at a club tomorrow night. More on this.

October update

2009-09-30T21:39:00.003+01:00

Okay, a few things have happened since I last posted.

I have finished the revised edit and showed it to my friend, the actor and filmmaker Robert. I had been holding back showing it to Robert. He is a fan of my work, so on the one hand he would be too forgiving. On the other he is quite sharp and critical as well.

First I was disappointed in some ways with this comments. He did not notice the changes I made in the new edit! But of course I was being ridiculous. The whole point of that work was to make sense of this or that part. The test is whether he would not notice the new parts.

Well Robert had a few minor comments but generally was very impressed. So far so good. Yes, there is still a lot of work to do. There is still no shape or pace in the edit. There are decisions to be made in regards to incidental music and the non-music that Roland suggested in the spring.

I have rewritten all the scenes that I workshopped back in the spring. There was always something that bothered me about these scenes. One night I showed Flora the edit, and then we went to watch some bits from Antonio's L'Eclisse. I was especially interested in the scene where Vittoria first meets Marta. It is is girl's night in. There is no drama, and the thematic elements only appear by the by. I had written my scenes as drama, and clearly they were not. I, the writer was also imposing myself into the film.

One of the changes involves bringing in a new character and now I have to cast another actor. That is my next step.

And finally I applied to Cinemart at the Rotterdam Film Festival. This is market to meet co-producers. I send in two applications for two new projects for development, and also for Tidal Barrier for post-production. Of course my chances are slim but it is my first test of the film outside friends and colleagues visiting my flat. So we shall see.

Dalston report

2009-09-17T10:46:00.004+01:00

We spent Sunday shooting pickups in Dalston. It was a long day, but very productive.
I wanted to fill in a few gaps we found in the editing. As I said previously this is my shorthand being rather too short.
It is amazing what a few shots will do to an edit. For example, in the final scene of this segment Claire watches Paul leave for work. This was shot from high, at a distance, too much of a distance to know who we are watching. We just needed a shot of Paul leaving the flat. I shot this from the top of stairs, as to suggest that here too this is Claire watching Paul.
The scene that followed has caused some confusion as well. When Claire is sure that Paul is gone she goes about erasing herself, removing all traces of herself from the flat and his life. But there was never enough detail for anyone to understand what was happening. I added another segment on Sunday, where Claire gathers up her clothes into a bin bag and throws them in the trash. Starting over again. Will this scene now make sense? Well I will need to show the new edit to a few people and find out.
In both these cases, given a larger budget you would simply shot them in the first place, but as I can only shoot what I am going to use I was happy to do it this way.
We also re shot scene and 8 and 9 to change the emphasis of this scene.
Yesterday Marc passed me the sound files and I synced them up with the rushes. Everything looks good. I spent yesterday with the edit, trying to piece it together. There are a few cuts which still need some more work, but overall what we did has been very effective.
Next steps. I now have more scheduling headaches. I am going to start writing a revised scene with Claire and Sophie, and a new character, and I will need to find this new actor. Then I will try to squeeze a day of shooting of this new scene in to October.

Norway results and more

2009-09-08T21:32:00.003+01:00

Last Friday we got the Norway pickups returned from the lab and... everything was absolutely fine. We probably have one soft shot, but it is looks so amazing I think someone might think we did it on purpose.
I did a rough cut of the footage on Saturday, but I was without the sound files, so I did not spend too much time on the edit. More on that later. For now I am distracted.
I have more scheduling mayhem, so I working to shoot pickups here in the flat in Dalston this Sunday. Of course this means a load of preparations, especially just finding all those costumes. I may have to reshoot some scenes just because of costume alone, but in a way it is just as well. The scene concerned is Scene 8, when Natalie first visits Claire and Paul, and then Scene 9, the argument that Paul and Claire have after. This scene was always weak. First I think that the dialogue between Paul and Natalie is given too much emphasis. It it Claire's relationship to Natalie and Paul that is important. I also went too thin again, that is the shorthand is too short. There is too little material. So, it is just as well that I have to reshoot. I am going to look at rewriting or restructuring the scene tonight. More on this after Sunday.

Norway II Report

2009-08-30T16:31:00.007+01:00

We returned from Norway late on Friday night and I think I have recovered enough to make sense of it all.
It did not start well. We made it to the airport in good time but were shocked to see how many people were at Stansted at that time in the morning. Sorting out the baggage was complicated but finally we managed and were told by Ryanair that we had enough time. We went through security, picked up a few things at the Chemist and went to the gate...and the plane was gone. It had left a few minutes early and we were a few minutes late. Essentially the long lines in security plus the crowded Stansted trains delayed us enough we missed it. So now what to do? Ryanair would put us on the next plane for £100 each. What a deal! This was hard to stomach considering all those people were there because Ryanair tries to get out so many planes at the time in the morning. Why reassure us we had plenty of time when they know very well we did not? If we had ran to the gate we would've made it.
After adding the costs of this fee against flying the next day but having to include the baggage costs, plus most importantly missing another day of shooting I decided to swallow this fee. There was a lot of messing around, first retrieving the luggage, then getting new boarding passes and checking the luggage again, going through security again, etc. All the while Flora is quite ill. Is this going to be a complete disaster?
Finally we airborne, Flora is at least able to sleep a little, as do we. All of us only had 4 hours sleep, if that. We land at Torp, buy as much wine and beer as we can carry, knowing the cost of alcohol in Norway, retrieve all of our luggage, and then wait while Roland gets the rental car. Another problem: EuropaCar has given our car away. We were more than three-hours late. They have another car, but it costs more than the one we rented and we have to make up the the difference. This is even more incredible than the Ryanair situation. We have already paid for the car. They would not lose anything regardless how late were were and they could've still rented the more-expensive car to the other customer. Apparently poor service from this company is not unusual.
Finally we are on the road and arrive in Risor in two hours. We do a little grocery shopping, load the boat and putter down the fjord. We settle in, eat some lunch, and then while Flora sleeps the rest of us, that is JC, Roland, and Lara and I, go out to reccy some of the locations that are away from the cabin. The weather is warm, with cloud and sun. The beach area is beautiful at that time of day. We probably need to do 2/3rds of our shooting here in the sun, but the weather forecast is not promising. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday shows rain with periods of cloud. Sun is only forecast for Wednesday. Can we do all this on Wednesday?
After dinner, with Roland and Lara sharing most of the cooking duties, I make my plan.
We will shoot the arrival scene on Tuesday. This is essentially a development of Claire's arrival at the cabin. I had struggled to show Claire's relationship to her past, with a set of mementoes that she carries with her throughout the film, even bringing them along to show to Sophie in one scene, but this idea was never clear to anyone. I finally realised that the past is already represented in Claire's return to the cabin in Norway, and that we required more detail here. How does she see the cabin? How does she approach the cabin? What does she do while she is waiting for nightfall? How does she break-in? Why does she wait until night-fall to break-in? How does she feel when she gets in? For continuity this is meant to happen in the rain.
On Wednesday we then had the unenviable task of trying to capture all the sun material in one day. We started by a couple of pickups, Claire seeing Natalie sunbathing out on the lawn. Of course Katrine, who plays Natalie was with us in Norway, so we cheated her presence by dressing Flora in some Natalie-like clothing.
Once that was complete we moved by boat to the beach area which was to be our base for the day. I have wanted to simplify the Norway segment by establishing some clear geographical locations, which partly meant showing Claire making her to the beach. I wrote a new scene to follow in the final part where we find Claire after she leaves her sister at the cabin, which we shot in the thick forest at the base of a ridge. We also developed the beach scene itself, and then the scene where she goes hiking with Natalie. Again, we cheated one shot by shooting from the neck down, and putting Lara into Natalie's jacket and scarf.
That brought us to around 7pm, the sun was fading and we were exhausted. We returned to the cabin and had a few beers out by the water, knowing that this might be best day we had and we needed to enjoy it.
We also later found that in tramping about in the forest we had managed to attract a large number of tics. Nasty little things. I had one on my neck, and two in the crotch. Everyone else was afflicted as well. We sat in the kitchen in our pants, checking each other thoroughly with a bicycle-lamp, and removed the little parasites. Roland now doubled as sound man and tick-removalist-specialist.
On Thursday, once the rain stopped in the afternoon we decided to return to the beach area and picked-up a few of the shots we missed on Wednesday. We shall have to see if we are able to change the colour-temperature of these shots to match the other material.
Friday was the same, except that Flora was now feeling well enough to go swimming in the fjord with Roland.
As we were loading the boat at 5pm, getting ready to leave, the sun came out again. It looked beautiful, but was too late to help us.
JC brings in the footage tomorrow and we shall see the results on Thursday. That's the next post.

More weather

2009-08-21T08:28:00.005+01:00

And as soon as I posted the weather forecast changed.
Norway weather forecast.

I suppose this is better, but what does mixed sun and cloud really mean?

We shall see.

Sweating the weather

2009-08-20T21:52:00.005+01:00

So the preparations are well enough along for me now to sweat over the long-range weather Norway weather forecast.
Hmmm. Only one day of full-sun. This is a problem. This is the Friday we are leaving. In the evening, yes, but we have a lot of material to cover (17 shots). And ground too, as the locations are some ways from our base (the cabin).
One day of rain is good. We have a number of shots (13) around Claire's arrival at the cabin, which for continuity, happens in either the rain, or it's-going-rain.
I have scheduled a number of shots for the Thursday (mixed sun and cloud), but that is being optimistic. It would better if it were sunny that day too. So, I can only hope for some change as we come closer to our shooting dates.

Norway preparations

2009-08-12T22:01:00.004+01:00

So what are we doing in Norway?
I have just finished a first draft of the shot list, which includes nearly 50 shots, around 10 a day. Some of these are alternates, so I would guess in the end we will shoot 45 different shots.
This is certainly not about shooting pickups, this is all about developing the story of Claire in Norway.
Some highlights...
Claire arrives at the cabin
Until now I have included a metaphor for her past in a box of momentoes she carries with her, which included antique jewelery and photos of forgotten relations. It always felt a weak idea and most everyone found it either confusing or pointless. Now I realise that the image of the past is the cabin itself. She arrives in the day but waits until dark to break in, like a burglar. What does she do/feel in the meantime? It is David's idea to make the cabin a character itself - how does she see this place? Claire has come here because it is about the past, so her arrival and how she relates to this place are central.
Claire goes swimming
On Claire's first full-day in Norway she goes to the beach. This is about Claire finding a new energy in beauty and nature. Currently the scene is weak. I would like to simplify the whole Norway segment by first showing Claire making her way to the beach area. This means we will have a short-hand for these locations later, that is I we will be able reuse them again. And by creating a simple construct - Claire is going to the beach - I will be able to express more conceptual ideas.
Once she arrives at the beach we need to develop the swimming sequence so we understand what this means to her. More on this below.
Not quite the ending
Along with a few shots which are missing or which we felt are weak there is the ending. This too is underdeveloped. Some ideas, such as the coda sequence that follows her view of her sister, is strong, but I think could get more out of this scene by using shots of locations where we have previously seen Claire. For example, the places she passes through on the way to the beach. They would take on another resonance because Claire is now absent from them.
Before the ending itself it also felt that we needed another scene with Claire. She needed to develop in between. So what happens? I am calling this my Claire-as-an-animal sequence, in that I would like to see Claire now changed, as no longer self-conscious, as focused, and full of energy.
The ending
I have already written quite a deal about this, but suffice to say we thinking of other elements around that final shot. Or is it another ending altogether? I suppose we won't know until we have the material and have edited it altogether.
More on preparations coming soon...

More on the end

2009-08-01T23:21:00.001+01:00

Whew, this has been a long time in coming. I apologise. I have had everything but the film to do this past month. Now it is officially August it is time to get back to it. I have nearly a month to get ready for Norway.
So I promised more on the ending. I have known for a while that it needed work. It was John who asked back at Christmas time, seeing the old edit, 'so, what happens at the end?'
First some comment from David. I am going to paraphrase. Remember in my last post, so long ago, that David changed his mind about the last shot after seeing the edit?

A problem might be that the pace, the shooting style, all the elements are the same as the other parts of the film. Perhaps they need to change and evolve? What about a different approach to the storytelling, shooting, editing and sound? Perhaps there is a faster pace as Claire moves through the forest?

David even detailed a sequence of shots that begins when Claire leaves her sister at the cabin and arrives at the final shot. I am not going to detail this here as I am going to meet David to work through this sequence on video.

I think that the new edit made the final shot work, but I think it was really down to the last shot but one: the shot of the mountainside. Prior to that I think the sequence of the landscape images works, but perhaps would work better with being set up: that is if Claire is absent in these shots she needs to be present before then. This means setting up something where we find her in the forest in a sequence between leaving her sister and this sequence.
More ideas below...but first some of the comments from David on the ending:
So altogether...
We create another part at the end, along with the first three, a part that starts after her view of her sister below and runs to the final shot. This includes a sequence of landscape shots where Claire is absent, it doesn't need her. This final sequence will develop the language of the film, perhaps a slower film stock (64ASA), a wider lens (we may to have borrow one!), perhaps a different pace for Claire, a different way she moved through the landscape, and then more. In what happens there is a difference too. I have been imagining images of her, capturing as if an animal, that is not self-conscious, instinctive, as a part of the place. A landscape, trees and shrubs, a small creek. It is light at the top, but down low, where the shrubs are concentrated it is dark, filled with shadows. We have not seen Claire for sometime so it takes some to make her out at the bottom-right of the frame, crouched over, concentrating on some task. We don't know what. Yes, she is drinking from the creek, like an animal at the watering hole. We come closer. She continues to drink, then looks up, hearing something. Then we write the sounds with the images, that is instead of sounds being an adjunct of the image, rather the images picture the sound, eg. we see what is making noise. Again we have left Claire behind.
We eventually reach the shot of the mountainside that presently work so well - JC calls this is Ozu shot. We use the last shot, but we also create other shots which build it, eg. fragments of her or the place, with perhaps her out of focus (soft) in contrast with the a sharp image in the foreground. The idea is that we play with the idea that she is a part of the landscape, using focus, light and shadow...
Is that what happens between leaving Natalie and the final shot?
Well more on this later this week after I meet with David. I promise to be more involved this month.

The last shot is saved

2009-07-12T15:18:00.006+01:00

I said that I would like to do a post on the ending alone, but actually I think I could do more than one. There has so much discussion and thought on this end, I didn't know where to start.
So let's start with that last shot. This shot was my original idea for the ending going back over 1 1/2 years.
Here are three shots that illustrate the sequence.

The shot opens with Claire in the foreground, her back to the camera, standing still. She turns her to the right, as if she was looking at something or was going in that direction.
Instead she walks forward, to the middle ground, but to her left, goes behind some shrubs, and then goes under the large tree trunk that bisects the shot, then appears on the other side.

On the other side of the tree trunk she begins to climb the rock face.
At points she pauses in her climb, finding her way, or turning to look from where she came.

Eventually the climbs to the top of the ridge, and makes her way into the forest at the top. She is gone, and the shot is held there for some time. In the final take on our final day there were scattered clouds, so the sun would come and go. During the long hold after Claire has disappeared the sun came through some slight cloud, so the light seemed to pour on. It was probably my imagination but it also felt as if the bird song suddenly rose in volume and filled the air. In fact it was probably filled with the rackets of the speedboats in the fjord, but such is the power the moment.

Claire moves from being an oddity, an aberration to having a part in the landscape and eventually disappearing into it.
In the early edits the power of this shot, if there was any, was not apparent. It seemed weak, an unsatisfactory ending. I wondered if the gap between inspiration and execution was just too great. A good idea, but we hadn't found the shot or the location or the action or all three to support the idea.
I met up with David an expressed my misgivings about the shot. We were planning to return to Norway and should we consider another ending entirely?
He thought back and gave his verdict: is the problem with shot is that is some ways a literal reiteration of the story of Claire and the film? It's weakness then is that it is a repetition but not a development of the theme. Perhaps if the idea of the shot were expressed instead of the shot itself it could be stronger? This might be a simple as cutting the shot just after Claire turns her head to the left. Then going to black and the sound scape of the ridge, the wind in the trees, and the bird song rising in volume.
All this made sense, but David was referring back to an edit he had seen six months previously. He was coming later that week to see the new edit. What would he make of it?
So as it turned out, another example of the power of editing, for when David saw the shot, complete, in the new edit he changed his mind. As it stood the shot was strong and its power now seemed clear. The problem lay not with that shot, but with shots around it. It was a lack of material, and this needed to be remedied on the new trip to Norway.
We then went to discuss some new ideas and later David emailed some new thoughts as well. More about this in the next post, but to be certain about the final shot I created a different ending, one in which I cut the shot short. I showed this to a number of people but all of them agreed. The final shot, complete, is the strongest.
Now more about what happens to lead to that shot, for the next post.

More on the new edit and Norway

2009-06-29T23:01:00.003+01:00

So a long time since my last post. Everything has been in limbo.
First, there was the Kent vs Norway issue. Could the Kent forest stand in for Norway? Well that question was answered by way of the new edit.
Since the showing at JCs place I have also shown it to David. Beforehand I felt that this edit was truly make or break. If I could not start to make it work now I would be in trouble. So David's response was quite important.
The shots we inserted from the Kent workshop made sense, for the most part, as part of the story, even if Kent didn't look like Norway. But what the new edit made clear was what could work worked, what didn't work was down to a lack of material and development.
Most of this revolved around the ending. Would that long take, of Claire starting in the foreground and climbing the ridge, and then disappearing into the forest, would it now work? I had met the week previously and his comment then was that the shot was in a way a literal representation of the film up until the point. Seeing the shot was not development, but repetition. But when I showed him the edit he felt that perhaps it did work. I could see now that we would be in for some difficult choices, but again this was also part of the process, and a great sign of progress.
The ending is where we will spend most of our effort, and it is also the most exciting part. I would like to do a whole post just around the ending, because think there is so much to say.
I also feel that we can no longer move forward without more development of the sound design, and so to that end, Roland is coming over to see the edit tomorrow. What might we do with sound as part of the ending?
And I am looking for some new test subjects, people who have not seen the film before. More on that.
So yes, we are going out to Norway for a second trip. We will not only fill in the gaps we had identified previously, but also develop other parts. This is tentatively planned for the end of August. We are just waiting to find a Camera Assistant and to be certain that David can come as well, and then I will begin making all the arrangements.
And the next post, soon about the ending.

New edit and more

2009-06-12T11:33:00.002+01:00

I finished the latest edit on Sunday. I had already cut in the workshop video we had shot in May and April, and so the past two weeks I had been editing for pace, and patching up the sound. At the end, even though I had trimmed a large number of scenes, with the new material the latest edit was now longer. 98 minutes, versus just over 90 minutes.
I wanted to meet up with JC so that we could look at the Kent footage and make a decision - will it stand in for Norway? So I took the edit over to JC's place so we could watch it on his new projector.
Some conclusions.
Now, as edits do, even though it was longer than the last edit, it seemed shorter. There was a sense of focus, pace and rhythm. It was clearer because it was simpler, and the opportunities were more obvious. That is I could see the gaps, where I needed to do work, and what could work. I think that it was a big improvement on the last edit. I could also see that once I had shot the new material I would come to a point where I could no longer add anything more to the edit. I mean that if it needed to go further then I would need an editor, someone who bring something new to the project. I feel this is progress too.
The other conclusion was that the new material went a long way in addressing the lack of balance in the film. What I still don't though is whether the other new scenes I wrote are necessary. We haven't work-shopped those yet.
As to the Kent question, what gave it away was the lack of inclines and the dirt ground. Our Norway locations were steep and there is stone everywhere.
So I am now thinking of returning to Norway. More on this...

Kent workshop

2009-06-03T22:08:00.003+01:00

It seems so long ago, but that is my fault for taking this long to post. So, Flora, JC and myself went out to Ashford to workshop some new scenes and a few new shots. These are meant to fit into the Norway segment of the film. We were looking for a coniferous forest that could stand in for Norway if you didn't look to close. Lucy, who plays Sophie, told us about a forest where her friend Huf worked. So out to Ashford we went.
Now a small disaster, as I had not known that there was an Ashford in Surrey, as well as one in Kent, and Surrey is where we ended up. Aughh! No matter, we managed to turn it around quick enough.
I wanted to add some elements to the Norway segment in response to the feedback I had over the edit back in January. First, there was a lack of clarity in what Claire goes through before her sister Natalie shows up. I wanted to develop these parts. So, what happens when she first arrives? Why does she wait until nightfall to break into the cabin? Well of course, I am not one to provide easy answers, but at least a new scene would be able to ask the question.
I wanted to develop the concept of Claire's relationship to the opaque image near the end, and this is the only part we were not able to finish (we would have made it if I hadn't taken everyone to Surrey first).
Still, if we need to develop that we need to develop that earlier as well, and so we worked this into another scene we needed to develop.
Last weekend I cut this footage into the latest edit and then I began to rework each segment, trying to simplify and clarify. I was especially aware that I had made so much too complicated. I also wanted to repair much of the sound, only in that I needed to test the edits, and having sound click, flip from one channel to another, and jump from level to another made it difficult. So that's where I am.
I have to say that presently I am quite unsure that Kent will be able to stand in for Norway, but I need to test this on a number of people who will be more objective than myself.
More on this subject later.

Back from Cannes

2009-05-26T17:33:00.002+01:00

Okay, I am well behind in my posts.
This past weekend I went out to Kent with Flora and JC for another workshop, but I haven't even report back from Cannes yet. First things first.
I went out with my friend Robert, who had a short film there and was trying to set up meetings with various producers and governmental bodies about a feature he is working on. We arrived mid-day and went straight to it, after a drink on the beach in the UK pavilion. I first scoped out the Marche, to see where my intended victims were located. About half of the sales agents I wanted to meet were located there. The other half were scattered about Cannes, mostly in the Grand Hotel. Once we were happy we knew the landscape we gathered up our bags and headed up to our digs, in Mougin.
In the next two days I introduced myself to as many sales agents as I could. I really just wanted to put a name to a face. I did not want to pitch the project to them, and most of them were not interested in hearing a pitch anyway. They had films to sell.
It was easy speaking to those in the Marche as they had booths, and were expecting to receive the public, but with those in hotel rooms it could be awkward. Some of the larger companies had receptionist, but most just had a hotel room. This was a little like cold-calling. But after a few apologies and few questions most were happy to speak for a few minutes.
My other mission was altogether more difficult. All the big festivals send programmers to the festival to see films and this is an ideal way to meet a number of them and begin to sell them the film. Ideally you set up a meeting beforehand, which they would probably refuse, or accept and then cancel, but it is a start. Some of the pavilions set up parties so the programmers could meet a group of people, but I was already on my way home. So no luck there, but again it is a start.
Next step is to follow up with emails to everyone I met. I am sure they won't remember meeting me but...
And soon, an update on the last workshop.

Off to Cannes

2009-05-09T23:08:00.002+01:00

Yes, we had the workshop last weekend and it went quite well. I have already managed to edit most of the footage.
But I will wait to tell you all about it, as I am busy preparing for Cannes. This is really my first time there so it is a bit overwhelming. This is really just an opportunity to make contact with sales agents. I will also get a chance to see Lu again, who is now working in Berlin for a film producer.
When I return we are heading out the into forests for Kent to do another workshop.
More on that and everything else when I return next week.

Sound design and non-music

2009-04-27T22:01:00.010+01:00

There is a lot to discuss. This coming Saturday I have another workshop. This time I am working on two new scenes between Claire and Sophie. Besides trimming and readjusting the dialogue, I have been continuing to find new ways to approach choosing and setting up shots.
This time I wrote a parallel visual narrative. This is from the viewpoint of what we might know from the outside of the scene, without reference to the dialogue. Then I drew up a storyboard of shots, again trying to think less, and draw with reference to the actors and how they might be set in the frame from an emotional point of view. That is to follow my instincts.

But I know I did say that I would talk about sound and my visit to Roland's new studio.
He has set himself up with a 5.1 surround-sound system. Very sexy in a sound geeky way.
The best part was that he introduced me to what might we have crudely termed sonic experiments. Perhaps non-music would be better? Liminal music? These sounds that sit at the threshold of sound becoming music.They suggest a music that never arrives.
These sounds are created by the interference between sine waves. That is two waves meet and reflect off each other creating a third sound. These can only be heard on a set of speakers. You hear three sounds, left, right and middle, but removing one sound removed the middle sound as well - it could not exist. It was created inside our heads.
A lot of these experiments were developed by the composer Alvin Lucier, but the music Roland played for me was created by a friend who for now is only known as Ashley. So we will shall see where the experiments take us. If we decide we want to try them I will meet up with Ashley and we will go from there.
The effect is disconcerting to say the least. I think these are the sonic equivalent of the Rothko images, those at the edge of perception. I have included them at a number of places throughout. I have almost already dismissed them from the Norway segment. They just don't seem to make sense there. I need to explore their use in the middle segment, but so far they have been most effective in the first segment. I have taken them to be a part of the calling theme, that is the sense that Claire is being affected by something she does not understand. This is part of the idea of looking into, into the opacity of the object.
As you watch you are not certain that you have actually heard the sounds, and then even more strangely you begin to hear the sounds in all sorts of places, even though they are not present. You brain begins to manufacture them on their own accord.
Of course the idea of this music is linked to the Rothko ideas, the liminal image, at the threshold, the edge of perception.
I need to develop their use more, and I integrate more of the other sounds that Roland passed my way. And then there is the workshop on Saturday, so more about that.

The workshop edit

2009-04-16T21:23:00.004+01:00

The weekend was rather full, so I can't say I have gone far enough with the edit but perhaps I am just a little closer to I want.
My aesthetics is never to use the same shot twice, that each moment will have it's own shot, but when you are shooting a scene with dialogue? The need to return to the other party as they discourse? Does this become a pointless convention? Well I suppose first you avoid the ping-pong of dialogue, but sometimes...
Next, forget the geometry, and consider how you represent what is actually happening.
Part of the solution is apparent when you watch directors like Antonioni, who defies convention by cutting from one shot to another with out varying the angle, eg. a medium-shot straight on to the subject to a medium close-up of the subject.
I tried this in the workshop. Here we are shooting a scene outside the bar. Paul and Claire have been having a great evening. They come out of the bar and into the street. They are giddy, a little drunk, by mostly giddy fro each other's company.

Does it work? I cannot say I have the objectivity to be certain as yet. I have an insurance shot to place between the two if this fails, but having tried using it I really dislike the whole idea.
And also I wonder if this is skill? How each shot is framed, the intensity of what is happening...perhaps I just need to dig deeper?
So what I was playing with during the workshop is to vary the angle just slightly, so that as we cut from subject a to subject b, and then return to subject a, the angle has varied slightly and/or the camera has moved in closer. This choice is very much down to serving the scene.
The viewer might not be conscious of the change but it changes the emphasis and creates a form of intensity, eg. the viewer is still forced to learn the new shot, they are kept off balance.

Here Paul begins talking to Claire. Then the waitress interrupts him and I cut a side-on shot.

We return...

Now closer, but also with Paul on the left. I did not considering what this means. As I said I tried not to think too much.
It just felt that we needed to feel off balance. And that he trapped himself.
Now what if I were to cut out the intervening shot, and cut from one to the next directly?

Here is the angle I go to, when the waitress enters.

And later, for this finally words, a slight variation. Looking at it might think of varying this a little more in the shooting, but the idea is there.
Meanwhile I am reading an essay on Robert Bresson, The Rhetoric of Robert Bresson, by P. Adams Sitney:

...he has further emphasised the isolated "take" , or camera set-up, as an independent molecule of narrative, rather than as a facet of an illusory crystal.

This approach might be referred to as linearity, as opposed to geometrical, which is the preference of most formalist filmmakers. Not Bresson.

...he has linearized the metonymic principles by discrete movement of the camera which change carefully set-up long shots to significant close-ups, and vice versa, in an effort to attain maximal economy of means.

So on Saturday I am off to visit Roland in his new sound studio. Very exciting.

Workshop update

2009-04-07T21:12:00.004+01:00

Okay, workshop number one is complete.
It was over so quickly, partly because I did succeed in not spending so much time worried about psychology.
I spent very little time talking. I shot and shot, set up the camera quickly, just worried about where the camera was placed, in relation to other shots, and for the most part left the actors to do sort it out themselves. We trimmed the dialogue in parts, mostly to make it less explicit and long-winded, and only spent a little time discussing what it meant. In all I shot over 60 minutes of video.
I have this weekend to edit the scenes together, and I may find out that I have made a mess of it, so we shall see.
I am quite certain that the second scene will be more difficult to judge. This is because it is meant to take place in a bar and I will have very little in the video to suggest this. When I show it, my viewers will really have to use their imagination. I will have to layer it out with sound effects and loud music to suggest the location.
Now to that end I am finally meeting up with Roland in his studio the weekend after next. I am quite excited about this, as he has set up proper studio with a 7.1 sound system, and Dolby encoder. I am thinking of all the possibilities of the sound as part of the edit. But for now, we are just there to play and so more on that later.

Workshop preparation

2009-04-01T22:15:00.008+01:00

So we are set for the workshop to take this Saturday. Scheduling issues mean we are focusing on the relationship between Claire and Paul.
The work with Claire's friend Sophie will have to wait.
The three scenes we will devise comprise of the latter part of a day out for Claire and Paul.
We have already see them travelling in the car, and then drinking at an outdoor pub.
But what this is really about is about the nature of their relationship, and in this too, where Claire is at this moment, so that we will know where she started from.
At the same it is also to show how the relationship does work when it does. I have already said that Claire cannot leave this relationship because it is bad.
Finally, it is about adding another layer or texture. Noise. Speed. Volume. Crammed. Crowded. Stuffed.

Now I think I keep saying this, but I would like to try a new way of working.
I am very comfortable speaking from the perspective of psychology. Do I believe in it? No, I just feel like I can play it.
I often write instinctively. When challenged as to the meaning of this or that I find myself rewriting to make sense of it psychologically, and so rationalise it. What comes out is rational, but bloodless too? It has lost something.
So now I wondered if what I need to do is develop this in another way, emotionally, instinctively.
I need to move out of my comfort zone.

How could I start?
Writing in the opacity, that is writing what we see, without including what the character is thinking.
In dialogue, pushing away from the psychology of what is said, and working on the surface. Don't look for what is behind it.
Of course get rid of the spoken word, or even just dialogue.
Leaving the psychology to the actors. Never justify, let them do that, if that's what they do.
And perhaps another experiment? What if I could rewrite this scene, without dialogue, include only what we see from the outside, the way that the light reflects off them, the way they are.
And from here to the way that it is shot? That this instinct must be indistinguishable from the form that records it. This is something I have always wanted, but I know I have not achieved.

Not slice of life

2009-03-18T19:19:00.004Z

So, while I prepare for the next workshop, sometime in early April, I have a lot of time to think.
I have been studying Bresson again, reading a series of essays edited by James Quandt. In an essay by Amedee Ayfre, The Universe of Robert Bresson, he points out something which seems obvious once you think about it, but I missed.
Yes, Bresson, is the master of the everday, mundane detail. He has stripped his people to their essence, in the activities we observe of them.
L'Argent opens with the main character going about this work, disconnecting the hose from the his fuel truck, placing the cash for the job in a wallet, getting into the cab to do onto the next job, and so on. In A Man Escaped he may show a number of scenes of the men going about their everyday activity, for example doing their daily wash in the shower room. We see Mouchette leaving school, going home to her mother, feeding the baby.
Still you would never say that Bresson is showing a slice of life. Mundane these activities may be, but the way that Bresson treats them is something more. Their activities and these objects and transfigured. Ayfre would say that we glimpse the character's soul.
So, now looking back at all the new scenes I have written how would I treat them? Thinking now I would say that if I were to treat them as slice of life they would not sit comfortably with all the rest, and to be honest I don't think I am that person. Just turn on the camera and see what happens? I don't know how to do that.
No, I think what I am looking to do involves another quality, lighter, brigher, fuller, louder, intense even, but it is not loose. How will I do this? I really don't know. Some more thinking.

Revised script

2009-03-08T18:48:00.003Z

Well just distracted, that's why I have written lately. When I go into writing mode it is hard to take some of that energy and put into the blog. Besides, what would I say?
I feel as if I have enough now that I can prepare for the workshop. I intend to put in one long day at the end of the month and shoot it on video. I will cut this into a new edit and then...more feedback.
What have I written?
I have added another layer to Claire, as we see her at work, in her neighbourhood, interacting, now affecting, not inert, taking an opinion, having a view. I thought of this as the plateau that she can later throw herself from.
I keep struggling to keep all of these new scenes simple. I spent a lot of the time trying to think of major events but always came to realise that I will succeed in small increments. I do not need to create these seismic situations. I have those already. I need the little things. For example, a scene where Claire goes into the local grocery store. She hears a song she knows being played. She goes home excited to discover it once again, but when she puts it on she is disappointed. It is inadequate. That' s all it needs. No great revelation.
I really need more of these small pieces now, not great ones.
I have also developed her relationship with Paul, extending and developing a day out together.
My one question is around Sophie. Do I have enough? It is hard to know now. I am the point I need to see the edit. I have once again lost objectivity and it is timed to take it out to other people.

More on textures

2009-02-22T15:22:00.003Z

So I continue thinking through my next steps.
I met with another David on Friday. This is not David the photographer, but David the interaction designer and since I hadn't spoken to him for quite some time I needed to update on the progress of the film. He had an interesting way of putting my dilemna: I am by myself in a dark house at the top of the hill with nothing but a candle.
It helped me recognise the fact that I am still making a film. What I mean is that in an industrial situation once you are in post it is almost as if the process of creation had ended. For this project this is not the case. I
Recently I have been quite taken with the work of Philipe Grandrieux, such as Sombre or Un Lac. I am especially interested in the way that he creates an emotional texture with a series of near abstract shots. These shots might be soft-focus, they might be just slightly oblique to the previous shot, and they invariably involve a moving camera. In no way does he compromise by making a scene, with a number of shots of the action, a theatrical situation, and then cutaways and inserts. The layer of abstraction, is one and the same with what is happening to the characters we are following. His process is organic. Or better there is no form and content. They are one and the same.
I am missing an element, in that we are not able to see Claire as human, or human enough, so that she is difficult to follow. Do I need theatre? Scenes? Not at all. So what am I afraid of? In all of what I am trying to do I am not afraid of what the character feels emotionaly, rather I don't believe that we know that by means of theatrical techniques transposed onto film.
I need to find a way, with my own style, which could not be more different than the style in Sombre or La Vie Nouvelle or Un Lac, where I am able to work in this new layer.

***

I am yet to see Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest film, Three Monkeys now playing at the BFI Southbank. If you have not seen any of his previous films, such as Climates or Uzak I would highly recommend them.

Dramaturgy

2009-02-08T21:03:00.003Z

Okay, yes, it has been a while since I've posted.
It is not that I have not been working on the film, just that it has been a slow burn.
So, I have written 5 new scenes.
2 of these involve Sophie, Claire's friend. As the edit stands, it is hard to see what Sophie adds to the story. I had to make a choice, either make it into something important, or cut the character from the story. I still felt that it was important, for our view of this world, that we see Claire with a friend. As I have been putting in my head, Claire must jump of a cliff, but as it stands she is already stepped off. We need to see her on the plateau and then make the choice to jump off.
The gist of these 2 scenes? One, to help us put Claire's attitude to the forest in context, and to show how this might relate to her relationship with Claire. It also allows us to tie together some pieces that were never clear, and became muddier as the process of editing continued. Her relationship to her past, in the way that she carries a box of remembrances with her from Paul's flat, to Natalie's flat, to Norway, where she discards them.
There are three new scenes with Paul. Here to we are able to put into context the gap in their relationship and how Claire sees it, plus we see them together happy. We see how they are good together, so that it might mean something when she throws it away. Basic dramaturgy, yes, but I missed it.
And there is more. These scenes also take the film into London, and so the wider world, and provide another texture, that of sound that is loud and aggressive.
So far I have met with the actors and we are in the process of arranging the workshop. More when that is arranged.

Where to now?

2009-01-22T19:26:00.002Z

I think I have detailed enough about the comments and my thinking...so now what? How do I respond? I have always said, in the feedback I want to be in position of having too much, to cull, not add. But I think I need to add.
My first reaction was, I should have done in the first place, but this is wrong. First, I could never afford to shoot that way, that is shoot something I was never sure I would need. And then I only know what to create by the edit, by having all those other bits. I can now write scenes that I feel comfortable with because they seem to fit, to come organically.
These past few weeks I have been thinking of adding new scenes, and rewriting others. The characters will even say things, dialogue, something I have avoided. I feel that is just a matter of balance, that the other elements, the visual and sound, will be stronger with more dialogue.
And energy and tone and texture. I have written a new scene 5. Here Claire and Paul visit the pub. In my original it is about the lack of connection between them, the fundamental distance, but I have plenty of that. When do we see what brought them together?
So I have written a new pub scene, this time at night, still no dialogue, but loud music, dancing and drinking, and Paul and Claire can be together for a reason.
I still have more work to do, there are still missing elements so I need to get to them. The next step? Back to the video camera and the workshop. I want to put them on video and cut them into the edit and then do some test screenings before I go out and spend money on film.

Third showing

2009-01-15T22:27:00.002Z

Now, I already posted about the showing to David. Two weeks ago now - yes, a long time, I know, a lot has happened - I showed it to John, Amelie and Peter.
This was probably the most critical of the showings. First they knew nothing about the film so they were blank slates. David has been part of the process from the beginning.
And second the edit was in good enough shape to judge where it was going to go. What I show Isabella, Sophie and JC was still too rough to judge.
Their conclusions?
Like David they thought it was too long, it too long to get to what I was trying to achieve. And they also had many of the same practical criticisms, that the blackouts were too long, and not necessary, they did not need a rest. They confused the sister, Natalie, with the friend, Sophie. They thought they looked too much alike, but I know this is not the case. I simply have not set it up well enough to make it clear.
They diverged on a few things.
Peter did not feel the friend was necessary and that she could be cut. Amelie did not see the necessity of the friend but still though there would be something missing if she were not in the film.
Peter and Amelie felt that there was enough development to sustain the first two segments, but not in Norway. Not enough happened until Natalie showed up. When she did they all found the scenes with the sister powerful.
But John disagreed. He thought there was enough in Norway to sustain the film.
They all agreed on one thing, and this is the biggest criticism: that right now Claire is too one dimensional. You don't know enough about her to feel for her, or at least understand her. David said the same thing, and JC alluded to much the same.
So that is my biggest problem, and why it has taken me this long to write this. I have never been worried about what I have. It will work its way out, but missing elements, that's a problem. On Saturday I plan to begin writing some new scenes, and rewriting some new scenes. More on this.

Second showing

2009-01-07T22:48:00.005Z

So this past weekend I had two separate viewings of the latest edit.
On Friday I showed it to David. Since he has been quite involved in the production I wanted to show him the cut by himself.
His response? I will start with the practical.
First, it was clear, on the most basic terms, what was happening. Now I have always been worried about this. I have always been an abstract thinker and I too often assume that people are able to follow me. I need to fill in the gaps.
The biggest gap at this stage was the lack of sound design. It was difficult to know if some of the problems could be solved with the sound, which is so central to what I am trying to do.
He thought that perhaps the first segment was too long, but also wondered if it had to do, to set out the plan of the film. I have to say that there is a lack of texture in the first segment, to set it apart from the second segment. This was a weakness in production along with a few technical problems as well. For example, the pub scene, which added some noise, opened up the story to the outside world, and presented Claire in a human situation, meeting her best-friend, Sophie, I removed from the last edit. First, I could not see their conversation making sense in light of the other changes I have made to the edit. And secondly, the primary shot was soft and so unusable.
He also that the blackouts were too long, and also needed sound (I will talk about this more in the next post).
In Norway, specific repeating shots were quite striking, and others were quite weak.
But I would have to say that his strongest criticism was that it was now too cold, too intellectual, that we are able to see Claire as human.
Now of course this is rather a fundamental problem, but I will for now avoid making any conclusions. I will add another post from the third showing from last Saturday.

First showing

2008-12-28T16:04:00.004Z

I had the first showing just before Christmas, for my flatmate Sophie and our neighbour, Isabella
The verdict? It was very encouraging. They felt there was a film there.
Clearly the edit is still a mess. There is too much, too many shots. What I wanted to achieve was clear and then there was no development, just repetition.
Why is this encouraging? That I just needed to reveal the film there. It was matter of whittling away what is not and finding what is.
Discouraging? Sometimes they had difficulty understanding some of the simplest things, confusing the sister Natalie with the best friend Sophie, even though they look nothing alike. Here I have probably gone too close to the edge of the minimal with the narrative. This may be my biggest gap, something I may have to solve with some pickups or even some new scenes.
At this point I have not had to make any painful decisions. For the most part it has been about revealing what is there, not about choosing between this option or that option. That will happen soon I am sure.
Still, one question that both JC, Sophie and Isabella brought up: that we really don't know any of the other characters, that is the boyfriends Paul, Nick, the sister Natalie, or the friend Sophie. Now what do they mean? The other night I watched Bresson's Mouchette and there was a comment that we watched for 90 minutes and still didn't know anything about Mouchette. Now what they mean is in the conventional sense of character, actually meaning characteristics, that she likes oranges but not apples, wants to be a nurse when she grows up, etc. The character of Mouchette is revealed in action, and there was plenty of her action. Now I never wanted to show characteristics, I wanted to show action. So what does mean for my film? Is there enough of these people in action to reveal them? If not...?
I have since been busy, made some minor adjustments to the cuts in the first part, conflated some events in the second part, and done two or three reedits of the third segment. The edit I showed last week was 110 minutes. The latest edit is 96 minutes. I feel this is a lot stronger and clearer with a lot less. Now I have to find some new victims.

First cut

2008-12-21T09:15:00.005Z

On Saturday evening I showed the the first edit to JC. I of course had been avoiding doing this, as I was afraid to look. I knew it would be a telling moment.
Of course I had seen the film in bits and pieces since I began editing back in October. But it is one thing to see bits and pieces on a computer screen, another to see the whole on a large screen.
It was the only way to know if we really have something.
So was it good? I have to say that I am now so close to it I am in no position to say. I think at best I could say it wasn't bad. There was nothing in it that I thought, 'that's no good'.
What was clear was that it is a film. It is one complete piece, this I was happy about.
On the practical level, the cutting worked. The way in which I conceived the edit was successful. I also had done enough work with the sound so that it didn't interfere with the edit. Rough sound can make it difficult to determine if this or that cut worked. The sound design was also fundamental to my concept of the film, so the no edit could ever be complete without at least some crude sound design.
Aesthetically, JC and I were happy that the original concept of the shooting style was very successful. That is, going from the longer to shorter lenses in Norway was very effective. We begin with the 25mm. The world is in fragments, closed and circumscribed. It is almost as if Claire had to fight to put herself together. By the time we come to the final segment, in Norway, we were using the 12mm. It is not that she has been successful in assembling herself, rather that she had given in to nature and dissolution. Here she is within the place, or absent. It doesn't matter one way or another. The view of the world is wide, almost as if the world could drift away.
The few scenes of drama? Dialogue? These worked very well.
And the many scenes of non-drama, where we watch Claire looking, searching? They were interesting, compelling to watch. I have to say that I was very happy with all the actors and their performances.
Less successful, because it still incomplete, was the layer of the story presented visually and with sound. This is the other Claire story. It still needs work and has been my fixation for the past few weeks. It is moving along slowly. Yesterday I was already making tweaks. It is like sculpting. Each day I am paring off one part, and adding another part. I need to shoot more test material and will probably do this over Christmas.
Now JC had some questions and observations. We don't know Claire in the conventional sense. There is little dialogue or drama. JC wondered if there was enough interaction between the characters to get to know them. I would say no, we don't know them this way, but of course I never intended this. I rejected drama, I was always interested in the way that cinema is able to achieve an emotional effect without resorting to tricks from the theatre. But have I accomplished this? If not, this would be my biggest problem.

True black versus Rothko

2008-12-15T22:40:00.007Z

What a series of tangents this whole project takes me on.
So I have gone back and smoothed out the assembly edit and then reviewed it.
I have already described how I had written into my outline blackouts, breaks in the visual narrative at key moments. In the edit I created these blackouts and then...they didn't work. They broke the narrative, the flow. Did I lose my nerve? I began to think how they might develop the narrative.
First I added sound. I had been working with Roland to create another layer of meaning with the sound and the blackouts seemed to be a logical place to develop the sound design. But I found that sound alone was not adequate.
Then I began to look for means that the blackouts might be see as logical extensions of present images. For example scene 28. Claire is asleep, and is awoken by...? The scene began with a shot her asleep, awakes suddenly and turns on the light. I became interested in the abstraction of the image in the dark.
Then were a few influences.
In October I saw Un Lac, by Phillipe Grandrieux at the London Film Festival. A lot of this film impressed, but specifically the liminal images, inside a cabin in near darkness, the figures and objects just at the edge of perception. I made a literal connection between Claire's darkened bedroom and the idea of a semi-conscious searching or reception of the transcendental.
In November I watched Antonioni's Red Desert. In this Antonioni uses soft-focus to create colour abstractions. Grandrieux also made use of soft-focus extensively.
At the Tate Modern there was the Rothko exhibition. I was especially taken with the the Black-Form paintings, where Rothko layered a series of blacks and different coatings. What happens as you look into these? You might say that you are drawn into them, that they are a void, but they also push outward, they extend beyond the frame. They seem to pulse, move about.
I began to imagine that in these sequences I would develop a series of images from facts, objects in the location, for example Claire's bedroom, which become liminal by way of the lack of light and the soft-focus. I experimented by drawing and painting images in Photoshop, based on top of images from the shoot. So in a long-take of these images there should be sense of searching, grasping for what...always remains out of reach, at the threshold.
Soon it became clear that these sequences had nothing to do with the blackouts.
Now I don't know if I just lose my nerve? Or did I need to find out how the blackouts might work by first discovering how they would not?
However it came to me, I realised that the blackouts did not require sound or any logic, the blacks are true, negation, the absence of sound and image, no extensions to existing image, rather negation of the images. It should be expected that they break the flow. That is what they do. If they failed perhaps they were in the wrong place, or more likely that the place was wrong, that is the edit, the material around it was not strong enough.
I realised that what I had were two different ideas. The true blacks on the one hand and what I called the Rothko sequences on the other.
I don't certainly don't consider the work I did on the Rothko sequences a waste. On the contrary, as I come close to the first version of the edit I have begun to extend the development of these images.
Presently I have developed a language based on three or four colours.
White is an invasion, the exterior coming in, drawing Claire out.
White is images of light entering the flat, or clouds with the sun behind them, over-exposed.
Blue and brown are the interiors, the bedroom at night, they are present but not dynamic like the white images.
Green is the exterior, the location of fear, the world of nature. This past week, as I revised the final segment I began to see how the green images would form a part there.
If the first two segments are about Claire searching trying to construct an identity then the final segment is a realisation that identity in the face of nature is an indulgence. The extinction of identity. Here then I will explore the concept of Claire in the landscape, dissolving, smeared into the pine groves.

Editing continues

2008-12-07T23:51:00.002Z

So last Tuesday I finished the assembly edit of the film. What I mean is I assembled footage according to my shooting script, or outline really, since I don't use a script. There was no regard for pacing or feel in the assembly edit.
At the finish of the assembly the film looked like this:
Segment 1 = 31 minutes
Segment 2 = 43 minutes
Segment 3 = 36 minutes
Total length = 110 minutes.
(Actually the film is now longer as I have adding more material in the blackouts. See below).
Now I have never thought that shortening a film is any virtue in and of itself. Milos Foreman told a great story about editing one of his films for a studio. He showed them a version at 115 minutes. Too long, make it shorter. He went away and cut 10 minutes out of it. Still too long. He got it down to 95 minutes. Still too long, shorter. Well he didn't know what to do. He couldn't see how he could make any shorter. He went back to the editing suite and thought and thought. He added three minutes to the film and presented it to the studio. Yes, that's better. You see, shorter is better?
So, I am not going about this edit thinking that the film must shorter, I am going about thinking it must simpler and clearer and that may mean making it shorter. At 110 minutes the film is too long.
This past Saturday I started going through the assembly and tried to cut with some sense of pace, and necessity. I have been most happy cutting dialogue from certain scenes, which seems less and less useful when you see all the bits put together. It is almost as if a I have this toy constructed in my hands. It is held together with all sort of bits and pieces and it works, but it would work better without some of those bits. How many bits and pieces can I get rid of? That is what this whole process is about.
Right now the cutting is relatively pain free. Cutting away extra bits has meant that scenes are smoother and make more sense. Other scenes just work better at a certain length. Some scenes were intended to feel a certain pace and cutting brings this out. Some of the dialogue scenes were deliberately extended so that I could decide in the edit parts I wanted to use.
But before long I know this easy bit will be over and some hard decisions will need to made. Is this scene necessary? Is it necessary to explain this or that? Is that character necessary?
Between last Tuesday and last Saturday I have been preoccupied with another problem, the blackouts. I think I have already posted on the subject (http://tidalbarrier.blogspot.com/2007/10/blackouts-and-7th-draft.html) previously. I had decided that I needed to find a relationship between the blackouts and images within the narrative. I would like to post separately on this subject, as I have a lot to talk about. For now suffice to say that I have been very much inspired by Phillipe Grandrieux and his new film, Un Lac, which was part of the London Film Festival (http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/lake). If you have not seen it please call the ICA and nag them to distribute the film.
My other influence has been Rothko, and the exhibit at the Tate Modern. More on all of this soon.

Film geek...

2008-11-26T16:09:00.015Z

I have successfully avoided the editing up until now and have been busy creating a press pack and other such chores. I plan to start editing this weekend.
In the meantime I thought I might do a how did you do that?
We shots this film on S16, in this case an Aaton LTR54, which was over 2o years old. I purchased this camera over a year ago (http://tidalbarrier.blogspot.com/2007/09/september-update.html).
Now this camera came with 7 primes and a zoom lens but came up with our own aesthetic, which meant we shot the first third of the film a 25mm, the second on 16mm, and the last a 12mm. So as the narrative unfolds we move further back. This practically meant that in the early part we saw the characters and spaces in fragments, while in the last third we saw the characters and space as one. To a certain extent we mirrored that with the film stock. For the first two thirds we used 250 daylight and 250 tungsten film, while in the last third we used 160 daylight. We used Fuji film throughout and I have to say that it was exceptional, especially in low-light conditions. We always had more room and could've gone much further than we did. You always understood why you shot on film and not video.
The film was developed and transferred by iLabs in Soho. It was transferred onto Digibeta and then a DV dub was made of it. The plan is to do the offline edit with the DV dubs, and then finish on Digibeta. A return to film would happen when the film is sold.

Photos...

2008-11-17T14:05:00.037Z

I have successfully put the editing off this past week. So before I begin again - I will probably start capturing footage tomorrow - a few photos from the last shoot. Courtesy of David.

Scene 11

After an argument Paul goes for a walk in the forest. Claire comes looking for him. He watches her come to him, as if watching her from the outside. It is the end.

In the forest Paul has scratched himself. Claire examines the wound, but from the outside too.

Scene 24

This is a new scene I wrote this autumn. It replaced a scene where Claire first meets Nick, which we had shot in August. I changed it for three reasons. One, it seemed their meeting was redundant. There was already a scene where they meet, and it seemed far more interesting.
Two, that scene also doubled to introduce the concept of the periphery, of Claire moving from the city to the park to the wild. This was important enough to the focus of the scene, rather than the background it was in the original scene.
Finally, the footage from August was fogged. The film tin had been opened, we are not sure how, and the footage was ruined. Sometimes these disasters happen for a reason.

So, in this scene, Claire, having just moved into Natalie's flat, goes out into the neighbourhood, as this new person. Here she has made her way into the park.

At the end of the park the wilderness begins. She looks into the forest, and sees her own fear.

Scene 32

As she begins a relationship with Nick, she begins to wonder if she was right in leaving Paul. Here she has spotted him inside a bar, though at this moment we don't know that.

Before she can decide whether to confront him he comes out.

Claire makes a retreat.

Scene 41/42

With the rough edit I was able to see what worked and what didn't, and especially what needed development.
In this scene Claire decides to confront her fear and makes her way into the forest. We added new events and shots, and re-shot some of the shots from August.

And here we are making it...
Scene 11

Roland is wondering if there will ever be any dialogue to record.

JC sets up. Anna was our focus-puller this time around. She came with us to Norway.

Beth prepares Paul's injuries.

And we are set and begin shooting. Kendra sets out the board. She came with us to Norway as well.

Scene 24

On Wanstead High Street following Claire on the opposite side of the road.

Marc listening in. The sound guys spent most of their time getting atmos tracks.

Now in Shoreditch in front of Lounge Lover.

Joe Gough was our 1st AD during this shoot.

It was sometimes hard to recognise Azahara.

Scene 42

Here Fred and I are wondering if the sun is ever going to cooperate.

In Wanstead setting up the final part of Scene 42. I added this shot to the scene from the edit.
Claire lays herself down.

Anna focuses with Kendra's assistance.

Lara was with us that day. She and Azahara alternated days.

Anna checks the gate.

Now an earlier part of Scene 42, where Claire enters the forest. Here we are just off Wanstead High Street.

2008-11-10T09:52:00.014Z

I have been putting off writing this.
These past few days I have just been so happy to not worry if it was raining or sunny, or if a tree was the right colour. I need to clean my bedroom, find a job, meet up with the few friends I have left and who I have neglected this past half year, and do anything but worry about making a film.
But I will say that we did it. On Friday I met JC at iLab to see the rushes and there were no problems. It looks very good and we have everything we need for now. I have already been thinking about some new material I want to try, but that will happen down the road.
The big story was the weather which was generally good and bad when we we needed it to be.
On the Saturday it was cold and drizzly but we kept working right until the light was gone. On the way home the rain really opened up so were fortunate because we wouldn't have been able to work in that. This shooting day was the key, as we managed to capture more than we planned and that put us ahead for the rest of the shoot.
The remaining days were not quite as cold and it never rained again. At the same time it was flat and grey, which was called for in the script and also made it easier to match scenes shot over two days. We had an early start, 7:30, but we were generally finished by 3 in the afternoon. This meant we began to rise and sleep like farmers, to bed at 9 and up at 5.
We shot the remaining scenes of the first segment, which mostly involves Paul and their troubled relationship. After an argument, set off when Paul discovers that Claire had a sister he did not know about, Paul goes off into the forest to cool down. Claire searches for him there, and eventually finds him, but now their relationship is essentially over. All that remains is for one of them to leave.
We also reshot the whole of Scene 42 as I mentioned, which included all the new material that I had developed with the video camera and Flora back in September.
So a big thank you to Redbridge and Walthamstow Forest Council for being helpful, kind and generous. And also to the people of Redbridge who were happy to have us there, and were kind, and helpful and generous too.
And a big no thanks to Epping Forest and the City of London who wanted to charge us £1000 for use of the forest, which for a low-budget film is prohibitive. They don't seem to care if you are Batman 4 or a small film just trying to get by, and weren't particularly helpful. They told us they have targets - how can a forest have targets? And what do they spend the money on? Walking about in there you can't help step in the dog shit, or stumble over the remains of parties and men going off into the shrubbery to have sex. They weren't patrolling the park or cleaning up the rubbish.
This reminds me of a story from Carlos Reygadas, when making Battle in Heaven in Mexico City in front of the National Palace. The authorities were happy to let a homeless man live in the square, being loud, abusive and drunk, but you want to make a film? No way! You need permission, you need to pay! This is the National Palace!
I would also like to thank our lab, iLab who have always treated us well, even though we are never going to make them a lot of money out of a small-budget group like us.
Finally two locations that really helped us out.
Lounge Lover in Shoreditch let us use their front entrance for the scene where, late into the second segment Claire spots Paul inside of a bar. Before she can decide whether to confront him he comes out and she turns and goes off. Did she make the right choice?
And then there was the White Hart pub on Stoke Newington High Street. Now they already have let us in back in September when we used the interior to shoot the meeting between Claire and Sophie. This time we made use of their fantastic beer garden, where Paul and Claire go one Sunday.
What next? I am putting off editing until at least after next weekend. I just don't have the taste for it. And when do you begin to think about cutting a trailer? I think that frightens me the most.
I have also been reminded that we need to develop the press package and website. Perhaps I could put my energy into that for the next while?
Below are a few photos, mostly via JC. David's photos will come shortly.

Anna and Kendra load up.

Anna in front of some Lounge Lover street art.

Azahara in disguise. Some times we just couldn't find her, she was so well covered.

Beth resting on a Lounge Lover lion.

Always great to get a photo of David.

Anna and JC set up the car for the driving scene.

JC and now Joana, who wrangled the Lounge Lover location.

Marc starts on one of Isabella's sandwiches. Isabella did all the catering for the shoot.

Once again I am pointing out things to Flora.

Wrapped!

2008-11-05T10:20:00.001Z

I just want to say briefly that yesterday afternoon we finished the principle shooting of the project. I think it will take some time to sink in...
Much more to come.

Production update

2008-10-29T15:03:00.003Z

Just a quick note to say that tomorrow morning we begin to shoot the last major part of the film. On Thursday and Friday morning we are indoors, shooting in the flat, and then we are out in the forest for the last 4 days. I can only for good weather. More to come...

2008-10-17T21:02:00.003+01:00

Where to start?
I have just begun pre-production for the final phase of the shoot. There are two great pressures. First there is the of course the issue of the time of year, the daylight and the weather. The sun is going down around 6pm, and we are losing around 3 minutes of daylight per day. Scheduling this means I have a lot less time to play with and 4 day shoot in August is now a 6 day shoot in October. On top of this is the weather question. Now, I know that there isn't a month where you can't assume rain here in London but those risks are increased when you combine it with the lack of daylight. If I have to cancel a day because of rain then when do we pick it up? The days are not getting any longer or warmer.
A more interesting issue is what the edit has thrown up. I have already written about how I have added detail with video, and now I have to plan to shoot these new sequences on film. This means a complete re-shoot of scene 42 so that the weather and light matches together. This scene follows on from Claire's break-up with Nick, and details her entrance into the forest and her confrontation with her fears. It precedes the Norway segment and at this stage is one of the most important scenes in the film.
And then there is the edit. So much to say. David saw some of the segments last weekend and had a lot of comments and suggestions, which to me was very positive. I felt there is so much work to do, but we have something to work on. What I showed hung together.
Which brings us to sound. I have just begun to really play with the sound as another dimension.
It was especially interesting to hear David's comments regarding the long blackouts I included in second segment. Now I had arbitrarily set these to be 20 seconds long which I thought might seem like an eternity, but in the viewing felt like 2 seconds. To be fully developed they can be a minute long. How to develop them? That is what is so much fun. I have begun sampling sounds from other parts of the film, voice, odd sounds that happened in by accident, pushed the volume down and chopped off the top and middle frequencies and then mixed them with some of the atmos tracks that Roland recorded. It is fantastically suggestive. Now I can't say what I am getting at yet, and I wondered if I need to know. Could I just approach this idea instinctively? We'll see...

Whew! I've done it

2008-10-09T21:15:00.002+01:00

Yes, a long time since I posted, but I really wanted to have something to report.
And what I have managed to do it finish an assembly edit of all the material to date. So that means what we have shot for the first segment (we plan to shoot the missing bits at the end of October), one edit of the second segment, and two edits of the third and final segment in Norway.
The second segment includes the additional material I shot with Flora in Wanstead last week. I already said that when edited this part first and immediately felt that the final scene lacked development. There just wasn't the detail there to suggest the relationship between Claire and the landscape. Now there are a number of scenes still missing in both this segment and the first, that also add detail to this theme and I suspect that at the end I will have too much, but I would rather be in that position than not have enough material.
So I have cut this video into the film, or rather the DV dubs of the film, and when JC returns he can see what I have, and we can go from there.
It was also time for Roland to begin playing with the sound design, so he came by and took away an earlier version of this second segment with the idea of creating some play material for me. I really do not want the sound design to be slapped on to a finished edit. Instead I want the sound design to change the edit itself.
Once I finished the second segment I went onto the third segment. Now this is the part where I need to do the most worrying. What can I do if I am missing some key material? Not only is there the expense, but there is a real winter in Norway. The earliest you shoot again is in April.
I realise there is a contradiction in what I am trying to achieve. On the one hand the shots of the landscape have above Claire's story. The exist outside of her. But at the same time they are meant to create a unified whole to this segment, to be the final part of the arc of her story. How to do both at the same time?
So I am at this moment burning DVDs of the these editing sequences. I have invited David over to watch them on the big screen where I hope I will find some objectivity and some useful feedback. Is there a concept here? And if not, some other ideas? So news from Monday...

Editing begins

2008-09-27T15:55:00.006+01:00

I have been putting writing this post, probably because the beginning of this process is filled with such ups and downs.
When it goes well you just want to continue editing. When it goes badly the last thing you want to do is write about it.
What has been done?
First the tedious but necessary task of capturing all the material. Of course I have not finished shooting yet so there is more to come, but so far there are 8 DV tapes worth of material, equating to around 8 hours of footage. Logging and capturing this material took around 5 days.
Then the editing starts. I have divided the project into three logical segments. Segment 1, which is for the most part incomplete focuses on Claire's life with Paul. Segment 2 begins when Claire moves into her sister's place and her relationship with Nick. Segment 3 consists of the Norway section.
Once the footage was captured then I had to face the question in the room, how do I edit this? What is the strategy? Where do I start? And then there was the urgency of the upcoming October shoot: what might be missing that I could pickup in October?
For this reason I began by editing the second segment. If there was the need I could do some rewrites and pick up the new material or reshoot material that didn't turn out. On the other hand if I was missing something from Norway I wouldn't be able to do anything about it until the spring.
Where to start? Well the most critical parts of the second segment, the end, where Claire overcomes her fear and makes her way into the forest. I assembled this roughly and I quickly found that I did not have the material to fully develop these scenes. Essentially there is not enough detail. So, tomorrow I off to the forest again with the video camera to shoot some test segments which I will be able to incorporate into the edit. When we begin shooting in October I should have a pretty clear idea about what else we need to pick up.
So I finished the second segment on Friday morning and started the Norway segment in the afternoon. Now this gave me a sleepless night. As I roughed it out I was most worried that we did not have the footage we needed for the long coda segments, that is the those shots of the landscape that stood above and behind Claire's story. When we were there I struggled to think how they might be structured and now I was seeing the results. At the time we simply went out and shot as much material as possible, and also repeated some of the same shots at different times of the day, thinking that in all that some concept will make itself apparent. But this morning after some long thoughts I came up with a possible solution which seems the most obvious, but that the structure must be simply the relationship of each shot as part of a location, eg. a series of shots around the beach, around the mountain, etc. So link together the shots that were geographically linked. I am not sure if this solves the problem but at least this afternoon there seemed to be some coherence to the sequences.
I have also found some other segments that are missing detail, for example the scene where Claire's goes swimming. The idea, that she is immersing herself in the environment does not come across. Can I cheat some new shots here in London and insert them into the edit?

David's photos from the Dalston shoot

2008-09-17T21:22:00.025+01:00

And now some photos of the last shoot, most of which took place in and around Dalston.

Here Sophie (Lucy Richards) visits Claire in the flat she shares with Paul.
She has never been invited here before.

With a little help...This time around I had Joana as a production manager and Will as a 1st AD. This meant that pre-production and production went a lot more smoothly and I could spend some time actually thinking about the story. Here I took advantage of some extra time and wrote a number of new small scenes. Here Claire is in the back garden, looking up to the trees and then into the house. Is Paul waiting there? Perhaps. I have not decided where this scene will sit or even if I will use it. I have repeated the image of the treetops here.

Then one day Claire watches Paul leave for work...

She washes the sheets. He won't find her odour here that night.

And not only does she remove her clothes, but she rearranges his so that it is as if she were never there...

...and closes this chapter.

In the latest outline Sophie makes a number of appearances throughout the story. Here, late in the second segment Claire and Sophie visit an art gallery where the work of her favourite photographer is being displayed. Of course these photos are David's, from a project entitled Nationale 7.

But they have a different reaction to what they see. Just as their relationship will end shortly.

And then some us in action...

A comfortable chair, a moment to myself.

Azahara and Lara give the walls a touch-up, to give it that white-walled gallery look.

David had the added stress of hanging his photos, and then...I guess JC must have taken this one.

Rob sets up the camera for the series of shots along the wall. Here Sophie and Claire go over the photos in the gallery.

Fabiano prepares Lucy. He stood in for Beth who could only make the Monday.

Joana and Fabiano.

And now the photos are mounted, the wall is painted and we are ready to shoot.

And in Dalston...

How many of us can you get in a bedroom? Cameron on the right, prepares the wardrobe for the scene.

Rob being overlooked by Monica.

One moment one when Will wasn't moving us along.

Marc, in the background, tries to keep the boom out of JC's frame.

What was done...and not

2008-09-11T09:58:00.002+01:00

So, finally a report on this past week.
A small disaster. Flora became ill and we had to cancel the first three days of the planned shoot. As she is in every scene there was not a lot we could do without her.
When she recovered we managed to juggle a few things and shot approximately 2 1/2 days. We covered all the scenes which include the character of Sophie.
Most of this involved shooting in my flat, which stood in for Paul and Claire's flat. As days are getting shorter and with some delays that meant JC was doing a small amount of lighting here, something we try to avoid.
Besides the flat we also had a few locations to cover as well.
Towards the end of the second segment Claire and her friend Sophie visit a gallery as part of Sophie's birthday. Here David did double duty. He was there to take photographs of the production, but the character's also came to see his own photographs. I didn't want to have the characters go to a gallery and just see whatever happened to be on display there. We found a place where we could do a little hanging and painting and put up something that would add another layer of meaning.
David did a project a number of years ago titled Nationale 7 - Le route bleue. Nationale 7 or Highway 7 used to be the main highway from Paris to the south. In August millions of Parisians would embark on road to begin their holidays, but now the road has been bypassed. Now the culture along the highway is crumbling. What I became interested in these photographs was the sense of loss.
http://www.davidboulogne.com/photoproject.html
We also went back to our Holloway Road location. Sophie drives Claire back to Natalie's flat, where she is staying. We were trying to capture the end of the relationship, with two shots, one inside the car, a strained and empty conversation about nothing, and then the car pulling up and Claire stepping out and waving goodbye to Sophie. Sophie's part is small, but I wanted her role to be more than a support for Claire. She has her own journey which is similar and contrasts with Claire's. What could see in her as she watches Claire step out of the car and wave goodbye? Well, all our work was for nought as we found we could not see her face clearly through the windscreen. We were left with a vague shape in the windscreen and the indicators on the car. This might work. If not, we will need to rethink the scene.
We ended the shoot at the pub The White Hart on Stoke Newington High Street (http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/43/4360/White_Hart/Stoke_Newington). This takes places at the end of the first segment. Claire has just come from seeing Natalie's flat for the first time and meets up with Sophie to tell her about it. Sophie, here already has an inkling that her relationship is falling apart and is not much interested and has trouble following what Claire is talking about.
I also introduced another actor to the production, Fred, who will play Paul. We shot one scene with Paul, Natalie, and Claire. Here Paul discovers Natalie, the sister that Claire has never spoken about.
Where are we left? We have to shoot all the scenes with Paul, plus a few new scenes I just wrote. This will all have to wait for October, as JC just left for China for six weeks.
Next, David's photos...

Pre-production - Dalston

2008-08-28T21:07:00.003+01:00

Well it's actually more than just Dalston, but this is the final push. We have 5 days scheduled next week, in Dalston, Shoreditch, and Wanstead.
This includes all the first part of the story, starting with Paul, and how Claire comes to leave her. And we meet Sophie, Claire's friend. Here Paul meets Natalie, Claire's sister for the first time.
Do I think it will complete a week this Sunday? No, just that there will be enough to begin the edit and the end of September. In seeing this edits I am would be surprised that we don't decide that we need something more or something different. In principle though, this is it. I am finding the whole idea of finishing it rather frightening. While we were workshopping or as we had only shot this or that part it seemed that there were still possibilities. Now, thinking of completing the principle shooting we will have to make a decision. This is it.
More on this next week...

Wanstead - photos

2008-08-22T15:35:00.021+01:00

Here they are, David's photos from the Wanstead shoot in August.
Starting with the production photos...

Claire arranges to meet Nick, ostensibly to tell him about Natalie.

In the middle of their relationship, they are out for breakfast one morning. He leaves her without telling her where he's going, suggesting he is seeing someone else. The truth is far more mundane.

They share an intimate moment one weekend morning.

It's all over, and Nick is at a loss for once.

Once it is all over, Claire has moment of realisation: she confirms to herself that she is alone.

She has the courage to enter the forest...

...and lays herself down.

And the us in action...

On Wanstead High Street at the Caesar Palace Cafe where Claire and Nick have breakfast.

And Hu and JC's view on the scene.

Here in the park across the street Beth applies some touches to Flora.

The Sunday morning in Epping Forest, Marc listens in on the scene.

Once the rain was done then we had the sun in our way. Hu tells me about the magic hour.

JC gives me a good talking to.

Sunday night the rain is done and we shoot the final shot of the middle segment, the iconic look. I have my eye to the camera (unusually) and we must have done 20 takes, and expect to redo this anyway, to get it right.

Wanstead/Dalston

2008-08-13T21:55:00.005+01:00

So, another segment done. And it all went very well. Mostly the weather, where we managed to squeeze between Saturday, with its steady drizzle, and Tuesday, with it's torrential downpour. It was especially critical for Scene 33/34 in which Nick and Claire spend an idyllic day in the park. Now the other days I think I would have preferred them to be gray and dull, but there was nothing else for 33/34.
On Sunday night our luck ran out, at least temporarily. Up to that point we were ahead of the game, behind in some shots, then ahead in others. We spent the morning in Epping Forest, then the afternoon in Wantead. In the evening we returned to forest to film Scene 41/42, where Claire breaks with Nick, and then makes her way into the forest (that is the Scene 42). Now to me these scenes were critical and difficult at the same time. Here was where we planned to move the camera, as I said previously, not a small thing in a film where the camera is essentially static throughout. So we get in the cars and head back to the forest and there is downpour, a monsoon-effective rain burst. We are separated, a misunderstanding, and the only way to reconnect is to trudge about in the muck, through the downpour.
We managed to find each other but the rain did not look it was going to let itself up. What's more the ground was naturally soaking wet and Flora was required to lay herself down in the grass. Not pleasant. We considered postponing the whole Scene for the morning, but then a break. Suddenly the clouds broke and the sun came out. Everyone was happy except JC, who now thought there was too much sun. He had a point: it was meant to be dusk.
We managed nearly all of ours shots but one. This we returned for in the morning. The tilt and pan across the gray, slate sky.
The two critical shots were a pan from left to right, in which Claire enters the forest right to left. We thought moving the camera here was justified in that this moment was a breakthrough, where Claire has accepted that she is alone, and confronts her fear, in the forest. She enters, and lays herself down, looking up to the gray, slate sky, looking for an opening.
There is none. And in close-up, looking up at the sky, she contains all of this realisation in a look from the sky to the lense. She sees us and tells us.
The next afternoon we were in Wanstead again, this time at the Caesar Palace Cafe where we shot a breakfast meet between Claire and Nick. Ozbek and everyone at the cafe were so kind to us, as was everyone we met on the street. As is always the case in location shoots it always takes longer than you imagine, and why is that? One of the customer's in the cafe said, 'there is sure a lot of faffing about. No wonder it's so expensive'.
Later in the afternoon we shot the the continuation of this scene, where Claire spy's Nick waiting on the street for the bus. Now he was meant to leave her with as sense of mystery, which turns out to be a long wait for public transportation. She is disappointed that his act was nothing but a game so badly played.
Then finally the scene where they meet for the first time. This was Scene 26.
And we were done except for a nice dinner in the pub on the high street. We were missing a few shots, and Flora and I were certain we may end up re-shooting that final shot in Scene 42, but all a success. I dropped the film this morning and the lab should have it done tomorrow. And I met David and he passed his photos on to me already. So more to come.

Pre-production - Wanstead

2008-08-05T22:18:00.003+01:00

Just a quick update to say that we are now preparing to shoot in Wanstead this coming Sunday and Monday. This part of the story revolves around Nick and his first meetings with Claire, and then when they break up. There are some interesting scenes here, as they set up the Norway sequence. In one we are even planning to move the camera!
On Friday evening we are shooting Scene 13 and Scene 14. These are the scenes we did for the test back in April, but were unsuccessful due to street noise and a problem with one of the mags (the mag created a nasty scratch on the far right of the negative). So we are re-shooting these scenes indoors on Friday evening.
More to come...

Norway IV - David's Photos

2008-07-28T23:11:00.029+01:00

Finally I am uploading David's photos from Norway. These are just a sample, but you can divide them into photos of us working, production photos, and photos of the landscape.

All photos by David Boulogne.

Some of us caught working. I think he has flatter us with these, in black and white.

There is something almost primeval in the landscape in black and white, and this gives an almost epic quality to us working here.

To see this again from the outside, after the intensity of the experience of being so inside...

What we came for. A few scenes as David saw them.

Claire caught in the forest, as she explores in the dusk.

Claire in defeat: she runs into a couple in the wilderness but cannot face them. She hides.

Natalie arrives. She can tell: someone is here.

Claire and Natalie out for a stroll. But Claire won't allow Natalie to own this place. She marches on, leaving Natalie behind.

Claire wonders why Natalie has come to Norway: she listens in on her phone conversation and learns she is here for a liason with a married man.

Claire, now reconciled with her sister, and her past, making her way up the ridge. She has found an equilibrium.

The final scene, Claire working her way into the landscape. She has a part in it.

She finds the top of the ridge and then works her way into the forest and disappears.

Now some of the location itself, without Claire or a film crew.
All these places exists with out Claire. Have their own life.

Norway III

2008-07-15T20:21:00.021+01:00

We had been lucky with the weather. Other than the rain the day we arrived, and a lot of wind the next evening it was generally quite warm, and the sky was mixed with clouds and sun. So my one main worry I had about shooting out of sequence, that there would of different weather as each story day progressed did not come to pass.
That was until the Friday morning when I awoke to hear the rain. Lu and I quickly rescheduled. We had a plan that in such a situation we would black out the cabin and shoot the evening scenes, but now that it was Friday we had shot most of those them. We also needed sun for some of the scenes we had planned to shoot that Friday, and the weather was forecast to be sunny and clear on Saturday. Our original plan was to shoot the travelling day on Saturday, when Claire travels to the cabin. Now it made sense to shoot all of these scenes in the rain. She would arrive on a gloomy and wet day, just like we did. And then the weather would change for her, like it did for us.
So it was out onto the boat, then into the car, with a minimal crew and out onto the highway we had come in on. Since our space was limited we could only take Flora, the actor, Roland for sound, and JC and Ania to deal with the camera. Lu had to stay at the cabin and fret. This day involved a number of sequences, Claire stopped in the car, reading some road signs, stopped at a bridge, watching the river passing by, then a man loading the boat. That had to be me, unfortunately, as we were quickly running out of crew members to put in the film.
Then a few sequences on the boat, of Claire seeing her destination come into view, and the spray off the bow. We left Flora at the cabin to finish a few other sequences in the car, where she was not required, her baggage rattling about on the floor of the car, then the landscape out of the car window. We drove onto the island we had called home, on a small, rough road. Ania and JC set themselves in the back of the car and I had thought to make this shot quite short, but every time I called cut JC and Ania would shout back, 'No! No! This is beautiful. We have to get this. '
By the time we had come to this scene the rain had stopped and the weather was clearing up. This was great as we were scheduled another scene with Katrine, on the deck, after they had come back from a day of hiking. The weather was meant to be clear, and by 4 that afternoon it was.
The oddest thing about this day was David leaving in the afternoon. He had some work on Saturday and we took him to the bus station on the highway as we didn't have the time to take him to the airport. He had such a part of the whole experience it seemed so odd that he wasn't there when we had finished.
We had more evening scenes to shoot Friday, the final scene between Claire and Natalie, and we waited a long time into the evening for the light to go down sufficiently. We needed to shoot out the windows.
There was still one sequence from that travelling day to shoot, when Claire goes into a Norwegian shop and buys some groceries. We had to do that on Saturday morning because Ronny had arranged with the Kiwi shop to do it then. As it turned out the manager there that morning had heard nothing about it, but he let us shoot anyway. I don't think that would've happened in London. So we had a little Norwegian flavour in this shop, Claire at a distance in this new place due to the language.
That Saturday morning it was also rather sad as Katrine and Ania both were leaving, like David both had work, Katrine in Britain, Ania in Poland. After such an intense experience it was hard to imagine not having all these people around when we finished on Saturday afternoon.
But we go on...this time to the beach where we made our second attempt to shoot the swimming sequence. It was beautiful day, and probably due to the tides, and the position of the beach the jellyfish kept their distance. It took a lot of convincing but I finally manged to get Flora into the cold water to complete the sequence. This is with myself up to my waist, and JC and Kendra, who now was in charge of the camera now that Ania had gone, in the water too, with the camera. It had to be to get the shot we wanted.
We finished the afternoon retaking some of the coda sequences, an idea of David's, to think about the same place at different times of the day. Then a return to the cabin to shoot the last of the evening scenes. This one I decided could be done without shooting out the window so that we could do by blacking out the windows.
And so we are ahead of schedule, which means we are free to do whatever we needed, and this had to be going out onto the trail near the cabin and trying to shoot again the final scene, 68, which I described earlier. JC was happier with the weather as there were large clouds which allowed us to play with chance, that in the middle of the scene the light would change. So I walk through the scene again with Flora, climbing up onto the rocks with her, up onto the ridge, through the trees, discussing what we want, how to change the pace, include humour, decisions, chance, an enjoyment at the physical exertion of climbing, the rough textures of the tree bark, the stone, the view from up there.
So we are all happy and Flora does it again. It is better than when we did it previously but it still didn't feel like we were finished. So one more time. And this time it is everything. Flora has captured it, she has I had imagined it, and for JC the clouds cooperate, and we move, 3/4 of the way through the sequence from cloud to sun, but gradually, so that after Flora has disappeared in the trees I don't yet call cut, but watch as the sun comes out and slowly glows on the leaves, and it goes on and on, and the sound of the place seems to increase too, and just when it seemed the scene should be over the roll in the camera was done, it ran out.
That was a wrap. Fantastic, so happy at how it all had gone. Only sad that not everyone was there to share it. We had the evening to think about what we had accomplished.
We had asked Anton to build a BBQ down near the shore, and they had gone into Risor earlier to try to buy some wine. And they came back in shock at the cost of alcohol in Norway. The government wine store was already shut so all they could buy was beer, and the £50 I had given them only bought them 18 tins of beer.
So we had sausage and burgers down on the rocks near the fjord. The weather could not have been better and the smoke seemed to keep the midges away so JC and Roland could relax. For me, with so little sleep and a few glasses of wine in me, I managed to fall asleep right down there, with a glass of wine on my stomach, snoring away, or so I'm told, on the rocks. There is even a photo as evidence.
There is a whole story about Sunday, sending off our first group to the airport, the rest of remaining behind to clean the cabin, then loading the car, Beth driving back, Lu, JC and Roland in the back, sleeping, me in the passenger seat, also sleeping. And then on the plane, all of us sleeping again, and then the cab back from Stansted, JC, Roland and I sharing a cab, caught in a traffic jam at 12pm, again sleeping through most of it. And we are done.
So some photos of everyone from JC. (I am going to save the last post of David's photos alone).

Ania

Anton

Azahara

Beth

Camera girls

David

Flora

Katrine

Katrine and Kendra

Kendra

Lu

Roland

It's a wrap. Flora and Roland at our BBQ the final day.

It's all too much. I can finally catch up on some sleep.

Norway II

2008-07-05T19:23:00.021+01:00

Our first shooting day began with a rehearsal of a key scene, 61. This includes a difficult confrontation between Claire and her sister, Natalie. It involved a lot of business (I remembered too late why you avoid scenes involving food), and some throwing of objects. All of us were concerned for a number of things, getting a performance level that was also believable, and still safe. If Flora were to throw things we have to believe them, but she has to have enough control to ensure the safety of Katerine and everyone else on the crew.
In the meantime Lu continued battling the schedule, while Roland went to the airport early to pick up the rest of the crew. I was worried about them as I had cruelly put them on the early flight, which left London at 6:30am. They would have had to get up at 3am to get to the airport and would be coming quite tired, not ideal for an afternoon and evening of shooting. I had asked Lu if it were possible to switch the evening shoot for a rehearsal we had scheduled but she found this was not possible. They had a very long day.
We began by shooting some simple scenes in the cabin, and then in late afternoon hiked to a series of locations near what we called the beach. Here, we began by shooting a scene where Claire and Natalie go out hiking, Claire leaving Natalie behind when she cannot keep up. As we scrambled about in the brush for a shooting position we managed to loose the eye cup for the camera. This was a blow as we imagined trying to put our eyes up against the sharp metal end of the eyepiece for the rest of the week. This was the first and certainly not the only time that Anton became a hero. Later, while we were waiting for the sun to go down he dug up in the brush and found the thing. Anton had come along to help Azahara with the art direction but he also did work shooting making of video, carrying loads up and down the hills, clearing jellyfish from one of our swimming locations, and finally building a BBQ down by the water for our wrap dinner.
We stayed at the beach through the evening. David was back at the cabin and set us dinner by boat. We shot a number of shots, without actors, and then finished the evening by a series of shots of Claire in the forest at night. This was one of three shots where we moved the camera in the film, a tilt down from high in the treetops to Claire at the base of the tree, looking up. Probably the most difficult part were the midges which were attacking everyone but me. As JC tilted the camera down Ania was blowing the midges off his hands.
What else did we find out there? Midges, which made Roland and JC their special victims. Each evening it was good to sidle up to either of them as the midges would leave you for their more delicious flesh. A few mosquitoes, but also ticks. Roland find a one big one on his leg. Lu also found a few on her legs, after she decided to abandon the outdoor toilet for the grass. There mice in the toilet and a few of the girls preferred the outdoors. Now Flora was especially concerned for the jellyfish as of course she was meant to swim in the fjord. They were everywhere, particularly when the tide shifted in certain directions.
The next morning we began shooting Scene 60, where Natalie arrives at the cabin unexpectedly. We had to shoot this scene on the Wednesday, as Ronny, my former flatmate, and the owner of the cabin was leaving that day. He played the Norwegian boatman who delivers Natalie to the cabin.
That evening we did the difficult Scene 61, the confrontation between Claire and Natalie. Flora got up to a performance level and threw a number of things without hurting anyone, while still be believable. And we saw some interesting things in Natalie too. I found finishing this scene a great relief.
I found the next few days a blur. I remember shooting scenes, but cannot place them on days. We spent one afternoon climbing into a valley near the centre of the island we were on. Here we found a number of locations, including the scene where Claire hides from a couple she runs into out on a walk. I had asked Anton to get some video of all of us climbing up the hill and went up on a ridge and captured us, ala Aquirre style, in a long row carrying equipment and provisions.
When we were finished with Flora a small crew stayed behind and we staked out what we called codas. These were stills of the landscape that I have a vague plan to use. The idea has been to create a place that is beyond the world that Claire inhabits, but which she has a part in. This meant we needed to show this world sometimes with her in it, and sometimes without her. It is as if this world has its own story and even its film and were shooting part of it.
We also shot Scene 68, the final shot, in which Claire stands in, moves about in, and finally dissolves into the landscape. This was a critical shot and when we were done I was not convinced we had captured it yet.
We spent evening shooting more interior scenes, scenes between Natalie and Claire, in which they do some actually speaking!
What day was this? I really not sure. Probably Lu could tell us.
Everything was going to schedule until I woke once again far too early on Friday morning. It was raining hard and we had planned to shoot a number of key outdoor scenes. Before we even had breakfast Lu had rescheduled.
More on that in the next post, but a few photos from Beth, who not only did make-up but managed to capture these at the same time. I will save David's photos for a final Norway post.

Katrine, and Flora on their way to the location. Roland fills up the car.

Our location, with required Norwegian flag.

I think this was our first shot. Natalie goes through some childhood toys and books.

JC and Ania, our first camera assistant.

The location we named the beach. We shot a number of scenes here and nearby.

Flora and David, with Ania in the background, on their way back from the beach on the first day of shooting.

Anton and Roland in the boat wrangling the jellyfish. After an hour there still more coming and we had to rethink how we would shoot this scene. JC, Ania and myself discuss shots that would never be.

In the location we called the valley. Lu stands by ready to organise us. Kendra, the 2nd camera assistant waits for me and JC to make up our minds.

Norway location - I

2008-06-30T21:52:00.006+01:00

We returned late last night from Norway.
It all seem so strange, almost surreal to be back here in London after such an intense week. I am not sure when it will sink in, perhaps tomorrow when I meet JC at iLab to see the rushes.
It couldn't have gone any better.
First the location was magnificent. Arriving, I could only worry. As we were loading the car at Torp Airport the skys opened up and in continued to rain off and on during the drive to Risor and throughout Sunday. Ronny met us in the Kiwi shop, which featured later in the week, and led us down to the small marina where we loaded up the small fishing boat to take us to the cabin. It was an experience sitting on that small boat, puttering down the fjord, the low cloud hanging down in the distance. As we unloaded the boat an omen. The plastic buckle on the transport tube decided it had enough and gave way just as Roland was passing it onto the dock. Suddenly the tall legs and head were in the fijord and miraculously floated there long enough for us to fish them out. The new sound barney also bobbed about there before Ronny noticed it next to the boat.
So after warming up a bit, and having a little lunch we began to scout the area, Ronny leading the way down Barmen Island, along a small ridge, where they had cut the trees to make way for the electricity lines. JC and I stopped constantly, looking down our viewfinders, thinking how this might do for that. We ended up near a small beach, next to a small grove of trees. We had seen these locations on the video that Ronny had made up for us in May. We agreed that this area had a lot of potential.
We went back where we came, past the cabin, on the same trail in the other direction, this time heading back towards Risor. We find a lot of interesting locations here too, but because this part of the trail makes its way over part of the small mountain that make up the island, it was quite treacherous. Tricky enough in the wet, really difficult when carrying camera kit. We returned, now thoroughly soaked and hungry. It wasn't just the rain, but the tall grass, which drenched your trouser legs, and filled your shoes with water.
That night Ronny started a fire and we attempted to dry our sodden trousers, socks, boots and jackets. We had bought plenty of whisky at the duty-free, and began to discuss what we might do.
We had most of the next day to return to these same locations. We had also decided to climb up into another valley that led further into the island, which we had seen on our return journey.
I was awoken by a light being shone into the cabin window behind my head at 5 in the morning. This was the sun, just coming through the clouds which had begun to clear. It was very windy, but we were lucky, as the rain had stopped. Roland took up his sound kit and went off on his own, while David, JC, and I returned to the beach, then into the valley. David would go ahead, while JC and I would discuss various possibilities. It was great way to work, with David able to stand back, not concerned with practical matters, just offering ideas, and also taking a lot of photographs at the same time.
That afternoon Roland, with a few boat lessons from Ronny, went to pick up Lu, our 1st Ad, who was going to keep us on track through the week. We stood on the deck watching the boats come down the fjord. Was that them coming now? We couldn't tell as the water was so rough all you could see was the spray. Settled in, I laid out what we had decided so far to her, while David made us a Spaghetti Bolognese. She had a tough job. I had created a schedule before we left that basically worked in the scene order. I wanted the days to match in light and weather, and with the long Norwegian days this was very possible, but this plan didn't account for the half hour treks over rough terrain which were required now that we had settled on some locations. The next morning she locked herself in one of the rooms and sweated over a new schedule.
That night Roland returned to the airport to pick up Beth, make-up, and the two actors, Flora (as Claire), and Katrine (as Natalie). We were quite worried as it was still very windy and there plane came in quite late. As the evening passed we hadn't heard from them and it was now dark. Finally Flora called from Roland's phone. They were just getting on the boat and said it was all very exciting. JC and I went down to the dock with the torches and tried to indicate the way by flashing them into the dark fjord. There were no lights on the boat or on the dock. Finally we saw them and they all landed safely. It was nearly one o'clock and we had a rehearsal first thing in the morning while the rest of the crew arrived. We retired. It was going to be a long day. More on that, plus some photos to come...

Just more pre-production...

2008-06-11T08:29:00.003+01:00

What can you say about pre-production? Well, I feel that we are lot more organised than when we went into Holloway Road. Principally that is because we have Lu and Rob running around like mad trying to sort everything out for Norway. This includes tasks such as sorting out a shower for the cabin, sleeping bags, finding out where the nearest hospital is, and so on.
I am trying to stay from this stuff, as I do have the directing/writing bit to do. In the past, when I went without any help with pre-production I ended up a complete wreck by the time we started the first day of shooting. Not good.
Yesterday evening JC and I sat in the garden and worked on the shot list. Lu is keen for us to get on with it so she can sort out a finalised schedule, but we are still working out the visual language of this segment. How do we shoot this part? How is different? The same? This question goes back to my first post in this blog, oh, so long ago.
A lot of work, but the rehearsals and this part have been the most satisfying part of the process.
I will post again before we depart...

Pre-production/Norway - update

2008-06-01T23:00:00.003+01:00

I haven't had a lot of time to breathe since we finished our first location on Holloway Road. I had a free weekend and then I was off to Cannes. I had never been before and spent most of time figuring which cinema was which.
Then I was back into pre-production for Norway. Shooting is scheduled from June 22-29th. JC, Roland, and I will travel out on the 22nd and do some scouting of the location. Rob will probably join us to help get everything set up. The actors will join us Monday evening and we will rehearse Tuesday. Shooting starts on the Wednesday morning, with an extremely tight schedule, beginning at 9am, finishing every night at 10:30pm.
Conditions will be challenging, as there is no shower, so we will have construct one of our own. The cabin only sleeps 7 and we will probably be 11, so a few of us will be sleeping in tents. We will have to share the cooking duties in the evening, and if we are lucky should manage to BBQ a few nights.
We have a new crew member on board, Lu, who came and helped us one day in Holloway Road. She will take over 1st AD duties from Rob who will not be able to be with us the whole time.
In the meantime preparations continue. Yesterday I spend the day with Flora and Katrine going over parts of the latest script. Today Azahara met up with Katrine to buy costumes, while Lara spent the day trying to find props. In the afternoon I met Rob, Lu, JC and Hu for a production meeting.
Very exciting, I have to say. One photo of our location.

Photos - Holloway Road location

2008-05-20T19:56:00.016+01:00

This is all very exciting. David dropped off the photos from the Natalie segment this past Sunday. I won't say too much except how fantastic they all look. This is why you have a real photographer.
Looking at these made me realise how much we managed to accomplish in 3 days.
All photos by David Boulogne.

It all starts with planning...My friend Rob tries to keep it organised as Azahara tries to track the art direction.

Hmmm.

Perhaps we should start here?

I am not sure JC has ever lit the inside of a refrigerator before.

Hu measures them up...

Flora and I talk about it. Here Claire has moved into the flat and is becoming part of the place.

Notice the flatness of the light and colour. JC went low-key to work with the location and the story. Nothing big except those earrings.

Claire's sees Nick for the first time. He thinks it is Natalie in the flat.

The morning after Claire has let Nick in. The relationship begins.

David has managed to make a lot better than I felt. Here I tried to work through exhaustion to explain myself again.

That's us. Roland was so much happier here than at the test shoot. Double glazing and a well-built flat.

Nick wonders who was at the door, and finds it odd that she refuses to say.

Because we know that it is her friend Sophie down below wondering what she is doing with her life. Here Emma, as Sophie, seems very far away.

A view from Natalie's bedroom window.

Shooting update - segment 1

2008-05-15T08:34:00.003+01:00

A short note as I am still recovering from the 3-day shoot this past weekend.
It all went very well. I cannot complain about anything except a little more time would've been nice. The camera performed brilliantly except for a rattle where the mag attached to the camera. We are getting that looked at.
Yesterday JC and I went to iLab to see the rushes. They looked for beautiful. Fuji film was very impressive, especially the 250T, which picked up a lot more detail in the shadows than we imagined. You could really see why you shoot film. Latitude. We could've been bolder and taken a lot more chances with the film than we did. I guess we are too used to shooting video.
David was shooting stills on the Sunday and Monday so when he sends me a selection I will post them along with a lot more detail.
Thanks to everyone who worked with me on this first segment. And thanks to Vaugn at iLab and the people at Fuji for helping us out.

The test

2008-05-03T19:58:00.013+01:00

So, this past Tuesday we shot our first test. The test part revolves around the aspect ratio, 2:1, relative to a fairly fast film, 250D corrected for tungsten. Grainy, yes, but how grainy? We took advantage of the situation to try to also grab Scene 14, check out the camera, and generally just get up to speed for the our first location on May 9th-12th.
Tomorrow JC comes over to test another stock, 160T, but this will be a more conventional test of all the lenses, etc.
And pre-production for the May9th-12th weekend continues.
Some photos from the test...

Katrine (playing Natalie) gets some make-up from Beth.

JC (standing) and Hu set up the camera. This is very exciting as this is the first time I have used this camera, which I bought back in the autumn.

And then the first position, on the street. A difficult situation. We are not certain we managed to get any good sound from here, with all the traffic, sirens, and airplanes.

Here Roland looks a little happier as we set up the second position, away from the street, where we should get some useful sound.
Azahara, art direction, is on the left.

Hu does that camera thing.

Just setting up the second position, while...

...Flora (Claire) tries to put on a brave face in the rain and cold.
We were fortunate as the rain, which had been coming and going all afternoon long paused while we grabbed these two shots. An hour after we dropped the heavens opened up again.

Pre-production and test

2008-04-29T07:32:00.003+01:00

Pre-production work carries on .
On Saturday JC, Azahara, who is doing the art direction, and I visited our Natalie location in Holloway Road.
JC has come up with a concept for shooting the whole feature. There is an evolution as we move through the film, to the end in Norway. The first segments uses a faster, grainier film, 250D and the Norway sequence uses a much slower 160T. So as the film breaks open we will have gone from a less detailed, noisier look to a much more detailed, higher contrast, richer look in Norway. This evolution is also carried over into the lenses, which start longer, and then go wider in Norway. We are playing with positioning, go from straight on views of locations and rooms, to diagonals. This first part we owe to Ozu I am sure.
So at the location JC had his camera, and Azahara acted as our model. We went and did a photo storyboard of the location. This way JC could check his focal length, and I could see the sequence of shots. Azahara meanwhile got an idea of the location and what we might have to bring there.
Meanwhile Robert, a friend of mine who is acting as production manager, location manager, assistant director and everything else you can think of, is busy with all the thankless bits behind the scenes, like sourcing insurance and hot food.
And there is more. Tonight, if the rain holds off, we are shooting a stock test. This is the scene where Natalie returns to ask Claire to take care of her flat and includes two shots, one to Natalie in the street, and the other with Claire in the doorway. I have already blogged about this previously and so tonight, or rather in a few days when we get the results back from iLab we will see how this stock looks.
And the Natalie location is set for shooting May 10-12th.
More later on pre-production which involves a lot of shopping...

Pre-production update

2008-04-21T08:37:00.004+01:00

I feel like this post is a list of excuses why I haven't written anything these past few weeks...
But so much has happened I have not taken the time to step back and take a look at it all.
So, we are in the process of securing a location for Natalie's flat. The plan is to shoot this over a long weekend in May. Setting a date, especially at a location where I will only have limited access tends to focus the mind. Suddenly JC and I have to stop debating and make some decisions.
We are thinking of shooting a 2:1 ratio, but of course we are concerned about the amount of grain, especially as we were planning to shoot a fairly fast film to dispense with as much lighting as possible. The only way to be certain is a test so we contacted i-lab in Soho (http://www.ilabuk.co.uk). Now they listened to us, suggested some options, and introduced us to the Fuji representative. They also made us tea, and didn't try to push us out the door.
So now it is up to us. We are planning to shoot a test scene with 250D and some other pieces with 160T.
I have finally opened up the project to sound and art direction. I met with Roland (Roland did the sound on my last film Reconciliation) on Monday last week and he began to throw out a bunch of different ideas, and went away very thoughtful, promising to come back with some more concrete suggestions.
Azahara has joined us to do the art direction. Of course there is not much of a budget and we have few options, so she has a tough job. The whole challenge is to find that one thing in each place, and since we are so limited by the aesthetics, this is all about the thinking.
Having to try to outline what I am doing, and having them both respond, and then having JC pitch in as well has helped me focus my ideas.
There is a lot more. I have begun to get ready for the Norway segment, which we are planning to shoot at the end of June.
All in all it has been a lot fun. It is so great to have more people feeding in ideas.

A location and a new script

2008-04-06T10:15:00.003+01:00

Well, I have admit I am behind in posting but at least I have a good excuse.
Where do we stand?
In my last post I described this new script that I was developing and on Wednesday I completed it. I have sent it to all my principles for feedback.
What is it? The part that I have been work shopping since February becomes the second segment. The relationship (Paul) that Claire escapes from at the beginning of this segment now becomes the first segment. Her relationship with Paul provides some more context for what happens with Nick in the second segment. It also introduces us to both Sophie, the friend, and Natalie, her sister.
Following the second segment, the third segment takes Claire away from Britain to Norway (possibly). Why Norway? First, the landscape is removed from what she has seen in London in the first and second segments. It is remote, empty, a place where she could reconstruct herself without interference. What's more, she is also removed from language. Otherwise we could have set the third segment in Snowdonia or the Pennines. I don't think it would be the same. But there is more in this. She is removing herself from but at the same time this place is part of her past, where she and Natalie were brought as children by their parents for summer holidays.
So that's it.
I saw JC yesterday and he had a few criticisms. More work still needs to be done to establish both Nick and Natalie. I am planning to meet Flora and Katrine to get their feedback and develop it.
And what else? JC and I were out looking for locations for Natalie's flat and I think we are close to finding what we need. This is a new build flat, quite modern and large. There is no history in this place, so there is nothing impinging on the idea of reinventing yourself, as Claire wants to do. And Natalie would have no qualms about leaving such a place and starting over again.
There are a few problems in the space, such a lack of daylight in the living room in the morning, but no location is ever perfect.
It was a lot of fun finally seeing where the actual shooting might take place. Getting close...

Feedback and some conclusions

2008-03-25T19:23:00.003Z

So I have had Ana and David over to see the edit on separate nights. Perhaps I should start with what was clear...
They both found the particulars of the story clear. That is they understood, or could understand where the characters were and who they were. They did not think it was necessary to explain more.
But at the same time they thought that there were missing steps in the relationship between Nick and Claire. They just barely begin their relationship and then it is over.
And the this was not helped by the fact we see no more than a short sequence with Claire and her previous relationship with Paul.
For them the visual language, or at least what was promised, was clear. (I found this interesting that for some the particulars, such as which flat the characters were in was confusing, but the abstract layer was clear. This for me is a victory).
David, being the photographer was more critical, but then that is why I asked him for his opinion. I certainly could not disagree with him.
As for the question of length, no one felt it was too long, that there was any fat. Quite the opposite. As I said, Claire and Nick needed more development.
So my problem remains. If I was to continue the way I had always planned then I would have a film of at least 2 hours.
What to do? Once they had finished their feedback I proposed them a solution. That is that this story would be developed into a feature of its own. This means creating a segment at the beginning, developing the relationship between Claire, Paul, Natalie, and Sophie. The second segment would stand, with some further developments between Claire and Nick. With the first segment, this second segment would seem as a natural development of Claire's story.
And then to follow, where does Claire go? This would be the third segment. Again, the natural development. If with Nick, Claire was foolishly taking on an other's identity, then third segment would be about her stripping away the artificial layers of identity.
I have already begun to write these new segments. I have written a draft of this first segments, I have developed the second segments, and I have very rough outline of the third segment.
Two of the actors, Flora and Katrine are coming over to see the edit on Thursday, and I will propose to them this new idea. More on that later...

The first edit and the first feedback

2008-03-17T21:01:00.005Z

So I began to show the first edit to friends this past week. Actually the first were my two neighbours. Isabella and Mark. They knew nothing about the script and the story so I was especially interested to hear their reaction.
And quickly problems with the state of the edit arose, principally in that the story if tightly written that one missing detail made it difficult for them to follow what was happening. An example, I shot the scenes in Paul's/Claire's place here in my flat, and because I don't have the location as yet, Natalie's flat as well. This meant they simply had difficulty knowing when Claire was at her flat and when she was at her sister's, Natalie. The story is complicated enough that these small details made it difficult to judge the effectiveness of the story. Is there enough there? Do I need just a few more details, a little more explanation?
My instinct would be to add more, because I can always remove it in the edit, but for one other problem, the edit is running at 41 minutes. As this was intended to be one part of three parts, if the other parts were of equal length or if I have to add a few more minutes that would mean 3 x 43 minutes = 129minutes. If I was a name director perhaps I could interest someone in buying that, but since this is a debut feature that is unlikely to happen.
What are my options? Shorten it by cutting it tighter? I don't think there is a lot of fat to cut. I made it pretty lean from the beginning. I explain next to nothing, the minimal, to the point where I think it would be incomprehensible if it were cut it tighter. What about making it less complicated? I don't know if it would have the same resonance if I did this. Develop the Claire story as a feature by itself? Isabella was quite adamant that she would like this if the story were to develop, but not if it were to explain more.
There are two areas where it could be developed.
First the visual language is starting to be effective, even thought there are large gaps in it. I have not even begun to develop the language of the macro, that is Claire's world seen in the minutiae. I would need to make it longer to do this.
Second, to develop other characters in the story, before and after. The first part with Paul at the beginning. What is there in their relationship that Claire would try to take up Natalie's life?
Then her sister Natalie. What could be developed there?
And what happens after the final scene with Claire where she goes into the forest looking for Nick?
So I have a lot of thinking to do. In the meantime Ana is coming over on Wednesday and more feedback. If she were to have the same reaction...

The final scene and a new location

2008-03-10T21:05:00.002Z

Now that JC is away until mid-March I look to David to help me out.
I already posted previously of our problems with the park location. So the Sunday previously David showed me another park close to our original locations.
What I realised from shooting the other weekend was that this scene or scene require a location that can be seen as a periphery, where the city meets park meets the wild. The other location was only wild with some of the city at the far edge.
This location was more suitable.
The park meets a high street. I can suggest safety for Claire, not just physically, but also from what she fears in her mind.
So we can establish her meeting Nick for the first time in such a place.

Here they must sit and Claire tells Nick how irresponsible Natalie is. It is also the place that they end their relationship too.

An alternative meeting point which has the added value of including the next location in the background.

The park meets the wild, with the city in the background. A great intersection/conjunction.
There are also some lights, which will at least establish the presence or absence of Nick when Claire goes looking for him. He can disappear because we can see so.

And then the wild place, where Claire goes to meet her fears. The final shots take place in there.

I returned to this location this past Saturday and capture a whole series of shots to establish this part of the story.
I also found that finding these locations made to change the story. In this last scene, Claire does not go after Nick to learn if what had happened was real - I always found this idea weak - but rather to confirm what she had always feared, that she was essentially alone. When she goes into the wild it is to face her fear, which has now been well-established earlier in the story.
On Sunday I edited all the new footage together and reworked some of the sound. I will burn a DVD on Tuesday and then it is time for some feedback. More on that...

Workshop complete...just about

2008-03-05T12:54:00.004Z

So this past Sunday I finished the workshop, or at least most of it. It was a long day and I had to introduce Emma, who plays Sophie, into a few scenes, and some voice-overs, really phone calls. I also worked with Katrine, who has one scene as Natalie, Claire's sister.
With Flora we finally filmed scene 18, which was the scene I used to audition everyone. It was strange to do this scene as it felt as if we had already done it. In this scene Claire is awoken in the night by a strange sound. She thinks it may be intruders, but then realises she is really afraid that Natalie has returned. Then she learns that the odd sounds are her neighbour is having a bath. There is great relief.
I took this opportunity to add a new scene, or at least a part to scene 18. From JC' s and Fergus' feedback I was looking for ways to flesh out the relationship between Claire and Nick. So at the end of this scene Claire is seen watching someone from her bedroom window. She goes to the front door of the flat, unlocks the door, and goes back to bed. A short time later Nick comes in. They have started their relationship.
This scene or stub establishes their relationship, shows how Nick has transferred his obsession to Claire, as he has been watching Claire, and makes a connection between the idea of release, which is the focus of the scene, and her taking up this new life via a relationship.
I have more work to do, especially around the park scenes. If all goes well I will shoot those this weekend and finish the edit as well. Then it is time for feedback.

The workshop - where we stand at the 3/4 mark

2008-02-27T18:19:00.000Z

In a case of unfortunate timing JC is off to Hong Kong for a month, so I wanted to have come to at least some conclusions this weekend about how we might shoot the film. We still have one day to shoot, and we are missing some other parts, but I have edited what we have already shot, which was quite substantial, and put it onto DVD. JC was set to come over on Saturday so might get an objective look at where we were.
By chance my friend Fergus was in London for the weekend for a shoot. Now Fergus has not been involved in this project at all. If he were around a bit more I would've probably asked him to take a look at the script. As it was it a was great opportunity to get some quality, objective feedback.
So after struggling to connect the missing bits, and squint in the too-dark park scenes Fergus gained a pretty clear idea of where we going. His feedback?
Dialogue. Too often the little dialogue there was too loaded and not necessary. Now, I am always very happy to get rid of dialogue but it was great to hear it from someone else. Fergus just felt that so much of what was either clear visually or actually acted to restrict what he thought was happening.
Visual language. That this was strong enough or could be developed enough to more than compensate for what the lack of literal information. So, as I said in my last post, this is something I will develop next week when I meet with David.
Information. That there is too much plot so that the story is weighted down by the dialogue. It is not that important. He suggested an alternative way in which the exposition could unfold, but I am not sure that this would not create an entirely different film. Still, his point is well taken. In the first park scene, where Claire first meets Nick she explains about Natalie and how she has always been irresponsible. But when we shot it, due to the distance from the camera we could not hear what she was saying. Fergus did not miss this dialogue at all.
JC made another good point, something that I had suspected before, that we are missing steps in the relationship between Claire and Nick. We see the beginning and end of their relationship, but not the lead up to it, and not the centre of it. I wondered if we need at least another incidents between them to round out their relationship.
Before JC left we managed to agree that the original idea we had for a shooting style still seemed to be sound. That is the majority of the film is composed by static shots, but that we find those places where might move the camera.

inserts versus codas

2008-02-13T08:54:00.003Z

JC has this dislike of inserts and I feel the same. By inserts I think of shots that are there purely for information, as in the actor is looking at their phone. Insert: CU of their phone and we see who is calling. Sometimes you have no choice but when you can...so I managed to get rid of just such an insert.
It was the park scene we shot the previous weekend. Here we see that Claire has made contact with Nick, and enough has transpired between them that we see they are comfortable, even intimate together. The setting, and the weather on this particular shooting day, amplify what Claire has achieved in making this leap to become someone else but starting a relationship with Nick.
But still it is a lie, and it is Sophie's presence, in the form of a series of phone calls to Claire's mobile that gives it away.
After we have established Claire and Nick's relationship and setting I have Claire sneaking away from Nick to check her phone messages.
Then the dastardly insert of Claire's mobile phone: Missed calls: Sophie (7)
But I realised that what was important in this scene was that Claire had broken away from Nick and in effect the whole construct to check her phone. It was the fact of the lie that was important, not the content of the lie.
And in the next scene we find out who it was who called and the substance of her calls.
The insert is unnecessary.
Now what I don't mean by inserts are those abstraction you see in an Ozu film or Kieslowski and so many others. I have read these referred to sometimes as codas which made little sense to me at first. I thought of that word in reference to music, the concluding part of the whole piece of music. But coda can refer to something brings to an end the preceding part, not just a whole. If you thought of Ozu and his static shots in The End of Summer you can see how they end and summarise the preceding scene or scenes.
In a coda there may information but there is something more. Kieslowski creates abstractions as a layer of the story's language. I think of Blue and the scene where Juliette Binoche is having coffee and we cut to a close-up of the sugar cube, held just at the surface of the coffee, absorbing the liquid. What does this mean? It is hardly necessary for information. Do we need to know that the character takes one sugar cube with her coffee? Kieslowski talks about this himself in the DVD extras. He wanted to show how the character was looking inward, in her own world. The lighting, which was high-contrast, and the focus, which was shallow, added to this effect.
And so far this is one of the weaknesses of the Claire part of this project - and I am certain that I have said this in previous posts. I have not developed my codas, or the layer of abstractions sufficiently. So, I need to get on to it.
Next weekend I am planning to work with David to develop just this.

Workshop - the park location

2008-02-12T16:55:00.004Z

This past Sunday Flora, Phil, JC and myself went to Snaresbrook to shoot the park segments of the workhop.
The day started out well as you can see. As I was waiting for the others to show up I did some thinking. I deleted two shots and added one.
This is a still from this new shot. In this part of the story Claire has joined up with Nick, her sister's boyfriend. Here, in this place, they have managed to create a level of intimacy. The story has opened outwards, at many others enjoying this day, looks up at the trees and the sky, and down at the grass and the water.
But it can not be sustained. Claire sneaks away at one point to check her phone. We don't find out until the next scene why, but we know that somehow the truth has not been told.

Later we moved to another location where we worked on the other park scenes.
There is one, where Claire first meets Nick, and another where they end it.
And there is the final scene, where Claire realises that she is not able to change, and can find no answer for it anywhere.
Here we found it difficult. First, the location was not ideal. We could not stitch together all that we needed to create the scenes.
And second as we struggled to put it together it became too dark to find a solution.
We hacked something together for the workshop video, but we clearly have more work to do.

If I close my eyes perhaps he'll just go away.
Photos by JC.

Workshop

2008-02-06T08:39:00.000Z

As always, the more I have to say the less time I have to say it.
I have been busy, these few weeks work shopping the script.
Two weeks ago I worked with my lead, Flora, shooting a number of scenes where she is by herself.
Last Sunday I had both Flora and Phil together for the first time. You always worry how people will get along but as it turned out everything was great fun.
Now looking back on it perhaps I should have done it the other way around? How would Flora have approached those scenes after she had a chance to be Claire first working with Nick? In the end it doesn't matter. The whole point of working this way is that we are able to go back and change and alter and rethink what we have done.
JC joined us this past Sunday, experimenting with a variety of ideas. This way the story, the acting, and the shooting style can all grow together. Unfortunately he is off to Hong Kong at the end of February, for one month, so we need to have done a lot of thinking between now and then.
This Sunday, weather permitting, we are planning to shoot all the scenes that take place in the park. I think we have one more day after that, to pick up the odd scenes, and then we have shot the whole story. I have already begun to edit the video, so I should begin to have rough edits of the workshop video in two weeks. Then it is time to call in friends and neighbours for feedback.

Workshop preparation...

2008-01-26T13:25:00.000Z

So I am now in the process of preparing for the workshops. They will take place on weekend days and evenings throughout February.
Part of the preparation was creating a shot list and then a storyboard, drawing out what I imagined each shot would contained.
I realised that this was essential process for myself because I tend to come up with a series of shots intuitively. I then need a way to work through what they really mean because I will have a DOP coming up with his own ideas, and then locations that will not quite be the way I imagined them to be. What is the essential elements of a scene? That way JC could make his own suggestions, and we will know what to compromise on a location?
Here are the two shots for scene 5. In scene 4, Natalie, Claire's sister calls very late. She must see Claire immediately. We cut to a medium shot of Natalie at Claire's front door. 5a. We stay on Natalie. She won't come in. She goes on and on. Claire is barely able to say anything. Her relationship, her boyfriend, Nick, it is too intense. Claire wouldn't know what it is like.

Finally she goes, after handing Claire the keys to her flat and asking to take care of the plants and check everything is okay.
Claire is left there on the doorstep. 5b. Wondering what has just happened. She looks out into the night, and then shuts the door.

So this is the way I imagined it. Natalie in the open street, free, Claire framed in the doorway of the flat, encumbered. Why?
Natalie is free. She pays a price, she is frightened, but that is how she prefers it. Claire, on the other hand, is comfortable. She got out of a warm bed and can shut the door and return to it. But is also trapped.
So when Natalie is gone Claire takes a quick look out into this world. The great, frightening world that Natalie floats about in is the place that Claire will enter in the story.
So these are the essentials that JC and everyone else needs to understand. Perhaps we will shoot it just like this, perhaps JC will come up with something better, or perhaps the locations will dictate something entirely different, or we will find something there that adds on top of it.
More to come as I begin shooting the workshop.

Update - Claire

2008-01-09T21:10:00.000Z

So, an update.
First I managed to finish a new draft of the Paul section of the script. Or nearly finished. I feel there are some parts that need some more thought but I need some time for it to cook. So I am putting this aside for now. This means I can now focus on the Claire section.
And I am ready to begin the workshop. I have begun a rough breakdown of the scenes per shot, and all that remains is to schedule in the actors. I can't remember in all these posts whether I have detailed my plan, but it is worth repeating. Like the short film Reconciliation, I am shooting the whole film on DV, editing it, and then getting feedback. And then repeating the workshop/DV shoot as required until we are satisfied.
So when can I expect that the DV version of to be complete? Well, ideally at the end of February, so the weather will improve and we will be ready to shoot for real.
More on the workshop as it progresses.

A new Paul

2007-12-29T12:05:00.000Z

I wrote previously that I had begun to rewrite the Paul section of Tidal Barrier.
I had to begin by thinking what his story is really about.

Paul is in a failed relationship. Claire cannot commit, is not really there.
Paul feels a sense of injustice/unfairness. What were the chances that he would end up with Claire instead of someone else, like...? Well, Sophie.
He decides Sophie is the one, and makes a play for her.
But it seems Sophie is with someone else.
Paul rails against the universe, the unfairness of it all.

Looking back over what I had in the previous versions of he script, the first and last elements were clear by the action of the story. But the middle? 'He decides Sophie is the one, and makes a play for her.' What I had didn't ring true for some reason, and I couldn't think why. This was a fundamental weakness.
I thought if Paul felt that chance was against him in how he ended up with Claire, then he needed to find a way to create a chance with Sophie. I did not mean the stuff of romantic comedy, the protagonist feigning some interest, or fabricating a position or history. This was about simple circumstance, putting himself in a position where he could encounter Sophie.
This suggested he needed to create a chance meeting, so I came up with the idea that one day he discovers where Sophie works, and that approximately the same time each day she goes through street x to street y. Paul needed to create his own path where he could meet her, going from street z to street y. Of course Sophie's time will vary, so to meet her Paul would need to repeat his movements. He needed to game the universe.
So I had the construct, but now I needed to think how I might represent this on film. I thought that we needed to see a good part of this place, so the camera needed to be at a distance. In some ways this position is a view of one part of the universe. Each throw of the die was to be seen from position, at the same time each day. How would we know it was the same time? At first I thought Paul might look at his watch, or come out of the a building somewhere according to a clock on the wall. All of this seemed crude, disconnected from the action. Ideally time would be a part of the scene, so we might see a clock on the corner of a pub, or an unknown actor making their way through this part of the universe at the same time each day. The man in the yellow jacket. The weather may change, but the man in the yellow jacket would go through the edge of the scene at the same time, Paul would go from street z to street y at the same time, and Sophie would go from street x to street y at a slight variation. In some throws Paul would be behind her, some throws ahead of her, but if he repeats it enough times one day he would run into her, and he does, except on this day she is with someone. Despite Paul's attempt to contain the game there are always too many variables.
This breaks him.
While I was away at Christmas I have managed to roughly outline the circumstances of this new version. I will give myself a week or so to finish, and then I can concentrate on the Claire section.

Claire and the park

2007-12-18T23:57:00.000Z

My friend David, lives close-by the Epping Forest. He actually spends a lot of time running there, so knows it fairly well. So last Sunday advantage of his knowledge and followed along behind him. He ran, I was on a bicycle.
I was looking for locations for Claire, revolving around parks. Come to think of it, Paul's story, which I am rewriting at the same time, has a number of park scenes as well.
There are three scenes in the story to do with parks.

15. Out of focus, at a distance, the coloured lights of people and life. A pub or restaurant at night.
Claire on a park bench. Nearby, Nick. He listens, betraying nothing. He is neutral, or defensive.

So this requires a park close-by a roadway with shops and a bar or pub or restaurant. I was going to say that I couldn't find a location like this on Sunday but actually I never even looked for such a place. It will have to wait until after Christmas.

18. A bed of flowers. Brilliant sunshine. Kew Gardens. A rush of leaves above, a set of trees around a pond.
Claire on her back, eyes closed, taking this in. A weekend of sun is a rarity in London. A great aid to the fabrication.
She looks to her right. Nick is there, a blank expression on his face.

So this scenes requires one location, by the water, and abundant flowers and trees nearby.
I did not have to go far to find something suitable.

Or something more idyllic?

The next scene requires something slightly different.

19. Nick in the distance. By the Thames. He turns and smiles at Claire. She forces a smile in return

You can see Claire on a slights rise, looking down towards Nick.
He is close to the water we saw at the edge of the frame in the previous scene.

So it would not be difficult to create the impression of the best London weekend.

Now a very different scene.

27 She runs across the street and goes into the park.
Once past the trees there is a slight rise and paths go out in three different directions. From this vantage point one can see quite a distance. She looks for him, to confirm he was there, but she can see no one, on any of the paths.

Now imagined something different for this scene. I suppose I thought the park might be more manicured. More paved pathways than these mud paths, but I really don't know why, or if it was important.

Well, this is only the beginning. I need to go back and find that other location. And there a few other things too. More after Christmas.

The pan and the colour of it all

2007-12-10T22:09:00.000Z

I have already posted about casting for a Claire, but that is not all I have been busy with.
I have also begun writing a new version of the one of the other parts of Tidal Barrier, Paul. I want to post about that latter, when some of the thoughts and ideas are better formed.
I have also been thinking about the visual language. Two weeks ago my friend David, the photographer came over to the flat. He had offered to develop the shooting style. I decided it would be interesting to examine one idea, that of the pan that occurs near the beginning of Claire.

And then the camera pans across what may be a rooftops and then it is black. This is a wipe.

I suppose my question was simply, did it mean anything? I often add something instinctively, then spend a great deal of sweat and tears trying to figure out what it means.
The pan that I described is the only time the camera move in the whole of Claire's story. It seemed important that I understand why. And David was going to help me develop it further.
First David wondered if a pan should not introduce each part, that is Sophie, Claire and Paul, or any significant part, so that it is a part of the language of the film. And also that the pan should be organic to the scene and that we should start by finding potential organic starting points. In my flat, which consists of one long box, and is ideal for home cinema, we have given the space some structure by hanging curtains and dividing the room into three spaces. So we placed the camera near the one set curtains to begin. The curtain material was interesting, as from a distance they were opaque, but close-up, where we set the camera there were fine holes, where light and shadow could be seen. So the camera panned from black, to the macro-view of the curtain, and panned across from complete black, to a close-up of the curtain, which were like stars, with the orange light shining through the fine holes, to the space and Claire then, listening, or rather not listening, as Paul berates her for not truly being there.
From this it seemed important that experiment with other pans in Claire's story, where the camera seems to catch Claire at some activity, by chance. So imagine again the camera in a hallway, panning from black, to a doorways, and walls, into a room, where Claire seems to slip into the frame. Or beginning the same again, but at the end instead capturing the back or Claire as she enters a room, shutting the door behind her.
Is that what the pans meant, catching something unawares, unprepared? Is this distinct to those static shots, which seemed were predetermined to capture all?
There were also some images that I was unsure of, especially in the first scene, where it seems too complicated and confused.

In the background, out there, pinned to a fence or hung on a roof, are those fairly lights? It is hard to tell. Out of focus, seen through a rain soaked window, they are like stars.

I wanted to refer to stars, to tie one of the final images together, where Claire, having sent Nick away, searches for some way out, an answer to that question.

She lies down in the grass and looks from the trees up to the stars. She scans and scans.
But it is overcast and all there is undifferentiated gray. A nothing. No relief anywhere.

So here I have played against the romantic notion of looking up to the stars. If you go up to Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath on a clear night you will couples sitting, holding hands, looking up to the heavens. But Claire is alone, and she sees nothing.
I also played on this idea, in two other scenes in the same park at night, when Claire first meets Nick, and just before the scene above, when she sends Nick away.

Out of focus, at a distance, the coloured lights of people and life.

Here it is some imagined life and relationships that other people seemingly lead, but which is out of reach of Claire.
David began thinking of achieving this image again inside the flat, with reflections and shadows, growing out of the place and the actions.
But looking back on the idea I wonder if it is just confusing because we have Claire seeing stars, being part of a star scape, and then not seeing stars, seeing a blank, a nothing, being a part of a blank, but no clear idea of why the distinction happens except at the end.
What else? Well David was interested in the quality of the light the camera might come across in the pans, or where a practical light burst on. Would there be a colour or colours? Could these colours then form part of a colour mood of the scene we are moving to? The bedside lamp is red so there is a red light in the space and a red mood in the scene. But why red, or green or yellow? So suddenly art direction seemed so much more critical than it has done. Of course the main reason it hasn't been up to this point is the size of the budget and the lack of an art director.
Well, this is just the beginning. I am hoping to meet up with JC soon and continue the experiments, and with David too, who lives close to Epping Forest, where we might be able to shoot the summer weekend scene.

Casting update and more

2007-12-01T18:31:00.000Z

It has been more than two weeks since I last posted. I think I have spent most of the contacting actors, arranging to meet them, and then rearranging meetings.
But it has been a very good experience. I have overcome my initial apprehensions and found that I have got a lot out of the audition process that I developed.
What is the process? Well, I suppose I need to know two things. What does this person look like on camera? How do they move? How are they still? Can they contain this character when there is no one around to observer them?
And the other thing is how the actor thinks. Do they grasp what I have given them in the script and then can they take it further.
So after speaking to them, explaining how I am developing the story, it's part in the feature, and the shooting process we stand up and we shoot Scene 17. This is a scene where Claire, having moved into her sister Natalie's flat, has essentially taken on Natalie's life.
So far,I have met some really great people, who have already contributed to the development of the story. I won't be able to use all of these people, but I feel like I have expanded my circle of available talent for the future.
And while I am waiting to meet new people I have begun to work on the next part of the feature, Paul's story. More on that to come.

Abstract images and Haneke

2007-11-18T16:10:00.000Z

The other night I decided to watch Haneke's The 7th Continent again. Based on a true story, a typical middle-class Austrian family find life does not offer anything more than a series of an emotionally-empty, mundane events. They decide to destroy their lives and commit suicide (yep, not the most upbeat of stories). The 7th Continent refers to Australia, but in an abstract sense, a image of another world, perhaps where what is missing in their lives will be fulfilled? It is probably not that simple.
(In the film, when their bank asks them what they need all their money for they tell them they are emigrating to Australia.)
This image Haneke represents with an impossibly beautiful visual of a beach with waves crashing against the shore. The picture is so artificial it is almost becomes disturbing in its own right, and I would guess that if this image is what the family believes is missing in their lives then Haneke is saying this too is false.
Well, I had forgotten all about this picture when I was discussing my questions of the 'blackouts + sound' these past few weeks. Of course this picture acts in the way that I intend my blackouts to work, as an abstraction of a state, expressed at key points in the film. I can't remember if I had already said that JC, my DOP, thought these blackouts would act as an alienation effect, that the audience would suddenly be made aware of their presence in the cinema. This is not to say this is good or bad, just what would happen. But now, after seeing The 7th Continent again I have to think that this is not the case. Or perhaps in a conventional film this would be the case. In film structures like Haneke's, or what I am attempting to pull off in Tidal Barrier, these abstract images act in another way.

Casting for Claire

2007-11-13T20:54:00.000Z

I am closing to finishing Reconciliation, which will be a great relief. It is hard to focus on the new project when you are preoccupied with the practical problems of sound design and grading.
Still, this past weekend I sent out a casting call for the character, Claire, in Tidal Barrier. A week from today I will begin to meet some new actresses.
There are so many reasons I find casting difficult. First, there are so many conventions that I find pointless. Most actors expect to have to prepare and present something. The last thing I am interested in seeing is a Shakespeare monologue. What's that got to do with my script? I suppose the real test is how they react when I throw out the rule book.
The other big question is how they react to a lack of a script. I work from an outline. What do I need a script for? It is a document for producers, so they can't calculate running time and create budgets. There is no budget. And we will be shooting the whole story on DV and editing it. I will have the clearest possible idea of running time and production problems from this exercise.
And there is no dialogue either, the other reason you create a script. So no script, another real test.
And then what do you have them do? In the past I spent a lot of time talking. Finding out about the person and trying to gauge where this person is a capable of going. At the same time you are seeing them react and be, and you capture this on camera.
But recently I have been less inclined to speak, and more inclined to do, and capture the scene on video. Here I interested how they can be on camera, where they can start from, and where they can go, eg. take direction. I am really looking to see how effectively I can get them to not act.