Film geek...

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...

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.

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!

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

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...

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

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

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

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.