As it is stated that the log must be online i have decided to use my own website. This website contains all of my work from previous years at college as well as some of the work from University like "How Hard Could It Be" a production made for a previous class. I felt this would be the best place to showcase my work as well as log my experience of Drama Production. I have decided to do the fill in a log for each month we are taking the Drama Production, creating a total of 5 monthly logs.
January 2020
After the first few classes I was excited to be put into a group and begin production. After making How Hard Could It Be i already knew who i wanted to work with and what script i wanted to work on. Unfortunately i was not able to join my preferred group and which did stunt my motivation somewhat. Despite this, I still thought the group I was placed in was actually really good. Iona had written a great script that everyone was excited to work on. Jim had taken up the role of director and was very excited to do so with Kris taking up the role of producer and straight away started establishing a structure for meeting around everyone's availability. Making sure everyone could meet at least once a week to discuss locations, actors, script changes and roles. However due to thinking i would have some control over the group i was in, i spent a lot of time thinking about ideas for a specific script and when i wasn't able to work on said script, a lot of the ideas I had flew out the window. That being said, I did my best to get excited for the project. Discussing ideas with Jim and looking at past sizzle reels, short films or even documentary work for inspiration to make sure the whole project would be aesthetically pleasing throughout the whole ten minutes. There are examples of all of my past work experience with filming bands on this website.
February 2020
Within the first month we had managed to secure permission to film in "The Wee Red Bar" which is based in Edinburgh. It was relatively small enough that a small amount of people would help make it look busy while also looking big enough for a band to throw the first gig. It was also central which meant the crew could all easily make it to the bar for filming. by this point I had taken up the role of the camera operator. I wanted this role from the get go as i felt the script fit well with my own style of filming. I have previous experience in shooting fark, more serious dramas as well as live performances in colorfully lit venues. Straight away i started to think what would be most effective for a film like this so i looked back to my earlier work as well as the mood boards. I noticed there was a lot of colorful lighting, mainly blues, purples and reds. I knew to make the colours stand out more in darker areas like a bar you would need a camera that works well in areas with minimal lighting. Michael had taken up the role of the editor which left him with little to do until production was finished. However we did have a tutorial shoot with the Black magic cameras which i believe may have been edited. I have not seen the edit footage but I know the raw footage from the camera satisfied the crew.
Kris has also been holding weekly meetings to discuss any developments in pre production and planning for production. We usually discuss possible locations in these meetings, possible dates that work within everyone's availability for filming as well as going through a checklist of what is still to be finished. At this point a shooting script has been made. I have started a storyboard, although at this point, it doesn't seem so crucial thanks to having the mood boards as well as the shooting script. As well as this we do not , at this point in time have a decided location for Cassie's home. Which makes creating the story boards more difficult.
March 2020
At this point we now have a lead actress to play Cassie. We were able to get her into the studio for a run through of the script where we were also allowed to use the Black Magic Cameras. These seemed like a good fit for filming this production. They looked good in the studio even with all the lighting we were using and looked good in minimal lighting. As well as this they are a lot smaller than your average DSLR. Although they may be expensive, they are less likely to get damaged when filming in the bar due to their smaller for compact size, compared to an XD cam or a Canon C100.
I have also heard that the university had managed to get a hold of Rotolight Neo 2 lighting sets. These are incredibly versatile light usable in any situation. They work for fun colorful lighting due to their many filters and are able to create strobe effects for the gig or dim flickering lighting for Cassie's home. These lights are something I would absolutely love to get a hold of and so I have taken up the responsibility of lighting. These lights will help with any closed space filming due to their smaller size. Despite their smaller size they are also incredibly bright, but can be dimmed, making them usable in every scene written.
April 2020
As of April 2020 we were looking to get into production but due to the Uni shutting down we were left with pretty much no equipment to book out, unable to use the studio which was one of the decided filming locations. As well as this the national lockdown had forced everyone indoors and many people back home, including myself. This has split apart cast and crew as well as taken away The Wee Red Bar as a filming location for us. This makes production pretty much impossible. Although this could not have been foreseen it is still incredibly frustrating. I believe this production would have come out looking really good thanks to everyone's input when it came to finding cast, locations, equipment and taking up roles. The whole pre production process was incredibly smooth although somewhat slow. Just before the university close we were pretty much set to film and the group were pretty excited in general. I think this will show in any sizzle reels the crew submit. Everyone was very open about the ideas they had and were happy to listen to anyone's input which to me helped boost my own excitement and motivation to get into production.
May 2020 ( conclusion)
Overall the drama production class was a good experience. Although my motivation was low at the beginning of the course I did get excited for creating Songbirds Don’t Cry. It seemed like a project that could be really fun so i would attend group meetings in the library to discuss any next steps we needed to take to get to production. Although I may have missed classes, I was always sure I was up to date with the group and what was happening with the production. Despite this I still think there is enough work behind the group to show we all wanted this project to be something worth watching. I think with the script, mood boards and the shooting script its clear to see what this production would have been, especially with the team we had behind it. Although it’s unfortunate the class was cut short as well as production, the work that was already done still felt important. Nothing really felt like a waste of time.