Directions Unit: Post-production - Running time

Adding all the clips together gave me a total running time of 6 minutes 8 seconds.

The film has to be around 4 minutes.

So there's a lot of cutting to be done.

The longest shot was shot 18 (where the protagonist walks up a staircase). This shot was 1 minute 10 seconds! over a quarter of the films' length.

So I had to cut a huge chunk off of it.

I also removed shots 15 and 17 as well as cutting 9 seconds out of shot 10.

So far the film is now 4 minutes and 59 seconds.

 Looks like a directors' cut is needed too.


I've now cut shot 9 (where protagonist washes them-self): removing 14 seconds from the shot.

Directions Unit: Pre-production - Directors Statement Feedback

Directions Unit: Pre-Production - Directors Statement

Directions Unit: Production - Storyboard

Directions Unit: Production - Day 2

2 weeks after the first shoot, we were able to meet up and finish filming the rest of the shots.

The first 30-40 minutes were spent trying to get the sound right as there was a constant static sound being heard, which we never could determine the reason why but it wasn't prominent enough to affect the films' audio.

The rest of the interior scenes were filmed, shots 10 - 11.1 were done in a short amount of time which was a great start.

I hadn't found a location for shot 12 - 12.1 so we walked down a path immediately in front of us and found a perfect location:

After that we went to the location to shoot shots 13 - 14.1 but unfortunately the path wasn't that long and the trees broke away as you walk through so I chose to film in a different location:

Original location.

New location.

A location we would go to last as it was further away than the rest of the locations.

So instead we went to film shots 15 - 18.1:

Shot 15

Shot 16

This arguably took the longest to do as the area turned out to be busier than originally thought, several cars passed by at various times: ruining the shot and at one point a car parked in a spot we had just filmed in, so we had to re-do that shot (no. 15) to avoid a continuity error.

This was also the area where one of the trickiest scenes was to be filmed: shot 18 - 18.1.

It was tricky because shot 18 is a continuous one, starting from the location of shot 16.1 (which became an individual shot on its own) and going down the path and up a flight of stairs before the camera moves around the protagonist and finally panning with them as they walk off.

Amazingly we did it in only 3 takes, which I was hugely impressed by.

We then headed to the final location before we would break for lunch and return to do shot 13. The park location where the meeting takes place (Shots 19 - 23.3):

Shot 23 - 23.3.

The meeting itself was done in a continuous shot too and technically was the hardest to do as it required the most takes (5-6 which I still find impressive). 

The problem we faced with this though was that just before we were about to shoot it, several people turned up to the park. But we chose to continue anyway as we could not anticipate how long they might have been there for.

After lunch we filmed the final shot needed which went without a hitch.

Overall I was very pleased with how the day turned out.

What went well:

- The weather held out perfectly: no wind, no rain, and some decent light.

- There were no real issues in filming any of the scenes.

What didn't go well:

- Had to change a location which turned out to be better than my original one.

- The first 30 - 40 minutes were lost due to working out the sound issues.

Directions Unit: Pre-Production - Exposure Issues

In a previous post I mentioned that some of the shots were over-exposed, below is my attempt at correcting it.

The shot with no edit.

By using colour correction to lower the exposure of the whites, it has helped to remove some of the harsh brightness from the background.

Slightly adjusting the blacks and greys it raises the brightness of the rest of the image to retain the level of exposure I wanted for the main bit.

The above image is with even more alteration in the blacks, it makes the underpass clearer but also makes the mood lighter which isn't my desired effect.

Directions Unit: Production - Filming Day Re-cap

Yesterday was my filming day for our 'A Journey Through...' projects.

We managed to get all the shots set at the protagonists' 'home' done but unfortunately had to wrap there as it was raining.
My goal was to get the entire film done in that day which I still think was achievable as, although we were slow to start and prepare everything, we soon made good time.


What went well:

- Explaining the scenes to the cast and crew was very easy and problem-free.
- Although it was very windy, it did die down long enough for us to record a take.
- Everyone had a laugh between takes but still maintained a serious and professional attitude as well.

What didn't go well:

- Bad weather meant we couldn't film any exterior shots.
- It was a slow start to begin with.
- Checking the footage afterwards revealed there was a bit of over-exposure to some of the shots.

After we returned to the studios I transferred the footage we shot and took a look at the shots:

Arguably the most over-exposed shot out of them all.

This one isn't as bad but the sky right in the back of the shot is still very white.

As you can see, the background is very exposed and bright. Although it can be darkened in post-production that's still going to effect the final edit slightly. However I do not intend on re-shooting these as, over-esxposure aside, I am still happy with them.

I am to blame for the shot's over-exposure as, when it came to adjusting the aperture; I was paying attention to how the actor was looking as opposed to also looking at the background, so I never even realised I was affecting the shots.

It's a very valuable lesson I've learnt now!

My next task will be to see what I can do to 'save' the shots. I may be able to just darken a section of the shot and avoid the actor being darkened too as I love how they're lit.