MDA 2900: "Ring" book trailer

This post goes into a reviw of the entire process of producing a book trailer inspired on the famous cult horror book "Ring" by Koji Suzuki.

Pre-production

As soon as the brief was introduced to us my Director, Deborah, already had an idea of what genre she wanted to focus on. This being horror. And me not ever having done horror, much less watch it, was actually quite excited to do it if it were at all possible.

A few days in, she decided that the "Ring" was the book she wanted to do and we sat down and started discussing the scenes that we could properly recreate.

We dabbled quite a bit and I found he notion of the location we used, respective mise en scene and the actors' physical appearance was vital to the proper portrayal of the scenes since the time period it focused was in Japan in 1990. So from a producer's point of view, I was very excited to bring it all to life.

The finding of the location was fairly easy, since a couple of my friends have a rented house 5 minutes from university and I knew that the house could work to our advantage and that they wouldn't mind us to film there. So both scenes were shot hours apart, in the living room and kitchen areas of said house.

With finding actors, that took the longest, because the original idea was to find Japanese actors that could actually speak Japanese fluently enough so that our book trailer would completely embody Japan in the '90s.
But after  much consideration on my part, I decided that for this project it wouldn't be possible to find an unpaid professional Japanese speaking actor and actress so I just focused on finding Asian performers.

That's when I came across Amba, she's originally from Nepal and both me and Deborah felt like she would physically fit the role we intended to create as well as being the most professional actress I could find.

Then Anthony, came along shortly after, being originally from Korea and having a good show reel was what made it a 'no brainer', on the decision to cast him as Asakawa.

After this, the crew was assembled and then the hunt (and request!) of equipment was underway!
I started booking the equipment quite ahead of time so I knew we would have it by the time we needed to pick it up by. It took two round trips by car to transport the whole of the lighting and dolly track equipment to the location minus the sound and camera equipment that each individual crew member would then bring.

Production

On the day of the shoot, 15th December, I arrived at the location after 2pm and my Director and Gaffer were already there. I went over the shot list and schedule with Deborah and I was going to pick up Anthony shortly after that.

Right before I left, Mariam and Sid finally arrived so I just proceeded to organize and brief everyone on what scene needed to be shot first and they were setting up the equipment whilst I went to meet with Anthony at Costa Coffee Shop next to Hendon Central Station.

When we arrived, Anthony was introduced to the crew and he quickly changed to his suit and Deborah started to brief him on the scene that was under way.

I was not only in charge of keeping everyone in order but I also functioned in the roles of location manager, since I had to be mindful of my crew not bothering or damaging anything in the house as well as keeping the tenants of the house happy by checking him on them regularly; 1st AD, since I was filling out camera reports for every single shot as well as keeping everyone on line for each shot and also as a Runner, because I dabbled a bit in helping with the lighting set up and also when Deborah or any one from the cast and crew needed something since I had my hands free when we weren't recording.

The crew got along really well with one and other and it was a quite enjoyable and fun shoot, to be honest. We worked well together and understood each others point of views and opinions without any egos being involved. It was my first time working with Sid and I have to say he surprised in the best way, not only as a DoP but as a person by being very fun and friendly. Same to Mariam whom would, in between takes, record with the spare Canon 650D that I had taken out to be used to take production stills, Anthony and the rest of us whilst actively doing our jobs in a comedic documentary style which was hilarious!

So, after Anthony's scene was finished me and Deborah paid him for his transportation costs and I took him to the bus stop. When I returned, the agreed was that he crew would shoot the inserts that we needed to get covered whilst I would go and pick up Amba from the coffee shop as well.

The inserts can be seen below:

When we came back, the inserts were nearly all done and I helped Amba to change into her clothes and brief her for her upcoming scene.

Out of all of the things during the shoot, the lighting was the most important thing to get right as to give the moody, scary environment we wanted to portray. So Sid, Alex, me and Deborah worked quite a lot for the lights to be as low as possible as to still give a clear defined look to Amba's features.

We first positioned a redhead light outside of the window as to further intensify the natural moonlight that came in.

Firstly, Alex used a blue gel to give that evening glow but after various attempts of working with the gel, it looked too much like the scene was set under the ocean and that Ariel would pop in, any minute! So the idea was ditched and we just used diffusers.  Then we positioned a softbox on the side to work as a key light on Amba and a third light on the other side to fill in the rest of the shadows.

I kept pushing for them to turn the lights lower because I knew we could get further into it for the correct tone to be set. And the final product made us quite happy.

That probably took around 30 minutes. Then we started shooting the sequence which ran quite smoothly but with a lot more interruptions because we constantly needed to change the intensity of the lights as well as changing camera positions.

I gave the actress a blanket to cover herself with in between shots because the house was freezing since the back door had to be open because of the lighting equipment, and she handled it quite well.

Overall it was a big learning curve for me that made me realize that I want to focus more on producing for the upcoming projects as well as focusing on trying to find production intern ships for the Summer.

Post-production

For post production, the editing role was shared between Alex and Deborah so I wasn't present during that time because I wanted to give Deborah the free range for her to try out whatever she felt like doing, within previously agreed parameters.
There were also two distinct days where two voice overs were record with Anthony and another girl stepped in to the voice of the girl heard over the phone. On both sessions, Deborah worked with the actors in the recording studio since we also needed to recreate some sounds on the foley for both the living room and kitchen sequences.
The main issue I had was that last minute on the day of the presentation, I had to quickly put in the title of the book in the trailer because Deborah forgot and also to properly export it to a Quicktime file which wasn't the format it was in.
But thankfully after that last minute struggle, everything turned out smoothly.

Here are the documents that were used during different stages of production:


Treatment

Cast and Crew list

Equipment list

Budget list

Locations, Costumes and Props

Risk Assessment

Location Release Forms

Actors release forms

Call sheet

Shooting schedule

Camera reports

Sound list for recording studio session

Public Liability Insurance 2015


And some behind the scenes photos:

Series review: The Originals

Hello!

So this a brand new part of my blog called "Series Review" where I'll be posting, from time to time, a review on a particular show that I've been watching and possibly loving and I'll give you all the dish on it.

This is particularly exciting for me since I love watching shows and I love writing, so being able to combine my two passions is something way too exciting for me!

But now onto the review itself.

"The Originals" was created as a spin-off series for the highly successful "The Vampire Diaries", almost two years ago.
Now, I've been a fan of the latter one, almost from the beginning and have been following it for nearly six years yet my review will be completely impartial since I don't believe in saying that a spin-off of a show you like is automatically going to be good just because of that.

So the first notion of who "The Originals" were was introduced in Vampire Diaries in the sequence of the storyline where the main character, Elena, was the prime target and element in breaking a curse that has been inflicted upon a super powerful and nearly indestructible vampire called Klaus, where he could finally have access to his dormant werewolf gene and become the first hybrid vampire. 

Klaus is known as not only being one of the strongest and deadliest vampires in History but he also has four other siblings, who altogether, are known as the original vampire family of indestructibility and good looks. 

So you might be thinking, what does being the original vampire family actually mean? Well it means that they are the one's from where all other vampires in the world and through the centuries have originated from. I know, it's a mouthful. 

But as soon as the basis for this was introduced, the audience continued patiently waiting until each and every member from this family made their debut appearance on Vampire Diaries so they could follow the family dynamics and events that were either caused by them or at least directly influenced.


This supernatural family had such a huge fan following that the CW decided to create a complete separate show where Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and the others, could tell the world all about their insanely dysfunctional family bond and unpredictable antics.  It has since aired nearly a year and a half ago and people have been gobbling it all up!

The Mikaelson siblings have been enticing viewers all over the world and their influence seems as strong as ever. 


When the news broke that a show based on this family was being aired, I wasn't very interested about it to be honest. Since I never really felt a connection with any of the characters apart from Elijah who seemed the most "human" out of them all and the most handsome and the odd moments where I sympathized with Rebecca for always having her wishes and hopes shut down, or should I say stacked down, by her big brother Klaus.

Upon starting to watch it, I still had my guard up, but as the first season progressed more and more with the introduction of Hayley, the orphaned werewolf who after having had a one night stand once upon a time with Klaus, is now carrying his unborn child. Hayley again had a small story arc in Vampire Diaries so the audiences already had somewhat of an idea of who she was even though her character in the Originals has a different purpose. Again, they are different shows with different plot lines. Which I am quite grateful for.

Hayley becomes then, the main focus throughout the first season, as she and her child become the focus of Elijah's endless attempts at keeping his family together and keeping Klaus from shutting off his humanity completely as a new hope arises. Klaus battles against his brother as he rejects his child because of his innate fear of not being a good enough parent since he never had very good examples on that front. The audience is on pins and needles as Joseph Morgan, who plays Klaus, brilliantly showcases the ups and downs of his unsuccessful ignorance towards his child to come and his need to have and secure power in New Orleans thus becoming "the King of the Quarter". 

Whilst this is happening, a new love connection starts to slowly form between Hayley and Elijah where both start to develop feelings towards each other even though they know it is unthinkable when she is forever connected to Klaus. 

This introductory season slowly starts building up the tempo as episode after episode is aired and the tension gets to a boiling point midway through with the appearance of other supernatural characters whose plan is to either wipe off Klaus or his family or Hayley and, consequently, his son or daughter yet to be born.

And I have to say that, for me, this season starts to get really exciting in the final episodes and the season finale got me sobbing and crying at the demise of one the characters which caught me so off guard for being so unexpected that I almost had a slight panic attack, in the good way, because it actually made me realize the bond that I had unknowingly created with said character and how important they had become in my life on a weekly basis.

And I have to say that, if you follow Vampire Diaries, you'll see the similarities in the writing style of the show since it has all of the unpredictability, the heart wrenching story arcs, the amazing character development even of the secondary characters and the story focus on the importance of family and relationships between them.

Overall, I feel like this show has all the great makings of a long-running television success and has already started to create a cult following that is quite distinct from his 'original' starter show.

MDA 2900: "River Of No Return" music video

 Hello!

This post will go all into the nooks and crannies of the entire production process for this music video.

Pre-production

As soon as I approached the basic idea for the story with my Producer, Deborah, she was quite immediately for the idea and was excited to get it off the ground, which I guess helped out quite a lot for it to actually exist in this moment.
So, fast forwarding quite a bit, after the script, part of the storyboard and the shot list were already done, I started looking at locations that I imagined suitable for both the indoor and outdoor scenes and we actually visited a few in Camden Town. One was called "The Diner" which was an actually thematic 1950s inspired restaurant. Yet since they never responded back to my Producer, that location was put on the side midway through pre-production.
Then after the costume and prop list and a mild idea for the budget for the shoot was prepared, Deborah posted up an advertisement about our shoot (who we were/type of project/snynopsis/type and the looks of the characters and the script). Within about two days we had 20 potential Marys and 3 potential Josephs. By the end we almost 30 applications for the female characters which we thought was insane! But quite gratifying and humbling at the same time, because even though I loved my story and had faith in it, I didn't think so many people would believe in it in the same way.
One day, we went into the library to look at all the showreels and CV's of the applicants and we took around 2.5 hours to get through it all.
We had quite good performances to not so good to bad to none whatsoever.
Then I came across this actress named Vanessa Carr.
The funny fact was that I cut her right from the beginning but then decided to look at her showreel regardless and thank the heavens, I did!
Then came Max's showreel and his quite raw performance in his final university project, made it quite clear that he would be Joseph.
After this, and going over it with the Producer, I bought the customes and props as soon as the actors gave us the confirmation of their participation.
Another thing that we initially decided on was to have a makeup/hairstyle artist for the shoot since we were going to do a period inspired piece.
I eventually found two of them, for no payment, only food and the final product for their own showreel and we were on our way.

Production

 

The day right before the shoot, my Producer got an email from the second makeup artist we had and she had just quit our job right before it even started. And I must say that my stomach fell to the ground as soon as she told me. And because Deborah was coming to meet me at my house so that the next day we could just get up, grab what we need and go, during her travel time to here, I just started calling all the makeup artists in London at around 10pm. They either didn't pick up, which is quite frankly understand since it is freaking 10 at night!, or they did and thought I was a desperate weirdo trying to get a substitute for a project they had no previous idea of or they had other commitments already.
So, in last case scenario, I got a good friend of mine, Linn, to do the hair since I knew she was good at it and far better than me! She, was quite literally, a life saver and a sweetheart for agreeing to do it in such short notice. And I ended up having to do the makeup which I actually enjoy to do regardless but would have preferred to have had someone who was properly experienced with it so I wouldn't have to worry if looked as it should.
And with other last minute issues of not having hairbrushes or combs or hair pins or appropriate length size trousers for Max, the actual shoot from start to finish was the best possible experience I could ever have asked for.

Both Vanessa and Max were the loveliest people, funny and quite good at their craft. Then combine them both and their chemistry was off the charts. So this being my first time directing actors, I was very grateful to them for making it such an easy and enjoyable experience for a first timer! After we did the shoot and each of went back to their homes, quite exhausted to be honest, me and Deborah got an email from the actress where she compliment us and said how much she enjoyed her time. And she even said that I made her feel very comfortable and that she would love to work with us again. Now when a person with as many years of experience in film, TV and theatre says that to you, I get a bit emotional and happy to see that she thinks a fresh, young and recently 1st year graduate has potential. Basically I need to look better at my life's choices.

Post-production

 

As soon as the footage was all gathered me and my Editor, Alex, spent days in the editing suite until late nights editing our little hearts away! We actually had a few issues at the start because we technically lost the edited project twice before we actually finished it. It was a stupid mistake and we both learned from it.
But as soon as that was sorted me and Alex started delving into different ideas and we actually found out that we worked quite well together. And since he already was my DoP in the shoot as well, by the end of the first day of editing, we were already very comfortable and in synch with each other. We challenged each other's ideas and we tried very hard to cut down the quantity of shots we had for a quantity that would fit into the actual length of the song. We spun around with different ideas for a while but by the end, we decided to change my original idea of editing style which was more focused on continuity editing, to more of a montage sequence. Which is shown in the diner scene more so than in the exterior. And the last change we made was the visual look of it. I quite honestly just, last minute, popped in a Youtube tutorial on how to make a footage look like it was shot in an "old film" style and me and Alex just played around with it. I wanted the sharpness of the colours that the Canon 7D gives,  to be lessened to a flatter look and also added a small percentage of noise/grain to the image. My idea was to look as similar as possible to old analog cameras, maybe even home made movies from the 50s.
And the fact that it overexposed the whites in the footage, as we did it, gave it a more realistic feeling and it made for, that the sequence for Mary's entrance and consequent heartbreak in the close-up for the last shot, the actress to be the complete centre focus of those specific actions (as shown below).

More overexposed whites below.

So overall it was a very enjoyable experience for me and I felt like I bonded and worked well alongside my cast and crew. We were all on the same page and it made it easier for the shoot to flow better. 

What I learned was: 

• Always expect things to not go according to plan. Like the example of the makeup artist bailing the night before and having to find a viable substitute.
• Leave the communication line open on set. So that the actors and DoP can feel comfortable to try out new things apart from what is scripted. I knew that my directing style would be more inclined to let other people try out other things because it both keeps the energy and the suspense going on set as well as bringing the possibility of new material that might look better than my original ideas.

The documents used for the production:

Script

Character descriptions



Shot list


Storyboard


Floorplan


Shooting script