First Major Project - scheduling and shooting

I have now decided how I am going to shoot the trailer to the script that I have recently been working on, due to the settings being mostly Night and Twilight as far as timing goes I intend to shoot day-for-night primarily, shooting between when the streetlights come on and when the sun finishes setting, this means that I have an an incredibly tight window per-night, between an hour and two hours per shooting day. I also have planned a contingency(if I have to over-run) that consists of a jury-rigged lighting mechanism, if I where to use the contingency I would normally  have to re-shoot using the new lighting conditions, however I plan on shooting using both lighting systems every night, allowing me to choose in post which lighting rig I prefer.

I have researched the twilight times for my shooting day,s and the best and most complete of my sources describes the times as below, (LINK)
I am basing my shoot times on  sundown times and the end of NAUTICAL twilight hours as listed below, these are for london so I am negating by about 20 mins when compared to these times due to the difference in location.

so my SHOOT TIMES are as below(NOTE ARRIVAL  AND DEPARTURE TIMES WILL DIFFER TO SHOOT TIMES, THESE TIMES DO NOT ALLOW FOR SET UP AND PACK DOWN)
-----SHOOT 01----SHOOT 02
10th 16:00-17:35 18:00-19:00
11th 16:00-17:34 18:00-19:00
12th 16:00-17:33 18:00-19:00

First Major Project- planning the shoot Part 01

below will be a list of different tasks that I must complete before I can shoot my script

tasks:
book equipment for dates: 10th-13th --DONE
plan shoots for dates 10-13th NOT COMPLETE------------- TBD Fri 30th
SHOT LIST: NOT COMPLETE
PERMISSIONS: NOT COMPLETE-------------------------------TBD Fri 30th
E-MAIL PERMISSION REQUEST------------------TBD Fri 30th before 23:59
wrangle artists/crew: ----------------------------------TBD Fri 6th
A: 2 confirmed, 1 possible/6
(Leads: .5/2 extras:2/4 )
C: 1/2.5
(Director, boom, warden/extra?)
storyboards for quick sequences: -----------------------TBD MON 1st

more to be added later.

First Major Project- scriptwriting retrospective

its the 28th of October, I have pretty much finished my script, this page will be a review of my experiences and some of the resources I have found to help me outside of lectures.

I started writing my script almost exactly two weeks ago, i worked from my step outline/moment outline as seen in the last post, having already visualised my moments, combining them into a script was a relatively prompt task.

my creative method in relation to writing can be expressed below:

ideas
first start with an idea, be it an idea for a scene or a narrative or even a simple concept, in this case I found my concept by chance, "what if my Best Friend is an alien" then i invented characters, normal idea stuff happens here(see idea generation posts)

visualisation
visualisation is where I sit and visualise how the characters interact, i play with them place them in situations so as to get a better understanding of them, I then pre-vis mentally the sequence of events as they happen(going for a walk is a good thing to do to help this along). I do this several times to get a clear idea of what I want to show, how I want the characters to act etc.

ordering VIS
I then organise my pre-vised scenes into a recognisable moment/step outline.

writing the script
when writing my script I used a combination of programmes, I wrote the bulk of the script using Celtx, the cloud-based script writing tool, I went through several drafts at this stage, the next stage was proofreading, I asked a friend to proof read and help me correct any grammatical mistakes there almost certainly would be*. my last stages have been to reformat the script into something I could import to Final draft, re draft it after printing and re-reading again, another quick grammar check and then final print. when I say final, I mean nearly final, My script, even though handed in will likely receive further revisions and drafts, currently on my seventh, expect to be on my tenth by the end of the week.
edits
during the writing process several different changes were made to my final antagonists, the shady organisation. at first i imagined it as a shady earth-based group, but then my ideas shifted, so that by the time of shooting the film they had morphed into an alien organisation with nazi overtones that stops aliens who have "gone native" from returning to the wider community, this made more sense in-setting.

*NOTE:
I have rather a blind spot for certain sorts of grammar, word-ish grammar in particular. I can use punctuation i just constantly use the wrong your's wethers and were's.

below is some examples online resources I have used, these generally relate to formatting rather than Idea generation or character design, these do not include the resources provided by UCA and Simon, of which I am very grateful.
Scriptologist -
writers Room- BBC
Simply Scripts
Story Sense

First Major Project: a moment list/step outline of the first draft of my script, also location reconnaissance notes

the image below depicts the step outline/moment list of the first draft of my script, this was completed weeks ago however, it is only now being uploaded upon the second iteration of my script. this list was originally produced in the App, S-memo and has been retrieved from my defunct Smart phone with great effort.

location reconnaissance notes



I chose my locations based upon what i know, I never formally re-conned my location, in that i never went there especially to take photographs,  I chose locations that I was familiar with, and I did collate notes on each of the locations, these location notes can be seen below. the reason I chose to do this was purely an attempt to not over complicate things.

(SCAN of hand-taken notes HERE)

Trailer Design Workshop - Soft

we have been asked to create trailers for the short film Soft (Written and directed by Simon Ellis) using footage from the film and music of our own choice.

My trailer can be found embedded below:

P.S I must apologize for the lack of updates this past week, I have been very tired recently, rest assured that normal service will soon be resumed.

First Major Project- Enhanced character sheet. Mia Madeline

First Major Project- Enhanced character sheet.

Mia Madeline
(Mia, Mai,)
student of languages, strange accent, interested in enjoying her life.

tends to do things without premeditation, intelligent but a little derpy sometimes, enjoys walking about and watching earth stuff, loves parties and traveling, currently on gap year.
Mia is generally polite but seems to use weird colloquialisms or anachronisms in conversation.
Mia tends to take on the role of the "Monster", often doing things for her own gain or entertainment, however there's some subjects that Mia wont touch, or harm, these are her friends, her planet or her past.

Mia And Sheryl are in a long term relationship, it's strained by Mia's inability to open up. she cant or wont talk about her past except in stories or vague generalities, Mia Loves Sheryl, She's conflicted as to whether she can tel Sheryl her past and whether Sheryl will accept her for who she is.

Who Is Mia?, really?

interview-style character introduction

in an attempt to better get-to-know my characters I have staged an internalized interview with myself playing both the character and interviewer, i have done this so i can better understand how my characters talk, think and interact.

[interview commenced 18th November, 2016, Mia Madeline and N. Vossler]

Mia Madeline: can we get started soon?, its really hot in here.

N.Vossler:(Sure, We're good to go whenever you are.)

MM:Great, after Sher told me about this interview thing i was rather cold about it you know?, not really into it, especially after she told me what you asked, anyway. So, I'm Mia Madeline, and I'm from a small blue-white planet near alpha proxima.

NV:(just tell us anything you want, its not every day I get to interview an Alien,)

Okay, So I was born on Orillia, I'm 21 earth years old-ish and I moved here for my gap year.

(your gap year?)

Mm-Hm, Gap year, a bit of backstory, we love earth entertainment, the whole local group* does, we watch it all, pretty much, except ITV 3, we don't really like all the hoity-toity, anti-froodiness of the channel.
*the local group is the area around which three species(apparently) made contact with each other at around the same time.
(Froodiness?)

Its like this, a frood is a pretty chill person, a person who's relaxed, the word itself's interesting, it actually comes from a TV show, one of the first we aliens got.

(so, Likes and dislikes, better get back on track, there's so much to talk about but we don't really have time)

Basically I like earth, you folks are crazy, evolving on a rock with active tectonics!, crazy, and then?, calling it earth!. I really love it here, cant get enough.

(what about your favorite earth drink)

Can it be fictitious?

(probably not.)

then I don't really have one, takes me where my mood is, you know?, its about the flavor of the bar, some Pubs just taste wrong, you know?, like a jelly bean thats been coated in arsenic.

(that's... interesting, so your species tastes air then?)

its a bit more than that. but yer, its a combination really of our taste buds and our gut feeling to coin a local idiom.

(what about appearance, how do you look without makeup?)

well, my species, we have UV reflective patterns across our bodies, otherwise we look like you, sure we have taste buds inside our noses instead of chemical receptors but, to be honest, evolution loves to find the most efficient design, so, here we are.

(interesting, well that's all we have time for, perhaps a followup interview is in order.)

First Major Project- Enhanced character sheet Sheryl Sapiets

First Major Project- Enhanced character sheet.

Sheryl Sapiets:

(Sher, Sherry)

Artist, philosophy student, INTELLIGENT, self conscious.

likes to go out for walks along the seafront, contemplate life, chilled but enjoys a Night out every-so-often.
wears hoodies, harem pants tank-tops etc. when going out goes UV to the brim with big boots, loud colors, tempered by dark's and blacks.
in the short, Sheryl takes on the role of the "Woman" primarily, She has to make a choice, to stay and run with Mia, Or to leave and never see Mia again.



Who Is Sheryl?, really?

interview-style character introduction

in an attempt to better get-to-know my characters I have staged an internalized interview with myself playing both the character and interviewer, i have done this so i can better understand how my characters talk, think and interact.

[interview commenced 17th November, 2016, Sheryl Sapiets and N. Vossler]

Sheryl Sapiets:
,... Are you ready?,...okay,..

N.Vossler:...(you can go whenever)

SS: Hi, My Name's Sheryl, Sher to my friends, Sherry when i'm Drunk,...sorry, Bad Joke,..sort of. urm, Well, I studied philosophy, and I'm interested in psychology and literature,... basically i just read a lot, people or books,.. and i sometimes go for walks along the seafront.

NV: (So where did you study?)

 I studied In Manchester, originally from Bristol-way, I had to leave in the end.

(did it not feel like home?)

It did, it still is home in many ways, it just didn't feel like a good place to study, too many memories from school i guess, I couldn't get comfortable after I finished.

(did you like Manchester?)

Manchester was the greatest, it was such an experience, I had never been in a big, big, city before. so It was all new to me. God!, I used to people watch so much, i would order a mohito at this Gay pub, the purple cherry, sit outside and watch the people go on with their lives, its great imagining stories about them you know?

(We're getting a little off topic, lets move on to your appearance, obviously you don't wear your current apparel every day.)

NO, this is my party outfit, I love the neon and black look when i'm out clubbing, you just caught me on a bad day, god, if i wore this every day.. it would take hours, you know what I mean?.

(favourate drink?)

Don't really have one, I  buy Mohito when I can, but, yea I don't really have a favorite drink you know?, go with the flow, you know?... sorry about that I sometimes rhyme, its not deliberate but it happens sometimes.

(not at all, im going to get a bit personal now, what are your relations with Maia Madeline?)

...[SS remains silent at this point]

(we do have all day...)

Okay, First off, its Mia, Not Maia, second I dont know why its any of your business, she's just my friend, we met just after I moved down here to Brockton*, she was new to the area, I was new to the Area, we hit it off after that, ask her yourself if your so interested.
*[Brockton on Midway, district of Midway, Kent, UK]

(Why did you move to the Midway Area?)

Jobs up north are few and far between for a philosophy student, sure there's Manchester Library but not much else, I moved here for the job market, stayed for the area, I' love it here.

(Thank you Very much Ms Sapiets, We'll get back to you when the show is ready for air as is stipulated in your contract.)

The reasons for the format above are threefold, If i am to write a character convincingly I need to know how they think and feel, I need to be able to jump into their shoes at a moments notice, so getting their profile in the form of an interview does wonders for my understanding of how my characters talk, how they respond. and how I can communicate their psyche to the audience.

First Major Project: Pitch Stuff, 25 words etc.

New 25 Words final:
"my girlfriends an alien, and i just found out."
A graduate student, tugged into a world of aliens and intrigue by her partner, must decide to stay, or go.

info:
genre: Romcom/drama
length: 10 mins
trailer, not first 2 mins

Key location

Rochester old docks,  key location.

The vast majority of events happen on a bench, a bench on the waterfront/quay, i chose this because its the sort of place that can be between places, a place where you can stop and rest, just enjoy the day or night. in this case I'm using a waterfront location to signify, (after the revelation) just how alone the main characters are.
practically the old Docks are perfect, loads of places where i can shoot "from the river" without a boat due to the shape of the waterfront.

CHARACTERS

Mia:
(Mi, Mia, Mai)
student of languages, strange accent, interested in enjoying her life, tends to do things without premeditation, intelligent but a little derpy sometimes, enjoys walking about and watching earth stuff, loves parties and traveling, currently on gap year, Mia is generally polite but seems to use weird colloquialisms or anachronisms in conversation.
Mia has been seen wearing skinny jeans or Jeggings with T-shirts, full goth gear, harajuku style clothes, she doesn't have a specific style, she seems to be trying to find one.

Mia Madeline, (UV reflective bits not visible)

Sheryl:

(Sher, Sherry)

Artist, philosophy student, INTELLIGENT, self conscious.

likes to go out for walks along the seafront, contemplate life, chill but enjoy a night out.

Sheryl was born in Bristol, moved to Manchester and studied philosophy, psychology and literature in college before eventually settling on art for university.

she talks with a mostly clear accent with a hint of Devon and Yorkshire.

when stressed falls back on sarcasm, can be a bit rude at times of high stress.

basic idea of Sheryl's look.

OLD 25 words experimental:

"my Girlfriend's an alien, and I just found out"
two characters, they're attacked, one is revealed to be an alien, drama  from half truths and lies. cliffhanger at the end.

First Major Project: Research for Ideas in relation to characterization of aliens

 (BBC)Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ep01

The title screen to The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

I watched the hitchikers guide to the galaxy during my idea accumulation phase, I examined ford prefect especially, his character is fairly interesting, his slightly alien outlook on life and the way he's characterized by  David Dixon. 

I focused on his demeanor, how he talks and thinks, slightly out of phase with the rest of the scene, a quiet intensity, and consistent good cheer. He does however have a darker side, his alien-ness means that while the earth is about to be demolished he doesn't tell anyone, waits until the last day and tells Arthur just before the end of the earth, he seems comes across as self centered however looking deeper this is simply his character seeping through, the demolition of earth is like the demolition of a small house in a village a hundred miles away, he's just on earth, a visitor, and he doesn't really seem to care.- this exemplifies how inconsequential earth is to the rest of the galaxy.

David Dixon as Ford Prefect

technically speaking ford prefect is a vehicle for exposition, for world building,, a character to explain to the audience and  Arthur whats going on. as a character he's an archetypal monster, cares little for the benefit of others outside life and death situations. he's the sort of character you'd enjoy during the good times,a character that would save your life, but only yours, otherwise hes self centered and seems to be a little bit millennial. 

(BBC)Dr Who ep1 (2015)

Dr Who Logo

I also examined the current incarnation of The Doctor(played by Peter Capaldi) from Dr who. to see the other end of the spectrum, both the doctor and ford are similar, and yet almost polar opposites, they're both self centered, the doctor is intelligent, good, sarcastic, witty and angry, has a deep self loathing, and will help. he's not the most archetypal person, but yet a monster all the same.

Peter Capaldi as The Doctor

from a technical perspective, the doctor is the main character, he's a hero and a monster at the same time, its interesting how well this works, since the 50th anniversary special his motivation to continue living has been to try and find Galifrey, he no-longer feels remorse and sadness for destroying Galifrey, he now knows that  the planet's lost and he knows he cant possibly search for it, space is too big. so he feels a white hot self hatred, its a really interesting take on a classic character.

I looked at these two characters and TV shows primarily to help in the creation of Mia Madeline, I had a vague idea before hand of how I wanted her character. I used these two characters to decide how i wanted her to express her alien origins, how she speaks and walks, how she's presented as a character.

Public Service Broadcast: formatting changes

I Will no-longer be referencing Kubrick films in my titles, I'm sorry but i have to be practical.
this is en external and marked blog, so i'm sorry if you where reading only for the Kubrick references, they stop now.
...
again, Sorry.
...
BUT, for everyone else, I have GOOD NEWS!, and that is that  i can now assure you that my blog is almost exactly 45% more navigable, with clearly marked mast heads and whatnot, so, enjoy my blog and have a lovely evening, day, or even night of your reading this at 3AM.
I'm Niki Vossler, and we're done here...

Oh, and expect my research to be expanded upon in the next update, i showed a little of my work in the idea source update, however I still need to explain(to myself and you) what influenced me from the three online shorts that i watched, I know something did, I'm just not quite sure what yet, ideas tend to blend in my head.

yours,
Niki V

First Major Project: Idea sources, where i got my ideas.

research still TBA

when having Ideas I tend to mental mind map, I'll work through several different possible plots/stories/moments until i decide what elements i want to use and integrate into my step outline/timeline.

so here's the half formed ideas that resulted in the last post.

"police procedural"
from the moment i got the brief i'v wanted to do sci-fy, i thought about where i could film and came up with this, a very simple single camera drama involving two GCHQ cyber-crime operatives, this idea was no-noed when i released that cybercrime is boring and i couldn't really create good conflict without straying too far from the breif, would have resulted in something more like the first ten mins of a procedural, rather than a complete story. i did incorporate the sci-fy elements into my final story however the tone is completely different.

"the artist and the poet"
idea first appeared after an interesting conversation with the cleaner who came to do our kitchen when i was off sick, very intelligent guy, a poet in his free time, we talked of life the universe and everything as i made my lunch. so an idea based upon a real conversation, good idea.... not good for conflict, interesting diualogue, probably would have been Tarantino-esque, but it would not have been a real story, could've been but, in the end i decided to incorporate the artist character into my final text.

in the end i decided to look back at my life and decided to go with what i knew, relationships breaking from secrets, so that's my B story, my A story is fairly bland, get attacked, run away etc. so it might be a comedy, might not we'll see how i write it, the tone will come naturally so i dont really think i can say at this point.

influences(+ 1 research item):

Dr Who

(new series ep2 opening scene in particular)
on a more general note, Im influenced by Dr who because of its current tone, the last series and the new series, Dr who has been rather sarcastic in a comedic sense while also remaining dramatic, like the series block casting Matt smith as the doctor, which was silly and dramatic most of the time.

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy(TV series and film[research item])

the first scene containing Arthur Dent, this was an influencing scene, i wondered where could i go from there, rather than the mostly surreal and slightly silly nature of HHGTTG. I wondered how could finding out your best friend is an alien effect your relationship, in fact how could finding out your LOVER is an alien effect your relationship, the idea grew after i had an image of a scene, a moment that worked really well, it was then that i decided that this was my final idea, would be the one that I would use. so yes, this influenced me a lot.

Steve's stories about how he writes and his lectures we've had so far

Steve comes across as a bewildered middle aged writer, he isnt bewildered and he Is intelligent and sharp as broken glass, his talk on moments reminded me of the importance of good story, how one remembers the moments within a story, as well as the plot etc. but more importantly he showed us the out-liers, how you can break the rules and still make a good story or scene, writing isn't only about the trade-craft its also about people... but dont forget the tradecraft.

The boat that rocked

having watched the boat that rocked on the weekend i was reminded why a good secondary or tertiary plot is extremely important, this happened because i watched the american cut after having watched only the UK cut several times, point is this: in the US version they cut an entire scene about Twat(with two tees) infiltrating the boat, destroying a major part of the under-plot, a moment that foreshadows the engine of the boat exploding, removing the build up for the dramatic moment. In the UK cut quite a few conversations between Ser allister and Twat often reference the awful shape that the titular boat is in, also foreshadowing the engine explosion and sinking. without the foreshadowing the film is much, much worse. this taught me to show and foreshadow more than anything, giving the audience a taste of the characters etc.