Post Productiont: Experimenting with Titles

I did not think about the type of title I would have for my film earlier on, but I did some testing to see how I might create one. I did think about having the name of the title simply fade in and out on the screen but I feel that I could find a way to make the appearance look more attractive.

The images below show me testing with the idea of placing the title on the map of Nigeria. The colours I used were earthy tones but I tried using the Nigerian flag as a background and to colour the map but I don't feel this works because it may not be obvious to the audience and I think it has a cheesy look to it. I know now that using the Nigeria map outline won't work as part of my title sequence.

Below is the image taken by Elliott, my cameraman for this film. I really like the picture because it looks like it is from a scene in the film so I thought why not experiment with the idea of it being a freeze frame title.
It is also has the main character and I really like the expression on her face. I used the colour red for the text so it slightly stood out from the background but this may change. I think I might end up using this idea but change the text and colour first. The rest of the images is showing the different areas I could place the text on. Above I posted a very quick video of two types of intros for the title I might use, it is very quick as I was giving myself a refresher in After Effects also. I decided to add a Yoruba soundtrack to see if it works with the title intro which I feel it does but I am going to continue looking for sounds for the film so it is definitely not final.

Post-Production: Mistakes Made During Filming

Costume & Set Design: Continuation Error- 

Now that I am at post-production stage, I am able to see the mistakes that were made on my part. The actor schedules individually did not match up which meant I filmed certain scenes with the actors that were present and re-shot those scenes on the day I had all of them present for backup. However in the image below, I did not remember to keep the costumes the same which wouldn't have been a problem if I shot the scene again with multiple angles giving variety in the editing room. I feel that this happened due to the fact that I did not have a full crew so I was doing multiple jobs on set like lighting, directing and other grip tasks. This obviously caused stress and affected my observation.

DAY 1

DAY 2

Sound Recording 

The footage sound was recorded with a microphone attached on the camera and when filmed in the space, it caused the sound to reverb and it does cause complications while watching the film. My options for this suggested by a tutor is to apply ADR or have a soundtrack to draw attention away from the problem. I shall contact my actors to check their availability and at the same time see if I can solve the problem.


Director Role: Cutting too Early

Being the director, I tried to use the skills I learnt from working on film sets, I used these skills during filming. It helped me communicate with the actors better and my cameraman, Elliott. However, I learnt a simple lesson which does have a big impact in post production. When the actors are done with a scene, I know now to give at least 5 seconds of silence before shouting 'cut' because again it helps in the editing room. These are things I can learn and improve on in future work.

Filming

Above in the image is an example of how I framed my shots poorly, I did follow the rule of thirds and I followed my shot list but I made the mistake of shooting with a window in the shot and it was much brighter outside causing the over exposed inside the house. I couldn't repair this in post but I know not to make the same mistake.

In the image below, the blue outline is the mask I placed in the scene to cover the extension cord that was visible. It did not fix the problem but it did decrease the visibility. This is a set design mistake that could have been avoided, luckily the background in this scene is black and I was able to change the layer mode to blend in.

Production: Colour Scheme for Set Design

On my theatre film set, I am happy with the colours I chose for the set and characters costumes. The colours for the set were a mixture of orange, red, brown and green. The choice to use sofas from the canteen was a good idea because the colour of the sofa which was black, stood out against the brown wooden background and orange curtain.

The props such as the pillows and rug were borrowed from a friend where she purchased the items at Yellow Sunrise in the Corn Exchange. I also purchased a large table cloth spread to match the rest of the set and use on the white tables I borrowed from the canteen.

I chose the colours the characters would wear based on their personalities. I had Ronke wear outfits that were a little high maintenance, while Aje wore casual outfits because her personality was less outgoing and the friend was told to wear neutral colours such as grey, blue and black. The theatre itself had black curtains so I did not need to think about any colours clashing. My aim was to make sure the characters stood out from the set but also complimented it, I thought that when I would apply the colour grading tones then it would bring the whole look together.

Production: Filming of The Girl That's Doesn't Speak

How Day 1, 2 and 3 went: challenges faced prior to filming such as finding cast and crew, times of filming 10-5pm, behind the scenes problems like cast/crew management, overall opinion on outcome of filming, what would be changed if was able to do again, what did i learn and would the second film result in the same style.

Filming dates: 15th April-16th April

The Cast:

Dad- played by Mushi Noor

Daughter - played by Jas Chattha

Sister - Sobia Jones

The Crew:

I was the sound, camera and lighting person for this project. I asked on Facebook groups and friends for assistance but during the Easter period, many were busy so I filmed the project on both days.

Day 1

The location for the whole shoot was at my flat in Headingley. I was not able to find a film crew to help on the shoot days, but the actors helped out during filming as much as they could.

I planned all the scenes that needed food because this made is easier when they were needed for props. I did three shots for each scene to give variation for editing but I did try to stick with my shot list. The first day I used the animation LEDgo lights but when I was watching the footage back, the lights were not strong enough to use and I decided to go and book out redhead lights instead for tomorrow's shoot.

Day 2

After watching some of the footage from Day 1, I decided to re-shoot the scenes from Day 1 today but after shooting the scenes that needed to be done for Day 2, I still had time to re-do the scenes from yesterday so there was no need to film on Friday 17th like I had planned.
On this day I had the actress who was playing the Aunt, as this was the only full day for availability. On the day we decided that since the woman playing the Aunt was much younger in appearance than I thought and the previous actress I had contacted couldn't make it, I changed the character from an aunt to a older sister which worked out well I feel.


Overall, I thought filming alone would be much worse and it did make it hard for me because I felt I was not skilled enough to use a camera but I re-shot the scenes I was not happy with and I think they came out better as the redheads were a lot more powerful to light the scene. I know the footage could have been shot better but it was the best I could do with the time frame given and the circumstances.

Production: Filming of Stolen Goods

Filming dates: 31st March - 2nd April

The Cast:

Aje - played by Lulia Togara from CCP
Ronke - played by Candy Young from Facebook
Friend - played by Jas Chattha from Facebook

The Crew:

Cameraman - Elliott Tebbs
Grip- Me and Bhakti Mistry from Visual Communication course

Day 1

The location for the whole shoot was in the lecture theatre at Leeds College of Art. I was able to find help on the day after a Grip member dropped out. I used set up the lights and props for the set. The first day went well, the actors got on well with each other and I was able to get the shots I needed. The only complication was working around the actors' schedule because one had to arrive later than the start time and I could not wait long so while I waited, I filmed the scenes that they weren't needed and at the end of the next day I re-shot the scenes with them. This did not end up going over the scheduled time and on a positive note it gave me more options in the editing room.

Day 2

I re-did some shots from Day 1 because on this day I was able to have all three actors from the scheduled start time. The set stayed the same for the shoot as most scenes took place there.

Day 3

This day was a short filming day because I only had one scene to prepare for. I decided to create a bathroom on the back of the boards I used, but my mirror broke even after using adhesive hooks. I went and quickly got permission to film in one of the toilets in college, and I was able to get the shot I needed. I think the bathroom scene came out a lot better even though it did not go with the theme of a minimalistic look, it still worked well.

Set Up Bathroom

Overall, when complications such as time, equipment and other factors affected the shoot I was able to think of quick solutions which I was happy about.
If I had the choice of shooting on a minimalistic set I would do it again because I enjoyed having a built set and it allowed me to focus on the lighting. However I would have had more props on the set even though I researched into different types of theatre sets, I think having more props would have given the actors more to work with. Elliott was a great cameraman who gave some advice on set when needed and I was able to get the shots I wanted.

Research & Development: MoodBoards of Lighting Styles I Want

These films, for most of them I have focused on their lighting and set design. For my films I would like to have saturated colours because I feel that it would compliment the exaggerated actions of the character.

In films like Nikita (1990) and City of God the costumes and locations play a big part in enhancing the lighting. The colour palettes in City of God and Nikita are in my opinion deep shades of colour.
This has given me ideas about how to design the costumes and when choosing location to make it aesthetically pleasing. The storylines of the films are to be lighthearted so I am aiming to have colours sets.

Research & Development: Problems Finding Actors for Film

From deciding what I would do for my extended practice, I knew that I would want African or Asian actors to be in my film. This is because from interviewing people for my dissertation and researching into how Africans are portrayed in films I wanted to be able to produce a film that many black actors are not given the chance to play. Many are stereotyped in films to play a thug, comedian, side kick and for females a sexual character.

I started looking for actors at the end of January, I emailed these courses at universities first to see if I could find students so instead of payment I would provide a showreel that they could use:

University of Leeds - Center of African Studies and Faculty for Performance Visual Arts and Cultures

Manchester School of Acting

When it got towards the end of February and I still did not get replies from the universities even after emailing again, I tried these acting networks and academies:

Actors Lab

Ology Kids Casting

Star Casting UK

Casting Call Pro

Northern Lights

Mint Casting

ActUp North

West Yorkshire Theatre Network

IPM Academy

Last Minute Short Notice for Film/TV Group

I found one actress on Castingcall Pro (CCP) who I searched for because the views I received on the advert did not generate any interest.  

I found one character on CCP, and the rest on Facebook through friends both in the theatre and entertainment business.

For the second film, I found that through Actors Lab, Last Minute Short Notice for Film/TV and Facebook friends.

Overall, it took me 2 months to find actors for the first film and for both films I found actors a week before which was very lucky. However, I finished my script and shot list but could not film in the middle of March because I had no actors. I managed to only have to push the second film to the last week of the Easter holidays, but it did complicate the overall time I had to edit the film.

I have learnt that even though I used many resources to find actors, a lot of them wanted payment so the budget spent for actors was:

Stolen Goods: £194.50- this was to pay for travel and food expenses for all three actors

The Girl That Doesn't Speak: £260- again it covered travel and food expenses for all three actors

I had the money saved in case of an emergency when offering some payment helped to bring more interest so overall it cost £454.50. My budget for this was £500, and the rest of that went on creating the minimalistic set for the first film which I filmed in the lecture theatre at University.

I know that in the future I will need to continue networking so that when it comes to finding people with specific skills I will be able to ask more people which could have avoided having to push back the filming dates so late in the project.