Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.
FMP- THE MEMORY BOX
Research
The genre/style of my film is comedy. I had a few inspirations for my film but the main one was Shaun of the dead, mainly because of the type of comedy that it focuses on. Un ironic British humour. One of my favourite scenes in the film is this breaking in scene. I watched this and took scriptwriting ideas from it, especially in the first half. The way the film is set out is very similar to the way my short film is, with the breaking and entering, running from things and stupid solutions to problems. To do my research for the visuals side of my film, I have watched this film a couple of times, making sure I really focus in on the effects and how it looks, and is edited together.
The comedy side is also exactly what I wanted in my short film which is another reason why I watched this. It was the perfect film to take inspiration from in this genre. I also took inspiration from the film Johnny english, as the storyline is similar to mine, however mine is a lot more toned down. The humour used throughout this film is the same as mine, which is why it was very helpful to watch this film through.
This is the scene I focused most on in Shaun of the dead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWysfGmf6Ww
Another thing I looked into was animals/pets on set and how you should go about filming with them. I found that you must keep them safe and watch them at all times so they do not get them self injured or endangered. When I was filming with my dog on set, I made sure to have someone keep an eye on her at all times if I was rushing around/ not on set at all times, as this is very important. As my dog is well trained, it wasn't too hard to get the shots we needed as we just used things she loved, like treats, to keep her active.
I also researched brother relationships, and how they act in movies and TV shows. Some of these that I researched are Joey and Chandler from friends, because although they are not blood related, they have a brother like bond on a tv show that is comedic unironically. I tried to interpret some of this comedy into my film in a similar way.
Production diary
Pre-Production
We started pre- production work in mid April. We had the spam of Easter half term to create a pitch power point and a script. This was to show to Kelly and Kane. Whilst doing this, I found it one of the most challenging part. I had a brief idea of what I wanted my film to be about before we left for half term however I wasn't sure on how i wanted to put it together to create a solid story line, and I ended up having a lot of trouble with this. When I ended up pitching this idea, I didn't really like it when I pitched it out loud and neither did Kane. I changed my idea a couple of times and pitched it again but again we didn't really like it. Me and Freya then disscussed ideas as she was free and it helped to think out loud, and then came up with a stable and solid story line, which was a comedy. I origianally said that I did not want to do a comedy as it would be too hard, but I ended up really liking this idea and following through with it. I then created a third green light pitch and pitched it to Kane and then we both really liked this idea a lot more than what it origionally was. My plot was about two brothers who had to go and retrieve a memory box from their mums old house, however they had no keys and as they were trying to get in, things kept going wrong.
When it came to writing the script for my final film, it was quite difficult as I was aiming my script to be unironically funny, which is hard as I felt like I needed to see what it looked like in filming, struggling to have a vision of it in my head. This took a few days to write, but when I had finished it, I was quite happy with it. It was then time to move on to finding a cast, and pre production documents such as call sheets, risk assessments, shot lists etc. To find my cast, I first started by putting a call sheet out into the casting team chat, but I also messaged people on teams who I thought would be a good fit for the roles. I messaged Aiden Hope and Geoffrey Wood first, however they both ended up dropping out of the auditions as they were too busy, so I went on to as Alan Tarkil and William Hart if they would like to audition, in which they both agreed. When they sent me in their audition tapes, i thought that they were both perfect for the roles, and acted the scene i gave them out exactly how I had visioned it which worked out in the end. I then casted Mark Bergman as the dad. I then went on to make a group chat with all of the cast and crew members for things such as filming dates, costumes, locations and times.
I also helped out on another film 'turnips, tweeds and tractors, which was a film directed by Freya Whitehouse and Casey Weedall. On this film, I was the location manager. I went out to different locations, which I drove and walked too, and sent them pictures of places I thought would be suitable for their scenes. I also communicated to different people who owned these places, to schedule dates that worked for both parties, so I had to be very organised to achieve this.m I would let the owners know then they were arriving and leaving so they knew, and I would set up the location, ready for their day of filming.
Proposal
candidate name: Sophie Medd
Candidate number: 02100605
Pathway: Film and TV
Project title: The Memory box
Section 1: Rationale
At the beginning of the course, I didn't know a lot about the film industry, but I did have an interest in it. I knew there was a few jobs you could do such as a director or a producer, but I did not realise the large range of paths that this course could take you in. After I discovered this, I quickly became interested in the role of a production designer. I realised what the job in tales, and it quickly drew my interest. When I started making films, I started to gain a passion for the creative side of film, and learned how to build sets, design them, and the visuals of a film.
Section 2: Project concept
My film genre is a comedy and it is called the memory box. For this, I have done a lot of research into British comedy films, such as Shaun of the dead. This is very similar to what my film is about. I have 3 characters, Joe, Conner, and the dad, and Joe and Conner are breaking into their old house however things keep going wrong, therefore I wanted it to be un-ironically funny, which is exactly what Shaun of the dead is. I have 3 disasters that happen to both brother in my plot, which is that they cannot get into the front door, then they can't get over the fence, and then there is a stray dog that runs into the back garden, that Conner makes fun of him for. All of this happens, and then they eventually get into the house to retrieve their belongings, however they then find out that their dad had keys to the house the whole time. To create my film, I will need locations, props and equipment. The location I want to use, are my house, for the first scene where the brothers are discussing their plan to break into the house, my bedrom for the montage scene of the plan they made to break in, my front drive, as the outside of the house, and Freya's back garden for the back of the house. The equipment I will need is a camera, a tripod, mics, tripod plate, charger and batteries, lights and light stands.
Section 3: Evaluation
During the making of my film, I intend to schedule out my filming and editing dates very carefully to ensure that I have enough time to do everything to the best standard that it can be. To do this, I am going to make a schedule and schedule cards and communicate with my team well, to make sure they know where they need to be and when. To do this, I am going to make a group chat on teams with all cast and crew members, call sheets sent in regularly.
Section 4:
1. Shaun of the dead. (2004). [Film]. London: Studio canal.
2. The Inbetweeners. (2008). [Film]. London: Bwark productions.
3. Friday night dinner. (2011). Channel 4, 25th February 2011.
4. Four weddings and a funeral. (1994). [Film]. United Kingdom: Polygram filmed entertainment.
5. Johnny English. (2003). [Film]. United States: Studio Canal.
Section 5:
Week 1. 14th April. I am intending to write my first draft of my script, and my green light pitch. To do this, I will need access to canva, and word.
Week 2. 21st April. I am intending to do the second draft of my script, start casting, and start pre production paperwork. To do this, I will need access to teams, word, and canva.
Week 3. 28th April. I am intending to get all of my paperwork complete, and send in mood boards, call sheets and character breakdowns to my cast. To do this, I will need acess to canva, word and teams.
Week 4. I am intending to film my first couple of scenes, for a few hours. To do this, I will need access to the college equipment, such as a camera, tripod, and lights cases.
Week 5. I am intending to get the rest of filming complete, 5 scenes. To do this, I will need access to the college equipment once again.
Week 6. I am intending to edit my final film, and get all of my blog work complete. To do this, I will need access to premier pro.
This was my first pitch, draft:
Casting call
Filming day 1
My first day of filming happened on the 10th May 2023. I filmed scenes 1 and scenes2. Scene 1 was the kitchen scene where both boys are talking about going to get the memory box, and scene 2 is a montage of both boys planning out how they are going to get into the house. For these , only Alan and Will were needed on set, and Freys was a co-camera operator, with Casey as a runner so I wasn't doing everything on my own. I took all of the equiptment home the night before the shoot so I was not carrying it back all the way back from college with all of the actors and crew. However when we began the shoot, we rewlised that one of the cameras SD card readers was not working as the springs were broken so they would not stay in the slot. We could not reschedule the shoot or go back to college to get another camera, so therefore Freya had to hold my SD cards in the reader all day, which was not ideal. other than that the shoot ran very smoothly. We filmed scene 1 first in my kitchen which took around an hour as we did a few retakes, and shot it from different angles, close ups, OTS shots, wide shots etc. We then moved on to scene 2, which was the Montage, and this didn't take as long as there were no lines as it has music over the top, so no one had to learn their lines. It was all just stage direction.
Filming day 2
My second day of filming was on the 16th May and we filmed scenes 3, 6 and 7. We needed all 3 actors for this day. For this shooting day, the behind the scenes took a lot of work, as we used 3 rooms in my house, and all three needed emptying for the set, as it had to look like no one lived in the house. This took around 2 hours and Freya came to set earlier to help. We started at around 10:30 and finished at around 12:30. We had to move everything out of these rooms that we possibly could before the actors showed up. Luckily we got it all done on time. When everyone got here we pretty much got started straight away, however we found that there was a problem which the mic, so we did not have any audio, however came up with a solution to use voice memos and to match the audio up when editing. We had to use this method all day, which did slow the process down a little bit as we were constantly trying to find where the best audio came from, but we did still manage to get it all done. The crew on set was Freya, who was a co- camera operator, and Hollie, who was a runner. Filming took around 4 hours and was a long day. I did manage to get all of the footage I needed by the end of it. The locations we used was my house again, two of the bedrooms upstairs, and the front driveway.
Filming day 3
The last filming day was the longest of all 3. This took place on the 18th May. Although it was only 2 scenes that we filmed, they were the longest. This was scenes 4 and 5. Scene 4 was both brothers trying to get through/ over the gate. This scene was the hardest to film and I had to get specific angles to make it look realistic without the actors actually jumping over the fence. Alan was the actor 'jumping over', and he did a great job of helping it make it even more realistic. The next scene we filmed was scene 5. This was the last scene before we wrapped up filming. This was the scene with the puppy and them trying to actually break in from the back. The puppy scene was challenging as she wouldn't stay where we needed her a lot of the time, but I managed it in the end with treats! This is the main reason why this scene took the longest, along with it being the longest scene in general. Another part of this scene was them climbing through an open window, which we did some test shots with Freya to begin with to make sure it was okay. This filming day ran extremely smoothly, as we had learned from our mistakes and tested all of the equipment before we took it out to use. The location we used for this day was Freya's back garden and kitchen window, and it was the same location throughout the day which made it a lot easier.
Editing
I spread out my editing days in between my filming days to make it easier for myself and my time management so I wasn't cramming it all into a few days after I had finished filming. My first day of editing was done after shoot day one, and I managed to edit both scenes 1 and 2 together, and colour grade them. Freya helped me put my montage together and make it a bit more interesting than what is originally looked like. I then went on to my second editing day, which was done the day after I had filmed scene 3, 6 and 7. This was a lot harder as this is when I had to match up the audio to the video for all three scenes. This day I only got half a scene done. I then carried editing out for around a week after I had completely finished filming and finished and colour graded everything. The editing section took a bit longer than I initianally thought it would, as I was struggling to match up audios. I overall did find it interesting as I learned a lot during this process.
Evaluation
Overall, I have learned a lot from this experience. Being a director of my own short film has helped uplift my confidence and strategies massively. I have learned how to work in a team and communication with a larger group of people. Having to do this, I have needed to be extremely organises at all times and not let everything fall down hill with is another thing I have improved on during this project. I have also expanded my knowlage of different shot types, and what looks best in different genres of film. During editing, I have learned a lot such as colour grading, intros, and time lapses on premier pro. This was through the help of Casey and Freya. Some things I could have improved on is checking the equipment and made sure it was all working before taking it to set so there were no issues while we were there. I could also make sure I have enough chargers and batteries so nothing dies in the middle of a shoot.
Final film link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbtY8aWhHnM
Pre production documents:
Pitch:
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