Week 10: Progress Continued

As an extension on assessment two (treatment and synopsis) had been granted, I had the opportunity to watch the rushes once again. I further analysed the conceptual framework of the film in order to complete the treatment. Also several grammatical changes have been made based on Toula's draft scrip feedback.


The group will edit on Monday!

Week Ten

Class for this week was cancelled. It was a group consensus that it would be beneficial for the group to continue work on the project in the form of finalising the work for the next assessment due on the Thursday. We are all to work on finishing our one line and one paragraph synopsis, as well as finalise our treatments. We agreed that this would be beneficial, as editing needs to be finalised in order to complete the final assessment and the reflection.

Week 10: Progress

Due to the public holiday, class was cancelled today. Nonetheless I stayed home and worked on the 1 line and 1 page synopsis, in addition to the 4 page treatment due on Thursday. Once this is handed in, editing must be finalised in order to complete the final assessment and the reflection.

Week Nine

This week Dimi and I, as the cinematographer filmed the remaining two scenes of the film. Before filming could proceed we had to make sure that all we were given the all clear to go ahead, making sure that all the appropriate paper work was filled out and signed, such as the Indemnity Form for the Site Visit and the Agreement for Use of the Site.

Some minor complications regarding the set up of the camera equipment which I was in charge was encountered as the stand for the camera was not fully operational, with one leg refusing to stay in place. This was detrimental to our filming as stillness was an essential element in the scenes. We were able to temporarily find a way to fix the stand for the filming.

One of the things we had to work around was constant interruptions of gym members walking into the scenes. To counter act this we made sure to film several takes so that in the editing process this would not prove a hindrance.

The final scene, which is a home scene, required me to be in front of the camera acting instead of operating it. We overcame this, by allowing Dimi to operate the camera. I had to make sure to correctly instruct Dimi on how to operate the camera.

Filming for the day was successful, and is now ready to officially entre the editing stage of our film.

Week 9: Progress

Last night, Sandra the cinematographer and I filmed the final two scenes of the film. Upon arival to the gym I spoke with the manager and he signed the neccessary paperwork (including the Indemnity Form for the Site Visit and the Agreement for Use of the Site), while Sandra set the camera up. The gym had no V energy drinks left, so we changed the script, so that the character asks for a can of V but is handed a can of 'Slash' energy drink instead.

As we were mindful not to film anybody else in the shot (including other gym members), we had the difficulty of attempting to film as individuals were frequently walking on set. The first two takes were successful, however we shot a third (and we will choose which one to intergrate in the movie during post production editing).

The last scene, which features Sandra walking in too her home after a long day and consuming a cup of tea was shot within two takes. As Sandra was acting in this scene, I filmed her.

I also took it upon myself to get all  Personal Release forms signed by the actors.

As a group we are officially in Post Production Stage and will edit during the week.

Week Eight

Today was the first day of filming, and we successfully completed the task of filming the first two scenes from the script. The first scene was played by Afiyat. Her character walks into the lecture room with a cup of coffee in hand. Everything seems blurry at first until Afiyat takes her first sip of coffee, then suddenly everything comes into focus. Afiyat walks out of class on to the corridor on his way to the bathroom where she passes Ali at the vending machine.

This scene was shot over a series of sessions, because as the cinematographer I wanted to adequately capture what the script was trying to portray. I worked in conjunction with Dimi (Director) to obtain the desired objective.

The second scene consists of Ali standing in front of the vending machine, trying to decide which snack will start his day. He settles on a snickers bar but when the machine gets stuck he gets frustrated and begins banging and screaming. Once the machine begins working again, Ali is all happy and back to normal after taking a bite.

One of the problems encountered was that the original vending machine which we had based the script on had been changed; therefore it contained no chocolates products as the script suggested.

As a team we were able to agree upon that fact that we just had to make adjustments to the script in order t make it work.

Despite the above problem, filming was successful, and further dates and times will need to be allocated for additional filming of the script (scenes 3 and 4).

Week 8: Progress

Today, we successfully filmed the first two scenes. The first scene, where Afiyat walks into the classroom in a daze holding a coffee, was filmed several times (approximately 4), in order to get a take that purposely followed the script. Sandra did an excellent job in following my directions on takes that needed to be re-shot.

In the first scene which merges into the second scene, Afiyat crosses path with the second actor- Ali on his way to the vending machine.

It is in this scene (the second one) that the team encountered a problem. The vending machine in the Prince Centre did not have any chocolate bars left- therefore the second actor had to purchase a chocolate drink instead. (I had no choice but to change the script due to this factor).

Despite this problem, the scenes filmed today (the first 2) were successful and the last 3 will be filmed next week (as the actors in these scenes are not available to act today).