Speciality

It's not hard to see that on paper the speciality I should go into is Sound. But if I am to do so I would also like to pursue a career in Post sound as well as a sound recordist on set. This is something which I have to consider as I know their may not be many resources fro studying Sound Design. I am currently reading several books on the use of Sound design in film, and am trying to give myself a head start.

Sound is definitely the speciality I would like to keep up in my third year!

As with this I would also like to keep up my writing to pursue a career as a writer. Something to maybe consider. Directing is still on the sidelines, Maybe I'll have a better perspective after the Summer.

Hearing Voices (Broken Bubbles, from that guy with the microphone)

It's a new dawn for my learning as a sound recordist. On Wednesday last week I arrived on set to a piece of kit which i had never even touched before. Many a time had i watched Mic Kearney change settings and operate the equipment brilliantly but never did I have a chance to find out how to use the recorder during my time on the grad films.

So there i was sitting down to a new piece of equipment and we are to be turning over in an hours time. Time to get to work. As i was in the same position Murdo was during the shoot of Breathing Room, he was able to take ten minutes out of his busy schedule to help me a little on powering the recorder and giving me a very basic set up. I also had notes that Mic had sent me the previous night about the recorder and how to do a basic set up. But I'm a little more curious than Murdo about the new shiny things i have in my possession. With the lighting set ups using their time wisely, I was able to explore the kit carefully (well sort of). It is a huge difference from the SQN, with the sound clarity being immaculate and very little feedback hiss from the recorder (as opposed to the feedback from a 570 camera). The sound levels can be brilliantly controlled, with 4 separate pots for each of the four channels on the mixer (one for Gain, one for Bass, one for Pan and the master channel pot). This is much more controllable than a three way switch. I found myself in many situations where navigating each pot managed to channel out or reduce the noise of an unwanted element. For example, when shooting in Mugdock Park, I was able to reduce wind noise and pick up more dialogue than the surroundings, and I am happy to say that the dialogue is very easily recognizable and for lack of a better word, good.

Obviously with my curiosity came problems. I managed to create quite a fuss twice on the first day while filming in the props store. When getting a little too familiar with the buttons on the recorder i managed to reset the entire thing, wiping preset slate names and reseting the recording channels, which was a pretty big pain. The problem took half an our to fix, with Gavin Rizza coming on set to help. This happened once again, through complete carelessness of myself, during the day. Only this time i was able to correct the problem within fifteen minutes and get the film rolling again.

This problem also caused some of the recordings to filter into different folders, which proved to be an annoyance with DIT. But the next morning I was able to create some time to rename all files recorded and take a note of where they had been stored on the recorder.

The recorder is a fantastic piece of kit, but if put into the hands of a rookie, such as myself, it can prove to be more difficult than it appears. Thankfully by the end of the shoot I was starting to get the hang of it and was growing more confident by the hour. In the end I did what I could, and i think I did a satisfactory job, and also this proves to be a good push into third year, as now i know roughly how to use the kit.

On set was a strange feeling. It had been a while since I had recorded sound on a film, and this was the first time I was completely independent from the camera. My problems caused a set back in the schedule, which is understandably annoying. The team were not thrilled with the problems that I was causing on set, but in any case who would be. I just did what I could with the knowledge that I had.

Mic has been keeping me up to date and has been continuing to give me good advice on both the kit and how to operate on set as a sound recordist. He has been a fantastic help and I hope to work with him again soon in August.

just another note...

It's something that I have been thinking about a lot.
I don't know if I'll take on the role of directing again. It's a hard job, and also stressful if you don't know how to handle yourself. Although i enjoyed my experience it's something that i'm not convinced about and don't fully see myself doing in the future. maybe my view will change, but maybe it won't. technically i think i will be keeping to the sound, bvut focus a little more on the post production process rather then the sound recording area of it all. creatively i will think about all that i have experienced and will consider the possioblities, but writing i think is going to be the thing i keep up and try to become proffesional.
Something to consider over the rest of the course....

3 Days In Gourock

The production of Breathing Room (title still to be confirmed) wen surprisingly smoothly. Technically, the crew were fantastic and had no problems that were large enough to recall.

Most of what little problems we had revolved around the misinterpretation of the shotlist between Paul (DOP) and myself. Due to the little time in between Sole Mates and Breathin Room, we were not able to meet and discuss the shotlist before we started shooting. As a result, we wasted some time on set when a shot wasn't placed correctly or the shot that was set up didn't cover the action correctly. This is a fault on both Paul and myself but in the end we were able to work together and come up with a good solution to our problems. This only occured a couple of times throughout the entire shoot.

The location turned out to be beautiful with the weather holding nicely and the surroundings keeping relaticvely quiet (aside from the odd lawnmower).

The camera crew built up of Ross, John and David were incredibly patient and equally efficient throughout the production. They listened to every single peice of input and at times even offered a difffirent frame to show us the action from another perspective. Fantastic work. Might I add their handling of the kit was also brilliant and they were very quick learners.

Luke was the gaffer on set and as were the rest of the crew, he was efficitne patient and was helpful in every aspect.

Murdo and Lauren made up the sound crew of Breathing Room. They kept out of sight and caught every part of sound they could possibly catch. They were fantastic to work with and equally udnerstandinf of each shot and cooperated well with the camera crew in keeping the frame clear but also catching the best quality sound they could.

A big thankyou to Andrew Lanni and David Van Der Zanden for their help in set. It was much appreciated and you made the whole process run smoothler. Your experienced input insured we kept on track and made the best out of the production.

Rhys and Anne, playing the lead roles in the film, were also brilliant. After working through the first scenes it was easy to see that both actors were right for the parts.
Rhys was a delight to work with and brought so much to the Tramp's character than i could have imagined. The come4dy of the film exceded expectations and held the drama together very nicely.
Ann was a fantastic sport and caputred the part of jackie magnificently, if that's even a word. She managed to bring that initial mood of the film to the screen and allowed it to transfer gradually as the film progressed through the stages of her demise. The undoing of all that she had lived by and for was created perfectly and matched the script very well. Considering that Ann was already a fan of the script, it is very apparant that she prepared herself for the role very well and was able to fall into the character brilliantly. I think it's safe to say that if you ask any member of the crew that the scene in the hallway where Jackie breaks down was definetely the cherry on the cake. Ann stolen my heart with the role.

One thing that managed to plague my mind and which remains a thought is, will the film be able to cut in such a way that we are able to move, emotionally in between the comedy and the drama of the film. The drama is very heavy and depressing but the comedy isn't overly done and so it shouldn't overule the film arc.


A big thankyou to absolutely everyone involved, everyone was just so brilliant!
Thankyou!!!

Rehearsals

The one rehearsal with the actors was a good one. We covered the entire film in a short space of time, and also in that space of time we managed to suss out any problems with the script.

In the time we also managed to go over many different variations of each scene and came to a conclusion that the improv that we tested was definitely the most effective, and at some points the most funny moments in the film.

The actors are fantastic and are well up for the film, both have a good idea of what they are doing and what kind of mood the film takes shape. They understand the changes in he film as the story progresses and that the film is not an entire comedy but a dramatic story.

I am happy with the attitude of the actors and am confident they will provide a brilliant performance for the film.

Destination Unknown!

Decisions are hard. Especially when going back and forth on location choices.

My first impression of the first house we intended to use did not match what the script explained and at first did not fit into the physical situation i had in mind for the kitchen scenes (the breaking of the window). But after a night of tossing and turning i eventually came up with a solution to the problem and even made the script work quite well with the location.

Sadly it was one day too late. The owner of the house had not been notified in time and we were forced to relocate to our original idea of filming in Gourock.

Indeed this proved a problem, as budget would only allow us to transport some down to the location and not the entire team.

Working around this we have had to stage a make shift bed and breakfast in my home to cut costs and keep travel time down to a minimum.

In reflection to this all I will have to make my decisions more precise and clear to absolutely everyone. False information is not something that can be spread, especially if myself believes this false information! Never again.

So the RED's broken. The RED was never a huge thing to me for this shoot. The RED would look astonishing of coarse but for myself, focusing completely on performance, i am quite happy with the 570. I have been told that the RED may be fixed in time for my shoot, but in the case that it may not be repaired, I am more than welcome to the idea of shooting on the 570, as long as the story is told.

Let's see what i think of that when i see the edit, shall we?

This morning was the first time I have truly panicked. Thankfully it was in the comfort of my own home and I was able to process the information and resolve the mood. The shock of having to change the script time and time again has taken it's toll on myself. But I am struggling through and will hopefully see the light.

Writing For Film

It's hard to know exactly what your writing for sometimes. In my case i seem to have lost myself so much in the text that I'v forgotten that the text is to be transferred into a visual form. Even little things can sometimes escape your attention when your trying to write for the mind of your character.

To truly get the best of the script you have to rely than more than the text on the page and more on the acting of the scene. It's hard for me to get into this idea of being able to direct an actor and letting them bring what they can to the character that you have created. After the last few weeks i have found that what is written on the page can be translated in different ways, depending on how you decide to direct the actors, and which actors you choose.

This for me is an incredibly difficult task as i seem to be loosing focus on what exactly the film is. When initially writing the film i wanted it to be very touching and moving with the character of Jackie transforming throughout the film into a range of different emotions, to get her out of the everyday depression. With this happening in her arch the tramp acts as the comic relief to the deeply depressing world of Jackie.

Now moving onto the more realistic approach of how to navigate each scene with the actors it is becoming increasingly hard to figure out exactly how i want the two characters to differ.

I;m sure as i progress through this all i will find an answer, but for now i will battle on with my initial thoughts on how the film should be.

It may even appear that my initial idea of the film will work.

Directing is a strange creature which i have not had the hands on experience of fully. With the help of my lecturers and classmates I am continuing onwards and learning everyday.

It's both a shock and a wake up call, but under it all, we're still doing something incredible, and i still feel priveleged and, might as well say it, excited. We're making a film! How often can you say that?

Professional hats on people!