I believe I just wrote and directed my own drama...

WELL!

Today I finished shooting my last ever shoot as a student!
My shoot went so so well, better than expected. I believe there are two main reasons as to why the shoot ran so smoothly and effectively; 1. Maddie and Hennie and Cat. 2. working with professional actors that we didnt know.
The cast were fab, although working with the two children on sunday was an experience! They were great but children can be hard work at times! But Sharon and Colin we brilliant, as were Amy and Kai. They were all so professional and we hardly ever had any line mess ups. And the fact that we didnt know them really helped, for example when we work with friends/family/people we know, we can become slow and distracted, but wanting to appear professional this didnt happnen. And this is something that I will discuss further in my report.

Cat was her usual camera-wiz self so we also avoided camera f*** ups and between Maddie and Hennie, sound was taken control of and perfected.
I made sure I arrived on location every morning around an hour before everyone else so that production design and lighting was in place and I was ready to get everyone blocking out and into character (after a cuppa of course)

I had forgotten how much I love being on a production and part of a crew, even more so because I didn't have to take hold of my dreaded enemy- the camera! I was able to concentrate on my story and the direction of it.

I feel like I did sometimes struggle to give direction to Colin and Sharon because I am so young and inexperienced compared to them but I feel like I coped pretty well at most times. And Cat aided me along the way!

There were a couple of moments for me that were really well, nice. It was nice seeing the action played out that I wrote and planned over the past few months, it was a great feeling!

Now its time to put it all together with Dyl, so excited to see it all on screen!

Cast

Treatment

Character Breakdowns

Things I had forgotten to blog! - Tone

Report Research - Dominic Savage

Dominic Savage directed 'True Love', and a variety of other things e.g 'Dive', 'Freefall', 'Love and hate', 'Nice Girl'. So he's worth having a look at.

Report Research BFI Article

British New Wave

50s-60s films which reinvigorated cinema Britain today is still a society in many ways defined by class, but in the 1950s divisions were far more rigid. The 'new wave' films and the sources that inspired them gave a voice to a working-class that was for the first time gaining some economic power. Previously, working-class characters in British cinema had largely been used for comic effect or as 'salt of the earth' cannon fodder. Here we see their lives at the centre of the action. That action, such as it is, details everyday dramas - hence 'the kitchen sink' tag. We see events through the emotional journeys of the characters. Interestingly, only Room at the Top (d. Jack Clayton, 1958) and Look Back in Anger (d. Tony Richardson, 1959) look directly at conflict between working-class and middle-class characters. The later films concentrate on conflicts within the working-class contrasting 'rough' (the very poor, unskilled, criminal and hedonistic - represented by characters like Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (d. Karel Reisz, 1960) and Colin Smith and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, d. Richardson, 1962) with 'respectable' (skilled, aspirational, educated and 'moral' - such as the heroes of John Schlesinger's films: Vic Brown in A Kind of Loving (1962) and the life that Billy Fisher in Billy Liar (1963) appears to lead). The debates around class are complex. There is recognition that social change and affluence will make the system more fluid. There is also an understanding that the essentials of power will not change - the mindset that reinforces divisions is still very much there. Phil Wickham

Report Research - Kitchen sink drama

Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement which developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose 'heroes' usually could be described as angry young men. It used a style of social realism, which often depicted the domestic situations of working-class Britons living in rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore social issues and political controversies.

Report Research

Relevant books -

• "Direct your own damn movie" Lloyd Kaufman, Sara Antill, Kurly Tlapoyawa
• "Directing Actors" Judith Weston
• "Directing Fiction" Robert Edgar-Hunt
•  "Modern Voice: Working with actors on contemporary text" Catherine Weate 
• "Pre Production Planning for film, video, and multimedia" Steve Cartwright 

Call sheet Thursday

Call Sheet Wednesday

Call Sheet Tuesday

Call sheet Sunday

Shot list

Shoot Schedule

Checklist

Production Management

Getting ready to roll FMP

My shoot is at the end of this week! eek! WEEKS of planning all coming to ahead!
I am also meeting with Colin Holt today, the actor playing Mark the dad so that will be exciting, get up to speed with him on everything, go through the script, answer any questions etc.

All call sheets are in place, script breakdown, shoot schedule and shot list etc. This week I just need to collect all the things I need for the set production design wise.

Its all very overwhelming and I am very nervous to work with professional actors, but excited!