Edit

For the edit I sat down with Sarah and looked through the footage and looking at what angles we liked best.  As Sarah was editing the holiday’s I wasn’t there for a couple of days while she was editing but told her just to follow the scrip and put everything in order.

When I got back was very impressed with what I saw, although it was still a rough edit the footage looked great and I felt the narrative came across quite well. However the film was over 8 minutes at this point and felt that the more footage we cut the more of the narrative we where losing. I sat down with the scrip and tried to workout what parts we could cut without losing any of the narrative.  One scene we had to cut was the scene where things slowly change in the frame, I really like this part of the scrip and was key to the narrative but it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. We messed around with this scene but in the end we decided just to cut it out of the film.

This saved us a couple of minutes but we where still about 1 or so minutes over the 5-minute limit. Sarah began to cut the footage and made the transitions between clips seamless. We had an edit that we where both happy with and showed it to the rest of the group they all seemed to like. The final step was color correcting the footage.

I was very happy with the edit and how it turned out, although I do think some off the narrative aspects might have been lost due to the five minute brief!

Sound Design

For the sound design I really wanted to keep things very minimalistic and really let the shots speak for themselves. As I didn’t want the camera to leave the room I really wanted to explore around this idea of bringing the outside in. Looking at 2001 space odyssey I love the way they slowly bought the outside sounds in to the room with out the audience really knowing this is something that I really wanted to create with in the sound design.

Throughout A View I want things to quite normal and just have in synch sounds, as he gets closer and closer to his panic attack I want the sounds to build up, creating tension, before we cut to silence as he reaches the door!! For the rest of the film I would like to slowly bring more and more outside in to the mix.Looking at song called Holy Innocent by The Crookes I love the piano in the intro and think it would work really well with the film.  Although I really like the sound of the piano I don’t want to make the film cliché. If we have time to create a soundtrack we will explore the possibility’s and experiment but the sound design is our main focus.  

Day 3- Second Day Filming

As we did before we arrived at Wood Hill nursing home at 9:30 am, when we had got they we where surprised to see that Jonathan had already arrived, this wasn’t an issue as it meant I could brief the crew and Jonathan together saving us a little bit of time.

We had a lot less to film, which meant we could spend a little bit more time on certain shots and re film the point of view shots from yesterday which didn’t turn out too great.  The first shot we filmed was at the started, where we see Jonathan getting out of bed and walking over to the curtains. This shot was a little difficult due to the lighting outside as it kept on changing meaning when he opened the curtains the footage was over or under exposed. We spent a little longer on this shot then I expected but it was worth it in the end as the shoot look really nice.

We swift moved on t the next shot filmed inside the cupboard, as Jonathan reached in to grab his shirt. This had to be one of my favourite shots we filmed, the composition is great and it foreshadows what’s going to happen later on in the film. Everything was running smoothly and we decided to take a break before we filmed the most crucial part of the film, the panic attack. I not going to lie I was a little nervous about this as it was the most important scene in the film, and I wasn’t quite sure what to say to Jonathan as I knew he used to suffer from them.

Before we started filming I quickly briefed Jonathan and told him where abouts to stand and to look. We filmed a shot before where Jonathan looks straight through the camera, I wanted the composition to be the same as this shot. As it was quite a sensitive scene we thought it would be best if we had as little of us in the room as possible, so Louis Adam and Sarah went into another room. Jonathan asked if he could have a little bit of time to get into character but just to start recording. It was a little uncomfortable to watch him act this scene as he start to cry and I didn’t know when to call cut, the footage look really really good Jonathan acting was brilliant you could really see the emotion and pain on his face. After this scene we had another break and talked about how we where going to film the point of view shots as we all agreed that they didn’t work.

I didn’t want to give up on the point of view shot as it was really important and a crucial part of the scrip. We had already got rid of two point of shots and replaced then with cut always. We had a similar set up as the day before. Although the footage looked better then yesterday it still didn’t look the way I wanted it to. We talked about filming the shot from outside looking through the window but what made our film unique was that it was all shot inside the same room.  We tried the shot one more time, although not perfect it still better then the other attempts.

Overall I think filming went very well, Jonathan was great he was really cooperative, patient and played the role very well. I think as a team we work well together and the footage looks really good.

Day 2- First Day of Filming

I was a little nervous about our first day of shooting, as I had never directed anything on that scale. We arrived on location at 9:30 and told Jonathan to meet us they around 10:00 this gave us time to quickly talk through the shooting schedule. We decided to shoot the second part of the scrip first, where we George stumble out of the cupboard, we had told Jonathan not to shave so they where a clear difference in appearance to show that time had past.

When Jonathan arrived on set I quickly brief him about what was happening and to recap what part of the scrip we where filming. As they where still a little bit of the room that needed changing we decided to film the woodland area first. On the walk down to the wood it gave us time to really get to know Jonathan and learn a lot about his acting experience, this walk really helped to calm my nerves and helped build a connection with the actor. We only needed a couple of shots and cutaways in the wood so it didn’t take us too long.  Jonathan was really cooperative and helpful, as Rose and Hannah where sorting out the technical side I talked through the section of the scrip and how I wanted him to act.

When we got back to the location, the rest of the crew finished the set design, set up all the lighting and the tripod, this was really helpful as it enabled us to get straight on with filming. The first shot we filmed was the shot where Jonathan stumbles out of the cupboard. As before I talked to him Jonathan about how I wanted to him to act, while the rest of the group sorted out the technical side.  This was great as it enabled us to be quite efficient when it came to shooting and meant that Jonathan wasn’t waiting around.

The room was very warm and meant we had to take regular breaks. We decided that after every scene we would take a ten-minute break. This turned out to be really useful as it meant we could change the position of the tripod or even lay tracks with out Jonathan been in the room. This just made everything run a lot smoother.  I had a couple of issues keeping track of what shot and take we where on, in hindsight I should have really asked on of the editors to keep track, I was little disappointed as this just made us look at little unprofessional.

Things where running pretty smoothly until it came to the second to last scene where Jonathan is looking outside the window, the point of view shot. I really like the idea of using point of view shots, as you get to see what the main character is seeing, We had three point of view shots which I decided to film at the end of day as I knew that they would need quite a bit of time to get right. We started with the shot where Jonathan is looking outside the window. I stayed inside the room as Louis went outside to play the role of the girl in the red coat, we had a little trouble communicating and I was getting a little frustrated as the footage wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it to, after a couple of takes the shot just wasn’t working. We have had trouble with point of view shots all day and decided to call it a day. We thanked Jonathan and briefed him about the second day shooting.

Before filming the last shot of the room slowly changing I decided to look through the point of view footage, it just didn’t go with the rest of the footage.  We decided to re-film that scene again tomorrow.The final scene went quite well as we decided to make five changes to the set, then filmed for ten seconds. We continued this step until the room was tidy and ready for filming tomorrow.  overall i was very happy with how the filming went the footage look great and the story seemed to be really coming together. 

Day 1- Set Design

We arrived on location at 10:00 o’clock ready to start the set design. We created a props list of all the props we needed, and each of use was responsible for different items. There where a couple of items that none of use had so Hannah and me got them at the weekend.

The room had pretty much all the furniture that we needed, bed, draws, bedside table and a cupboard.  the only furniture that was missing was the desk which Louise bought.  we slightly changed the layout of the room by moving the bedside table toward the window. We finally put up posters and added little decretive items like plants, bedside table light, books, and framed pictures of Jonathan, all to give the impression that the room looked homely and lived in.



in one of the scene the room slowly changes and becomes more and more messy. As we are filming the second part of the film first we needed the room to be messy. we all bough empty bottles and cans which we put on the floor. we also added dirty plates which would grandly become higher and higher as the room slow changes and becomes more messy.






After designing the set we went on a little walk to find a wood or a park as they are a couple of shots in the scrip that are filmed outside. As none of use really knew the area we didn't really know were we where going. we eventually fond a woodland area which was ideal and was only a couple of minutes walk away. We would film this part of the scrip first while the rest of the team set up the equipment.