Directions - Edit feedback 2

On Monday we had our finecut deadline. I showed my work to Simon and he asked me to change some clips and work on ambient audio.

For the audio, I added some more room noise, clock, people talking from a distance etc. I also got the finished music from my composer Harry which also helped to create more of an atmosphere/mood in the film.
When working on the clips I couldn't really do much to change it as I either didn't have more takes (due to very limited time on set) or there were acting- or continuity mistakes in the other cuts that I had.)

Today I went back to Simon to show him what I had changed. He still wanted some more ambient sound, especially in the police office, which I slightly disagree with as I find it too distracting/disturbing and it also feels a bit unrealistic/fake.

As the last part of the edit I've been working on grading and colour correcting. Mainly to try to fix over exposure and reflections and to make it look a bit more cinematic.

Directions - Editing project

Monday earlier this week I showed my rough cut to Mike and Simon. According to them I didn't have to change much, but I was advised by Simon to shorten one of the shots where they're in the police office and add one more close up in the bedroom scene. He also said he'd like to see more of Carl's face in the bedroom scene, but because of very limited time on setI couldn't get those extra shots. Mike was also pretty pleased with what I had to show, but said I should work on balancing the lighting a bit more when grading and colour correcting to make the lighting continuity better.

Since showing the rough cut I've been mostly working on my audio, running it through Audition to make it clearer and added some sound effects (freesound.org) where I wasn't happy with the sound we got on set. I also worked on what Simon told be and I added the close-up, but I'm unsure whether or not to cut the shot that he want since there isn't really a place I can cut, or another shot a can put in to speed the conversation up...
Other than that I've gotten in contact with two composers who's helping me out with the music. One of the composers is Harry Evans, a kent based composer who will be composing music for the bedroom scene. The second composer is and American composer and music producer named Kevin MacLeod. He's letting me use some of his music for the kitchen- and the tailor scene.

Editing this project so far has been quite good. I'm really happy with how the footage turned out. We managed to avoid grain, but some of the footage needs quite a bit of colour correction before it's finished. Since we were using the DR70 I had to sync the audio before editing. The syncing process went faster than I thought it would since I used a clapper for every shot and therefore could use Premiere's merge-function to merge the audio and footage.

Directions - Research, House of Cards (U.S)

One series that I ended up taking quite a bit of inspiration from for this project is the Netflix series 'House of Cards'. 'House of Cards' is an American political drama web television series by Beau Willimon and David Fincher. It's an adaption of a mini-series which was shown on BBC in 1990 with the same name and based on Michael Dobb's novel also named 'House of Cards'. The series first season premiered on Netflix February 1 2013 and has a fifth season being released in late may this year.

The series is set in present-day Washington D.C. and tells the story of Francis Underwood, a democrat from South Carolina's 5th congressional district and House Majority Whip, and his ruthless and corrupt climb of the hierarchical ladder to power. Together with his equally manipulative wife, Claire, they take Washington by storm. Frank, to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him, and Claire to get a place to dominate in her husband's spotlight. The series deals mostly with themes of manipulation, power and ruthless pragmatism.


House of Cards Trailer from Trigger Street Productions on Vimeo.


'House of Cards' has received a lot of positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an average rating of 8.3/10, second season 8.5/10, third season 7.2/10 and fourth season 7.8/10. It has received more than 30 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor - and Actress for Spacey and Wright for each of the four seasons. The series is also the first original online-only web TV series to receive major Emmy nominations.

The series is well known for their cinematography. Although David Fincher was mainly an executive producer and directed only the first two episodes, the style and tone which he set have been followed for the rest of the series. One of the things you notice in the series is  Fincher's love for dept of field.
Fincher made it clear from the very beginning, before the filming even began, that there would be no handheld filming, zooming, or steady cam shots. Just like the main character Francis, the look of the film needed to be cold, still and calculating.

The first person hired as the cinematographer for the show was Egil Bryld. He filmed eleven episodes of the first season.
"So I went to L.A to discuss the show and the visuals, and the first thing David said was 'We're going to shoot this on RED with minimal equipment and really fast,' because everyone was concerned with the sheer amount of material we had to cover in a very short schedule - just ten days for each episode."
Even though they, in the end, were given more time for the first two episodes, Bryld says that they had to develop a style that they could execute quickly and which involved shooting on two RED EPICs simultaneously.




Fincher decided to keep the lighting very naturalistic, but at the same time make it a narration of the story itself. One scene can be Francis sitting in a well-lit office on a sunny day with soft light shining towards him through the windows as he speaks to a politician across him as a friend, while the next scene can take place in an office where the curtains are closed, the character almost a silhouette and we as an audience sees him from a lower-eyed view as his true intentions starts coming out to the people around him.




One thing I found fascinating with the series is how they are having the main character continuously talking straight into the camera to the audience, and that way repeatedly breaking the fourth wall. I really like the effect it gives and thought it could work well in some parts of my film.

Another thing they use quite a bit in 'House of Cards' is focus pull, which allows less cutting between the scenes. I was planning in the very beginning of this unit to use focus pull and have long takes, but decided when doing my storyboard I'd i'd rather do a lot of short clips and speed it up a bit to make the scenes more tense. Although I had to change this when I got on set since I was told we had less time to film than planned. I therefore decided to go back to my original idea of using focus pull to make it less takes and that way save time so we would be able to get enough shots to be able to cover the whole scene before we'd have to leave.


Under is some clips from the series where the main character are breaking the fourt wall
Point of View | If life were only like this from EXPOSED on Vimeo.

//Images and source material\\

http://oxfordstudent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/house-of-cards-kevin-spacey.jpg

https://vimeo.com/56057592

https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/61856

http://www.emmys.com/shows/house-cards

https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/watching-for-the-2013-primetime-emmy-nominations/?_r=0

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856010/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

http://www.diyphotography.net/cinematography-house-cards/

http://www.red.com/news/shooting-house-of-cards-speed-and-style

https://vimeo.com/124296331

Direction - Director, Anne Sewitsky

Anne Østensen Sewitsky (1978) is a well known Norwegian director born in Oslo. She studied at the Norwegian Film School and graduated in 2006 with her short "Hjertekutt" as her diploma film. After that, she went on to direct the short "Oh My God!" (2008) which got awarded with the Special Prize of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerkin in the Generation Kplus programme of the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.


Her first feature was the comedy "Sykt lykkelig" (2010) which she won the 'World Grand Jury Prize' at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. This was the first Norwegian feature to win Sundance prize. The same feature was the same year also chosen to be the Norwegian Oscar candidate. Her second feature followed shortly and was a children's drama named "Jørgen + Anne = Sant". The film premiered at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, opening the Generation Kplus programme that year with a great reception. Never before has a Norwegian feature had the honour of opening the generation programme. 
Her last feature "De nærmeste" 2015 was also taken to the main competition in the Sundance Film Festival and was also presented at the Contemporary World Cinema-programme in Toronto.

Trailer of "Sykt lykkelig" ("Happy Happy"):

Sewitsky has also worked in television, directing four episodes of the popular, Norwegian drama series "Himmelblå" for the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK), and some episodes of "Koselig med peis". She has recently finished directing a new TV series for NRK called "Monster", a thriller drama which will be broadcasted later this year.

In 2015 Sewitsky was awarded with Liv Ullman's prize of honour and Edith Carlmars' prize of honour.

One of Sewitsky's trademarks is that she mainly choose to work with projects that are bound to realism, set to present day, mostly comedies and dramas, not too dark (with the exception of "Monster" which is a thriller drama with bits of unrealism in it.

The reason why I chose her as a director is that I find her very inspiring. She's a quite young, female director who has accomplished a lot since she graduated in 2006. I also like the projects she's been working on and how she is on set as I was fortune enough to work with her on the TV series "Monster".

//Images and source material\\ 

http://www.dagsavisen.no/helg-nye-inntrykk/portrett/den-rastlose-1.347692

http://rushprint.no/rushes/anne-sewitsky-fra-edit-carlmar-prisen-til-liv-ullmanns-aerespris/

http://www.nfi.no/norskfilm/arkiv/anne-sewitskys-nye-film-åpner-barnefilmkonkurransen-i-berlin

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3205815/

http://rushprint.no/2013/03/anne-sewitsky-med-ny-film/

Directions - Extra research 2

To get some extra inspirations for the edit and a better Idea of what it means to be a director I watched an American documentary called ‘The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Making’ (2004) by Wendy Apple. 

“The Cutting Edge” is about the art of film editing. It shows clips from groundbreaking films (old, new, fiction, documentary etc, both famous and unknown) with creative and innovative editing styles. The documentary spans 100 years of filmmaking showing examples from early films where the only “cuts” were those created by stopping the camera and re-starting it, to showing films like “Cold Mountain” where they used more creative editing and doing cuts made on match on action.

The cast for the documentary is no “small talk” and consists of directors and editors such as Quentin Tarantino (director - The hateful 8), Steven Spielberg (director - Jaws), Walter Murch (editor - Apocalypse Now), Martin Scorsese (director - Goodfellas), Sally Menke (editor - Pulp Fiction) and more. The documentary has a lot of similarities with ‘Visions of Light’ (1992) a documentary where camera operators discuss the art of Cinematography and the “DoP”, illustrating their points by using clips from more than 100 different films. 

“Musicians have notes, editors have frames.” Quentin Tarantino. 

It’s interesting to see how editing can change a film, as James Cameron shows by showing a scene from ‘Terminator 2’ where 1 frame from 24 is missing, and that way illustrates the importance of every frame of the movie. Or as Walter Murch shows how he covers mistakes, controls emotions and work with light when editing scenes from ‘Cold Mountain’. The importance of close up’s at the right time, flashbacks, parallel action, slow motion etc.

It’s also interesting to hear about the process of editing both from the editors point of view and well-known directors. Zach Staenberg (editor - The Matrix Trilogy) says early in the documentary: “What makes a film is the edit”. This is being backed up by the rest of the directors and editors through the film, such as Sean Penn (director - The Pledge) who says “I think great editing skills will protect a director from suicide.”

//All images from Google.com\\

http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.com.es/2008/11/23rd-nov-2008-cutting-edgethe-magic-of.html

Directions - Shooting 'CMIYC'

Yesterday I finished shooting my adaption of 'Catch Me If You Can'. The shoot for this project went pretty well, although we ended up struggling a bit time-wise both days mainly due to actors being delayed and miscalculating how long it would take to rig between the shots since we used a lot of lights.

On the first day we were filming at Penguins and Medway Council, starting at Penguins. For this scene I had arranged to meet the actors on set, but because of "heavy" snow the main actor got stuck in traffic and was delayed by 1 and a half hour. We managed to shoot the scene quite quick and ended up being only 30 min behind schedule when moving to the next location.
When we got there both the actors for this scene had already arrived and was waiting. Filming this scene didn't go as quick as I had planned since I had to work more with the actors on this one than what I had thought when writing the schedule for the shoot. In the end we managed to get all the shots that I wanted, but we stayed being 30 min behind schedule.

On the second day we were shooting at the B&B. This was going to be a stressful day as we had a lot to film, and it didn't get less stressful when I got told by the owner that we had 30 minutes less to film than planned due to the room we were using being rented out later that day.  Even so we managed to film the whole scene but had to cut some of the extra shots that I wanted because of the time.

Overall the production went very well. I didn't have any issues neither with actors or locations dropping out. I'm also happy ith the planning I did beforehand as I had location recce's on all the locations 1 week before shooting to see where I'd need lighting and what type of lights I should book out, and to see how much props was needed on each set.

For this project, I ended up using both the Arri lights and 2 LED's and shot it on a DSLR (5D mark III, lenses: 25mm, 50mm, 25-70mm and 70-200mm). It was nice to shoot it on a DSLR as it gave the option of swapping lenses.
Since we were using a DSLR we had to record the audio separately using the DR70 sound kit and marked all the shots with a clapper. We also used a Røde mic that we plugged into the camera just as a backup in case the DR70 would fail.

As mentioned, the only big issue we had was time, which I couldn't really do much about, but other than that everything went really well. The actors were lovely to work with and the crew did an amazing job. There were also no problems using the prop gun. I called the police as soon as we were done filming and they said they didn't receive any calls from the public while we were filming.

Before and after photo of the "police office":

Directions - Research, 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'

'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' is an American police procedural sitcom created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur. The series is single-camera and consists of four seasons. The first season premiered on Fox September 17, 2013, and got 6.17 million viewers.

In the series, we meet Jake Peralta, a talented but carefree detective in Brooklyn's 99th Precinct who's used to do whatever he wants. The serious and stern Captain Ray Holt takes over the precinct, which includes Jake and the two of them soon ends up in a conflict with each other.
The other employees of the 99th precinct include Detective Amy Santiago - Jake's overachieving, competitive partner, Detective Rosa Diaz - a tough and kept to herself co-worker, Detective Charles Boyle - Jakes best friend who also has a crush on Rosa, Detective Sergeant Terry Jeffords - recently taken off the field after the birth of his twin girls, and Gina Linetti - the precinct's sarcastic administrator.

The series has won two Creative Arts Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best TV series - Musical or Comedy and one for Best Actor - TV Series Musical or Comedy for Andy Samberg.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows it's genre more or less by the book, using stereotype characters (the talented, but carefree detective (main character) and his competitive partner, the strict and serious captain etc), high key lighting to get an upbeat mood, free from dark shadows and a lot of verbal humour.

Andre Braugher, who plays Captain Ray Holt" shared in an interview some information of how the creators of the series handle each episode's production.
"When we were on set we're working pretty fast and efficiently, which actually gave us more time to play around. In any given scene we're going to do five or six takes of the material that's scripted and really cover that thoroughly, and then we have enough time to do what we call 'fun runs,' which is where everyone pulls the craziest stuff they know out of a bag and throws it into the scene."

The series might look very spontaneous, but it's all carefully planned. They do a lot of handheld in the programme and also often use a zoom to help land a joke. Examples of the zoom-jokes is shown in the clip below:

When watching this series I was mainly focusing on the office scenes, as I was a bit unsure how I wanted the office to look like prop-wise and also how to shoot it. In the original clip from 'Catch Me If You Can' they do a lot of wide- and medium wide shots to show all the people in the room. I have decided to use less actors and I'm therefore thinking og going with more close ups when filming, similar to what you can see in the office scenes in B99.
Props wise I've decided to go a bit minimalistic, both due to budget, but also because I feel that you'd expect higher authority staff to keep their offices more tidy and clean, not messy with a bunch of papers and stuff lying around.

//Images and source material\\

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/sdsdskdh279882992z1/tuesday-final-ratings-dads-whose-line-is-it-anyway-capture-adjusted-down/203420/

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/12/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/2014-golden-globes-winners/index.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2467372/

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Clever-Way-Brooklyn-Nine-Nine-Gets-Most-Out-Its-Comedians-67580.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAvdjl6ocF4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unwvzLp5g3w

Contextual studies - Representation, Race

We started off by watching an episode of 'Love Thy Neighbor' as an example of a 1970s sitcom, followed by an episode of 'Black-ish' (a more modern sitcom) to see how the "the other" is presented in sitcoms.

What do we mean by 'race'?
- Skin colour? (too reductive on spectrum. Not purely defined by genetics).
- Broadly, shared cultural identity, history & experience shaped by marginalisation/exclusion.
- 'The other' - that which is alien/different to homogenous group or culture.

Critical contexts
Ideology
A set of opinions, values, beliefs and assumptions constructed and presented by a media text. Influences both the context in which media is produced and how it is received.
Hegemony 
A dominant ideology within society. In sitcoms, traditionally reflected in the 'nuclear family', or reflects conventions/attitudes of dominant group (culture, identity).
Mediation & Representation 
What we see is not objective reality or truth, but firstly the filmmaker's version of reality: what they have mediated. The process of mediation, the editorial decision-making process, directly affects representation: through judgement and selection editorialises how gender, race and class are presented. We as the audience are also complicit in mediation, through our understanding and reading of media texts (semiotics, ideology).
Reception Theory 
How we as an audience mediate texts and the factors that might influence us. Argues cultural text has no inherent meaning in and of itself. Instead, meaning is created as the viewer watches and processes the film. Factors include elements of the viewer's personal identity, the exhibition environment, and preconceived notions of programme's genre and production.

History
- Dominant grouping is superior.
- Other cultural groupings are 'inferior' by virtue of difference.
- Defined by crude stereotypes: X are doctors/shopkeepers, X are criminals/natural athletes.

'The Other'
- Establishing identity through opposition to (and sometimes vilification of) a group or individual who display difference.
- Psychoanalysts like Freud and Jacques Lacan argue 'the other' is a primal impulse: "the narcissism of minor differences".
- Lacan theorises 'the other' emerges as the ego (self-identity) is forged in infancy when a child sees itself in a mirror.

'Love Thy Neighbour' (1972-1976)
- Sitcom written by and for dominant society (hegemony).
- Reflects manifestations of 'the other' and Freud's "narcissism of minor differences", xenophobia.
- Radical step - characters on equal social/class status.
- Mediation affects audience reception: satire/comedy provoking empathy.

Black-ish (contemporary US sitcom)
- Sitcom written by and for pluralistic society: Identity politics.
- Radical step - characters on equal or superior social/class status.
- Mediation affects audience reception: Satire/comedy provoking empathy,

//All images from Google.com\\

http://cdn1.edgedatg.com/aws/v2/abc/Blackish/episode/1322154/4fec54d84994564a9237af251f65a385/1228x691-Q90_4fec54d84994564a9237af251f65a385.jpg

http://cdn-3.cinemaparadiso.co.uk/clp/love-thy-neighbour-large-poster-950.jpg

https://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300x200/l/love_thy_neighbour.jpg

http://cdn.newsbusters.org/images/blackish-101.jpg

https://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300x200/l/love_thy_neighbour_film.jpg

https://scottwoodsmakeslists.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/blackish_office.jpg

Directions - Last prep before shoot

I decided to schedule my shoot to two days (10.2-11.2), doing two short scenes on Friday at two different locations and one long scene on Saturday at one location.
All my locations are in Rochester and Chatham, 5-10 min drive apart which makes moving from the locations quite easy.

My crew for this project is Gavin who will be my DoP, Simon who will be on sound and also provides us with a car to make it even easier to transport the equipment around, and the last member is Morgan Ferriday, a photography student at UCA, who will help out with lighting and take some behind the scenes photos.

The shooting for day one starts at 15:00, crew will be on set rigging from 14:30. We'll start at the tailor shop and film the actors playing Frank Abagnale and the tailor until 16:30. Then we'll move to Medway Council where we will meet the two other actors, the Chief of police and Carl Hanratty, and film until 19:30.
Call sheet - day 1

On the second day we'll be filming at the B&B. We'll be doing a 30 min rig from 10:00 and film until 16:45. This day is going to be quite rushed as there is a lot of scenes that has to be filmed and we have limited time since we need to be out of the B&B by 5.
Call sheet - day 2

Storyboard (not full):



Risk assesment
Script

Contextual studies - The Auteurship of Martin Scorsese

Ever since Martin Scorsese first came on the scene in the 1960's he's been somewhat of a hyper-reflexive, gritty mirror to society and packs a powerful punch of emotion in the depth of his characters and soundtracks. In his films he's been known to explore Italian-Americanism, religion, violence, individualism, mob/mafia, greed, criminality and mental instability. Scorsese's use of voice overs, tracking shots, dolly zooms and his frequent use of actors such as Harvey Keitel, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro is some of the elements that show his personal style and gives the "Scorsesian touch" to every film that he has directed.

Scorsese was born in 1942 and is well known as a director for many successful films like 'The Goodfellas', 'The Departed', 'Casino' and 'Taxi Driver'. He was raised in an Italian-American family and graduated from New York University with a film major in 1964. 'Who's That Knocking at my Door' was his first film which he directed 1967, and is still directing with his latest project being the historical drama feature 'Silence'.

In his films, Scorsese usually starts off with the protagonist and uses slow motion flashbulbs and accented camera/flash/shutter sound. He also includes references to Westerns.

'Goodfellas' (1990) and 'The Departed' (2006) is among his films that really shows him as an auteur. His character studies which allow him to incorporate violence into his films in a realistic way, his use of still frames that allows him to talk directly to the audience and long tracking shots combined with classic rock gives him control of the viewer's emotions.

Scorsese is a big fan of music and uses a lot of music in his film. A prime example of Scorsese's "musical madness" is 'Goodfellas' where he uses more than 42 songs throughout the film. In the film you meet Henry Hill, a low-level gangster, and his friends who work their way up through the mob Hierarchy. The film is packed with the best of Scorsese's tricks like long tracking shots and freeze frames, he even pulls off an infamous 181-seconcond long tracking shot where Henry is leading Karen Hill through the underbelly of the Copacabana ending onstage, all set to the tune of 'Then He Kissed Me' by The Crystals. It's a scene where he truly manages to turn the camera into a character, not just a camera.

Even though Scorsese said in an interview that the process of making 'The Departed' was highly unpleasant and that he was tired of it, feeling it was maddening, the film ended up being the one that would finally earn Scorcese his first Best Director Academy Award.
'The Departed' is about 2 men who are hiding within false personas, trying to infiltrate an Irish gang in South Boston. The film takes up identity and focuses on the thin line between the cop and the criminal, and uses 'The Rolling Stones' as musical reinforcements to create the right mood.

I would definitely class Martin Scorsese as an auteur. His films have consistent themes, pacing and aesthetics. How he make use of pop music in his films are similar to many of his films as well. Though some of his movies have more of the "Scorsesian touch" in them than others, there is a continuity and his style remains true.

//Source material and images\\

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/

http://jackkyser.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/auteur-martin-scorsese.html

http://ndsmcobserver.com/2006/10/martin-scorsese-portrait-of-an-auteur/

http://www.slideshare.net/haverstockmedia/auteur-theory-martin-scorsese

https://prezi.com/h0w_b7-w-_t-/auteur-study-martin-scorsese/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/

https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Martin-Scorsese.jpg

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/martin-scorsese-the-departed-production-highly-unpleasant-silence-1201760949/

Directions - Props

The projec turned out to be a bit more of a challenge prop-wise than I first thought. I ended up having to cut out some of the original outdoor scenes that involved cars as I decided to focus more on getting the right props for the scenes indoor.

The clip I've chosen consists of three different scenes where one of them has a quite long gun sequence.

Getting a prop gun has probably been the most challenging part of this project so far as it was hard to find one that I could use that would fit the scene. I started off by visiting all second hand/antique shops in Rochester and Chatham without finding anything suitable. I then got in contact with a 3rd year studying Design for Theatre, Film and Performance at UCA who were willing to make one, but the prize of that was 100£, which would be too expensive without having any proper budget. After that I contacted different people doing vintage airsoft, but all the people that were willing to let me borrow a gun lived too far away. In the end, I happened to get in contact with a guy named Joseph Byham, 1st year - studying Design for Theatre, Film and Performance at UCA, who agreed to let me borrow one of his airsoft guns and also design and make a holster for me.
After I got the gun I also had to contact the Kent Film Office and the police to get permission to use it for my shoot, which turned out to be easier than I thought it would. After spending a good 2 weeks trying to get a hold of a gun I could use getting permission only took about 2 days and I was good to go. 

The rest of the props that I will be using has been fairly easy to get hold of as both second-hand shops and the locations that I'll be using have been extremely helpful either letting me borrow stuff for free or giving me huge discounts. 

Some of the props I'll be using:

Props I'll use: 

B&B:

- Box with different papers and cheques 

- Another box with letters

- General small props for the bedroom: glass with pencils, old camera, bottles, ink, cardboard box - with different stuff (books, papers, frames etc.), white towel,  glasses, mug, stuff with the labels taken off,  etc. 

- 2 Wallets, one filled labels

- Typewriter

- Prop gun

Police office:

- Lamp

- Papers

- Scissors, tape, other general office-stuff

- Pictures/frames

- Black coat

Tailor shop:

- Tape measure

- Notebook

Also need to make sure that all the characters wear right clothing/suit (not wearing anything too fancy). 

Directions - Extra research

Since I'm doing a period piece set in the 1960s, I've been spending quite some time looking at other movies set in 1960-1970 to get an idea of the props and costume I should use. The films that I watched was 'Smashing Time' (1967),  'The Fast Lady' (1962), 'The Bullet Machine' (1970), 'The Intelligence Men' (1965) and 'Danger Route' (1967).

 

The two films that I ended up taking the most inspiration from was 'The Bullet Machine' and 'Smashing Time'.

'The Bullet Machine' is a British crime directed by Lindsay Shonteff, featuring Gilbert Wynne is his first starring role. Wynne is acting as Harry Clegg, a detective with a mission to track down a prostitute responsible for a string of murders. The film was also released under the titles 'Harry and the Hookers' and 'Clegg Private Eye' and was filmed in various locations around London and Paris.

Since 'Catch Me If You Can' is set in the US there are quite different laws than what I'm used to when it comes to gun policy since Norway doesn't have armed police etc. I therefore used this film to get a better picture of the gun policy in Britain in the 1960s, to see if  it would be natural to have the policeman walking into the B&B, that I'm using in my project, armed (same as in the original film) or if I should find some alternative for the gun. I also looked at how the characters were dressed and how they worked when trying to find the criminal.



'Smashing Time' is a 1967 British comedy about 2 women who arrive in London to make a big show business, but in the process they get corrupted by the fame and money. The film is a satire on the 1960's media influenced phenomenon of 'Swinging London' and is written by George Melly and directed by Desmond Davis.

The inspiration I took from 'Smashing Time' was mainly costume-wise for the non-police characters that I will be filming, like the B&B owner, and prop-wise for the bedroom scene. It helped quite a bit since it made it easier to see what I had to remove from/add to the shot to keep it like a 1960's-piece.

Directions - DSLR Workshop 2

In this workshop we were talking about “motivated camera movements” and watched clips from Raiders of the lost ark, Sicario and The Matrix. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark - In the scene where Indiana Jones is trying to take the sculpture they use both push in and pull back shots which give the effect of invading personal space, creating tension.  

Sicario - When they're filming the characters at the US border they use cross tracking where you do reverse shot (tracking back, then forward). The scene in Sicario has more obvious handheld shots which create another scene of tension that what you get in Raiders of the Lost Ark but is overall not that different. 

The matrix - In the office scene where Thomas Anderson escapes they open the scene with a transition, (pan). Balanced time elements, very few cuts, (approximately 15 cuts in 4 minutes), but doesn’t feel like a slow-paced scene because of the tension.    

Why move the camera?

- It can create/enhance/emphasise/inflect emotion. 

- It can guide your audience's reading of a scene. 

- It can also weaken/diffuse or destroy a scene's dramatic potential. 

You should ask yourself if the camera moves in relation to someone or something and in support of the storytelling? Don't move because you can, but because you should, in service of the story.  

Different camera movements

Track/Dolly in or out - This accentuates depth within a scene by causing objects to move in relative distance to the camera. 

Jib/Pedestal up or down - This changes the camera's height, relative to the subject, shifting between neutral (eye-line) low and high angles. (Also achieved on a crane or inclined track.)

Track Dolly/Crab left or right - Lateral movement across a scene a scene or between characters, often combined with a pan to follow action or pivot around something. 

Pan left or right - Horizontal rotation around a fixed axis, such as on a tripod. Referred to as a whip pan when performed at speed. 

Tilt up or down - Vertical rotation around a fixed axis, such as on a tripod, or shoulder mount. 

Dutch angle/Dutch tilt/Canted angle - The camera is set at an angle on its tilt axis, so the horizon can be made to roll left or right. 

Exposure triangle

There are three main controls of exposure on a DSLR. These are often expressed as a triangle because all three interrelate to determine the level of exposure. 

- Aperture - an opening which dictates the amount of light that can pass to the sensor. 

- Shutter speed - the duration of exposure. 

- ISO - sensitivity light. The lowest possible ISO is usually preferred to avoid grain/noise. 

Light passes through the aperture, then the shutter and lands on the sensor, so all three have a role in setting the exposure. 

Depth of Field refers to the distance (in depth from the lens) which is in focus. It is affected by aperture and focal length. 

Focal length describes the distance light travels inside the lens to create a focussed image on the sensor. It also tells us the lens angle.

A wide angle lens provides considerable Depth of Field, a pronounced sense of distance between objects composed in depth and a broad horizon. A narrow lens (long lens) on the other hand gives a zoomed in image with a significant reduction in viewing angle, less background, less perceived depth and much shallower Depth of Field. 

An example of how different lenses change portrait views: 

At the end of the workshop we talked about sound when using DSLR. We listened to what it sounds like when you use a Røde mic and compared it to the DR70 sound kit with boom mic. The sound from the Røde mic was unclear and it picked up a lot of background noise, while the DR70 kit was much more clear. 

I originally planned to film this project on the Sony EX, but been leaning more towards using a DSLR for this project after these workshops. The reason is mainly because I will then have more creative freedom in term of swapping lenses as I have a lot of different lenses at my disposal. 

The only negative is that that monitoring the sound will be more of a hassle since it will have to be done separately and synced in post. 

//Images from Google.com\\

https://pbblogassets.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2016/05/Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark-Chamber.jpg

http://www.funnyjunk.com/Top+20+films+of+2015/funny-pictures/5802747/62#62

http://cinevenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Matrix-A1.jpg

Directions - Cast

The shooting date is getting closer and all the actors have been decided. I found most of them by using Castingcallpro, but also went out and asked people on the locations where I wanted to film if they could act a small part in the project. I was surprised how friendly people were, the first 3 locations I went to all said yes to let me film there without paying anything, and asking the people on the locations to act was not a problem either.


Cast
This is my whole cast for this project:

Carl Hanratty
Carl (45) is head of the police cheque fraud division, a job that is often misunderstood or not taken seriously by his peers. He's a rather serious person who is very focused on his job and doesn't joke around.
For this role I've cast Aaron Phairon. Airs lives in Kent and is an actor in training with a London based coach. He doesn't have any major qualifications in acting but he has completed a foundation course in performing arts featured in two short films.



Frank Abagnale
Frak (19) is the son of Frank and Paula Abagnale. He is a bright young man, but feels that he's not suited for school-life and meant for something bigger.
Here I've casted Alec Porter. Alec has studied 3 years Acting/Musical Theatre at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has acted in both short films, musicals and theatre.




Chief of police
This is Carl's boss (60). He's tired of his job since he has been chief of police for many years and is now thinking of retirement.
For this role I chose Peter Thorburn. He's a Scottish actor based in London and has been acting and modelling since the 60s, appearing in multiple films (both features and shorts) and adverts.



Tailor
The tailor is an old man who's been a tailor his whole and is very proud of his skills and knowledge. He has a great passion for suits and provides suits for all occasions.
I got Gerald Newcomb to take this role. He is the 7th generation of Newcomb to run the family business Penguins, a tailor shop that has been based in the Medway Towns since 1834. Gerald has no experience in acting, but when it comes to being a tailor there isn't much that he doesn't know!


B&B Owner
The B&B Owner is an independent woman in her early 50's. She divorced 10 years ago and is now living alone with her cats and one dog having a B&B way to get to know new people.
For this role I chose Linda Russell. She is the owner of Medway Little Townhouse and has both been acting and directing for Medway Little Theatre for many years.

Directions - Script

To make my own script for this project I first went online where found two versions of the original script, one quite early draft and one filmdraft with the dialogue they ended up using in the film, but no scene description.
Draft  (used scene 84-90 and scene 100)
Filmdraft

Here's a few changes I did to the script:

Change 1 - Change from American to British
Since 'Catch me if you can' is originally set in US i had to change a bit of the dialogue to make it sound more British and also some of the characters working titles (e.g . I changed "FBI" to "police", "United States Secret Service" to "MI4" and "Special agent" to "Chief of police").

Change 2 - Location
In the original scene they open by having Carl Hanratty and two other agents walking through a busy pool area of a motel, passing some flight attendants who are sitting by a small pool, to talk with the motel owner. I decided to change this location to be a British B&B where we start with Carl Hanratty knocking on the door and it being opened by the B&B owner and then cut to them looking at checks and papers in her kitchen.

Change 3 - Gender-change and reducing cast
I decided to have Carl Hanratty kncking on the door alone of the B&B and have his "sidekick" sitting in the car rather than having 2 of the him following him in. This was to reduce the cast as the 2 sidekicks doesn't play any important part in that scene. I also decided to change the gender of the motel/B&B owner to be a lady instead of a man. This was mainly because I felt the role fits a female better than a man.

Change 4 - Cutting out sequence
In my script I also decided to cut out a sequence from the bedroom scene where the characters are looking out the window and sees a on the street walking into a car. This was because I have very limited time and getting all the props I need (since I'm doing a period piece) took longer than I first thought. I therefore decided to not spend extra time trying to find  a 1960's car and instead change the dialogue so the scene was no longer needed.


My script

Original scene:

Contextual studies - Authorship & Auteurs

Objectives:
- Who is 'the author' in film & TV? And how do we define the role and function of 'the author'?
- The 'auteur' theory: Advantages, limitations and alternatives.
- Authorship in TV: who has the creative control?

Production hierarchy:
Executive producer - primarily responsible for financial control but may have creative input, particularly in editing and post-production stages.
Producer - primarily supervises production logistics and budget in tandem with the director. May originate project and usually hires writer(s) and director and will be involved in casting.
Director - primarily responsible for creative vision and creative decisions in collaboration with creative team.
Writer - responsible for authoring original script or adapting existing literary material.
(This is not set in stone and can vary for different films and TV-productions. Especially who has the most creative input of the director and the writer.)

Changing face of creative control:
Cinema
- Silent era (1900-1927): the director (Griffiths, Chaplin)
- Studio era (1930-1960s): The producer (Freed, Selznick)
- 'New wave' (1960s-1980s): directors and writer-directors
Television
- 'Golden Age' (1950s-1960s): producers & writers
- ' New Wave' (1960s-1970s): producers and directors
- 'Writers' (1980s-Present): Producer-writers and showrunners

Origins of the auteur theory:
- Cahiers Du Cinema (radical French film journal) - in 1954, critic (and later on director) Francois Truffaut writes a polemic in which he coins the phrase 'la politique des auteurs' (The Authors Policy).
- Reaction against 'bland' commercial cinema where the director largely regarded as 'chief technician' who just shot the script (matteur-en-scene).
- Truffaut and fellow critics wanted instead a cinema d'auteurs: directors (and director-writers) who expressed an individualistic world view and use mise en scene.
- This 'auteur cinema' expressed in group-breaking French New Wave films of late 50s-early 60s.

Definition of 'auteur':
The auteur theory was championed in the US by film critic Andrew Sarris in his essay 'Notes On The Auteur Theory In 1962'.
Sarris states three key criteria that define an auteur:
- The technical competence of the director (ability to organise a film with clarity and coherence).
- The distinguishable personality of the director (recurring signature style).
- Interior meaning (the cinematic art created from tension between a director's personality and his material).
A director has to have made a minimum of 3 films to be considered an auteur (safely half u dusin films).

Sarris meant that there are no 'bad' films: only bad directors.
Even the worst film of an 'auteur' director can be rescued from anonymity.

Issues with auteur theory:
- Doesn't recognise collaborative nature of film and television, and contribution of writers and technicians.
- What directors were attempting to portray was secondary to the actual visualization on screen.
- Only a few rare directors have 'final cut'.
- Genre theory as an alternative to auteur theory.

Genre theory vs auteur theory:
Genre theory focuses on:
- Generic similarities
- How texts are determined by historical/social/political contexts
- How texts emerge as commercial products from an industry
Auteur theory focuses on:
- Individual stylistic features
- How texts are determined by directors' creativity
- How texts emerge as part of a director's body of work

A writer's medium?
- As a new art form in the 1950s, TV was heavily reliant on dialogue-led stage and literary adaptations and studio based genre productions (sitcoms, soaps, sci-fi)
- Writers, producer and directors came principally from radio and theater.
- The core model became the close writer-producer working relationship, with directors largely 'hired guns'.

What are the TV auteurs?
Stephen Poliakoff
- Began writing career in theater; award-winning playwright.
- Commissioned by BBC and others to write several TV films, working with established producers and directors.
- Made directing debut with Hidden City (1988, Film4)
- Since 1988 he has written and directed over a dozen features, TV movies and mini-series, mostly for the BBC.
- Considered pre-eminent BBC writer-director and allowed to exercise control over casting and final cut.


Technical competence:
Although not a formally-trained visual director, Poliakoff is widely considered to have evolved a degree of technical competence.
'Competence' is seen as control:
a) Framing (shot)
b) Camera movement
c) Editing in order to convey narrative

Personal style:
Recurring visual motifs
- Long tracking shots
- Deep focus
- Clash between modernity and traditional
- Slow-pace

Interior meaning:
- History, memory, ghost of past
- Secret
- Social class
- Themes of power and control

//All images from Google.com\\

http://www.youngandinnocent.eu/sites/default/files/Fig.1.jpg?1347722204

http://www.radiotimes.com/uploads/images/Original/122367.jpg

http://img.rp.vhd.me/4534254_l3.jpg

http://fallytv.com/showinfo/184611/184611-1.jpg