| Time | Shot | Action | Cast |
| 12.10pm | 6 | Paddy Opens the curtain | 1 |
| 12.35pm | 7 | Paddy wanders around the room | 1 |
| 1.00pm | 5 | Close up of the notes on the wall | |
| 1.20pm | 4 | Paddy walks around his room turning from one place to another | 1 |
| 1.45pm | 3 | A shot of a note | |
| 2.00pm | 2 | Paddy is pacing around notices a note on the wall | 1 |
| 2.45pm | 1 | Paddy is sat at his computer, unable to work | 1 |
| 3.10pm | 9 | Paddy goes back to his computer to continue to work | 1 |
| 3.35pm | 8 | Paddy closes his eyes and reopens them | 1 |
| 3.45pm | V/O | Actor reads the V/O | 1 |
Friday, 26 April 2013
Vignette Schedule
Vignette Script
"Tourette's"
FADE IN:
INT. bedroom - DAY
PADDY, 19, sits at his desk, littered with textbooks, staring at a blank word document on his laptop. He can hear the clock ticking, it becomes louder and louder and louder still.
paddy (V.O.)
It always starts the same, the twitches. Always the same feeling. Straight in at the bottom of my spine and rising, through my neck into my head jolting it around as it forces it's way out.
As he continues to stare at the screen it becomes unbearable and he has to get up out of his chair. He has to pace around his room, not able to stop for a second.
paddy (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I remember been told, TOURETTE'S. It's something I'll never be able to forget, the day I got diagnosed.
As he continues to pace around his room, he sees a piece of paper on the wall. He sees the word "FUCK" written on it.
paddy (v.o.) (CONT'D)
I think it was the car crash, I was sure about it, but I didn't care. It became worse. The verbal twitches, they started forcing me to swear. I tried to hold it in, not let it get to me but it made me feel so sick, right at the pit of my gut...
I'll never forget failing that exam.
He dismissed the paper on the wall, but as he turns away from it he sees two more pieces of paper both with sear words on them stuck to the opposite wall.
He turns and sees more on the other wall. He goes to the window and opens the curtains, letting light into the room. As light consumes the room, he turns to see the entire room covered in pieces of paper with swear words covering them.
paddy (v.o.) (CONT'D)
I had to learn to cope other wise it would have killed me. Ignore it just ignore it that's what I tried. Now it takes over me for that twitch, that moment, then move on.
He stops turning between the walls and stands still in the middle of the room, but still the pieces of paper appear on the wall.
paddy (v.o.) (CONT'D)
It's hardest those times I can't move on, when it overtakes me completely. I can't fight it, not worth trying; I'll lose.
Paddy looks around his room, he can't see anything for the pieces of paper surrounding him. He closes his eyes, takes several deeps breaths.
paddy (v.o.) (CONT'D)
All I can do is try cope with it, for a little while, at least. But I know I'll never be rid of it completely. I know it is waiting to come back.
When he opens his eyes all the pieces of paper have gone. He takes a seat back at his laptop. He looks up at the wall above and stuck there is a piece of paper with a swear word on it.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Friday, 12 April 2013
Made In Britain - Mood Board
Mood Board 1
I really like the emptiness of this, its cold, he's alone. I imagine the character of Trevor feeling equally alone.
With this I'm looking at lighting, its just looks really raw and harsh. Very bare and upfront very much like the character of Trevor.
I really like the cold color and the atmosphere in this shot. Again its very raw, its wet and dreary, its England!
As for locations I like this because you can see that its clinical, boring, this is the sort of place I can see Trevor and Errol staying (However, not a prison). The lighting and the high up window gives me the impression that this is a place out of the way of normal society.
(my photo) I like the location here, I think it's fitting for the kind of story Made In Britain is, the red brick, graffiti on the walls, its a stereotypical look of a lower class area.
...................................................................................................................................................................
Mood Board 2
This type of shot could demonstrate Trevor's distorted vision of reality, he's lost any sense of whats real, he's just cold and angry, life's just a game to be played.
I like the bleak and dark color palette going on in this shot, but what I'm pointing out is the red line going from the hammer to the mans head, Trevor is very calculated and this small graphic highlights the kind of the thinking process he's going through.
If we're considering Trevor is not in much of a fit state mentally then the kind of colors and zany architecture going on in this shot could add to his detached view of things.
I really like whats going on in this shot regarding color and lighting. It seems very over saturated, burnt out and the background is perhaps visualizing whats going on in her head, it looks really chaotic.
The fish eye lens gives this shot a sense of hyper reality, this effect could be used to show Trevor's distorted view of the world.
I really like the emptiness of this, its cold, he's alone. I imagine the character of Trevor feeling equally alone.
With this I'm looking at lighting, its just looks really raw and harsh. Very bare and upfront very much like the character of Trevor.
As for locations I like this because you can see that its clinical, boring, this is the sort of place I can see Trevor and Errol staying (However, not a prison). The lighting and the high up window gives me the impression that this is a place out of the way of normal society.
...................................................................................................................................................................
Mood Board 2
This type of shot could demonstrate Trevor's distorted vision of reality, he's lost any sense of whats real, he's just cold and angry, life's just a game to be played.
I like the bleak and dark color palette going on in this shot, but what I'm pointing out is the red line going from the hammer to the mans head, Trevor is very calculated and this small graphic highlights the kind of the thinking process he's going through.
If we're considering Trevor is not in much of a fit state mentally then the kind of colors and zany architecture going on in this shot could add to his detached view of things.
I really like whats going on in this shot regarding color and lighting. It seems very over saturated, burnt out and the background is perhaps visualizing whats going on in her head, it looks really chaotic.
The fish eye lens gives this shot a sense of hyper reality, this effect could be used to show Trevor's distorted view of the world.
Vignette Interview Transcript - Tourette's
Interviewer – Could you tell us how your Tourette’s first developed?
Paul Levy - My Tourette’s developed when I was younger, about two, three years ago, it started off as a little head twitch that’s nothing massive, its not like I woke up and started shouting slurs or anything, and it slowly progressed into something a lot harder than that, so it started off as a small twitch and then it would start with my head going further back or further forward. Eventually after a few months down the line I was in a car crash and it wasn’t bad but like I hit my head and everything. I had whiplash and progressively after that it kind of developed into verbal slurs.
Interviewer - What does it feel like physically when you have a twitch?
Paul Levy – When I have a twitch its like a rising feeling, like a rising sickening feeling from the lower back that rises up behind my head and then throws my head backwards and just makes me say something. You can compare it to a sneeze, like when you sneeze you hold it in it’s going to hurt. When I twitch it’s like a feeling that rises to the back of my head and then I release said what ever it is. To twitch is actually quite painful because its hit you hard at the back of your head. Like someone jolting the back of your head forward.
One time I sat my A level’s. I wasn’t diagnosed but I was twitching at the time. I had no idea what it was and when it came to actually sitting the exam I was twitching and I was holding it in and I threw up during the exam, and I had to leave twenty minutes early, I didn’t get the grades I needed to get into university, I ended up getting AAB.
Documentary Progress Report
Even though the documentary filming weeks are over we still have a number of interviews in the pipeline. We’ve got an interview with the Leeds Met computer forensics tutor and we’re still waiting on the tutor who teaches criminology, also of Leeds Met. They were unable to provide an interview last semester due to teaching commitments.
Currently we have interviews from Mark Bottomley who discusses the police perspective of online crime/social media. Gemma of Crimestoppers, she explained how the police and Crimestoppers are reaching out to victims with social media. We’ve also interviewed Andy Brown who does not use social media at all so we have an insight into the life of someone who could be considered a bit of an outcast in the online world. We’ve also got an interesting interview with an online pirate who has recently been caught and could be facing police charges.
We’ve also filmed some little reconstructions and potential cut away shots, we still intend to keep filming as much as possible when possible to help the films visual flair.
So far, we are still struggling to find a solid narrative that ties each interview together in an interesting way. A lot of the people who could have added good content have just not been willing to contact us. We tried getting in touch with some local MPs but their secretaries have given us the run around. We attempted to contact Paul Chambers and Ryan Akroyd who’s recently been in the news. We also attempted to conduct public interviews but surprisingly most people seemed uninterested when asked about online crime, hacking, cyber bullying.
Having said that, looking back through the rushes we are stringing interviews together and this is helping inform our questions for future contributors.
As we are still looking for additional content we haven’t started editing anything just yet but we do have a rough idea about which parts of the interviews will likely go into the film.
This is pretty much as far as we’ve got.
Producer Notes
Here are just some brief notes from my last Production Management class -
- Actor's agents are not that interested in student films so you really have to sell the idea/project. Make them want to be a part of it.
- Name drop charities, themes, names when talking to actor's agents to try and stimulate more interest.
The producers role in the vignette project -
- Make sure all members of the crew have the paper work needed.
- With the art director work on a props list.
- With the DOP get a shots list & equipment list.
- With a sound recordist get a list of equipment.
- Enable the art department to get all the props & costumes before shooting.
- I need all phone numbers.
- Make sure the actor has a script and call sheet well in advance.
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Importance Of Watching The Rushes
The underlining problem we've had throughout the documentary is lack of visual and verbal narrative. We're discussing social media as a concept and therefore don't have any actual physical stuff to film, we're relying on contributors to add much of the content. This is a problem because the people who would really add narrative to the film don't want to speak to us. Two people in particular, Paul Chambers & Ryan Akroyd, would have provided ample content that would have established a really strong base for our documentary. Both those people were simply hard to contact and/or unwilling to help. It's understandable given the nature of their cases/crimes.
But what we never really considered doing, stupid really, was watching back our rushes of the interviews that we did get and really analyzing them. When myself and the director watched the interviews in the edit room we suddenly started asking questions, making points, re watching certain parts, connecting interviews together and suddenly it dawned on us just how important this process is, its so crucial, especially in our situation where narrative is elusive. I think the information we get out of the interviews will help when we are creating new questions for future contributors, giving us a better chance of stringing the interviews together and increasing the chances of finding some narrative or common theme.
But what we never really considered doing, stupid really, was watching back our rushes of the interviews that we did get and really analyzing them. When myself and the director watched the interviews in the edit room we suddenly started asking questions, making points, re watching certain parts, connecting interviews together and suddenly it dawned on us just how important this process is, its so crucial, especially in our situation where narrative is elusive. I think the information we get out of the interviews will help when we are creating new questions for future contributors, giving us a better chance of stringing the interviews together and increasing the chances of finding some narrative or common theme.
My First Interview
I just wanted to take a few notes down regarding how strange an experience interviewing a contributor was. While working I did interview potential employees, it was relatively simple and I expected the documentary interview to be similar, it wasn't, at all.
The first thing I had to contend with was my nerves, I've already commented on the difficulties we've had on the documentary so I wasn't really brimming with confidence on the day. It was our first interview, we needed something, there was a lot of pressure. It's crazy to think I got so wound up over a simple conversation with someone who was probably equally as nervous, but you don't really think like that at the time, it was a case of 'don't fuck up or I've had it' - which wasn't the case at all.
I also found the whole set up really odd, I was placed next to the camera and my contributor was placed a good few meter's away, who on earth has a conversation that far away? Thinking about it now I'm sure we could have moved closer together, it would have helped the interview ten folds.
Looking back I think that huge gap between us really hampered the interview, I found it really difficult listening to her, there was a lot of waffle going on, but I was also thinking about the next question to ask. After the question was answered there was also this horrible long pause while I checked my notes and composed myself to ask the next question. In time I imagine it will get a lot easier and I think it helps when you feel really passionate about the subject your discussing.
I think in the end it all boils down to how confident and calm you are, you can't think clearly if your tense and that was the problem. Putting it all into perspective it was just a conversation, that's all it ever really is, if I was calm enough to extract the information I wanted the interview would have gone better, I'm not done with documentary film making just yet so I'm sure I'll learn more as a go.
The first thing I had to contend with was my nerves, I've already commented on the difficulties we've had on the documentary so I wasn't really brimming with confidence on the day. It was our first interview, we needed something, there was a lot of pressure. It's crazy to think I got so wound up over a simple conversation with someone who was probably equally as nervous, but you don't really think like that at the time, it was a case of 'don't fuck up or I've had it' - which wasn't the case at all.
I also found the whole set up really odd, I was placed next to the camera and my contributor was placed a good few meter's away, who on earth has a conversation that far away? Thinking about it now I'm sure we could have moved closer together, it would have helped the interview ten folds.
Looking back I think that huge gap between us really hampered the interview, I found it really difficult listening to her, there was a lot of waffle going on, but I was also thinking about the next question to ask. After the question was answered there was also this horrible long pause while I checked my notes and composed myself to ask the next question. In time I imagine it will get a lot easier and I think it helps when you feel really passionate about the subject your discussing.
I think in the end it all boils down to how confident and calm you are, you can't think clearly if your tense and that was the problem. Putting it all into perspective it was just a conversation, that's all it ever really is, if I was calm enough to extract the information I wanted the interview would have gone better, I'm not done with documentary film making just yet so I'm sure I'll learn more as a go.
On Producing
Being a production manager has never really been a role that I ever wanted to get involved with, while I was doing some reading I've learned that being a producer can be really very creative but during my experiences so far its been the complete opposite.
Growing up a lot of people said that I naturally assume the role of a leader, I very rarely sit at the back and let other people do all the work, I have to get involved, I push myself and so I push others. I hate being disorganized. I suppose in a group without a natural leader or a clear plan I find that I seem to step up 99% of the time and I fucking hate myself for it! Don't get me wrong, to produce good work you have to have a plan and I know I can trust myself to do whats needed to get the project moving and stay on track, the problem is; its such a lot of work, work that takes me away from the reason why I want to get into film making.
It goes without saying that our documentary has hit every hurdle since take off, we've had contributors pull out, change in directions, people simply not wanting to talk to us, the ongoing and never ending search for a narrative in a place where none really exists, its been a real struggle. Because of all the emails, research and general paper work that has been involved I just haven't got going creatively. As arrogant as it sounds I know this documentary requires my creative input and I just haven't been able to really look at it from a creative angle. If anything the hours of sending emails has sapped all my creativity, instead of thinking what a contributor can bring to the film in terms of narrative I'm just thinking thank god we have someone to talk to us, lets look for the next one! Perhaps that's the problem, I've been so focused on bringing in quantity I've completely missed quality. Having said that if I hadn't have brought in the contributors our documentary would still be an idea on a bit of paper. Its been hard.
I've certainly been glad of the Easter break, its given me chance to recharge my batteries. Towards the end of the last semester I did feel my confidence, energy and enthusiasm disappear. It was unusual for me to get as emotional as I did, I'm normally pretty hard faced but this film, every bloody waking moment its been the only thing I could think about. I mean no disrespect to my team but I think the only other person who truly cares about this film as much as I do is my director, without that real team unity getting to where we are has been really difficult and we've still got loads more to do!
Growing up a lot of people said that I naturally assume the role of a leader, I very rarely sit at the back and let other people do all the work, I have to get involved, I push myself and so I push others. I hate being disorganized. I suppose in a group without a natural leader or a clear plan I find that I seem to step up 99% of the time and I fucking hate myself for it! Don't get me wrong, to produce good work you have to have a plan and I know I can trust myself to do whats needed to get the project moving and stay on track, the problem is; its such a lot of work, work that takes me away from the reason why I want to get into film making.
It goes without saying that our documentary has hit every hurdle since take off, we've had contributors pull out, change in directions, people simply not wanting to talk to us, the ongoing and never ending search for a narrative in a place where none really exists, its been a real struggle. Because of all the emails, research and general paper work that has been involved I just haven't got going creatively. As arrogant as it sounds I know this documentary requires my creative input and I just haven't been able to really look at it from a creative angle. If anything the hours of sending emails has sapped all my creativity, instead of thinking what a contributor can bring to the film in terms of narrative I'm just thinking thank god we have someone to talk to us, lets look for the next one! Perhaps that's the problem, I've been so focused on bringing in quantity I've completely missed quality. Having said that if I hadn't have brought in the contributors our documentary would still be an idea on a bit of paper. Its been hard.
I've certainly been glad of the Easter break, its given me chance to recharge my batteries. Towards the end of the last semester I did feel my confidence, energy and enthusiasm disappear. It was unusual for me to get as emotional as I did, I'm normally pretty hard faced but this film, every bloody waking moment its been the only thing I could think about. I mean no disrespect to my team but I think the only other person who truly cares about this film as much as I do is my director, without that real team unity getting to where we are has been really difficult and we've still got loads more to do!
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