Vignette Schedule

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

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.

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.

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.   

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. 

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!   

Interview Techniques

Rule 1 - Know what your film is about.
Make sure your questions are relevant to the overall narrative of the film. Understand the style of your film.

Rule 2 - Prepare, prepare, prepare.
Know your subject and your subject matter. Don't assume your subject will know before hand what you want to know. You have to ask the right questions.

Rule 3 - Rapport building is paramount.
Most subjects have probably not been in front of a camera before so it's important you do all you can to make the subject relax and more importantly like you (or feel comfortable speaking with you). remove as much tension as possible.

Rule 4 - Don't fidget.
When anyone is in a state of concentration most people fidget. You as an interviewer cannot fidget as it may give off the impression you are bored etc.

Rule 5 - Active listening.
Don't zone out when listening to your subject. Listen carefully, look at the body language and think of the meaning behind their words and stories.

Rule 6 - The power of silence.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to fill the silence with a new question, let the interviewee breath and think about their answers.

Rule 7 - Interviewing for the edit.
Try and make sure the interviewee is putting the questions into their answers. Don't ask closed questions.

Rule 8 - Never underestimate the importance of local knowledge.
Understand the subjects cultural and ethnic background. More important when your filming abroad  You don't want to cause any offence.  

Rule 9 - Good questioning vs bad questioning.
Don't ask multiple questions and don't try to lead the subject by putting assumptions into your questions.

Rule 10 - Develop your own personal style.
In time you will develop your own style of interviewing. You'll know what your comfortable asking and what your not. This style will likely have an effect on the style of documentary you make in the future.

How To Perform Good Research

We attended a lecture the other day explaining a few neat tricks to help us gather better research, here are some notes -

- Break down your topic into two or three ideas.
-Think of keywords & synonyms for these ideas.
-Think about where to look to make sure your getting truthful stories/articles.

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-Truncation - Place an astrix at the end of a word and the engine will search for many endings to that particular word.

-Phrases - Place words in quotation marks and the engine will search for those words together.

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-Look to combine your key words by using 'and'.
-You can also use 'or' instead, this widens the search.
-You can also use 'not' so that you narrow down your search.

Also be careful that the information your looking at is in date, you don't want to refer to articles or statistics that are no longer true.

Nexis UK is a massive database and the uni also has its own data base called Discover.

Documentary Paperwork

It's important that I know what documents need filling out for film/documentary so here's a rough breakdown of each document.

Call Sheets & Movement Order - These are important because they will allow all members of the crew to know when they are required on set etc and give details of locations and other vital bits of information. Vital if your working with NFS staff, the public and actors.

Release Form/Documentary Contributors - Everyone who contributes an interview or appearance on the film need to fill out this document or that footage cannot be used in any circumstances.

Location Agreement Form - Any locations used for filming need to be approved by landlords, police, council etc, this document needs filling in before you turn up at the location.

Locations Form Of Indemnity - This document will provide insurance cover for any damages at any given location.

Health & Safety - All shoots/locations need a health and safety assessment before filming begins. You need to visit the location (recce) so you understand the hazards and health risks and then fill in this document.

Photograph & Image Release Form - If we want to use archive footage or photos then this form needs completing by the owner of the copy right.

Production Report - At the end of each day of filming a production report will need filling in so any details of the day can be documented.

Memorandum Of Understanding Between The Composer And Leeds Met - If we wanted to use and none label music we would need the composers permission to use the music in the final film.

Vignette

While working on our documentary this term we will also be working on a vignette, basically this will be a fictional portrait of a real person. The exercise will give us a good understanding of how to write deep, interesting and believable characters in future film.

My team will be looking into mental health issues and we hope that by interviewing and getting a good insight into that particular area we will develop a story that we can then use for our vignette.

Here's where we're at right now -

In our assignment we are going to be looking at the mental health spectrum as a whole, from schizophrenia, to obsessive compulsive disorder and Multiple Personality disorder and depression. For our research we are going to look into how these conditions affect every day life, and what are the courses of the conditions. To show this we are going to interview various people with different types of Mental Health issues as well as doctors and carers to help better understand the condition and what they go through.

The story that we will create from the interviews will be based around one person who is being interviewed. This interviewee will appear to have multiple personality disorder and will talk from each person's perspective from the footage of the documentary that we will be shooting. The actor will mime the voice over's as if he is talking, and we will create a film that hopes to challenge the way in which people view mental health. 

Role Distance

When it comes to documentary interviewees Dorothy Heathcote developed the Frame Distance theory that can be used as a mode of address in documentary interviews.

• Participant - I am in the middle of the situation, experiencing it. It is happening to me now. 
• Observer / Guide - I saw what happened. I can describe for you what I saw and enact the event for you, though I may or may not understand it. I was there.
• Demonstrator - I re-enact so you can understand. 
• Authority - I was involved in the event so I can tell you. 
• Witness - I saw the event and can tell you about it. 
• Researcher - I need to know of the event.
• Critic - I interpret the event for you as an event. 
• Artist - I transform the event. 

By learning and understanding each of these roles I can use this model to enhance any interviews within any documentary I'm working on

Vignette Project & Documentary Insights

For this term we are going to be doing some research into carers that will eventually lead to us conducting a live interview with a real person that will then allow us to transform the material into a short fictional film. Also, in our second year we'll be doing a similar thing but as part of a brief for the NHS involving issues with mental health sufferers under the age of 25.

Even though the 2nd year is a little while off it's important to begin working on the research now, finding contacts and organizations at this point will improve my ability to write much more realistic characters. By delving into the real world and hearing real stories I'm bound to start developing my own ideas and finding new angles I may want to explore.

Having seen the classes's personal stories in pictures at today's lesson I've come to realize that more often than not real life stories have turning points. An action that results in an emotional reaction. 

In class Micheal told us a little story about when he was younger that he would lock everything down into storyboards, shot lists ect... But when he came to do a documentary about a boxer (I think) he didn't really know how the story would end but what happened was that the ending was unexpected and it really helped him change his modus operandi when it came to working on dramas. It sort of gave him a grander sense of freedom when writing.

Mock Interviews

During our first production management class we were given the task of creating a series of short mock interviews in small groups. I think what was immediate clear was that when working within a strict time limit its hard to get your questions across, allow the subject to give an insightful answer and have enough time to make the interview more interesting. Below are some extra points that may be worth thinking about in the future.

• Sometimes the subject matter of the interview is dull but an animated, passionate interviewee makes it much more watchable.    
• Be careful of people who simply don't want to be interviewed, if things get ugly you have to be ready to deal with that. 
• Be fluid when interviewing, take points that the interviewee says and expand on them with extra questions. By being more engaged with the contributor they more likely they will provide a better interview. 
• Always try to make the set/crew/contributors at ease when your working with them. 

Human Traffic, 2012

This was our 2nd shoot at the film school. I was production manager so I had very little creative control over the film. I did however edit the film.

Production Exercise 2

For this exercise we had to write a letter to an actor or his agent about a successful audition.

To 'Casting Agency'  

Hello, I'm contacting you about the recent audition of " " for our short film 'Threads'. I'm pleased to inform you that " " has become our top choice for the role of Liam. I feel " " will be able to tackle the subject matter with the maturity and the experience we desire for the role. " " currently has a wealth of experience in television and theater and I'd love to be able to work with him in hist first leading role.  

Please contact me for further discussion.

Many Thanks

Scott Bradley

 - The tutor seemed relatively happy with the letter. It was rushed as we only had 10 minutes to write it up but I think this is fine.

Budget Experiment

The short film 'Threads' (Production Management) had a budget of only 10k and in small groups we had to try and come up with a budget for the film. Here's my take on it -

Actors (age 18 - 20) - £199.20
Speaking Actors - £2,340
Non Speaking Actors - £123.80
Director/Writer - £800
Producer - £800
Crew - £1,485.60
Editor - £200
Power - £30
Travel & Transport - £271.40
Hotel - £1,400
Insurance - £700
Contingency - £500
Food - £200
Props - £550
Equipment - £400

We never got to find out just what the actual budget for the film was but I what I learned very quickly is that there is no money in short film and 10k is not a lot to play with.

Production Management Exercise 1

For this little exercise I had to write a letter/email to the owner of a property that I would like to use as a location in one of my films. We had 10 minutes to come up with something. Here's what I wrote.

Dear Sir Or Madam

My name is Scott Bradley and I'm a film student at Leeds University. I'm currently working on a small production with a group of other students.
We've been searching for a number of different locations to use in the project and we so happened to find your garage on the website " ". We as a group feel your garage would be the perfect place to shoot a short scene we have in mind.
The scene in question is part of a story about a boy trying to discover the identity of his father. The scene should be completed within 3 - 4 hours and the production team on set would be made up of no more than 15 people, no mess will be left after the shoot and in the unfortunate event of an damages we're covered with the universities insurance.
Please contact me to discuss this further, I'll look forward to your reply.

Scott Bradley

The tutor mentioned this would be a suitable first mode of correspondence but also said, given extra time, more detail was needed about the production in the letter. Its pretty reasonable considering I only had 10 minutes to write it.