Starting the Editing Process | Development

After our shoot week, we made a start with editing the footage together. Nisserin is the editor, and as the director I worked alongside Nisserin, making sure the scenes looked the way I thought they would. We both had the same idea as to how it would look, but we made sure to keep our communication consistent throughout, so we both could work out any problems or compromise if we needed to.

Nisserin started by putting the clips into folders (on premiere pro), and creating different sequences for each scene. I found, by doing this, it made editing a lot easier, and when it comes to editing the sound, which is my job, I won't have problems with finding each scene. She then added the clips into the sequence they belonged in, so we could see what each scene would look like.

The first scene (in terms of script order) we had footage for was scene 4 and 5 - both of these scenes were merged together in the sequence as they were both really short scenes. The last day of the shoot week, myself, Laura and Nisserin travelled to Whistable with our equipment to get some shots of the beach. The characters live in a village, by the seaside, called Farling Bay, so we needed some seaside type shots to get this fact across. Scene 4 is a montage of clips of the seaside village, and scene 5 is an exterior shot of Annie & Dean’s house. During the shoot week myself and Nisserin talked about the exterior shot and we decided that the shot we had previously shot from a test shoot would work well for this scene. So this footage was added into the timeline along with the seaside shots for scene 4. Then Nisserin started adding the footage in different sequence for all the other scenes we shot during shoot week.

During the editing process, we used a sum of 4 different monitors. We had availability to two Macs that were connected together, which meant we could have the sequence and editing tools on one monitor, and the video we were editing on the other. This was really useful as it meant we could make the sequence and tools bigger, which makes it a lot more easier and practical to work with. We then had the script open on my laptop, along with the take notes written by Laura once they were eventually uploaded onto our shared drive. Lastly, we had the shot list open on Nisserin's laptop, so we could look at our previously planned shot list, whilst making sure we were following the script correctly. We also could easily look at what take was the best through Laura's document, which made this process a lot quicker and effective.

When we first starting planning the editing process, and how we were going to edit the Multicam set up, we originally decided to use Final Cut - due to the Multicam editing set up it has available. However, before we started the editing of our footage it was bought to our attention that the Macs available to us had been updated, and in turn Final Cut had been taken off of the system. This obviously affected us in the way we would be editing, so we had to use Premiere Pro. This software also has a Multicam editing set up, so we spent sometime researching into and figuring out how it works. The instructions were fairly complicated, and Nisserin followed them but we got to a point where it was becoming too confusing and impractical. So it was decided we would just edit normally. This is disappointing as it would've been a good experience to see how the Multicam editing set up would affect our editing process, but it does mean we have more control over the clips we use.

After Nisserin made a good start on the editing, all three of use went through the behind the scenes (BTS) pictures taken by our photographer on two days of the shoot days.

The photographer went through the photos and placed them into three folders - 'Yes', 'No' & 'Maybe' - based on her opinion. We then went through all the folders and decided which ones should be moved or stay in the folder they were already in. This was a good chance for us to see how the shoot days went and also these photos will be useful to us for advertising and the submission requirements.

I'm glad we have started the editing at this point in the project as I feel it's still quite early on. This means we have time for editing the sound in depth and making any other adjustments when needed. It hopefully will mean that it won't be a rush to finish when the deadline day gets closer. I'm happy with the start that has been made on the edit, but there are lot of things to change and be added which will happen in the next part of the process.

Thursday 22nd Feb | Shoot Day #4

Laura's schedule:

What happened on the day?

On this day we were shooting scene 11, 14 & 15, with the characters Annie & Dean.

• We started the day like we usually did, with setting up the cameras, lights & the zoom. We were filming in the kitchen at the start of the day, so we placed the cameras in the positions that were in the shoot pack, and we arranged the lights so they were in the right spots. Once the actors were ready to shoot, I brought them into the kitchen and blocked out the scene with them. It was pretty straight forward, so they understood pretty quickly how I wanted the scene to look like.
• Greg asked us how we would do the mixing of the ingredients due to continuity, and this is something that we hadn't really discussed before the beginning of this day. I made the decision to shoot the CU of the ingredients and the initial mixing of everything first, as it gave us clear shots of the beginning of the baking. Once I was happy with those shots, we moved onto the shots we had originally set up for - the WS and the MS of Dean baking the cookies.
• We did a few run-throughs (without Greg adding any more ingredients to the bowl) to make sure both Christine and Greg knew what they were doing and felt comfortable with it. Once they were happy, and I was happy with their performance, we started to do some takes. There were minor issues with head room in the WS, so we did this take a few times to make sure Drey was happy with her camera placement. Other than that, everything went well, and when I was happy with the coverage, we did a camera reset.
• At this point we only needed one camera - to get Annie's single - so we placed one of the cameras into another room that wasn't being used, and re-positioned the other for Annie's single.
• This shot only took a few takes, but one of the main concerns was not seeing Annie's face that much. I talked to Christine about facing Dean whilst she's talking, but not too much as I wanted to keep it looking quite natural. As I watched her performance during the takes, I liked what I saw and I thought it looked quite natural.
• Once I was happy with the coverage from this shot, we did a camera reset for a GV CU of the cookies on the baking tray. All the cookies were already on the baking tray, so we had Greg add one more scoop to the tray to make it effective. Once I was happy with this, we wrapped scene 11.
• We then started to set up for scene 14, which is set outside of the house. We had a few props that needed to be placed outside, so whilst the set was being dressed, the camera and sound were being set up and placed in the positions we had previously blocked. The camera shooting the WS had to be adjusted due to seeing the camera in the reflection of the window.
• While this was happening, I blocked the scene with the actors which wasn't too complicated. The scene is quite short so it didn't take too many run-throughs for the actors to get used to what they were doing. 
• Once all the props were in the right place, and everyone was happy, we started to shoot the scene. We didn't need to do too many takes of this as it was quite straightforward, so after shooting the WS & MS, we did a GV CU of Arnold in the greenery, so we could have more coverage to work with in the edit. After I was happy with the coverage we stopped for lunch.
• As usual, Nisserin imported the footage and we had a brief look to see if everything looked good and sounded good.
• AFTER LUNCH
• We started to set up for scene 15. The set was already dressed from the other day, so we set up the cameras and lighting straight away, whilst the actors were getting dressed. For this scene we were putting our Multicam set up in to practise by having three cameras on set at the same time. One camera was on a WS, another was a single of Dean, and the last one was a single of Annie. This scene was quite complicated in terms of action and dialogue, so I wanted to make sure both Greg and Christine knew what they were doing and felt confident about it. They did a few run-throughs while the cameras were being framed, in order for them to get used to the scene.
• At this point, the producer came into the room and mentioned how much time we had left to shoot that scene. She also asked me what we were doing and suggested that we were wasting time if we weren't doing anything. I informed her that we were doing run-throughs to make sure the actors were happy, and that we weren't wasting time as I  felt this was an important factor in the actors performance.
• Minutes after, the actors were ready and we started shooting the scene. We did a few takes of this scene so the cameras could get used to the action of the actors, but there weren't any problems with the multi-cam set up. After I was happy with the coverage and everyone else thought what we had was good, we did a camera reset.
• This camera reset was for the shot of seeing Annie & Dean coming into the house and taking their coats & shoes off. But this shot caused quite a few problems.
• The plan was to put the camera in the corner of the room, and see the action unfold before they go to the stairs. However, when Nisserin put the camera in the corner a problem occurred where we couldn't zoom out far enough to actually see any action. All members of the crew got together and stopped to discuss how we were going to get over this hurdle. We experimented with the positioning of the camera - placing it in the study door way (which didn't help) and placing it in the shoe cupboard (which also didn't really help).
• Eventually we came up with the solution of placing the camera in the opposite corner of the room, and panning across, following the actions of the characters. We tried it a few times to make sure it would work and it look like a good shot, and I was happy with the outcome. 
• We then started shooting this shot and got as much coverage as we could, in the time frame we had, so we had enough to work with in the edit.
• Once I was happy with the coverage, and the amount of shots we got, we wrapped for the day.

Notes:

I felt like this shoot day was a lot more hectic and full on than the others, possibly due to the two big scenes we were due to shoot. We weren't as time efficient today, meaning we didn't wrap as early as we have in the previous days, but we still finish on time. There were a few things that happened that I thought could've been avoided like unnecessary comments and people not communicating in an effective way. However, I don't think this affected the actors performance and the way we worked together as a group too much. Also, throughout the last scene, the producer was very efficient in telling us how much time we were over or how much time we had left for that scene. This was useful sometimes, but at other points where it was stressful and we were trying to figure something out, it was unnecessary and caused more stress than needed. We still managed to finish on time, even though we may have been running over a few times, and we got all of the shots we had planned. Overall, I think this shoot day was quite stressful and busy, but we all managed to work well and had good communication when figuring out a problem. 

Wednesday 21st Feb | Shoot Day #3

Laura's schedule:

What happened on the day?

On this day we were shooting scene 6, 7 & 8, with the characters Annie, Dean & Bob the Delivery Guy.

• Today was the first day in which we didn't have any disruptions within the morning due to already having all the lights we need, so when setting up lights and cameras it ran smoothly. The morning was quite relaxing as the actors knew when and what they needed to change into, and we knew the positioning of each camera due to the shoot pack. 
• We did have to change how we were shooting scene 8 however, due to the space of the doorway and previous experience from the first shoot day with scene 10.
• When it came to blocking the scenes with the actors, they found the way in which I wanted to shoot quite complicated. This could of been because I wanted all three scenes acted out like in the script (one after the other), even though we were only shooting two of the scenes to begin with. Once I talked to the actors thoroughly, they started to understand what I wanted, and we started getting ready for a take after some run-throughs.
• We started by having a camera outdoors (filming Dean in the doorway), and a camera in the living room (filming Annie front on). Myself and Jemma stuck together, meaning we both started off outside, and then moved inside together as well. 
• I decided to film these scenes in this structure as it would help us with the timing of each characters dialogue and action, which in turn would help us when editing the three scenes together, and hopefully that would make the performance a lot smoother. 
• We shot Dean's close up in the doorway first, with both me and Jemma outside to get the sound of his dialogue. Drey was on this camera, whilst Nisserin was in the living room shooting scene 7. Once we were happy with how this shot looked, and the sound (as there were a few unwanted background noises) myself and Jemma moved into the living room to get the sound for scene 7. 
• When we moved inside, I had Drey still shoot some footage for scene 8, just so we had more coverage to work with. 
• Once we were in the living room, Nisserin pointed out a slight problem with the lighting of the shot. There was a hot spot in the corner of the fireplace that was very noticeable, and it was due to the natural lighting coming from the window. This meant it was slightly harder for us to hide this hot spot or decrease the light. At this point I had Drey stop filming outside as we both agreed there was more than enough footage for that shot (also we didn't want Bob to be stood outside for too long due to the cold weather).
• All of the crew came together and discussed how we could defuse the hotspot without taking all of the lighting away from the shot. We experimented with the curtains, external LED lights, filters and a few other objects to help defuse the light in an effective way. 
• Nisserin mentioned that it might be worth us waiting until the afternoon to shoot this scene as the sun wouldn't be as bright as it was in that moment. However, not long after myself and Nisserin were discussing this idea, the glare decreased slightly, so we decided to film it in that moment before the hotspot became too much again.
• We had a good balance of the materials we experimented with, so the hotspot wasn't too noticeable in the shot.
• Once we had enough footage in that shot, we did a camera reset where the camera was placed on the other side of the room. This was directed towards the back of Annie so we could clearly see the TV with the green screen, which will have 'The Last Dish' logo edited onto it in post. Due to having done the actions quite a few times before, Christine knew what she needed to do, so getting the coverage in this shot didn't take too long. 
• Once scene 7 was completely shot we moved back into the entryway to get Bob outside the front door for scene 8. We had a slight problem with using the door for this shot as there wasn't any space between the open door and the camera. This meant we weren't able to get the action of the door opening and closing from inside, but I knew it would look better if we saw those shots from outside anyway, meaning it wasn't much of an inconvenience. 
• For this part of the scene there wasn't any point in going through all three scenes, so instead we did the first half of Bob at the door, and then we did the second half where Dean signs for the parcel. This could be easily adjusted when it came to editing, so the timing wasn't a problem for this shot.
• This shot didn't take too long either, as Bob and the other actors knew exactly what he needed to do.
• Once I was happy with the coverage we got for scene 7 & 8, we stopped for lunch.
• During lunch, Nisserin imported the footage and we looked through it, to make sure we had everything and it all looked the way we wanted it to.
• AFTER LUNCH
• We started to focus on scene 6, which is where Dean is pacing in the hallway. For this scene we had two cameras, one in the dining room doorway and the other in front of the front door.  Nisserin was on the camera in the doorway which was framed at a MS, and Drey was on the other which was framed at a WS. We set up the LED lights to make the shot look more realistic in terms of light. 
• There were a few key points I mentioned to Greg in terms of dialogue and character blocking. In the script, there are 2 lines of dialogue that needed to be said on the camera in the dining room doorway. ("It should be here by now.." & "Umm, yeah, it's a bit rattly") I told Greg about this and mentioned that it didn't matter how he paced in the entryway, but he needed to be in front of, or facing, that specific camera when he spoke those lines.
• During the takes, he was successful with this action and it meant that we will be able to see these lines on that shot, which was what I desired. This was successful through the communication myself and Greg had, and the trust I had in him as an actor.
• These takes didn't take too long as Greg knew exactly what he needed to do due to the previous run-throughs he had before lunch. Due to one of the cameras being in the way of the door, it meant that Greg had to pretend to be at the door. He did a really good job at this and he acted really natural so the transition between the two scenes would be smooth during the edit.
• Once I was happy with the coverage of this scene, we finished shooting these three scenes. However, I had mentioned at the start of the day that, if we had the time, I would like to reshoot scene 16. We were fortunate enough to finish shooting earlier than expected, so we had the time to reshoot. We set up one of the cameras and it was put in the same position it was in the previous day to get a MS of Annie. We did this shot along with a CU of Arnold so we could involve him more. 
• The reason why we didn't reshoot from both angles is because Nisserin mentioned you couldn't see the table in the other shot, so it made sense just to shoot the one shot. We made sure the lighting was similar to the shots we filmed the previous day, and I was happy with the outcome of the new shots.
• This reshoot gave us the opportunity to change the set design of that location, as it was quite boring before. We moved the sideboard into the corner of the room you could see on the camera, and we added a few bits of decor. We added photos, ornaments and candles to make it look more like Annie & Dean's house, and to make it feel like it has been lived in by the characters.
• Once the reshoot of scene 16 was done, and I was happy with the new shots, we wrapped for the day. 

Notes:

This shoot day went well and I felt like I had a good communication with all of the actors. Everyone was on top of their own jobs, and I felt like we all worked well as a team. There weren't as many hiccups on this shoot day, but there were a few moments where we had to work together in order to improve a shot or lighting. There were a few comments that were made by crew members that weren't important in terms of the shoot day, and I felt as if that could've affected how the crew worked together and how the actors felt around us. However, I made sure, as the director, to stay calm and happy, and not get involved with anything that could jeopardise my performance. I did a good job at staying calm and focused during this shoot day, and I think it shows through the actors performance. 

 

Tuesday 20th Feb | Shoot Day #2

Laura's schedule:

What happened on the day?

On this day we were shooting scene 17 & 16, with the characters Annie, Dean, Marie & Jordan Hamsay.

• We stuck to the schedule in the morning and arrived at the location at the set time. Upon arrival we found out that the LED lights, that we were due to have the day before but couldn't, were now available to us. We decided the best thing was for us to get them as they are lot better than the tungstens and they would look a lot better. Once George had arrived with Christine, remade the decision to send him and Jemma to go and get the lights from the studio. Whilst they were gone, myself, Nisserin and Drey set up the cameras and sound ready for scene 17. Due to their being a lot of cast, they were able to sit and chat while eating and drinking.
• The weather wasn't the best for this shoot day, so Nisserin came up with the idea to but bin bags around the tripod feet and around the camera itself so it wouldn't get wet in between takes. The other camera was going to be in shot so we couldn't put a bin bag around it, however we did make sure it was out of the rain when not being used. 
• When the cast were dressed, I started to block the scene with them as I knew it would be fairly complicated. I started by talking to each cast member individually going through what they will be doing, and then I talked to them as a group to make sure they were all on the same page. 
• I did find this task quite stressful and fairly overwhelming as there were a lot of actors to direct, but everyone seemed to listen well and understand what I wanted. This meant that I felt confident that each actor would perform to the best of their ability and they knew what they were meant to be doing.
• The cameras were in place, and at the same time the lights arrived. We decided not to use them for this scene as we were using the outdoor light, so George and Jemma got changed into their t-shirts straight away. During the shoot I stood beside Nisserin's camera outside, but the actors that were inside weren't able to hear me shout action. I had Laura stand in the study next to the scene location, and as I shouted action after using the clapper board, she would shout it simultaneously as she could hear through the window.
• This system worked well as everyone, both outside and inside, could hear when we were starting to shoot the scene, meaning we had everyone's attention and the set was quiet when it needed to be.
• Due to this scene being quite complicated we did quite a few run throughs in order to make sure everyone understood what they were doing and when their cues were. It deemed quite stressful at times due to the amount of people, and the different ideas and opinions that were being sad, but it worked eventually and looked really nice on both cameras. We then started shooting on the LS and the crew camera. Once this was done and looked good on both cameras, we started a camera reset to start shooting Annie & Dean by the door with Marie.
• It was at this time that the producer spontaneously decided to have a break to warm everyone up due to the cold weather that we had to stand in during the take. This wasn't a bad idea as the actors may have needed a little warm up before shooting the next scene, however it was only a short one. It would've been a good idea, however, for her or someone to tell myself and Nisserin that, that was the plan as we were waiting around for the actors after the camera reset was finished.
• I had told the producer that we were ready for the next take, but after waiting a little longer she gathered everyone together so we could get on and shoot the rest of the scene.
• Once the shot of Annie & Dean outside of the door was shot and I was happy, we moved the camera inside to shoot Marie outside of the door. We did this take a few times and I was happy with all of the footage we had got, so we wrapped Scene 17. Before lunch, Nisserin had the idea to shoot the GV of the crew and Jordan Hamsay walking past the window in Scene 16, so David could leave before lunch if needed.
• The camera had been set up previously which was really helpful as it was in the place we needed it to be in. We spent some time figuring the duration between each crew member as they walk past, and after a few experimental shots we had one that we could use. We then stopped for lunch.
• AFTER LUNCH
• Nisserin and Drey started to set up the cameras and the lighting we needed for scene 16. Whilst they were doing that, myself and Jemma took Greg into the living room and we recorded some of his dialogue for scene 16. The only appearance Dean has in scene 16 is his voice saying "what?" from the kitchen. I had Greg saying a mixture of different 'whats' until I was happy with the selection. We only recorded this through the zoom as we didn't need to see his visual saying it. Doing this meant that Greg could go home early and we could get on with prepping scene 16.
• We ran into a slight problem with the shot sizes we had previously planned. When taking pictures for the shot list and storyboard we used a canon camera, however the panasonics are bigger than the canon's meaning the shot sizes weren't exactly what we had planned them to be. We had to fix this by switching the two shots around so Camera A was on a MS instead of a LS and Camera B was on a LS instead of a MS.
• Once the lighting and cameras were in placed, I blocked the short scene with Christine. She understood what I wanted it to look like straight away, so it made filming this scene a lot more straight forward then perhaps the last scene was. After a few run-throughs we started to shoot the scene and once I was happy with all of the footage, we started to get some GV's of Arnold on the table. Then we wrapped for the day, which turned out to be earlier than the schedule said.
• One downside when filming this scene was I felt there were too many people on set, so I was unable to stand next to one of the cameras, that we were using, during the shooting of the scene. This is because we had a light being held next to one of the cameras, and the producer was stood next to the other. Ideally I would've liked to be where the producer was stood but as I didn't want to cause any problems or arguments I stood in between where I could see Christine's acting clearly.

Notes:

One big comparison I felt made things a lot easier for todays shoot week was the lighting equipment. By using the LED's it decreased a lot of the set up time that we used with the tungstens the day before. Due to scene 17 being quite a big and complicated scene, I feel like a lot of stress had built up for some crew members and it showed through filming scene 16. I made sure to keep my stress hidden as I didn't want to put off the actor I was working with, along with the other crew. However, I do feel as if some crew members didn't hide their stress and personal feelings, by talking about it with actors in the room, which might have affected the shooting of that scene. For example; during the scene I forgot about the way Annie is supposed to react to Arnold being in the dining room. I had forgotten this as I was focusing on making sure the actor was happy and myself and the DOP were communicating effectively. This is something I want to reshoot tomorrow if we get the time as I think it'll be worth it when it comes to the editing.

Overall, this day could've gone a little better with crew members keeping their personal emotions to themselves, but I do think the footage we shot will look good in the edit.

Monday 19th Feb | Shoot Day #1

Laura's schedule:

What happened on the day:

On this day we were shooting scene 9 & 10, with the characters Annie, Dean & Betty.

• We stuck to the schedule in the morning arriving in the location at the right time. We got the cameras set up and the set dressed for scene 9, along with preparing the props and making sure they were ready to use. 
• As director, I handed out the shoot packs and made sure everyone knew what we were doing today in terms of shooting.
• We had originally planned not to use lights in the kitchen as we couldn't book any out due to them already being in use over their allotted time, and we thought the natural light coming in from the windows would be enough.
• Once Nisserin and Drey had the cameras up, they looked and found that it was too dark and they needed some lights. So they drove over to the studios and collected the tungsten lights which were the only choice we had. 
• The actors arrived, had refreshments and got into their costumes and style for the scenes. Not long after, Nisserin and Drey arrived and started setting up the lights.
• As they did this, I took all three actors into the location of the scene and blocked scene 9 with them. The actors asked if they could do a few run-throughs of the scene now that they knew what they were doing, so we did a few as cameras and lights were getting into the right positions.
• Once cast and crew were all ready we started to go for a take. Due to the space of the room, we knew we would have to do this scene as a single cam, so we started on the wide. We did a few takes on this shot before the zoom started to stop working.
• A problem occurred with the zoom and the sd cards, and as we all tried to find a solution to this we couldn't fix it. So we resulted to connecting the zoom to the camera and filming the sound from one of the other panasonics.
• We did a few shots on the wide with the working sound and once I was happy and everyone else was too we moved onto a camera reset. There were a few expected mess ups during the takes on the wide such as line mess ups and interruptions but all were recovered. The actors also gave some suggestions on new bits of action that might be funny, and I thought this was really good to have.
• We then got a two shot of Dean and Betty and did a few takes of this. We made sure to start this shoot after Betty appears in the selfie as we didn't need it beforehand. Once we were all happy with this we found that we were quite a bit ahead of the schedule so I made the decision to get single shots of all of the characters. This was a good decision as it means we will have more to work with when it comes to the edit. However, I wanted to make sure we had all of the GV's we needed so we did that first.
• The two GV's we got were the Betty spoon and the iPad selfie. With the spoon, we tried it with the characters in shot and without to see which we preferred in editing. With the selfie, I decided I liked the shot looking as if it was the iPad so we had Christine put her hands out to the camera like she was holding it.
• The singles of each character worked well, especially Betty's as it meant Jemma (the sound operator) could get as close to Betty as possible, to make her audio louder. This will help us a lot when it comes to editing the sound. Once I felt we had enough footage we wrapped Scene 9 on time. We then stopped for lunch.
• During lunch Nisserin imported the footage and sound, and we had a look and listen back to it. Due to the sound being from the camera, there was a hiss in the background but there wasn't much we could do, so we can fix it in editing. Drey spent some of lunch testing the tascam and worked out how to use it for the next scene which was. amassed help.
• AFTER LUNCH
• We started to set up cameras and dress the set for scene 10. In comparison to the single cam technique we had to do for scene 9, we used all three cameras using the multi-cam set up for scene 10 (a wide, MCU of Betty & MCU of Dean). As the cameras and lights, which were taking a while due to them being more problematic than the LEDs, were being set up I ran through the blocking of the scene with Greg and Susan.
• In previous discussions, myself and Nisserin had decided it would be funny if Arnold got thrown into shot, which we tried with Susan. However, it wasn't really working as I had hoped it would so instead I decided Betty would take Arnold out from her bag. Susan had the idea, to keep the humour in the scene, that she could thrust Arnold upon Dean in a humorous way. I liked this idea and thought it worked really well.
• Once I was happy with the way each shot looked for that part of the scene, we did a camera reset. Originally myself and Nisserin had planned to have two cameras in the doorway (one outside and one inside), and then the third camera would be in the dining room on a MS of Dean in the shoe cupboard. However, due to the lack of space we found we could only fit one camera in the doorway at a time. This meant we needed to do those shots separately and it made sense to start outside due to not getting in the way of the camera in the dining room.
• When the cameras were in place and the lights were in the best positions we started shooting the rest of the scene. This part of the scene didn't take too long to shoot as it was quite straight forward, so once I was happy with the shots, we brought the camera inside to do the opposing doorway shot. We started this shot as Betty was being pushed out of the door (past the camera) and we did it a few times to get enough to work with.
• Once I was happy with the coverage of that scene, we started to shoot some GV's. 
• The only GV we needed was a shot of Dean throwing Arnold and the spoon into the Betty box in the shoe cupboard. We tried two different shots - one was looser and one was tighter - and when it comes to editing we can decide which one we prefer. 
• After myself and Nisserin were happy with the footage we had got and the amount we had shot, we wrapped for the day.

Notes:

For the first shoot day of the week it went really well, apart from a few hiccups in the morning with the lights. The actors listened to what I had to say, and I listened to them which I think helped our working relationship. The communication between myself and the DOP was strong and we were always conversing about the shots. Jemma did really well on sound and I was happy with the outcome of that. Drey and George helped massively with the cameras and the lights, and that helped the day run smoothly.

Overall, it was a good shoot day with very little stress and problems.

Shoot Packs | Production Notes

Nisserin came to me with the idea of shoot packs. These would include the part of the script, blocking and shots in the shot list based on what scene we were shooting on what day. I thought these were a very good idea and we both started to work on them. Due to me being the director and Nisserin having other things to do as the DOP, we agreed that I would Monday, Tuesday & Thursday and Nisserin would do Wednesday.

Monday | Scene 9 & 10 - Shoot Day #1

Tuesday | Scene 17 & 16 - Shoot Day #2

Wednesday - Scene 6, 7 & 8 - Shoot Day #3

Thursday | Scene 11, 14 & 15 - Shoot Day #4

I think these are going to be really useful on the shoot week as every one of the crew will know what scenes we are doing, what they are going to look like and where the equipment will need to be placed. This will mean there shouldn't be a lot of waiting around for instructions or standing around not knowing how things should be.
I'm going to make sure to print off enough of these so every member of the crew can have one to look at and use whenever they need to.

Mark Cendrowski ~ Director | Research

After researching directors from shows that have been our influence throughout the whole project, I decided to research into an American director who has director American sitcoms. One thing big difference I noticed between British sitcoms and American sitcoms is, British sitcoms have a series director, whereas American sitcoms have several different directors for a lot of different episodes. One director that has directed the majority of the series The Big Bang Theory is Mark Cendrowski.

Mark Cendrowski

Cendrowski is a director and assistant director mainly known for The Big Bang Theory (2007-18), Fuller House (2016-17) and The Men at Work (2012). Along with children shows such as The Suite Life on Deck (2009-10), Wizards of Waverley Place (2007-09) and Hannah Montana (2007). He has also been directing since 1997 - based on his IMDB profile.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0148252/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1

Cendrowski started just like any normal person in the industry did, a runner. He then went on to start his TV career as an assistant director and stage manager, before working his way up to director. 

http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Mark_Cendrowski

Cendrowski always knew that getting into the industry wouldn't be easy and it would take time to get your name heard. He says "It takes time just to get your foot in the door somewhere." As a now director, I feel like this is a good mindset to have as you know what the people you are working with have gone through, which in turn will create good relationships. If you're an overly ambitious person, directing could be quite difficult as you might not be able to do what you want to do. However, if you're ambitious but know there will be limitations, you have a better chance of being a good director, and working well in a team. By having the mentality that it seems Cendrowski has, which is take your time and work for it, your skill will be advanced by the time you are directing, and you'll have a lot of knowledge, which is good to have.

He backs this up by saying "[the industry is] about building relationships because everyone you meet on the way up, you're going to meet again on the way down." By having good relationships with your co-workers and members of the production, it will make you someone they can trust, and it will make you a better director. It will also make working with said people a lot more enjoyable as you can have fun working together. This is something I want to keep alive in our project as I don't want any major problems to occur. By keeping a good relationship with our producer and DOP, we will have a good project and we'll all enjoy working on it together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-JkuccvQkc

When looking into Cendrowski's directing style, he mentions in an interview that, for The Big Bang Theory a lot of research goes into a lot of the details to make sure everything is factual and true, and its the same for the games played by the characters. He says that when the characters actually played a game in a scene, he made the actors play the game in real life, and he would watch them and see how it was done. Then when they were actually shooting the show, he made sure thats how they played it when they were shooting to make it realistic. I really like this way of directing as it adds a realistic approach to the story, and helps emphasise reliability and the humour that can come with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYG-Vnr9Xg

When watching The Big Bang Theory the characters are all very relatable, and the show is directed in a very real way. This makes the audience feel more connected with the characters and more involved with the storylines presented, which makes the show more entertaining. I really like this directing style, and its definitely something I will be influenced by when directing Young & Famous. I want the audience to feel like they are involved or connected to the characters in some ways, and I think by having Cendrowski as an influence, this will come across well on screen.

Prep Before Shoot Week | Development

There weren't many things that needed to be done before shoot week as we are all prepared with our props, costumes, actors and schedule. However, there were a couple of things that needed to be bought or checked and there were a few changes.

Since our auditions, we haven't been able to find a Jordan Hamsay look a like or actor to play him. We've all done some research and looked at different actors that could be potentials but we didn't get very far with them. However, Laura has found someone who is an actual chef and he has a slight resemblance to Gordan Ramsay. He has happily agreed to play the part of Jordan and we are very happy with him.

We had a brief meeting with him to tell him about his role and what he'll be doing on the day, and we got to get to know him as a person. This meeting was useful for us as it helped me decide how he would be when directing him, and what he would be like with the other actors.

His name is David Jordan and he is an actual chef in London. He has said he will provide his chef blacks and hopefully he will bring his chef personality into his character.

I knew what Greg and Christine would be wearing for their characters as they had bought their clothes to the script read-through, and I knew Liz had the right clothes for Marie. However, I hadn't seen what Betty would be wearing and also Bob had said he would get hold of a postman outfit which we hadn't seen yet. We asked Betty and Bob for some pictures to make sure we were happy and this was the outcome:

I'm very happy with these two outfits; I think Betty's dress fits her bright personality, and Bob looks like a real postman thanks to his postman attire.

During our set dress and take pictures for the storyboard day, I had some concerns with the picnic basket, so I decided instead I think a lunch cool bag would work a lot better. It's more practical and less fiddly meaning Christine won't have as many problems with it, as she would with the big picnic basket. We also recently purchased the funny apron that was in our prop list, and this is what Dean will be wearing in Scene 11. It will add humour to the scene and help carry the comedy throughout the whole show.

One of the things that I had asked the producer to organise was one last meeting with all of the cast, especially since we have now got David on board. I thought it would be nice to see everyone before shoot week, and I remember Andrea Kappos saying they usual have a production meeting the day or week before they shoot. This is so they can go over everything and anything to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and aren't confused on the day.

However, the producer found that either not many people were replying to the email or they weren't available. Due to our busy week before the shoot week, it turned out to be a last minute organisational issue and we unfortunately weren't able to go ahead with this, much to my disappointment.

I do think this would've been really effective for us to have, but because we haven't had the opportunity to, the producer will have send every piece of information and paperwork the actors need to be in the loop as to what is going on during the shoot week. 

All of the props have now been sourced and found, and we have all of the actors we need. We are all very prepared for this shoot week and I think it will run smoothly, so long as everything goes as planned.

Buying & Making more Props | Development

Although we have bought the majority of the props we need for our sheet week, there were still a few things we needed to buy and create. Before buying any more props, we decided to start making 'The Last Dish' t-shirts. 

We had already previously bought the t-shirts and the specific transfer paper we needed to be able to print the logo onto the t-shirts, so all we had to do was print and iron. I found 'The Last Dish' logo on my computer and placed it onto PowerPoint, it was there that I adjusted the size of it. 

We knew we wanted the logo on the back of the t-shirts but trying to judge the size was quite difficult as we didn't know if, when it was printed, it would be too small or too big.

Myself and Nisserin finally decided on a size, placed it in the centre of the page and printed three out. We had a lot of transfer papers so if it went wrong we would have some back up.

When they were all printed we cut out the individual logos and started ironing the logo onto the black t-shirts for our 'The Last Dish' crew members.

Here is the final outcome:

We are all really happy with how they have turned out, and we think the colour was the best option as the logo will stand out in the shots of the crew during scene 17. I think this prop will be really effective when showing off 'The Last Dish' and it will be a nice touch within the show.

Another prop that is going to be really effective if done right is the Betty Box. Myself and Nisserin went out to buy some cheap props that we could turn into Betty merchandise, which will act as presents she has given to Dean over time. We found a box that was the perfect size, and a bunch of different props that we could recreate and adjust as needed. We then took them to the studios and printed off the right amount of Betty and Dean heads we needed to make it look as if Betty has glued them on herself.

Within the Betty Box we have a canvas of Betty that she has supposedly painted herself and a canvas of an elephant picture that says 'I Love You' which she has also supposedly painted. We also have a photo album with a picture of Betty and Dean, and if you were to look inside it has some really cheesy pick up lines in it. There is a photo frame decorated with sequins, with a picture of Betty that she has again supposedly drawn. We also have a heart shaped mug, a game and a DVD.
We wanted to make this box fairly humorous to keep the comedy theme all the way through the show, so we changed the images on both the game and the DVD.
The game we bought is 'Who Is It?' and we printed and glued a hefty amount of Betty pictures onto each face you could see on the box. The DVD we bought is 'Dear John', but we changed the title to say 'Dear Dean' and printed out pictures of Dean and Betty to stick onto the two main characters heads on the cover.
I think all of these props are very funny, and will seem funny when seen on the show. The Betty Box is very effective humorous and the props inside definitely seem like something Betty would make and give to Dean.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the outcome of all of these props and I think they will both be very effective when keeping the comedy high within the show, and clearly showing the cooking show that Jordan Hamsay presents.

Cooking Show Adverts | Research & Development

As part of scene 7 (in the living room) we need to have a cooking show advert that appears on the screen, in order to clearly present 'The Last Dish' to prepare for the last scene of the show.
This meant that we would need to create said advert, and in order to make an effective, real-life looking cooking show advert, we needed to do some research.

I started by looking at actual cooking show adverts such as MasterChef, Hell's Kitchen, Great British Menu, Great British Bake Off, and so on.

MasterChef

This advert has quite an artistic tone to it, which is something we want for our own advert. It clearly shows there are contestants who have to cook and be judged by the judges at the end. It also presents the idea that they have to be quite creative with their cooks, potentially, and they have to be as precise as possible. The advert itself has quite a lot of slow motion effects which adds to the creativity of the advert, and the colouring of the advert is very cinematic making it eye-catching for the audience. It's set in a studio kitchen, which the audience would presume the show is set, and the few lines of text that appear give a good indication as to how the show works. The music is very loud and dramatic, adding to the cinematic tone, but also it gets the audience's attention. When hearing this music the audience are more likely to pay attention rather than finding something else to do during the adverts.
When creating our own advert, this will be good to use as influence as it has the creative tone we are looking for. We might not make it as dramatic, but we can always experiment to see what the outcome will look like.

Hell's Kitchen

In comparison to the last advert, this one is more structured through the use of a voice over. The visuals are still quite cinematic and creative at the beginning with a silhouette of Gordon's face being one of the first shots you see, followed by shots of fire, and CU of cooking. However, as the advert gets going, you start to see footage of the show and the contestants that will be appearing on that series. You also see Gordon interacting with the contestants to give the audience a little sneak peek as to what the show will be like. All of these shots have either an a faded layer of fire over the top, or a vignette to give it a dark, cinematic effect. The music is similar to the music in the MasterChef advert, as it is also quite dramatic and fits in with the dark, fire, danger theme to this advert.

When creating our own advert, I think we should think about staying away from making it seem like the actual show as this will make things a lot more complicated in the long run. I also think the voice over is quite old school and it's not effective when catching the audience's attention. I'm not sure this advert will be a heavy influence for us, but we may want to experiment.

Great British Menu

This advert has a very different tone to the others, but it takes some of the elements they have also used. Straight away, from the upbeat music and the quick cuts, the fun fast tone to the show is clearly presented. The visuals aren't as dramatic as the last two adverts, as the music gives it a fun tone, but the shots are very similar. A lot of CU are used on both the food and the chefs, but due to the quick pace of the cutting, they aren't seen as dramatic. The colours are quite bright and vibrant, making the food stand out giving it a creative feel. There aren't any voice overs, much like the Hell's Kitchen advert, but they do use footage from the show itself. Developing on from that, they use some of the audio of the judges and the chefs, and the way it's edited gives the advert a humorous tone, foreshadowing the show having some potential humorous elements/moments.
When creating our advert, the music will be one of the main elements we use as inspiration as we want quite upbeat music. The music gave it a fun positive tone, and that's something we want to be presented in our show whilst also giving it quite a dramatic feel. CU will also be used within our advert, and we will potentially experiment with fast paced cutting in order to keep the advert interesting for the audience.

Great British Bake Off

Out of all three adverts already looked at, this one is the most different due to one main element; the soundtrack. They have used the singing soundtrack as the main element that helps carry the whole advert, by giving the food int he advert faces and making it look like they are singing. This makes the advert very humorous and lighthearted, much like the show is. The soundtrack aside, they use quite a few effects such as time lapsing and slow motion, which is something we will be looking into. The main focus is the food being presented in a quick manner, through the time-lapse and stop motion effect. The colours are also very vibrant helping the advert stand out, and the location looks as if it is set in the tent itself, foreshadowing the location of the show.
When creating our advert, we want to make sure the food is our main focus, much like this advert. We also want to use the idea of a time lapse and slow motion to show this process of cooking moving forward, and it might be similar to how it is presented in this advert. The soundtrack will stray away from being too humorous but it won't be too dramatic or serious either. I think this advert will influence in certain ways, but it wont be the main influence.

After this useful research, Nisserin mentioned looking at the M&S food adverts as they have the sort of creative effect we wanted for our own advert.

M&S Food Adverts

This advert is basically the exact style and tone we want for 'The Last Dish'. All of the shots are very creative and there a mix of time lapse and slow motion effects that have been used. The shots are either CU or ECU and this helps keep the main focus on the food and the creativeness of it. the music in the background is very upbeat and creates a positive vibe, making it more enjoyable for the audience to watch. The video itself is very simple with having either a black background or white background as the main setting, this is something that we would like for our own advert.
When making our own advert, this has given us a few ideas as to what might work and look good. The lighting it natural, which is our desire, and all of the shots are very artistic and eye-catching, which is something we want in our advert.

Overall, when looking at this research, it's apparent that the main source that we will be taking inspiration from is the M&S Food Advert. However, the other TV adverts such as the MasterChef and Great British Menu adverts will help aid us when making decisions as well. This research has helped greatly as we are now able to plan and create an effective TV advert that will look real.

Directing Actors & Performance | Research

Before our shoot week, we had a short tutorial with Simon where we went through any questions we wanted to ask him and we showed him what we had down to prepare. He also gave us some advice in terms of our roles for the shoot days, and he expressed to me that I should research into directing actors & directing their performance. One of the actors we have might be quite hard to direct, from what we saw in their audition and the table read, so this research will help me and give me a few ideas as to how to direct her, and the other actors, effectively.

An director called Adrienne Weiss took part in an interview all about directing actors, and I had a look at her answers to the questions to see if they could give me some tips.

She mentions, when she first went into directing theatre, that a lot of the actors she worked with also worked on films, and they expressed to her that they were put into situations where they felt as if they couldn't do their best work. She said "the director wouldn't direct them at all, or he'd direct them too much; either way, there was this disconnect." From the way Weiss talks about this mishap, it tells me that this is something that needs to be avoided. You need to direct efficiently - not too much but also enough - in order to make the actors feel connected with your vision and keep them interested.

She exclaims that the trickiest things about directing actors is seeing a great performance but not knowing why it's great. She says "If you don't know what makes a great performance great...you have no way of fixing a bad performance" and that's when directors start to give actors mixed and insufficient directions, which can affect the performance seen on screen. 

"Help directors understand what makes performance work. Help them understand the components of a great performance. Once you understand what makes up a good performance, you can work backwards and fix what's wrong or add what's missing."

Weiss tells the audience that the starting point for a good performance is the actor needing be emotionally connected to the character. The second point is the emotional energy needs to be directed toward achieving a goal. If the actor knows their objective in the scene they can overcome their self-consciousness and really invest in the characters emotions.
The third and most critical element is having an honest reaction. Its not structured like one actor needs to say their lines this way and the other actor needs to say their lines that way, it's about setting up an interactive system and setting that system into motion. This then creates spontaneously within the scene, creating a more realistic and honest reaction.

In terms of advice when directing, Weiss says "you never want to say "you're really upset here" and so on" you don't want to direct emotion in that way to the actor as it can appear quite forced. What you should do instead, is give the actors the circumstance and the facts that will help create the emotions naturally. She also says you should never be specific about what you liked and describe that in detail after a take. This can completely kill the actor's ability to be spontaneous which in turn will create a more forced and unrealistic performance.
This advice is really good and I will definitely keep these tips in my mind whilst directing. If I stay away from what she says not to do, and stick with keeping the characters expressions natural and honest, then I think the performance of our actors will be really good, and hopefully that will make the show more humorous and fun to watch.
https://blog.musicbed.com/articles/how-to-direct-actors/82

Here are a few other tips I found through my research which will definitely help me when directing our actors:

• Tell the actors what is really happening in the scene over the dialogue itself, so the subtext of what the character is actually saying.
• Depending on how this is directed, it can create completely different outcomes so you need to be specific enough so they understand but not too detailed so it's forced.
• Never correct an actor's performance loudly in front of other actors and crew members. You can tell the actor if you want it a bit slower of faster, but when it comes to an actor getting ir really wrong, and you need to give detailed direction, get close to the action and say it in a low tone of voice so no one else can overhear, and always be polite and positive.
• This will make the actors feel better about their performance, and it won't make them shy or embarrassed which could affect their performance of the character.
• Don't be too led by the actors opinions and ideas. Of course you are interested in their opinion and can think about it, but overall you have the ultimate responsibility for the movie and if the idea works or not is the directors call.
• With all of the ideas the actors have given us so far I have taken them on board and thought about what that would do to the show. Some of the ideas we will definitely take on board and do, but others just won't work, and as the director I can make this decision.
• During the shoot, if any of the actors have new ideas I will make sure to think about them but not shy away from not going through with them.
• Don't be too indecisive to the point where other people are making the decisions for the director.
• This is definitely something I need to work on and improve on, as I can be quite indecisive about certain things. I will obviously think things through, but ultimately I will be the one making the decision and I can't let anyone else override this role.
• In comparison, don't be afraid to say "I don't know. Let's figure it out.".  No one knows all the answers to the issues that confront them, so the director shouldn't feel as if they need to know all of the answers. If the director acts with confidence and asks for help when working a problem out, the staff working with the director will work with them to solve it.
• In a way, this creates a good relationship between the director and their crew members, making a stronger production, which will be clear on the screen.
• I will definitely be doing this at some point in the shoot week, and any other shoot day, but I know we will have a good group of crew to work with.

http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/how-to-direct.html

http://www.microfilmmaker.com/2013/07/dos_donts_acting/

All of these tips and the advice I have researched into has been really effective when thinking about how I'm going to direct our actors effectively. Most of the pieces of advice I have looked into will be really helpful when creating a good bond with the actors, and having good communication throughout the whole production team. If I can follow these pieces of advice and tips, I think our shoot days we'll be really effective and the environment will be professional and relaxed, which is what I want them to be like.

This will create a good outcome within the actors performance and this will hopefully make the show more entertaining and interesting.

Poster First Drafts & Ideas | Development

After the research I conducted on sitcom posters, I started to come up with ideas and draft designs for our sitcom.

I wanted to start off with the style that was carried throughout all of the examples I researched into - the plain background and eye catching characters style.
In order to begin I looked through the pictures we took of our actors on the day of our table read and chose the ones I thought worked the best. The characters that should be on the posters, in my own opinion, are Dean, Annie, Marie & Betty as they are all recurring characters within the series (especially Annie & Dean). I chose one picture of Marie and one of Betty that showed their characters personality clearly, and I found three different pictures of Annie and Dean that do the same thing.

I started off by deleting the background of each picture and adding the character into a separate canvas, which will act as our poster canvas. I proceeded to do this for all the pictures I wanted to use within the poster. I then postponed each character into a position that I thought would work well for the TV series. Annie & Dean are in the foreground, while Marie and Betty are in the background.

This composition gives the audience a clear idea as to who the two main characters are within the show, but also it gives off the impression that both Marie and Betty are important within the shows narrative. Marie's face shows an annoyed emotion which indicates her relationship between the two main characters. In comparison, Betty's face shows a flirty, nosey expression which indicates her role and personality within the show.
In the show, Betty introduces her 'pet' to the audience. Her robotic cat Arnold is basically seen as Betty's sidekick so I thought it would be a nice and humorous touch to add him into the poster.

The three different images I found of Annie & Dean all work really well in the poster, but in terms of facial expression they all tell a different story/emotion. I've placed all three images into the photoshop file, and they are all in the right position, so as the weeks go by I can see which works better.

I'm going to be showing this poster design to the others as well, to see what their opinions are, so they can also give me their opinions on the different Annie & Dean pictures.
After getting the images in place I added the title of our show and the logo of our production company.

I made sure, much like the posters in my research, that the title was clearly presented on the poster, and big enough so audience members can see it from a far. The colours in the title as well are eye-catching which makes the poster stand out, which in turn gets peoples attention which is our main aim. I didn't want the production company logo to be very loud and large compared to the title, so I made sure to keep it small and in the corner. That way, the audience can still see the production company, but they are mainly attracted to the title of the show and the characters in it.
When looking at this poster, I thought it still looked pretty boring and it needed some sort of background to keep the energy up.
I had many ideas as to what the background could be, one of them was the same living room background that is seen in the title sequence of the show.

I thought this would link the two together in an effective way, but upon placing it in the background I decided it didn't work as well as I would've hoped. The colours don't look very eye-catching for a poster, and it's too busy meaning the audience may be more attracted to whats going on in the background than the main part of the poster.
Instead, I went back to my research and decided to experiment with a plain, bright colour. I tried a few different bright colours like yellow, orange, green and blue. I asked my groups opinion and we all decided the orange worked nicely, as it gave the poster a boost of energy and added to the eye-catching effective. The plain orange, however, was a little too plain and I thought it needed some depth, shadowing or gradient to give it a little bit more design.
I started with the gradient, and I composed the lightness of the gradient in the centre of the image, so the darkness of the orange can be seen around the edge. This gave the colour a lot more depth, but it was still lacking something around the edge of the poster. I looked within the layer style of the photo and found an 'inner shadow' effect. I experimented with a dark colour orange, the blend mode - which was set to 'Multiply' - and the opacity to get the result I wanted.

When placing the other elements of the poster against the orange background, I found that all elements were eye-catching and the the background wasn't too distracting for the audience. The colour works with the characters outfits, the colour of the title and it gives the show a bright, fun, tone which was the desire of the poster.

Overall, I'm really happy with the outcome of this poster, and I think every element of it works well and is really effective when standing out against the crowd. It's clear that it resembles a lot of the research I had previously done, meaning it looks like a real TV sitcom poster. I am going to experiment with a few other different poster designs if I get the time, but if they don't work out this will be the one we go with. I still need to add a few lines of text, but that can be done later in the process.
I'm glad that I concluded the research I did, as it has helped me with the outcome of our own poster.