JP Conway Manchester Film School

 I had a wonderful one hour conversation with Jean Claude. He and I discussed my film idea once again and the idea changed slightly changed in response to his comments. He and I both agreed that perhaps the story wasn't tense enough from the start which has resulted in an extended opening scene which ultimately means that the revelations about eireanns true intentions has been moved forward JC also told me that he thinks that I should seriously consider the first AD role

 JC introduced us to character types. Particularly the nine character types that  Laurie Hutzler talks about. I am to write a report to determine which character types make sense for my characters.  I think that my story will change once again as we begin to work this out.

 We had another session with the script supervisor! I really enjoyed it actually.  Things I learned from the session; -audio terms: split-track -  the left and right audio channel pick up different sounds  wild track: the wild track or room tone consists of the barely audible noises that make up a background sense of quiet.  camera - rolls - every time you change the SD card is a new roll. script supervisor jobs - continuity, helps the assistant editor with their daily slate log especially noting the ep and scene, American slating vs English:  How American Slating works: Applying this style you treat scene and slate as an unambiguous unit. The naming of these scene-slate-combinations starts with the scene name itself, followed by letters in alphabetical order. So on a Clapper, you would see something like 9, 9A, 9B, 9C and then 10, 10A … How European Slating works: Think of a scene as an instance and of a slate as an instance on its own. All scenes (e. g. 9...

So, uni went well. We had another set practice and this time Matthew directed. We didn't get all the shots we needed but it was a good learning session for the other members of the group. Seba and Andrew went over depth of field again. Nice and easy We had a sound recording task but it wasn't the greatest. We didn't use a wind cover for some reason so that audio is bad.

Today I finally finished reading my scriptwriting book and to celebrate I decided to attempt to write the opening scene to my short film. So, there have been a few more changes to the idea. Eireann no longer tells O'Farrell that she plans to kill herself, this is a twist near the end of the film. Eireann no longer has HIV but instead feels guilty because her father killed himself and made it clear that it was because she is a lesbian. She hates the gun so much because she found her father dead after a gunshot.  I decided to make these changes in order to allow for a character transformation from O'Farrell. Also, I feel as though this ties both characters stories together more nicely. 

I completed the story structure for the ninth hour. I managed to identify the main story beats and the inciting incident etc.  JC also got back to me about my last research task and awarded me a high 70/80 mark! He did give me one note to think about in terms of identifying the crisis and choice moment.  Doing the structure for my script has allowed me to make changes to the initial idea. The gun is now much more central the story. Eireann takes it and it is relevant to the climax and choice of the film. Also, the film has a more hopeful ending now.

 I got the tesco job!!!! We had a model viewing session with Gareth where we got to see all of the submitted models! He mentioned that he loved mine! People could easily tell it was the red room. Some of the models were just amazing, lots of talent on this course!  We got introduced to the role of script supervisor. She explained that her job consists of organising the timings of the script and the continuity of the shoot. Hopefully we'll get another session with her as my laptop was bugging out the whole time.

 I had a job interview at Tesco today!! Also, treated myself to a cinema trip! 

 Harry spoke to us about ethics in film making and mentioned a few examples of unethical films. He mentioned a documentary called "the bridge" which I wanna watch. He spoke about how to handle themes such as suicide in films as they are sensitive subjects. I am going to look more into this as my film is dealing with two people who both want to kill themselves.  JC continued to talk about story structure. I am enjoying this part of the course the most! He mentioned that he has seen my research document but not had a chance to review it yet. JC set us a new assignment which is to apply Mckee's story structure to our films! I shall get right on this! 

Today was all about audio, mainly on how to use be a boom operator! James and I had to go into university and be actors for the session which was a lot of fun. There wasn't anything massive that stood out as new information to me. I suppose I learned when it would be better to use two booms rather than one and when the boom shouldn't bother trying to get audio for one actor.  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We had a meeting on zoom with the film making chat talking out the possibility of filming a horror anthology film. Everyone seems really on board and I am going to make a rota to figure out who is working with who.

Our practical session today did not really work as well as planned. I was an actor but some of the other members of the crew were clearly not comfortable with their roles. We had around 2 hours to film and I think they managed three takes. It was a great lesson in why you should prepare before shoot day.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dave Mills the director had a session with us where we were taught how he plans his shoots. He showed us his "circle and square" storyboards. He showed us how he would film a scene in which a man walks into a room and says hello to a cat. He then gave us a task to do our own storyboards and film a micro scene. Here is the result of mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-eKtw1Pp8 That is the link to the video result. I can see where I need some more shots, maybe more shots of getting the coffee and the biscuits.  ------------------------------------------------...

 Didn't have any work to do so I just sat back and relaxed! Read more of my book and went for a walk

 Today, I wrote JC's report on story structure. I actually read a good amount of Robert McKee's Story. It was a great read.  ·          Inciting Incident – The inciting incident is a moment in the story that sets the protagonist on their quest.   It usually comes at the end of act 1 and is the first major reversal. ·          Progressive Complications – According to the McKee stories must adhere to “law of conflict” meaning that only conflict can move the story forward. point of no return. He calls these progressive complications “points of no return”. The protagonist makes a minor action against the antagonist but to only succeeds in rallying more antagonism, then he takes a moderate action to the same effect before making a more extreme action which again arouses more antagonism. As you can see the conflict grows larger and larger as the story continues. ·     ...

I completed my reverse treatment today. I took notes on the film the Knackerman before completing the reverse treatment. I have decided I want to complete a treatment for "The Ninth Hour" 

  Spent today analysing a scene from Mr Robot. I took note of the colours, shot types and blocking. Some stuff was obvious such as him standing over her to look bigger etc. But, I did realise that everything is yellow which matches his outfit despite it being her house. He owns and the props enforce that. Also, yellow is a royal colour in Chinese and Buddhist culture. The character mentions his spirituality and quotes buddha at least once in the show. 

Harry gave an interesting talk about copyright in the film. The main points were If you think you need a copyrighted song then you probably don't because it isn't worth it Make sure you have permission to film in any location that you use GET PERMISSION FROM EVERYONE!!! If  you're using a clip from a film you need permission from everyone director, actors, studio, music composer etc etc Lots to think about! Kinda scary!  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ JC gave a talk about story structure. Mainly the basic three-act structure. However, he introduced me to the work of Robert Mckee and I think I am going to read his book "Story" because I found it for free online! He breaks stories into 5 parts; ·          Inciting Incident,   Progressive Complications ,  Crisis,  Climax,    Resolution  

Today we met Dave Mills, he seems really cool! He is a director of commercials and gave us a talk about script treatments and how important they are!  According to him, the script treatment is where you really get to know your characters because you write about them in much more detail than a screenplay ever could! I think I am going to try to write a treatment for my film "The Ninth Hour".  I asked Dave a question "what problems do you encounter most on set and how do you deal with them?"  According to him, the most common problem is himself, his own emotions can cloud his judgement but then he also explained that the worst thing on a set is poor communication and lack of a schedule. He set us the task of completing a reverse treatment for a short film which should be interesting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Student Advocate - I had an interview for student advocate today it was ...

 Only for members of the blue team came in today. Myself, James, Matthew and Mason. We had a session on aperture and shutter speed. I am familiar with both concepts but didn't know how to fully explain them but now they are so easy to explain Aperture - Controls the size of the aperture which controls how much light can come into the lens. A low F -Stop means lots of light can come in but you will have a very shallow depth of focus, a high F-Stop means little light but a wide focus.  Shutter Speed - Controls the speed of the shutter meaning how long the camera will allow light into it for. The slower the shutter speed, the more light into the camera but the more motion blur. The faster the shutter speed the less motion blur but the less light.  Aperture and shutter speed will be kept in balance for a perfect exposure. When aperture increases then shutter speed must decrease and vice versa. ISO - Digital image brightening. It sucks. Keep it as low as possible.  ------...

This is how the furniture turned out!  I am pretty happy with it!  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today, Jourdain wanted some help editing her synopsis for her movie. This was the original ; It was pandemonium, the end of the world, judgment day. Jamar Finnegan, was the last human left on earth. Or at least, the last human by textbook definition.  Nobody knew how or why but six months ago, an infection broke out. Starting as a dry cough, the disease began to infect humans and those with weaker immune systems lost their lives. For those that managed to live through it, they had a far worse fate than death. These people began to change and develop a taste for human flesh. They lost their sense of self and all emotion apart from an intense ravaging hunger. Jamar, a thirty-one year old ex police officer, was the lucky one. By chance, he happened to be in the right place at the right time and h...

 So today I spent like 3 hours cutting out miniature walls and whatnot in an attempt to build the red room from twin peaks! I used a scale ruler in an attempt to determine the exact proportions of the room. I proceeded to cut out a few walls to match my measurements.  I also went into university today to print off the floor texture that I will need for my set. It was quite nice working in the library.  I'll admit, I didn't do much more than the walls and floor today, I am feeling slightly nervous about this task but hopefully, I'll be able to tackle it more tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I took the time to read more of the scriptwriting book and it gave useful writing tips such as; The audience will connect most with the first character they see so make sure that you introduce your lead character first in your short film The character must be likeable even if they are not a nice ...

 Today was spent researching the red room. I spent hours trying to find some information about the set measurements. I found a fanmade floor plan for the sets of twin peaks and I also managed to find out the models of furniture used. Using this information, I was able to infer a very rough estimate of the size of the red room. I am excited to start building this. But, my amazon order isn't arriving until tomorrow :( ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I decide to play around with long exposure photography after learning that Seba has taught the groups about that on Monday and I had missed out. Here are my results!  This was so much fun to do! This was the first time I have ever played around with long exposure! I loved it. From what I understand long exposure means the shutter is open for a long amount of time and the sensor records whatever light hits it when an object moves you get these light str...