Week 1, March 24th, Mindmaps & ideas

Initially I wanted to begin the research for my FMP by figuring out a storyline and what I wanted to do. I decided to begin mind-mapping all of my ideas and feelings about my fmp and what I could integrate into my storyline. I had already began doing research on coming of age conventions and potential storylines so I had a vague idea of what themes my film and story line could have. I began considering coming of age genre storyline archetypes, like trying to fit in or struggling with identity, running away seemed interesting and could be a very good inciting incident for the beginning of my film.

I also considered my locations for this project so I could structure the story around them and so I wouldn't get to carried away with where I would want to film a particular scene, but then realise that the location was unrealistic. I definitely want to use some fields and countryside locations around my house and my town, because they are easy to get to and would provide some very nice shots. I also had a vision for my last shot, I really want to go to Primrose hill in London and take a wide shot of my main character sitting down on the grass, we would see the whole skyline of London in front of him/her, I feel like it would be a very beautiful final shot. Another thing I had to keep in mind was storyline structure, you have your inciting incident, plot point 1 then you have build up to plot point 2 and the resolution, I was trying to fit my ideas within this structure and it gave me more insight as to what I wanted to do and how I wanted to film my fmp. However it also made me realise how much I needed to work on my storyline because I only had vague ideas, they were small pieces of a larger puzzle which was my entire storyline. Overall I was feeling quite overwhelmed with options and possibilities for my storyline, while having to think of ways to make my story and ideas work within my chosen filming locations.

After mind-mapping, I had a small idea for a storyline which was about a character that is annoyed with their surroundings, after going on a bike ride with their friend they decide to go to London for the day to clear their head and drop by a friends house party, after arriving at this house party they realise that they don't like it and they don't fit in with the people around them, they have an epiphany and some sort of emotional growth which makes them realise that they should go home. I like this small idea and if I keep developing it and figure out what my character discovers about themselves and think up of more emotional drive for my character, then i think it is a good story for my film. Thinking of which actors to use or who out of my friends could act as the main character was also on my mind. I cannot hire actors because I wouldn't be able to pay them properly and I am limited as to who i can use to be my main character because some of my friends and classmates live further away and would not be able to get to my filming locations. I also have to consider the fact that my own close friends are busy with their own final major projects just like me.

Week 2, March 31st, The Pitch

In class we had to pitch our idea for our FMP to our tutor and the rest of the class. Being able to pitch is good skill to be familiar with when going into the industry or further education in film/TV aswell. Personally I am comfortable with speaking in front of groups and i think my pitch went well. Our tutor mainly asked questions about what the synopsis of our fmp was, how long it would be, how we were planning to film it and to state certain inspirations that influenced our creative decisions.

My Pitch

Hello, my name is Sasha Naivelt and I will be pitching my final major project for my second year. I will be writing and directing a short coming of age feature film called Primrose, no more than ten minutes long. The synopsis is as follows. A teenager named Neo cannot decide what he wants to do in life and is having a small existential crisis while on his way to a party. Neo is someone we can all relate to, he is simply lost and looking for guidance. His likability comes from his relatability for young audiences. I want this film to be relatable and not glamorised, for it to not romanticise adolescence and create an unrealistic expectation for what our teenage years should look like, like most other coming of age genre films do. What makes my film coming of age, and what defines the genre itself is the main character having an epiphany and experience growth. The resolution of Primrose is that Neo realises that he does not need to be so worried about not having things figured out right in this moment, because he will figure it out at some point. He is not the same confused character that he was in the beginning of the film, he is now grounded. A small metaphor for this change is the fact that Neo cannot seem to choose a coffee at a cafe at the beginning of act 2, connoting how he lost and indecisive he feels in his own life, in the last scene of the film, Neo sets a coffee down next to him while looking at the view from primrose hill. Linking back to how he is now grounded and starting to change.

I have taken a lot of visual inspiration for this project from one of my favourite directors, Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish tank) I love her usage of handheld cutaway shots and how she makes all her characters so realistic and true to life. I plan to use her style of filming for parts of my film, this includes realistic and spontaneous dialogue and cutaway shots of characters locations. Andrea Arnold also uses natural light in all her films, this is to capture the social realism that is her genre, I like working with natural light, it adds a touch of realism to a scene, and it doesn't require any equipment. Euphoria is a series that has had the biggest impact on my generation, from the makeup, costumes and most of all, lighting and cinematography. I have taken inspiration for colourful lighting to use in my party scene that is part of act 3, from Euphoria. The show beautifully captures characters intangible emotions with lighting and colour, in a way which I have never seen before. Euphoria also has dialogue that is true to how teenagers today speak, I want my script to be strong when it comes to realistic dialogue, I want it to flow and not sound like i'm pretending to be a teenager. Parts of my spontaneous dialogue had also been influenced by the french new wave, a movement built on breaking boundaries and film conventions. Dialogue in this movement would have actors breaking the fourth wall and speak on philosophical topics. My script will have my actors speak deeply about how they feel. The scene were my character has an epiphany is in a bathroom and is the resolution mentioned earlier. I want Neo to say something philosophical, to make the audience think and be active while watching Primrose. Even the usage of philosophical dialogue is linked to my research into the existential genre, my charcter is having a small existential crisis, feeling lost. Some of my favourite existential films like, 'A Ghost Story' and Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' all have visual similarities that convey loneliness and feelings of being lost, such as long shots and linear narratives. My film is a linear narrative that occurs over the span of two days, I want to incorporate various long shots that isolate my character and emphasise the awkwardness and discomfort of how he feels. I aim for my creative work to link to all my stated sources of inspiration, visually and in writing.

Week 3, April 7th, Watching Films

As part of my research for my fmp I wanted to watch a few coming of age and famous films that could give me some inspiration for my storyline and certain visuals that I could film. I started of my list by watching Terantinos Death Proof. About a Hollywood stuntman that kills girls and makes it look like a car accident until a group of girls fight back. I really liked the way this was filmed off-course the action scenes and car stunts are incredible on camera, but some of the scenes in the beginning of the film that are made out to look like they were filmed on wrecked grainy film stock, give the film a unique feel, from what I know Tarantino wanted death proof to look like a 70s film retro film. I like the build up and the resolution is incredible and keeps you on edge the whole time throughout the final car chase. It gave me some insiration for how to write good dialogue, which Terantino is a master at, he always finds a way to build tension and reveal more about a character. We see this just before the first girl gets murdered by the stuntman, at first I wasn't sure that he would kill her but then turned out to be wrong, the audience just like the girl in the car is fooled.

Another film I watched was called Welcome to the Dollhouse, about a girl who gets bullied and doesn't fit in. This film just made me feel really sad for the Protagonist, the bullying in the film is really realistic and after reading some reviews for this film, it hit really close to home for some veiwers who could relate. The main character Dawn is the least favourite child out of all her siblings at home and she is teased relentlessly at school. The film is honest in its depiction of bullying and the fact that the victims of it usually don't recive any help at school or at home. The film made me consider some themes I could maybe include in my film, such as bullying or feeling left out, even a dysfunctional family home could be a good synopsis for my film. The genre is drama however I also consider this a coming of age film because the character deals with other issues like crushes and growing up in general, in this characters case it's her suffering in her toxic environment full of bullies and mean parents.

Week 4, April 14th, Scripting & Visualising

I also had the vague idea for a script for the opening of my short film. It in itself came randomly to me and I decided to write it down. I was channeling a lot of teenage angst and my own personal feelings towards the world through this main character and I want this film to have a deeper meaning and make the audience think about what is being said. (Screenwriting in general is very personal to the writer or director, the characters in films we watch are inspired by real life people in a writers life or certain movie plots are based on real events of the directors life for example, I believe that filmmaking is an art and well people channel emotions into art, so scripts are very personal to a director/writer. Even Tarantino mentioned in an interview that he didn't want to go into depth about why Kill Bill was personal to him. Scorsese's gangster films probably exist because Scorsese grew up in a neighbourhood where he witnessed how the mafia and gangsters operate) I am still working on this script and developing it however here is just a small extract of what I initially came up with.

My goal for this week was to do some location scouting and also to read up on script writing and story structure. My favourite book and bible when it comes to writing to make a film or video, Syd Field's 'Screenplay the foundations of screenwriting'. I read chapter eight and nine that were about incidents and plot points. Chapter eight went over the fact that an incident by definition is an event or occurrence that is tied to something else, in screenwriting and stories in general we have what is known as an inciting incident, something that propels the story forward, it can occur before the first plot point of the story or even be the first plot point. For example, in American Honey, Star spotting the magazine sellers dancing in a supermarket and being captivated by them and their freedom, is the inciting incident, which propels the story forward by inspiring her to leave behind her toxic home and go and work with them, her leaving is plot point one.

Now plot points essentially the incidents that anchor your screenplay and give it a structure and foundation for the narrative line of action, the three acts of a screenplay are built around plot points one and two, (build up, confrontation, resolution) and screenwriters use these to also measure how many pages to use for each act. A plot point is the function of the main character that moves the story forward. When watching any film you can see what the plot points are. This book is really helpful and important to the story development for my fmp and is an integral part of my research and own education.

Location Scouting

• I did some location scouting at a particular field i would like to film in near my house and took some photos. The location is not noisy as it's part of the countryside and the only thing that I would have to keep in mind while filming is sunlight and the time of day. So if I was to bring any lights with me I would have to keep adjusting the kelvins and the temperature of the light. This location is always available and it is approximately ten minutes from my home.

• The next location I had in mind was to film my last shot for my film. It is Primrose hill in London. The location would be noisy as there would be a cityscape and people nearby, (however I am planning to import a city scape soundtrack in post production for foley and I would play music over the shot/scene, so the original audio from the shot will probably not get used if its not to my liking.) I would have to keep the time of day in mind as I would want to go to this location towards the evening so I could capture a shot of London at dusk with all the lights. This location is easy to get to by public transport, train, and is approximately an hour and a half away from my home.

• The next location is called St Dunstan's in the East, in London. It is a church ruin from WW2. It's overgrown and looks very beautiful and etherial. I wanted this location to be the midpoint of my story, my character seems lost and hopless but then he finds this random location that is very beautiful. Metaphorically, parts of his journey (through life and growing up) are still beautiful.

Week 7, May 5th, Filming, Filming, Filming

Filming in London

My main objective this week was to film the parts of my film that were located in London. I set out to film in two main locations, St Dunstan's in the east and Primrose Hill (I also needed to film on the London underground, I filmed all of my underground scenes with my friends/crew while we were on our way to different filming locations)

I made sure to leave before lunch time so we all had extra time to travel around London and take time for breaks. After arriving we headed to our first location which was St Dunstan's, taking the time to film London underground shots on our way there, we were filming on a weekday so we were lucky that it wasn't too crowded because everyone was at school/work. However I still had to wait for people to walk out of shots and wait till the area where I wanted to film was empty, this put a small time pressure on me and my actor because we had to take advantage of the small pockets of time we got before an underground train arrived and people started walking around everywhere. With this in mind i am also aware that with most of the underground footage I have, I will have to put sound effects and foley (that I can download online) over it, to cover up the sounds of people talking.

We were very time efficient and arrived at St Dunstan's quite quickly. Whilst filming the scene there, I didn't follow the shot list completely and took videos of my actor/main character in different parts of the location, to gather as much footage as possible that I could work with in post. We then made our way to Primrose Hill. On our way to the park I took advantage of recording various continuity shots of my character walking, I did this because I was keeping editing in mind, again so i'd have a lot of footage to work with in post. We got there in time, while the weather was still sunny (it started to rain shortly after I finished filming), I was able to record the the final shots for my film. Again I need to add foley to the audio and London cityscape to the footage because there were people talking in the background and i'd need to mute the audio. Ideally I would have liked to record footage at Primrose Hill at dusk so there would be city lights in the foreground, however it gets darker much later as it's getting closer to summer and I would not be able to stay in London till late at night because me and my friends/crew needed to get home at an appropriate time. Overall filming went smoothly and we didn't encounter any major challenges apart from the audio. I am happy with the footage I got.

Filming my tarot tarot card scene

On the weekend we were filming with Mayumi again me and my friends were helping out, and this time I had to film a tarot card scene at her house as-well. Mayumi and my main character (Neo played by Louis) had to act in my tarot card scene, it's a short dialogue scene. All I had to do was make sure that I was sticking to the 180˚degree rule. I set up my camera on a tripod and filmed each actors performance separately so I could keep the camera static and not move it back and forth. (when filming a dialogue scene for a proper film, there will usually be two or three cameras that will record each actors performance separately so that it can then be edited together in post). I made sure to begin by recording some long shots of the two sitting opposite each other and then set up the tripid and record some close ups of the two speaking. (A typical dialogue scene will have an long establishing shot and then move to closer shots so we can see the actors speak and react)

My friend's are not professional actors so filming can be disrupted by my friends breaking out of character, laughing and not focusing. This happened when I was filming my tarot card scene. The solution was film each actor separately and keep eye levels and attentions lines the same. I was filming close ups on each actor, so I asked the other actor in the scene to leave and tell the actor I was filming a close up of to look at where the other actor was sitting to keep attention lines the same. This worked and the scene was filmed quicker without any disruptions.

Filming outside

After filming my scene we all headed outside to film some shots in a near by rapeseed field that was blooming with yellow flowers (me and Mayumi were both planning to film shots in the field). We walked a long way only to find out that the field was on private land so we would not be able to access it. Nevertheless we filmed some of Mayumi's dialogue scenes for her FMP near some trees in another field. Reciting our lines went smoothly but the weather was far to windy. The audio on the clips would have been very windy and would have to be dubbed, and the wind blew Mayumi's deadcat off of her microphone and it went missing, never to be found. The cold was also uncomfortable to film in and the crew had low morale, so we all headed back to Mayumi's house to help my other friend Louis who was with us, film a short scene. The filming day made me realise the importance of being prepared. We should have researched the weather more and worn more appropriate clothes for filming in the cold. I have heard about the importance of keeping a crew fed and having food on set from runners, otherwise everyone is just going to be hungry and agitated. Well, the lesson I learned was that we should have brought food with us before hand so that filming would not be as long. In future projects I will always make sure to have some sort of snacks or knowledge of food places near by to make sure that everyone is happy and fed.

The next day, me and Wiktoria were there to help Mayumi film other scenes for her fmp. We first went to on of Mayumi's chosen locations which was a forest . The scenes consisted of me and Wiktoria reciting some short lines and running through parts of the forest so Muyumi could record some tracking shots of us running from different angles on her gimbal. We filmed there pretty quickly and didn't encounter any challenges. The next location was Ivinghoe Beacon again. This time to film the final scene for Mayumi's short film. Just as we started filming it started to pour down with rain, but we pushed through it, got the scene done and all of the shots filmed. The scene in itself is dramatic and the hard rain adds tension and drama to the scene, so the weather turned out to be the perfect pathetic fallacy for the context of the story. Again we were not prepared or dressed appropriately for heavy rain so in the future one should always bring spare clothes if unsure of the weather. Also for this scene I had to interact with Mayumi's dog, as mentioned earlier working with animals can be unpredictable and there were times the dog would not listen, however she is very well trained and did what she was told in the end. We overcame this challenge by being prepared with treats to make the dog walk towards me in the shot so i could hug her for the scene and so she would sit in the right position in other shots.