Production: 28/11/12

In terms of creative expansion it's nice that our idea keeps changing, but in terms of production it's not very fun. During our Pre Tutorial Group Meeting we decided to get rid of the other extra characters i.e.: The Sister/Carer and the Woman in the Car also it was decided to get rid of having a second stream storyline with the sister/carer realising Lola was missing and following her trail. I felt that without these little elements it would give us less to work with leaving Lola looking unloved and flat as a character especially as there is minimal dialogue.

After our tutorial on Monday we once again gained a few more ideas about how to go about filming the sequence. Due to the constant scheduling conflicts with the Actress as well as the group itself due to either work or timetable clashes we decided to move the shoot to the night.
Considering it got pretty dark by around 5:00pm that gave us a lot of time to do what we needed to without worrying about how much time we had left in terms of the light.

We filmed the following scenes with Lola;
Her wondering around the city, lost and alone.
Being amazed/frightened by various artefacts.
Trying to get help from unhelpful passers by.
Finding a dark alley and going to sleep.

The actress came dressed in the same clothing used for the Park scene we filmed the previous Friday. We did have a few other scenes in mind to film but it was freezing and we decided we could get the other scenes done during one of other shoot days.

It was a little frustrating that there was not a lot I could do in terms of Art Direction as we were filming outside, so everything is where it is. I just made sure the actress was in the right costume and kept her company during scene set ups as well as suggesting different locations to shoot and sounds that could be intensified. Hopefully when we film indoors there will be more for me to do as I had enjoyed art directing the house for our original 2 minute piece.

Art Direction In Film

A film that I just saw that I thought the Art Direction really stood out was Heathers by Michael Lehmann.


The main element that stood out is the colour swatch of the characters.
The Heathers always stick to Red Green or Yellow.

Veronica is always wearing something blue, and because it can be of any shade it is very subtle.

It would be nice to have been able to have some sort of subtle distinction within our character Lola.

Production 23/11/12

Today was our first day of filming and luckily the weather was exactly what we needed it to be.
Leon, Jacob, Hannah M and I went to a deserted park and filmed the end of our sequence.

As per the prop list I asked our actress Fiona to bring:
Scarf (Bright, Red or Multicoloured), Jumper (Same as previously worn), Bright Shoes (Soft) Woolly Gloves and Socks.
I thought it would be easier than me buying a range of outfits and having to return them or add them to my prop box as before. Luckily she came with a range and I was able to pick and choose what I thought would work best.

Pre Production

I came up with a prop list based on the characters and locations we had in mind to use in the piece. Some were still being considered as they were dependant on the actors we could find, whilst others were set in stone.


Prop List

Autism in Movies

I did a little research in to different movies about kids with Autism paying close attention to the characteristics and Costumes.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

The characters are always wearing stripes, though it fluctuates between them. It's no necessarily distintive to just the one.

Mercury Rising

I found that Simon, the nine year old Autistic boy has his own kind of confidence, though he does hide and scream I felt that was when he was looking at the real world, when he was in his own head then he was able to accomplish a vast amount of things without so much as a second thought for safety

A list of the other films I briefly looked into can be found on this list, http://uk.imdb.com/list/0sigYQ1Icp0/
What  I did realise was that the majority of them were about young boys and hardly any were to do with females, so this alters my perception slightly when I think about how I want Lola to look.

10 Minutes Or Less...

Today we went through our idea for the next part of the Drama assignment, we had a script that Hannah wrote that we then as group expanded on in terms of visual and soundscape, expectations. The ideas we were coming up with were good and the idea for the piece is interesting but at the same time it felt hollow to me, as if we were missing something from it all but I couldnt quite put my finger on what thath was.


Later we had a tutorial with Annie where we went through the script again and talked about what the ending for the piece was. In that aspect we were stumped.
I think there are some real questiosn that we need solid answers for by the time we intend to start filming on Friday.

Post Production

I didn't have a big role to play in the post production process in terms of Art Direction. I did go along and see if there was anything I could input in terms of the colour pallet but Hannah had already done the one thing I had in mind... To give the film a warm look.

Creating Lola Part Two: Production

The actress we had to play Lola was Fiona. She was very good to work with, followed directions brilliantly with no fuss and even felt confident enough to chip in an idea or two if we had a create problem to solve. In terms of Art Direction she had many piercings on her face and though we didn't intend to show the characters face I thought it was best if they were removed to be on the safe side and to avoid any kerfuffle during production. 

As I had feared the jumpers I had bought were't large enough to give our character that swallowed feeling I wanted. Luckily Fiona as per previous instruction had turned up with three for me to choose from.

  

The one on the right was a really nice colour but the material just wasn't working for me. The one in the centre was the right material but the colour felt dull. The one on the left gave the right "worn" look and though at first I didn't like the multicolouredness it eventually grew on me as I felt it gave off an array of emotions.

Once we had Fionas Piercings removed I then experimented with giving her that "Child Plays With Mothers Make-up Box" Look. Fiona helpfully supplied her own make-up, I decided that I just wanted their to be one distinctive feature.... Her eyes, we tried going for the really messy look as seen in the above photos but I then had another think, based on the research I did on child ages and abilities and decided that this was a bit over the top. In the end I toned it down by just removing the overspill to her nose and that made a helluva lot of difference. As you can also see better from the picture on the left I added pale pink blusher as I thought it gave her an air of innocence when juxtaposed with the erratic and almost attention seeking blue of the eyes.

During the production process we were in quite tight quarters but when I could, I would stand behind the cinematographer and make sure characteristics of Fiona weren't being shown. The main problem was a tatto she had on her foot that sometimes became noticeable  it was my job to make sure we were aware and did another take as soon as possible.

Producer (Luke), Cinematographer (Leon), Sound (Jacob) and Editor (Hannah B) all went on ahead to set up as me an the Director (Hannah M) met up with the actress and brought her to the location (Hannah Bs House) When we got there they had made a make shift den, but the director and I didn't feel it looked den-ny enough so we re did a few things so that it was easy to get in and out of whilst still giving the actress enough space to maneuver. It was built using the standard den materials: Bed sheets, blankets, an ironing board, a sofa and a broom plus a few wooden sticks. 

Having a main white sheet for the base of the den was necessary to create a silhouetted shot we wanted to create

I then proceeded to decorate the inside of the den with an array of stuffed characters we had all collected...

As the den was already up we decided to film these scenes first, we put the stuffed toys in a specific hight order and then took a picture of it for later when we would show Lola building the den and putting them out.

Putting Art Direction aside the days shoot went really well, it was just a shame that we had problems with our original actress the week before as it meant we weren't able to make our tutorial and get some constructive feedback about our process so far. Everyone stuck to their role and I felt we worked together well as a team. There was a minor blip when the camera for the DSLR went out but we just decided to use its charge time to take a break. Aside from that the production day went incredibly smoothly considering how long it took us to get to that stage. At the end of the day I think everyone was relieved to finally have something shot.

Creating Lola Part One: Pre Production

I went around to various charity shops and bought a range of jumpers/props that we could use for the set as well as asking the rest of the group to contribute anything they had. Finding the right type of jumper was incredibly hard. It felt like one of those times when you see the item everywhere but when you finally decide to buy it, it's out of stock. I had to improvise as nothing was giving off the right warm feeling. I finally bought A pink fleece, I pink jumper and a blue knit jumper, and thought I would just see what fit the actress best when I met her.

This is one of the tones of pinks I ended up going with

This red jumper was the brightest I found but I hated the material and it was a turtle neck which I felt might make Lola seem suffocated.

This is the second jumper I decided on, I liked the knitted material as the small holes made it seem really well warn, as if it was her favourite jumper that her mother had to persuade to change from time to time

This white just made me think of hospital sheets not innocence which is how white is usually perceived  It also felt really tough and restricting and I don't think it seems like something a child would like to play in. More like something they would wear to church on a Sunday.

I deliberated with this jumper for a while because I liked the busyness of it, but it was to thin and fitted and I felt the blue was more of a sadness blue than a calm blue.

What I really liked about this jumper was both the size of it (It was mens) and the feel. It had that sense of sitting inside by a fire as it was pouring with rain feel which is the direction I was going for in Lolas character.

  

This is the final jumper I decided to purchase as I liked the shade of pink. I thought it was very playful, I didn't really like the fleece material and it wasn't big enough but I was working with what I had.

We also had the character Lola having a special teddy, the one above I think would have perfectly fit the bill if I had found the big bright knitted jumpers I originally had in mind but after I decided to go with the pastel coloured pink and blue jumpers I decided that the big pink rabbit was the best direction. The idea for Lola was now changing in my mind, I started to see her as being quite girly, wearing plastic jewellery and stolen miss matched make up from her mothers collection.

The only down side to this process was that we did not yet have an actress so I wasn't sure if the clothes I was buying would even fit in terms of size and tone. As mentioned before, I wanted Lola to feel swallowed by her clothing, but in a warm feeling way. Like massive jumpers you wear around the house in the winter snuggled up with hot chocolate and a movie. That's the kind of happy and safe characteristic I wanted Lola to let off.
Finding jumpers was an interesting experience because all this knowledge you didn't realise you had or thought you had forgotten about the meaning behind colours just rises to the surface guiding you to help make the nest creative decision.