Poster for my Film!

This is the poster for my film which will be exhibited at The Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen on 20th May 2012. Please come and show your support for my film and other 3rd year film students.
:)
H

Filming Filming Filming!

So it has been a crazy week or two of filming and I'm a bit behind on my posts, sorry!

So, did my first lot of filming with Tom and Ceri in the park plus our two chavs played by Cai and Dan.
It went really well, got all the shots I wanted and everything went really smoothly.
Next we went to the beach in Pembrokeshire. I got some really nice footage. Sadly, I was hoping for a glorious sunset so when they did their kiss they would cut out the sun but the weather stopped me as it was a bit cloudy. However, there was a good orange glow which gave the shots a nice warm happy feeling :)

My favourite shot was as they walk away, the camera is low and they hold hands and walk away. I found here that storyboarding is so useful as I knew exactly what shots I wanted and it was easy as everything was planned nicely.

I also used some depth of field with the lens when Ceri and Tom wave to each other, although, looking back at the shots I would have liked it to be longer. However, still happy with it. I also had some great long shots and establishing shots of Broad Haven beach.

We had a really good time filming and had a couple of out-takes during the "kiss" due to giggles. :)
The next day I filmed with Ceri and my flatmate Catrin, both Welsh Actors. I did the "Driving Test" scene in which Ceri's character Isla has just passed her test. That was really easy, once again due to good storyboarding.

My next lot of filming was the big night scene in which my character Isla is walking home from work. I filmed in Carmarthen town, by Debenhams back entrance to show her leaving town and then used College Road to film the walk. Gethin Stone and Julian Owen acted as my "lads" that start bantering Isla as she walks home. I started filming at dusk/sunset but it got dark very quickly so I'm hoping that the light will be ok, although I did use the mini lights that fitted to the camera to brighten up shots. I just hope they wont make it look too "Blaire Witch". I got some nice long shots and close up's and did the hand held behind the wall shots where it feels like someone is following our protagonist. I was slightly disappointed that I had no one to play the roles of the "rough" girls giving Ceri abuse. Many actors are busy with their 3rd year show so no one was available apart from friends, but most of them have already been included in the film already. It would be nice and easier if we had actors available with our films as it is really hard to find willing ones.

That night I also filmed the "girly night" scene at our flat. My flat kindly offered to be in the film for me and they basically acted casual and normal whilst I filmed them. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible so instead of giving them cues I just randomly recorded to add to the realism. I also got nice close up shots of cakes, pop corn, nail painting and shots of fairy lights. The fairy lights shot isn't in my storyboard but the warm glow and change of focus really add to the warmth of the scene.

So I've been doing alot of filming recently. Tomorrow I have planned to do the interview scene with Ceri at Trinity, hopefully it shall be ok to quickly use one of the rooms in our Dewi building for a short amount of filming. Fingers crossed! I sadly will be playing the interviewer unless I can find someone else, but most people are disappearing for Easter break, including my main protagonists actor Ceri who is leaving Friday and not back til end of April so I'm hoping to finish all her scenes tomorrow.

So far so good, although haven't started the editing process yet so will have hope that shots look the same on camera as on screen. I'm mainly concerned about the shots at night being too dark. However, it might be salvageable in post production. I have also been thinking about soundtracks for my film which will be developed in the next coming weeks.

All that will be left to film will be pick up shots.
So far so good.
Peas out.
H x

Filming tomorrow! Chavs and all...

Helloo!
Well tomorrow I am set to film my park scene with my actors Thomas Hyde and Ceri Lewis. (Pictured)

I'm very excited about the shoot tomorrow as I've got some of my favorite shots planned. The scene will begin with just Ceri, who plays my main protagonist Isla, and Thomas, who plays Isla's boyfriend, to be laying in a park, which will be filmed on Trinity Campus as at the back of Noakes 1 there is a green field with a bench and a little pond, laying in the park and as she looks over at a section of daisies so begins the "negative" side of the film. This will happen by 2-3 chavs played by Dan Lamont and Cai Osmond and hopefully Gethin Stone ruining visually the shot by smoking and drinking and standing on the daisy patch.

In the evening I am driving to Pembrokeshire to do the scene on the beach with Ceri and Thomas and get some really nice sun set shots too. Hopefully weather will stay nice and it will all go to plan. Fingers crossed.

This is the shot of where I will be filming in the evening at Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire.

Anywhoo, I shall inform you how it all goes.

Peas out.
H x

Actual Day 1 of filming.

So,
Yesterday I started my first day of filming and I'm really pleased with how it went.
We're using new Panasonic P151 cameras and the quality was really good.
I shot my first scene with my sister and my nieces. It was a tiring task trying to shoot with children and there are a few take outs. :)

We shot the opening in Treffgarne, Pembrokeshire on my sisters farm. Take a look at the pic and the gorgeous views and sunset. I was very pleased with my shots. I also managed to get lots of pick up shots of certain animals like ducks, chickens, sparrows etc although was hoping to get a few of some new born lambs but I was a bit early and none had been born yet so will have to go back, hopefully in next 2 weeks and then they'll have some. However, I need to go back to do the party scene, which is the second scene for my character, Isla's, birthday and I'll need to round up family and friends to be in the background.

Today I did not encounter any technical problems, although, completely forgot how to white balance but some shots were very very bright with the sun so I had to use filters and I'm hoping the sound won't be too poor either as it was really windy but it sounded ok on the headphones.

I'm going to upload them onto final cut and try editing them around today and see whether they have come out the way I wanted. I'm currently in the process of arranging with my two actors Ceri Lewis and Tom Owen, to start filming their scenes next week, most importantly the beach scene which will be set in Pembrokeshire also. My reasoning for setting some scenes there is because of the beautiful landscapes and beaches. So, so far so good.

More filming days and pics to follow!
Peas out.
:)

Day 1 of filming... we didn't film.

Right, so today was meant to be a major start filming day, everything was ready to go until miss communication came along and when I was told I could get out my equipment in the morning, I actually couldn't.
HOWEVER....
Fear not as I have re-scheduled all for tomorrow and my sister, who was to "star" in this self made masterpiece wasn't very well anyway. About to pick up equipment now (hopefully) and then be ready for filming tomorrow.
Fingers crossed!
Peas out.

New Blog! :)

Hello,
This is my new blog to start for my course at Trinity Saint David, in Carmarthen.
I'm a film and media student and for our final year we are making a film, which we have written the script for last semester. Our films are also being exhibited at our film festival....https://twitter.com/#!/Shorts_FilmFest
Please check it out! We will be having a guest speaker which is yet to be confirmed, free food and a complimentary drink on arrival.

I'm starting my filming next Tuesday 6th. Filming the first scene with my sister and my nieces, it should be interesting. Storyboard for that scene is done so hopefully that will allow it go a lot smoother and luckily Kim on my course will be helping me film too.

I'll be updating the blog on how well filming has gone or hasn't gone as well as keeping you up to date with our exhibition.

Sound.
Also, Happy St.David's day!