Screw Youssical - the second version

One of my favourite films from Friday's screening as the title suggests.

There were two aspects of the film that I thought were excellent.

Firstly the dialogue. I thought that the script was really well written with clever Dr Zuess-esc rhymes which also used more adult language. The dialogue was genuinely funny and entertaining and for me was one of the main reasons that the film was one of the most entertaining.

Second was the costuming and make-up. The bolder colours used for the actors costumes really reflected a Dr. Zeuss story and made for a vibrant visual experience.

I found the framing of some of the shots was great aswell, alos reflecting something from Dr. Zeuss, including a lot of close ups with a wider angle lense, which also created a bit of humour considering the good quality acting.

A few cheeky tips

There's a fair bit I've learnt from the process of making a film this semester and I think there are a few things which are absolutely critical for a films success.

- Organisation is key, planning is everything. Our group was well organised in terms of shooting, which lead to a relatively stress free day of shooting. However, we could have organised our casting and actors a bit more carefully and maybe had a few more rehearsals. This showed up in editing and although we are able to cover some of it up, we could have benefited with the above.

- Supergroups, praise christ. There is no way we could have ran a shooting day without the extra people: Thanks a heap to Caitlyn, Heath and Lincoln. There is simply far too much do do for a group of 5 and some of their tips and abilities really came in handy.

- Continuity is key - Thankfully Lincoln really kept an eye on the continuity of scenes for us, which has really proved helpful now that we are editing.

- Use an extra monitor on set. We didn't hire a monitor for the shoot and this proved a bit costly. Without the monitor and considering the confines of our shoot, I was unable to always get a good look at the actors faces during takes. This meant that when it came to editing, we had a few shots that we really didnt like because of facial exopressions and body language.

- Communication is crucial. Throughout the entire process, from the very start to the evry end, communication with group members and actors is key. At the start of pre production our groups communication wasn't great but it improved dramatically thorughout the process and in the end helped with a smooth production.

These are definately some pointers that I will remember for next time.

Production day

So they day had finally arrived... how did it go?

An Early start...
We arrived at around 7 am on a Sunday (word for the wise.. film on another day) and luckily I had nothing on the night before so I was fresh as a daisy, or as close as I could be. Set up went relatively smoothly and the actors turned up on time so we got off to a good start. Filming outside didn't prove too much of a problem, other than having to wave through the occasional pedestrian.

In terms of coverage, we were rushed for our main scene (the pub scene) so we definately could have gotten more. Unfortunately for Daan we had a fridge in the background which was continuosly producing annoying sounds.

The supermakert scene took a lot of directing. As our actor for the supermarket attendant was, in a nice way, average at best. But thankfully we got enough coverage here to almost make up for the lack of acting ability.

The shooting of the montage was my favourite part of the day. It was just a lot of improv and we got some good shots (thanks to Paddy) and some funny footage.

Overall, the day wran pretty smoothly and we were finished by just after 5. We couldnt have doner it without the help of our friends Lincolon, Caitlin and Heath.

Casting Time

So it's been a while....

Casting was one of my favourite parts of the entire process. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) Out of almost abut 15 people who said they were coming, only 5 or so turned up. They were a real mixed bag.

Luckily, out of the five that came we found two that we really liked the look of. But for the then hairdresser role, we didn't really find what we were looking for. I'd say this was due to the fact that only two candidates (one of which was a long shot) turned up.

In terms of directing the casting, the acotrs we like did not need too much direction and rather than using a lot of verbs, with some of the actors we just6 needed to tell them to be less dramatic or more emotional.