Storyboarding

Storyboarding took three main stages in developing. As I like to have things thought through and planned before a shoot, so that no artistic decisions are being made on set, nearly all of what is seen visually in the final film is the result of this planning.
There are a number of reasons why in this instance the planning was done in this way, but it should be noted the decision to do so was never taken formally, it is just the way I wanted and everyone else was happy to work. For a start, I feel most comfortable working in an a way that allows me the time to be able to explore and fully develop artistic ideas outside of the high place pressure of the film set. I think that trying to make big decisions that will ultimately define the course of the final piece will result in under developed or even misleading meanings within the piece and trying to use some sort of inner meaning is just hopelessly romantic.
Perhaps the most important reason for completely pre-planning, though, was that we had an extremely small time budget with which to work and that trying to think through how we were going to shoot things mid shoot would have been fatal to completing of the film.

The initial stages of the shot and storyboard planning, once the script was finished, was to read through and mark it up with ideas for where shots would go and what they would look like etc.

Marking up basically involved writing on the script the impression of the shot imagined with an arrow pointing to its starting point in the script. Even at this stage as much description as possible was included, (i.e. shot distance, lighting scheme, lens angle etc).

*For extra detail, see post Marked script: extra detail

The next stage was sit down with Ben (director) and to talk through each others ideas from our own marked scripts. Then following a third marked scripted I went away to produce a rough storyboard of what we had talked about, this would serve as a base for the final boards and would also enable to work in more swift manner.

These boards included further detail to the marked script but also included details such as how they might be shoot logistically, minor blocking details and any lighting notes that were above ordinary.

When the final boards were drawn up, in three or four different meetings, Ben, Henry (editor) and myself all sat down to do them. I had wanted them both there for a number of reasons. Firstly so that, specifically between Ben and I, there could be no mis-communication by working apart and that instead of going back of fourth with ideas, just to sit down and discuss them and design them together, for times sake as well as communications. Also, having an editor there in Henry, helped me design a better shot flow. I generally tend to focus a lot on still frames and can often overlook the structure of a sequence as a whole, so having someone whose job it is to create sequences was very helpful. Also, Henry would be serving as something of a camera assistant to me and so it made sense that he should be present during the creation of the shots so that hey may better understand their purpose, but also not have to learn from scratch what they mean while setting them up with me.

These final storyboards included all the necessary information relating to the production of the shot, including a storyboard, blocking, lighting set up, estimation of lens to be used, jib notes, grip notes and anything else that might assist during production.

More details on the nature of the storyboards in post: Storyboard: extra detail

Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio

Ben's (director) initial instructions for inspiration for me in terms of the look for the film was the Italian painter Caravaggio. Caravaggio's post renaissance and mannerist paintings have a harsh reality to them and feature dramatic lighting that give weight to the often intense drama depicted on the canvas.
This dramatic lighting scheme should help the dialogue and exposition light script in creating drama and effect in the situation the characters are placed in. The film, being more about gaining the feeling and weight of the specific situation the character is in, will benefit highly from a lighting scheme similar to the ones in Caravaggio's paintings to help create the intended atmosphere.

Caravaggio uses a chiaroscuro technique of tenebrism, a technique with which he is credited with inventing, where paintings are lit with often only one extreme light source, generally out of sight. This creates extreme contrasts between light and dark, exposing figures' every contour resulting in a strong atmosphere and heightened drama. It is for these results that Ben would like to adopt the technique into the film.

I will go about acheving this by using a lighting scheme that heavily incorporates 'cross lighting', because I will be working from pitch black in the studio I simply won't be able to use a single source lighting set-up for a variety of reasons. The shadows created on set would be too harsh and would be softened and filled from another angle as well as being too time consuming to track for continuity due to the amount of time we have in the studio. Also due to the fact there will sequences where two characters will be in the scene, a set-up that allowed for a generic background set lighting for many shots would help to establish a look for the room as well as be time saving when adjusting specific subject lighting when changing camera angle.

Taking the F5 for a quick spin

Henry and I took the F5 out for quick test this afternoon. Henry needed some test footage to work with on the edit programmes and I wanted to get myself familiar with then the camera itself. Handily, although the F5 is more technically complicated, it is more or less just like any other camera I have worked with. The main difference is the manual setting of the white balance, which is no bad thing as it gives us more control over the image as making us more attentive to it's final colour.
With the ISO generally starting at 2000 lack of light probably won't be too much of an issue, we may even need to use the ND filters in order to create the image we want.
Overall the camera is exactly what we need to shoot this film and now that I am aware of what kind of footage it produces and how it processes light I can now go on and reflect this in my lighting plans.

A new film, a new script.

Ben Wilson has completed the script. It concerns a man reliving a devastating experience in his life through surreal imagining. Two versions of the same main character are used to explore this persons troubles and duplicity in the events that transpired but also to disorientate the audience, so that they may feel this man's confusion too. The film, mostly, takes place in one room, labeled as a gentlemen's club in the script, but through discussion with Ben (director) and Joeley (art director) it seems the set will be more basic, nearer to a bare room containing the main props. I find this decision  at once a relief and exciting. The bareness to the room obviously makes the organisation aspect easier but also I think having the scene set in a more abstract place will add to the film's subconscious-ness. The room, imagined dark red, is stated to be lit like a Caravaggio, something which further excites me as the lighting in his paintings is very moody and dramatic, something I hope to replicate with the uses of the lighting equipment.

Initial storyboarding has been completed, I have made a rough draft of the whole of the film and how I want the shot flow to look like. Next is to take this initial storyboard plan to the rest of the group to finalise shots and put them onto an 'official' storyboard.