I could attend a few hours of the second day of the 'Love Always' shoot as I had other work commitments.
Today was another successful day, however there was one set back.
Dean and I had written the character of Johnny as Mary's younger brother as a 8-10 year old who was boistrous and playful, a bit of a toerag. However Dan and Hennie decided to cast a family member of dan's 4 year louie to play the role. After looking at the script it worked as he didn't have many lines so could be turned into a younger character. However on the day Louie was really good for the first half of the day but it was clear as the day went on he began to get tireder and grumpier and by 2pm he did not want to do any more acting. After countless numbers of bribing with sweets and toys, he was adamant that he would not do any more acting today.
The next step was for myself and the producer, Hennie to sit down and look at Johnny's scenes and see where we could cut him from without making too many changes to the storyline. We had to take 20 minutes out of the filming time so that we could make these changes but they were definitely necessary as filming wouldn't have been able to continue without them. We managed to cut Johnny out so the scenes still made sense without him. I was glad that I had come to this shoot as I was able to see the changes and help out with the script. I have become quite attached!
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Thursday, 10 October 2013
'Love Always' Day 1 shoot
I was very excited to see the shoot of 'Love Always,' so I could finally see everything in my head come to life. I was eager to help out on the first day of filming. The location at Kent Life, was perfect it couldn't have been better and we were really like to be able to film there.
My job on the day was to script supervise. I really enjoyed this as I could see my words come to life and see if they needed changing because they didn't quite fit when said aloud. This was only the case a few times, with little bits where they just didn't work, so I just spoke to the actor and re-worded the line to make it flow of the tongue better. I also script prompted but the actors were all so porffessional and great I did not need to do this much.
Dan's directing was great and really brought the best out of the actors and Hennie's producing skills were brilliant and really kept the whole crew and cast in line and everyone knew what they were doing at all times. And there was a big crew!
It was also a really good chance to make some contacts and I met the man who will be doing the sound for the 'Totally Maisy' shoot in a few weeks time. It was good catching up with people we have worked with previously, Ollie from Toerags was starring in 'Love Always' and also by coincidence a girl from my old school was the hair stylist for the day.
This is a collage I made of some photos I took on the day.
My job on the day was to script supervise. I really enjoyed this as I could see my words come to life and see if they needed changing because they didn't quite fit when said aloud. This was only the case a few times, with little bits where they just didn't work, so I just spoke to the actor and re-worded the line to make it flow of the tongue better. I also script prompted but the actors were all so porffessional and great I did not need to do this much.
Dan's directing was great and really brought the best out of the actors and Hennie's producing skills were brilliant and really kept the whole crew and cast in line and everyone knew what they were doing at all times. And there was a big crew!
It was also a really good chance to make some contacts and I met the man who will be doing the sound for the 'Totally Maisy' shoot in a few weeks time. It was good catching up with people we have worked with previously, Ollie from Toerags was starring in 'Love Always' and also by coincidence a girl from my old school was the hair stylist for the day.
This is a collage I made of some photos I took on the day.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Developing Mary
From version 1 to version 6 of Love Always I am now a lot happier and confident with Mary's development as a character. In earlier versions of the script Mary was a very flat and weak character. Alot of thought went into making her not as a flat.
In the latest version of Love Always, Mary starts off as a weak and naive young character hopelessly in love and willing to please everyone. When she comes to realise that arthur probably isn't coming home she has a breakdown but is lifted up again by Frank. After this she is stronger than ever before and is not weak at all. She begins to confront Alice when she doesn't like what she's saying and then when she finds out that Franks has been hiding the letters the whole time, she confronts him and puts on a front. She no longer has break downs and gets on with her life looking after johnny. It is not until Arthur returns that we see a softer side of Mary again.
This is a much better development of a character than what we had at the beginning and I feel like mary is no longer a flat character but goes through an emotional journey throughout the story.
In the latest version of Love Always, Mary starts off as a weak and naive young character hopelessly in love and willing to please everyone. When she comes to realise that arthur probably isn't coming home she has a breakdown but is lifted up again by Frank. After this she is stronger than ever before and is not weak at all. She begins to confront Alice when she doesn't like what she's saying and then when she finds out that Franks has been hiding the letters the whole time, she confronts him and puts on a front. She no longer has break downs and gets on with her life looking after johnny. It is not until Arthur returns that we see a softer side of Mary again.
This is a much better development of a character than what we had at the beginning and I feel like mary is no longer a flat character but goes through an emotional journey throughout the story.
Monday, 16 September 2013
Love Always update
We are now on version 6 of 'Love Always.' I think I have found writing a short film drama harder than I first expected. I don't think it is because it is a period drama that it has caused us problems, I think because it is the genre, we as a collective have least experience in. The main idea that we found hard trying to convey into the script was the fact that over the film our protagonist Mary had to go on a mental journey and change. Simons feedback said that her character was flat. I think version 6 now shows a clear emotional journey that she goes on. At the beginning of the short Mary is portrayed as a very weak, naive and vulnerable person, but as she starts to realise that Arthur isn't coming back she becomes a stronger character that doesn't take being walked over anymore. At the end of the short instead of being upset and crying when she finds out that Frank has hidden the letters she becomes angry, shouting and confronting him instead of running away like she would have at the beginning.
We have also made it clearer to the audience of what sort of life Frank lives. Not only have we shown Mary's little brother, Johnny mocking him at the beginning of the script but today we also added a scene where an old man from the same village treats Frank with no respect at all and snatches his letters out of Franks hand. This new scene along with the other added scenes of him in his lonely, isolated flat portrays the sort of life Frank leads.
I am looking forward to Simon's feedback and I hope he feels we are nearer to a final draft.
We have also made it clearer to the audience of what sort of life Frank lives. Not only have we shown Mary's little brother, Johnny mocking him at the beginning of the script but today we also added a scene where an old man from the same village treats Frank with no respect at all and snatches his letters out of Franks hand. This new scene along with the other added scenes of him in his lonely, isolated flat portrays the sort of life Frank leads.
I am looking forward to Simon's feedback and I hope he feels we are nearer to a final draft.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
WW2 Research
As I was trying to find out the answers to my previous questions:
1. Arthur would most likely be in a Spitfire. The Spitfire was the main front line fighter plane and it was the only British fighter plane to be in continuous production throughout the second world war. After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire became the backbone of RAF Fighter Command, and saw action in the European, Mediterranean, Pacific and the South-East Asian theatres.
2.The two main reasons for a young man not to be fighting in the war were: they had a reserved occupation or an illness. A reserved occupation was a job that was too important for that person to go to war. This was usually a government position or an important equipment producer, e.g someone making radios for the war. The other reason was illness, these illness included:
3. The two main jobs for women were factory workers and Land army. They worked in all manner of production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aeroplanes. The hours they worked were long and some women had to move to where the factories were. Those who moved away were paid more. We have decided to make Mary a factory worker.
4.Britian was involved in Africa during WW2 from 1941 when part of the RAF was based there to provide close air support to the British Eighth army.
- What sort of plane would Arthur be in? More research about his job.
- Why is Frank not at war, what reasons did men not fight?
- What job would Mary have living in the countryside?
- What year would this be set, which year would Africa have begun getting involved?
1. Arthur would most likely be in a Spitfire. The Spitfire was the main front line fighter plane and it was the only British fighter plane to be in continuous production throughout the second world war. After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire became the backbone of RAF Fighter Command, and saw action in the European, Mediterranean, Pacific and the South-East Asian theatres.
2.The two main reasons for a young man not to be fighting in the war were: they had a reserved occupation or an illness. A reserved occupation was a job that was too important for that person to go to war. This was usually a government position or an important equipment producer, e.g someone making radios for the war. The other reason was illness, these illness included:
- A physical disability, such as 1 arm.
- Blind/Short Sightedness/deaf
- A long standing disease such as TB.
- A disease that could effect physical shape eg, Polio or heart complications.
3. The two main jobs for women were factory workers and Land army. They worked in all manner of production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aeroplanes. The hours they worked were long and some women had to move to where the factories were. Those who moved away were paid more. We have decided to make Mary a factory worker.
4.Britian was involved in Africa during WW2 from 1941 when part of the RAF was based there to provide close air support to the British Eighth army.
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Co writing Love Always
When Dan asked me and Dean to co-write, I was a bit nervous but thought it would be a good challenge. I really enjoyed writing 'The Suitcase Kid,' so thought with someone else I could write something even better. With Deans forte being comedy and mine being kids television, I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
Once Dan gave us the initial we sat down to think about characters and the plot. Neither mine nor Dean's knowledge of World War 2 is extensive but we both felt we knew a reasonable amount from learning about it at school. We thought we would come up with the main plot point and then research further into the history of the war for little but important details.
The four main character are:
Our first basic plot points we wanted to include:
Once Dan gave us the initial we sat down to think about characters and the plot. Neither mine nor Dean's knowledge of World War 2 is extensive but we both felt we knew a reasonable amount from learning about it at school. We thought we would come up with the main plot point and then research further into the history of the war for little but important details.
The four main character are:
- Mary (Protagonist)
- Arthur (Mary's lover fighting in the RAF)
- Alice (Mary's next door neighbour and best friend)
- Frank (The village postman and Mary's new love interest
Our first basic plot points we wanted to include:
- Mary and Arthur are writing back and forth to each other, while Arthur is fighting in the war. Mary is living at home, looking after her brother Johnny, with the help of her neighbour (Alice) because of the passing of both of her parents.
- The postman Frank, takes a shine to Mary and becomes more and more infatuated with Mary after each meeting.
- He begins to hide and intercept each letter between Mary and Arthur, fooling Mary into believing Arthur is dead/forgotten about her.
- Frank then begins to take on Arthurs' role in Mary's life by fixing things and comforting her.
- Then begin falling in love, with Mary heartbroken and vulnerable.
- In a twist of events she finds all the letters Frank has been hiding and is distraught and guilty.
- Arthur comes home and Frank is shunned by everyone.
- What sort of plane would Arthur be in? More research about his job.
- Why is Frank not at war, what reasons did men not fight?
- What job would Mary have living in the countryside?
- What year would this be set? When were the RAF fighters in Africa?
Summer's over!
We are now due back to uni in less the week and sadly enough I am quite excited. The beginning of term means the time for our Final Major projects. At first this was quite a daunting thing for me but over the summer I have decided that not only will I be producing and writing my own idea but also co writing a short film with Dean Ross for director/producer Daniel Baugh.
My two projects are:
My two projects are:
- Totally Maisy- A TV pilot, teen drama about the awkward and 'embaz' life of 15 year old Maisy Young dealing with everything a teenage girl must deal with. I have set up a blog especially for this- http://totallymaisy.blogspot.co.uk
- Love Always- This idea was given to myself and Dean by Daniel. Dans' family has his great great uncles love letters from the second world war and Dan thought they would make a great premise for a short film and asked me and Dean if were willing to write it for him. We were up for the challenge. We knew it would take a lot of researching as it is a completely different time period. I will document my research on this blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)