Another quick update really. I'll promise to make another long post in the next week or so, just been a bit tied down with other work duties other than the film.
The auditions have been set up for 9th February in London, just so I can see as many actors as I can. Hopefully the budget allows me to have the actors from London and so far the majority of the actors that have great potential to be in this film are from London.
What I hope to achieve whilst in London is to meet potential actors through auditions for the parts of William and for Thomas. I already potentially have a Thomas (The funeral director) who for me is the actor I had in mind from the beginning, and from speaking via his agent he seems interested. Hopefully the auditions will give me a chance to speak to him in person about the role and to audition him, as well as a variety of other people for the roles of Thomas but most importantly for the role of William.
I admit that I think I have focused my energy on finding the right Thomas because it is the character who I have spent the most time developing on this project. Although the way things have panned out, it is now William who is the main protagonist in the film, with Thomas as the support.
The auditions will give me a chance to really see what the actors can do with the character of the William. I know not to have a 'too' particular vision of William and to take in to account the talents and capabilities of the actors, who will be able to deliver not necessarily perfectly on the audition but on the day.
I will hopefully set up an open audition in Cornwall, sometime in February/March time in order to see whether it is possible to find the role of William (and Thomas depending on how things pan out) here, which could work in our favour in terms of budget but at the moment I don't want to think too much about this, as if I find the perfect actor in London, then I may have to just do with a smaller budget in other aspects of the film. We shall see what happens.
This open audition in Cornwall will also enable us to try and cast the smaller roles, such as the Butcher, the Pub Landlady, The Fisherman and the role of Reginald. These are small and non-speaking parts (apart from Reginald) but integral to the film, so getting these characters right is just as important as the main characters.
Overall, I think this is all I have to say for now. Apart from the fact that Kamilla has kindly worked through the budget for me, to work out exactly how much money needs to be put into various aspects of the production. I have looked over the rough budget but will meet with her over the next few days to discuss how we lower costs and things that may have been overlooked in the long run.
Things are starting to come together and things are definitely starting to feel more real exciting, even if we are still in the first steps of creating the film. The last thing that I must mention is that myself (Lee), Kamilla and Joe took a trip to Perranporth on Tuesday 18th January 2011 to take a look at some of the locations for the film. We were quite successful in finding the locations that will be right for the film and hopefully the owners will let us film in their establishments and the council will allow us to film outside.
I will hopefully post more on this development in a future post, but for now that is all.
Stay tuned!
Lee
(I've just realised that I said this was going to be a short post, but ended up rambling on for ages, as per usual. )
Thursday 27 January 2011
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Autumn Leaves logo
A nice logo and text courtesy of Daniel Bade for the overall design, Kamilla and her friend (I haven't got a name) and Jon Pattle for the text.
Here is the version of it so far but expect it to change or to perhaps see a little bit of colour in the next few weeks.
Here is the version of it so far but expect it to change or to perhaps see a little bit of colour in the next few weeks.
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Make-up
In terms of making sure everything looks authentic and looks right when it comes to the funeral parlour in the film, I think that making sure that the make-up applied to the actors in order to make them look dead is of major importance.
For Autumn Leaves, I have asked Lucy Pullinger (or Zombie Lucy as she is known) to do the make-up for me. When I first approached her to do the make-up for my project, I had a much more vivd imagining of gory deaths, with blood, guts and other visual treats but the more I thought about the film, the more I felt that having this amount of practical make-up and effects would just detract away from the overall feel of the film and from the characters. I think the tone of the film is definitely of the past and with that I've looked closely at older black comedies that are able to express murder and death without the need for excessive violence.
But what I will ask of Lucy is to make the certain actor's look dead and look the part, as it were. I need to do a bit more research into this and am aware of what dead bodies look like in their various forms (Courtesy of a Funeral Director's book that I will mention in a later blog) but what I really need is a visual reference, as horrible as that sounds. And getting hold of that type of thing hasn't been that easy so far. It's also not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Anyway, here is some corpse make-up Lucy has worked upon for the film.
For Autumn Leaves, I have asked Lucy Pullinger (or Zombie Lucy as she is known) to do the make-up for me. When I first approached her to do the make-up for my project, I had a much more vivd imagining of gory deaths, with blood, guts and other visual treats but the more I thought about the film, the more I felt that having this amount of practical make-up and effects would just detract away from the overall feel of the film and from the characters. I think the tone of the film is definitely of the past and with that I've looked closely at older black comedies that are able to express murder and death without the need for excessive violence.
But what I will ask of Lucy is to make the certain actor's look dead and look the part, as it were. I need to do a bit more research into this and am aware of what dead bodies look like in their various forms (Courtesy of a Funeral Director's book that I will mention in a later blog) but what I really need is a visual reference, as horrible as that sounds. And getting hold of that type of thing hasn't been that easy so far. It's also not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Anyway, here is some corpse make-up Lucy has worked upon for the film.
To look at her other work, head on over to:
http://www.zombielucy.co.uk/
or
http://zombielucy.blogspot.com/
Monday 10 January 2011
Script update
Just a short update to say that the third draft of the film is now complete and I am glad to say that other than possibly having a few small future revisions, I think that for now, this will be close to the final script. I'm very pleased with all of the changes from draft 1.5, to 2 and now finished with 3, that have been made to better the script. To be fair many of these changes were simple ones that addressed problems with dialogue, making scenes longer to get across the importance of them and letting the characters develop, as well as spelling errors and general mistakes.
This script will be the version that will be sent to potential actors and their agents for them to take a look at, so hopefully this is a strong enough draft that is able to garner interest and support from others. The script will hopefully reach them sometime this week, giving us enough time to browse more actors and also to arrange audition dates and other issues, including payment, travel and obviously revisions to the script if it is not possible to film certain parts.
Kamilla has nicely helped me by putting together a prospectus / press pack that includes, a small and long story synopsis, history of the project and information about some of the crew including myself. I helped with adding my own knowledge on the project, as well as helping to write the synopsis and some of the others but Kamilla did the hard part and put it all together and I am thankful for her doing that.
This will be sent to actors as well as to others in order to help secure certain things upon the film, including locations, props, crew and also to short film festivals once the film is completed.
Overall, I am pleased with the progress so far and can now take a break from the script-writing process to focus upon other important tasks. This week I will be scouting locations in Cornwall again in order to find out where will be the best place to shoot the film and I will also be trying to gather the crew together for a short meeting in order for them to all address things in the same room together. This has not been done so far.
I will keep you updated as things progress.
Happy New Year
Lee
This script will be the version that will be sent to potential actors and their agents for them to take a look at, so hopefully this is a strong enough draft that is able to garner interest and support from others. The script will hopefully reach them sometime this week, giving us enough time to browse more actors and also to arrange audition dates and other issues, including payment, travel and obviously revisions to the script if it is not possible to film certain parts.
Kamilla has nicely helped me by putting together a prospectus / press pack that includes, a small and long story synopsis, history of the project and information about some of the crew including myself. I helped with adding my own knowledge on the project, as well as helping to write the synopsis and some of the others but Kamilla did the hard part and put it all together and I am thankful for her doing that.
This will be sent to actors as well as to others in order to help secure certain things upon the film, including locations, props, crew and also to short film festivals once the film is completed.
Overall, I am pleased with the progress so far and can now take a break from the script-writing process to focus upon other important tasks. This week I will be scouting locations in Cornwall again in order to find out where will be the best place to shoot the film and I will also be trying to gather the crew together for a short meeting in order for them to all address things in the same room together. This has not been done so far.
I will keep you updated as things progress.
Happy New Year
Lee
Saturday 8 January 2011
Shots and introducing Mr. Henderson
Just another quick blog mainly to introduce Joe's current showreel for his portfolio work and to show you some inspirational shots that I may work at using at some point during the film. I've been working closely via e-mail through Christmas, looking at specific shots and the way the film should be lit and the shots we should be looking towards.
Here is Joe's current showreel:
http://vimeo.com/18520527
Here are a few videos that have inspired us both and are shots that we may possibly use within the film at some point.
This first video has been shot using a glide-cam. I hope to use a glide-cam which Joe is capable of using. Here are some examples of shots that may be used for the beginning.
EOS 7D NJ Botanical Gardens GlideCam 2000HD
Trouble with Harry trailer (From 0.41 to 0.55)
The shot that I want to use is actually the thumbnail for the video but you can still view it to see exactly what it looks like and what I intend to do. I hope to use this shot in the scene where someone is run over by a hearse. I think this shot is amazing and displays a level of discovery to the character but also for the audience who are aware from the very second of seeing it that this man is most probably dead.
Quip (From 1.57)
I would love to have a tracking shot from one side to another, making it seem like a transitional shot, as if the audience is peering in on the scene. I have seen it done in many films but this is an example of where I could find it. I am not sure at this stage where I will put it in the film but at least I am aware of this shot and its relevancy of being used in Autumn Leaves.
Nudel Funeral (0- 0-.13)
An example on how a coffin can be introduced or shown within the embalming/preparation room within the film.
The next three videos are examples of how the film should look (the first and third more so than the second, I think.) The videos are films that have taken inspiration from Jack Vettriano who is the artist that I looked at for inspiration in my second blog. I really like the noir look of his work and I definitely still want to follow this old 1950s orange tint that makes the film look older than it really is.
Evelyn (Like Jack Vettriano)
An Imperfect past (Jack Vettriano)
After Midnight (Jack Vettriano)
Edit: The spacing is horrible on this post. Blame Blogger for this. I hate the internet sometimes.
Location, location, location.
Locations are definitely an important part of this short film because it is the surroundings of this small village and the life or lack of it that really will play a major part within the picture. The film will be set in Cornwall, where I am currently living for university. That is not to say that I have specifically chosen Cornwall just because of easy access but I think that Cornwall would be the perfect place to set a film about small communities and the way a small Funeral business survives when there just isn't any business at all.
This isn't going to be a blog that will be as long as the others but it is just to really show you the type of locations that I have been looking at for filming with explanations under a few that I feel will probably be chosen and why they will be chosen.
Here are some images of different exterior locations for Autumn Leaves.
Graveyards
St. Ives - Barnoon cemetery
This is a great location and one that I hope we go for, even though it's a bit out of the way. One of the things that we need to do is to make sure that we are able to film within a certain time window of 3-4 days for the overall shoot. This means making sure that we have enough time to shoot in the various locations (I think there is 11-12 in total, which is a lot), so one of the things we need to ensure if that perhaps one town has many of the locations, or at least all of the locations we need for one specific day. This is something that me and Kamilla will be sorting out over the next coming two months.
Towns (For the main location of the film)
Mousehole
Mevagissey
St. Keverne
Fowey
Polruan
Looe
Perranporth
At present Perranporth is probably the location we have looked the most at and it's the location I have the most personal connection to. I have family there and have been to Perranporth more than a couple of times, so I am aware of what it looks like and the size of the community. It definitely is a front runner for filming. All we need to do now is do more location spotting and perhaps go back to Perranporth as well.
Country Lanes
Trevengnow
Obviously being a huge countryside, there are many lanes identical to this in Cornwall. So finding a road won't be hard, it's just trying to find one where we can block it off to film a scene where someone is run over by a hearse. Obviously this won't be easy but I can imagine that the location that we choose will ultimately depend upon the town that we decide to choose. This way we can work with local authorities and local people to try and find a suitable and safe location that isn't going to disrupt anything, which is at the top of my list to ensure.
Currently I haven't found any of the interior locations but I will keep you all posted and will post these when I come across them.
This isn't going to be a blog that will be as long as the others but it is just to really show you the type of locations that I have been looking at for filming with explanations under a few that I feel will probably be chosen and why they will be chosen.
Here are some images of different exterior locations for Autumn Leaves.
Graveyards
St. Ives - Barnoon cemetery
This is a great location and one that I hope we go for, even though it's a bit out of the way. One of the things that we need to do is to make sure that we are able to film within a certain time window of 3-4 days for the overall shoot. This means making sure that we have enough time to shoot in the various locations (I think there is 11-12 in total, which is a lot), so one of the things we need to ensure if that perhaps one town has many of the locations, or at least all of the locations we need for one specific day. This is something that me and Kamilla will be sorting out over the next coming two months.
Towns (For the main location of the film)
Mousehole
Mevagissey
St. Keverne
Fowey
Polruan
Looe
Perranporth
At present Perranporth is probably the location we have looked the most at and it's the location I have the most personal connection to. I have family there and have been to Perranporth more than a couple of times, so I am aware of what it looks like and the size of the community. It definitely is a front runner for filming. All we need to do now is do more location spotting and perhaps go back to Perranporth as well.
Country Lanes
Trevengnow
Obviously being a huge countryside, there are many lanes identical to this in Cornwall. So finding a road won't be hard, it's just trying to find one where we can block it off to film a scene where someone is run over by a hearse. Obviously this won't be easy but I can imagine that the location that we choose will ultimately depend upon the town that we decide to choose. This way we can work with local authorities and local people to try and find a suitable and safe location that isn't going to disrupt anything, which is at the top of my list to ensure.
Currently I haven't found any of the interior locations but I will keep you all posted and will post these when I come across them.
Monday 3 January 2011
Autumn Leaves Draft 1.5 is complete!
So it has been a fair few weeks since I have posted a blog on here. I've been working to try and finish the first draft of the script and I am pleased to say that a few days ago I was able to walk away from the laptop with a confident draft. That draft is draft 1.5.
Why 1.5? Well the reason for this is that I wrote the first five pages of the script and ran out of steam. The idea for the film has changed so much over the past three or four months that what I had in mind for the ending had completely changed because of the way I was telling the story.
I ended up with five pages not knowing where I wanted the story to go, which is because I kept changing my mind upon the story every five minutes. Draft 0.5/1 had dropped the fact that the son William was going to university and it was more about trying to helping his dad out by killing people. I think that because there was less of a stronger motive and less character development in both the son; William and the Funeral Director; Thomas, I just couldn't really care enough for the characters to really know where they should end up.
It was at this point that I sent the script to Kamilla Hodol who will be co-producing the film with me. I thought that I should just send what I had written to see exactly what was wrong with the script so far and why I wasn't able to continue.
It was already evident to me what was wrong with some of the script but I couldn't see past these faults to see exactly what I could do to change them. I was aware that the dialogue was clunky and far too explanatory into the characters thoughts and I knew that them speaking what was wrong should be done with action and not with speech. There was a lack of build up or character development that needed a lot of work on so there was more motive in the character/s and maybe a few cliches that could be avoided.
A lot of what I wrote was written just to get through it and I was self aware that what I was writing was subject to change and a lot of the five pages have been changed and shifted around, with the best scenes (in my opinion) making it into draft 1.5 and the missing scenes (Montage) added in as well.
Below are the five pages of the unfinished 0.5/1st draft with feedback from Kamilla. Here you will be able to see the beginnings of the film and what exactly I had in mind but also what exactly was wrong with it. I'll add feedback after each page to explain how I feel about the feedback and afterwards I will explain what I have done to change this in the finished draft.
Things do happen too fast and I think that there isn't enough explanation as to why the business is failing and motive enough for William to do something to help his dad. Like I have said before, the dialogue upon this page is too clunky and should perhaps rely more upon visual images that Kamilla suggested me to do. The beginning needs to establish the town as mis-en-scene a little better and perhaps be a little longer to show the decay and emptiness. And obviously the description of the characters is brief and probably not enough to get an idea about who the characters are and what they may physically look like.
Too much dialogue was within this scene and a lot of it was too self explantory again. But I wasn't sure exactly how to express it at this point. The full draft does not have too much dialogue and I've made sure to replace the dialogue with actions.
Kamilla states that perhaps a character would not state the fact that he needs more bodies in such a way and perhaps this was something that I worked upon on the first proper draft (1.5), which was to make sure that both main characters were never reaching out of their depths in terms of emotional change.
The montage was not complete at this stage and it is something that definitely still needs work on when I go to write the second draft but it's an idea that I have had from the very start of development and is a scene that definitely needs tightening up. I just got worried about he content of it because the killings are the hardest part because I don't want them to be TOO realistic but I don't want them to be too slapstick or gory. So I left out the parts I just could not fill in and I'll admit that the montage was one of the last things that I finished for draft 1.5.
So what has changed for the complete draft which is draft 1.5? Well, I've added tweaks to the story so that now William is coming back from university to find that his dad's business isn't doing too well. This is the motive to helping his Dad, who he thought wasn't doing as bad as he really is. The opening scene with the various locations incorporates William walking through them instead of just showing them, which I feel works better. The montage is complete now and flows better and I now have an ending which I think is good, but I won't spoil it for you. I've also gotten rid of quite a lot of dialogue and replaced with action, and I feel that the story is more complete as a whole rather than just drifting off being under-developed and characters wandering around.
Hopefully these first five pages give you an insight into what is to come and I hope that you enjoy it.
Why 1.5? Well the reason for this is that I wrote the first five pages of the script and ran out of steam. The idea for the film has changed so much over the past three or four months that what I had in mind for the ending had completely changed because of the way I was telling the story.
I ended up with five pages not knowing where I wanted the story to go, which is because I kept changing my mind upon the story every five minutes. Draft 0.5/1 had dropped the fact that the son William was going to university and it was more about trying to helping his dad out by killing people. I think that because there was less of a stronger motive and less character development in both the son; William and the Funeral Director; Thomas, I just couldn't really care enough for the characters to really know where they should end up.
It was at this point that I sent the script to Kamilla Hodol who will be co-producing the film with me. I thought that I should just send what I had written to see exactly what was wrong with the script so far and why I wasn't able to continue.
It was already evident to me what was wrong with some of the script but I couldn't see past these faults to see exactly what I could do to change them. I was aware that the dialogue was clunky and far too explanatory into the characters thoughts and I knew that them speaking what was wrong should be done with action and not with speech. There was a lack of build up or character development that needed a lot of work on so there was more motive in the character/s and maybe a few cliches that could be avoided.
A lot of what I wrote was written just to get through it and I was self aware that what I was writing was subject to change and a lot of the five pages have been changed and shifted around, with the best scenes (in my opinion) making it into draft 1.5 and the missing scenes (Montage) added in as well.
Below are the five pages of the unfinished 0.5/1st draft with feedback from Kamilla. Here you will be able to see the beginnings of the film and what exactly I had in mind but also what exactly was wrong with it. I'll add feedback after each page to explain how I feel about the feedback and afterwards I will explain what I have done to change this in the finished draft.
Things do happen too fast and I think that there isn't enough explanation as to why the business is failing and motive enough for William to do something to help his dad. Like I have said before, the dialogue upon this page is too clunky and should perhaps rely more upon visual images that Kamilla suggested me to do. The beginning needs to establish the town as mis-en-scene a little better and perhaps be a little longer to show the decay and emptiness. And obviously the description of the characters is brief and probably not enough to get an idea about who the characters are and what they may physically look like.
Too much dialogue was within this scene and a lot of it was too self explantory again. But I wasn't sure exactly how to express it at this point. The full draft does not have too much dialogue and I've made sure to replace the dialogue with actions.
Kamilla states that perhaps a character would not state the fact that he needs more bodies in such a way and perhaps this was something that I worked upon on the first proper draft (1.5), which was to make sure that both main characters were never reaching out of their depths in terms of emotional change.
The montage was not complete at this stage and it is something that definitely still needs work on when I go to write the second draft but it's an idea that I have had from the very start of development and is a scene that definitely needs tightening up. I just got worried about he content of it because the killings are the hardest part because I don't want them to be TOO realistic but I don't want them to be too slapstick or gory. So I left out the parts I just could not fill in and I'll admit that the montage was one of the last things that I finished for draft 1.5.
It is towards the end of this script that I started to really get into it and the scenes reflect a more creative approach to the way I've written, or at least that 's how I feel about it. The dialogue for all of this is dispensable and I think that the dialogue is probably the weakest part about this version.
So what has changed for the complete draft which is draft 1.5? Well, I've added tweaks to the story so that now William is coming back from university to find that his dad's business isn't doing too well. This is the motive to helping his Dad, who he thought wasn't doing as bad as he really is. The opening scene with the various locations incorporates William walking through them instead of just showing them, which I feel works better. The montage is complete now and flows better and I now have an ending which I think is good, but I won't spoil it for you. I've also gotten rid of quite a lot of dialogue and replaced with action, and I feel that the story is more complete as a whole rather than just drifting off being under-developed and characters wandering around.
Hopefully these first five pages give you an insight into what is to come and I hope that you enjoy it.
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