Second Draft

I spend a lot of time reviewing my notes that I took I Sunday which led to my second rewrite which can be read here:

Carl O'Donovan -FYP-Rapto-Draft2

Meeting With Colly And Rewrites

On Sunday I met up with my actor again to talk through the script. After spending a few hours with him, we fleshed out a back story for both characters and we really delved into the story. He felt a lot more happy with the story after the talk as did I because the story felt more whole. This set me up for a second rewrite.

Test Footage

Today I went out and shot some test footage with the guys from college. I had to edit it in Final Cut Pro as my Premiere wasn't working but I still found it beneficial to try these shots to see what worked. I cut the audio from the video to as I have a table read planned with my actor so I didn't want to see what the lines were like with someone who isn't an actor. The lines will be tested with the actor as he will deliver them better so it will make more sense to see if they flow well.

Every Little Helps

Here is an interesting take of a conversation scene in which the camera stays longer on the subject and rakes focus back and fourth between the actors before cutting and reverting back to the pulling of focus. It is an interesting visual and it may not be something I will use, but definitely may help down the road.

This scene here is a nice example of what you can do when you shoot behind your subject. The light from the setting sun brings a lovely colour to the actors face and it gives the impression that the actors are talking in private. We the viewer are behind the subject so they have no idea we are watching them so it feels like we are experiencing the intimacy of the scene without the characters knowledge.

Another Video I came across that tells a short story based solely on a bench. This short film is quite helpful as it was shot nicely, but it was something good to look at as the film was 7 minutes, so the cinematographer had to come up with interesting shots so it wouldn't become boring visually, which I think he did well.

More Guidance

This is taken from one of my favourite films "In Bruges". Although the dialogue itself is quite funny it shows nice composition and shows me something I aim to deliver for my film.

Here is another example of a conversation on a bench in film, however it is different from "In Bruges". I had never thought of using a slider for the scene I plan to shoot but it gives a nice visual.

This example shows simple cinematography but I looked at this more in terms of editing the conversation. Using different shots can emphasise a line or important moment in the scene and I think this scene shows a good example of this.

Test Footage Guidance

Here is a video I came across that has been helpful leading up to my test shoot for my FYP. It talks about the rule of thirds as well as giving a good visual of how to set up and edit a conversation between two people.

Test Footage

Tomorrow I am heading out with some of my class mates to try test some footage for my FYP. I have some shots in mind I want to test. This will hopefully guide me and will inform me if the shots I want are doable as well as seeing how they look with the dialogue. Here is an example of some similar shots I want to try.

Table Read

I have organised a table read with my actor for the coming weekend which I hope to record to see if the dialogue flows as well as seeing if the actor as any ideas on the characters or the dialogue itself.

New Location

After a new story, I opted to change the location and one location that sprung to mind was my grandmothers house. For what the story is now I feel it would be a good spot as of the space and it also has a great boiler house for the kidnapping.

Due to some unfortunate events, I may have more access to the house then I thought so the location shouldn't be a problem.

Meeting, Emails, Draft

I forwarded a rough draft of the script of what I had done it onto my actor who gave me this response:

"It's got a sense of reality to it. Both brothers came across believable and the dialogue is close to a conversation brothers would have. {You don't have a brother, so good job capturing that} 

The younger brother comes across as the steady one in the siblings. {Acting older brother in a way} To get this strongly across on screen, you might need to tweak the older brother as more of a waster/drop out type. With the younger being the one with the education & reliable head on his shoulders. This won't be a problem, I think we can capture that."

This gave me huge encouragement considering I don't have any brothers. I didn't know how the dialogue would read but I am delighted he is happy with it.

Although the script isn't finished here is what is done so far:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3NgYOPv5d2GbjdSbzY5M2xqbVE/view?usp=sharing