Producing

Was doing producing today. The lectures were full of contracts, schedules, call lists and health & safety forms. It was kept fun by the tutor (Rebecca Knapp) with her horror stories of what has happened on her sets and she really got across the importance of a producer. No film will get off the ground without good organisation.

After the long day of lectures I went to TGI's with my creative team to discuss the script, locations and shots for my film. We also enjoyed a cold beer...helps the creative process.

Week One Review

My first week at the LFA is over. It’s been a busy week in which I’ve had 24 hours of lectures, taken 144 photos, drawn 92 pictures and drafted 1 script. I’m not complaining its been fantastic. I’ve learnt new things, met new people and enjoyed every second.

One day this week was put aside for directing. A director and two professional actors ran through some basic directing techniques with us. We also got a chance to work one on one with the actors and each directed a short scene with them. A very enjoyable day and one that has helped me believe more firmly in becoming a director.

Other than the directing workshop we were mostly concentrating on creating our own individual stories that would go on to be shot if chosen. We developed the stories as a prose storyboard and also took still photos to show our ideas. The stories that everyone came up with were widely different and all very interesting. Four of these stories are being turned into short films, sadly mine is not one of them but I agree with the choices the tutors made, they all have great potential. Students work on all the films but are split into four teams of three. These three are given the roles Director, Producer and DOP which are chosen by the tutor. You play these roles on your film and then on the others you fill in different roles such as Gaffer, Loader and Focus Puller therefore experiencing a different role on each film.

I’ve been picked to be director on one of these films, Sabotage, which of course I’m over the moon about because there was some steep competition.

This coming week will I’m sure will be just as busy as last, if not more. I have many lectures on producing, lighting and camera operating. I will also be working a lot on the pre-production of Sabotage with my producer and DOP so that we are ready for the shoot which is in 9 days time. I shall keep you posted on the events of the week.

Storyboarding the Month

Super 16mm Camera

I’m in London. I’m at the LFA. Its good.

In fact thats an understatement its fantastic. I’ve had two days of lectures in which I have learn’t about still photography (apertures, focal lengths, shutter speeds, ASA numbers and other technical things, I’m sure you don’t want me to get into on here) and framing which was factually and inspiringly taught by cinematographer Mark Carey (Show Reel). Apart from this lecture all the focus has been on storyboarding and developing our own dramatic story that we want to make in this month.

The story has to be written in prose storyboard form and must be a visual story as we are not allowed to use dialog. This means the viewer must be able to understand the story just by the watching images. For my idea I’m playing around with a game of ‘snap’ and trying to tell a dramatic story through it.

I’ve been meeting many new people at the film school and in the halls where I’m living, many names to remember but I’ll get there. The halls are great, comfy and larger than I had expected...if only I had known this before coming up I needn’t of been so harsh with what I packed and what I left.

Tomorrow I’m going out with a group of my fellow students with a stills camera. With this we will pose out the key scenes from each others stories and find the shot that we would like to film in a few weeks time. By doing this I will gain a photographic storyboard and a strong visual way to pitch my film Idea.

First Post - My Goal

Hi I'm Aaron.

This is my blog about filmmaking. More specifically my attempts to get into the film industry. I have made three short films to date, all bad. Made with no budget and no clue they were still a worthwhile experience. I learnt a lot just through trial and error and although re-watching the films is painful I am happy to say there is a slight improvement in each one. I think learning from my mistakes is going to be a key skill for my journey into filmmaking.

This messing around with a video camera and friends has given me the 'bug' for filmmaking. I feel comfortable, confident and creative when I'm on a film set. It's like being at home. When I was first trying my hand at filming I had grand ideas of becoming the next Tarantino, however now I have my heart set on a career in film I need to get my own vision and stories onto the big screen (or any other screen for that matter).

This brings me back to my blog. I will be describing my trek into the film world and writing production dairies. My Goal at the moment is to get into an MA film school. I will detail the things I get right and times I have to kick myself.

I’m in my final year at University studying Creative Writing and want film school to be the next chapter of my life. To stand a chance of getting in I need to create a fantastic film portfolio that makes me stand out.

So with this in mind next week I will be in London attending a certificate course at the London Film Academy (LFA). This is a month long course to give some professional training that I desperately need. I will keep you posted on my time there.