The Grays
The Grays 16/03/2013 rough cut review
We met with Laura, the director and Ursula, the editor of the film. Now that the rough cut is put together it’s easy to notice the shots we forgot to film and some cinematography mistakes I made due to the rush on the set. We discussed things editor could play around in the edit to mask the errors as well as possible.
Also we collectively managed to explain the editor how we pictured the beginning and the ending of the film.
The most of the film is assembled nicely.
The Greys 06/02/2013
It’s a wrap!
Last shoot took place in the studio. It was a hassle and stress free working day.
To emphasise Roger’s dual personality I decided to imitate light falling through shades, which is quite common in film noir.
However, as I thought of this idea after we already started filming, we didn’t have any time to get this effect done properly. The shades I made on the morning of shooting casted strong shadows on the faces, so we had to take some bars from them. In the end they were ruined, so the effect doesn’t look as it was supposed to.
The whole scene was a dialogue, so it didn’t take very long to film it.
Another mistake both Laura and I overlooked while making shooting plans was to invite actors at the same time we got access to the studio. I had to pay for this mistake by buying actors the coffee out of my pocket.
The shoot itself went quickly, and we went to celebrate the wrap at the local noodle shop.
The Greys 05/02/2013
Second shoot:
No runner,
No soundman,
No special Fx make-up artist
Actors called in unavailable in the morning.
Still finished at 8 (planned at 7)
Laura did an amazing job, not only producing and directing, but also doing the make-up, recording the sound and feeding the crew.
As our initial actress had a trauma, my task as a casting director was to find a replacement. I posted an add on the previous day and chose an actress, who was very passionate about our project, however, on the day of shooting she informed me that she had to leave London and would not take part in our film. Between the shoots I called other actresses, who replied to my add and Laura Vivio was available and saved our day.
Another problem, which occurred on the day was a missing extra. Even though the call sheet had been sent to him, and I also texted every actor involved, he didn’t come to the filming. As it was too late to find the replacement, we had to rewrite the scene in the script.
As Laura had to do a lot of things by herself, we couldn’t finish filming the killing scene on time. As it was not possible (at least with our resources) to place the lighting outside, it drastically changes throughout the scene, but we had to just go with that.
Although I had made location and lighting plans for the last scene, due to the amount of props stored in the location we had to change it on the spot. The lighting plans wouldn’t work, as the window was on the different side of the room, so I came up with a creative lighting solution on the spot. Laura trusted me and didn’t protest against changing something we had planned before.
Despite being let down by so many people, we managed to finish all the filming (almost) on time.
The Grays 04/02/2012
Shooting day 1
Managed to film everything according to our initial schedule.
Smooth flow of work, stress free working day
The Grays 31/01/13
Last couple of days have been extremely busy.
An actor who was supposed to read for one of the twins quit our project less than a week before filming, so I’ve been actively looking for someone to replace him. I had found someone, but on the day of the rehearsal he informed me that he got a job he had auditioned for earlier.
I organised the rehearsal of several key scenes and finally met our starring actor Frederick Szkoda and two other actors who read for one of the twins and detective Jeffrey.
The actors were on time, we ran through each scene a couple of times, they all were professional and really embodied their characters. We also had time to get acquainted and now I’m looking forward for the shooting.
Also that day I met with my tutor David to ask for his advice on some tricky lighting and blocking situations.
I’m continuing doing location sketches with Celtx and reminding actors about filming dates.
The Grays 25/01/2013
Almost one week to go until the production of “The Grays” and now that we’ve got the locations, everything seems to be falling in places.
Together with Laura we’ve worked out the shooting schedule and it seems that we’re able to fit the whole filming into three days.
The script still needs breaking down, and I have to visit the location to work out the possibilities of scene blocking and camera movement.
It’s getting more and more exciting.
The Grays 24/01/2013
Today I booked the studio to film the interrogation scene on 6th of February.
Even though Laura won’t be able to attend, I’m also organising a meeting with the lead actors next Thursday to rehearse some key scenes.
The Grays 23/01/2013
Yesterday I e-mailed an actor who was really excited about the role of Detective Jeffrey. He got the part.
Today we had an hour with Laura to talk about the props, needed for the shots.
The Grays 22/01/2013 another audition
Well, having prepared a registration form I quite knew what to expect from this audition. Only two actors signed-up, but I still went there an hour earlier hoping for someone to turn up unexpectedly.
One of those two actors mixed up the dates, so he lost his chance (for the second time) to star in our film and made me continue the search for another detective Jeffrey.
Another one arrived early, he was a cheerful and friendly guy, pleasant to talk to. He got the role as a twin, because of all candidates he looked the most similar to another twin, who had already signed the contract.
That’s all for now. Even though it’s not my thing, I find the experience of organising an audition very useful, as with every time it gets better.
One person came – I’m not giving up
Art Kavali 