Erotomania 21/01/2013
Finally got together with director Nauris for the second time. As he is still in the scriptwriting stage, we talked about the visualisation of the part he has already written.
As the film takes place in just one location, which is already secured, we decided to go there next week and take some camera and available lighting tests.
“15 on Schizo” 21/01/2013
Met with Sonia, filmed random helpful people for the installation. I invited a couple of people to participate myself. As we only filmed people’s eyes, we did it in an hour and a half. The shoot was short, but efficient
The Grays 29/01/2013
Just because I don’t have time to post in my blog doesn’t mean that I am not working on my project. In fact, closer to the filming dates I’ve got more work to do and this is why I didn’t write a lot of posts recently.
Most of my free time I spent thinking about blocking of the scenes, making location plans and doodling storyboards.
As I spend a lot of time traveling by public transport, I find Celtix Shots application for the mobile phone an awesome and extremely useful thing, as it allows me to work even on the go. With its drag and drop preset pictures it is a perfect tool to create professional location and shooting plans without the computer.
I am also trying to develop my drawing skills – creating a consistent recognisable character throughout the storyboards, also trying to draw facial expressions, body language.
Today I’ve visited the location where we are going to shoot most of the film. As Laura was responsible for the locations, we will be filming our film at her house and the amount of space puts me in huge limitations. There is just enough space for actors, but lighting these rooms is going to be quite a challenge. I will also have to fake the position of windows in the room, and that requires some thorough planning.
A Journey Through a Dream. Music video. 19/01/2013
I’m writing this blog from the filming location. Aurelija, Anastasia and I met to try out the camera movement for the tricky part of the video, when in one long shot you could see the same person twice. We tried it several times, but we found out that it would not work with the tracks. It wouldn’t work with a steadicam either, as it would be almost impossible to stop at the certain point for several times. For this shot we would probably need a hydraulic dolly, which, unfortunatelly, we cannot afford.
Update:
During the rest of the shoot we worked out the sequence of shots to replace the tricky one.
I gave the footage to Aurelia and she is going to edit it.
The Grays 19/01/2013
I put myself together and arranged another audition on Tuesday. Hopefully, for the last time. I created a Google document with times and spaces for contacts, and it’s quite a few days in advance so let’s see how it works. If it doesn’t – I’ll give up on being a casting director.
The Grays 17/01/2013 Cancel
Why does this always happen to me? Whenever I try to organise something, it just doesn’t work out. Tried to organise an audition and a rehearsal today, had to get permission from three people to use a room in Central London, so that it would be easier for everyone to attend and then, one by one people started sending e-mails saying they won’t be able to come. That left me with just one actor, who’s already contracted and doesn’t have too many lines in the script, so I just cancelled the appointment.
I’m really upset that my efforts and time all went for nothing… Furthermore, I had to cancel a test shoot with another group I work for. That deepens my disappointment.
The Grays 15/01/2013
Organising auditions. Sorted out the place, but it’s difficult to sort out the people. Wrote e-mails to everyone. Hopefully it all works out well.
The Grays 14/01/2013
Seven actors in total replied to my casting call. Today I sent out the e-mails with invitations to audition on Thursday. Got one reply already, looking forward to receiving the others.
So it makes me a Casting director.
The Grays 11/01/2013
On Friday (11/01/2013) I sent out the reminders to actors. Unfortunately for us, one of the “twins” got a job in a feature film, so Laura asked me to find a replacement for him, so I have to set up a new casting call. We also need two more actors to play a detective and a body guard.
“15 on Schizo” 11/01/13
I am writing this blog post on my way home from the third shooting with Sonia.
The topic of todays’ filming was “Black (figure) on Black (background)”. The biggest challenge was to get rid of the shadows that fell on the wall. With the help of Peter Bee, the technician from the studio, and an hour of experimenting, we got the desired result.
Here’s the lighting set-up I used for these shots:
I filmed everything using 2 lights set-up – a key light, which made the black subject visible and the backlight to separate the subject from the black background.
Camera was static and locked off on the tripod, so I operated the lighting sliders, to get the blinking effect.
Sonia filmed the making of today’s session, she interviewed me about my technical decisions, then I interviewed her about her artistic decisions. After all, the day was productive and we both did and learned a lot.
Art Kavali 