Editing came together really well and Im pleased with how the cut looks. There were some parts where I needed more shots for particular scenes, but I think I made do well with what was available.

The cut has a consistent style of editing and works well for the style of film. Now the film has been put together, it feels more complete and I personally am very happy seeing the scenes together.

16th Dec effects

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmSg8ztiM0s

They type of fan we used to create this effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYkZ0zeNRAA&feature=fvw

its 1 minute 1 second in to the link...

1 mintue 40 seconds

Synopsis

My Attempt!

Jack Allcock is a teacher at the age of 25-30 years old, going through a time in his life where he just doesnt seem to care about his attitude towards his work and seeks no motivation in his position as teacher at the school. Jack ends up falling into a routine of 'living for the weekend' where binge drinking, late attendance for his job and generally not being concerned about anyone but himself apply.
But the entrance of one person in particular is about to make a difference to jack that makes him want to change the wy he is.
Its parents evening and jack gets stuck behind afterschool therfore being denied access to the pub for the leisurly weekday drinking sessions with his so called asscoiates.
A pupils mother arrives onto the scene to come check on her son on a parent evening social and Jack falls into elation on first acquaintance with Nicole and decides at that point, he has to have herand in order for something like that to happen, his attitude has to change.
Jack looks into ways of seeing Nicole on aore regular basis and feels that the only way for this to be acomplished is to sngle out shaun. the son of Nicole and persecute him.
In order to see Nicole again, he has to make shaun suffer.

Ive emailedyou all a copy so see if you want to make any alterations!

The Pub Scene

This part in particular was my idea to entre a pub scene into the situation as manymiddle class job sitcoms, as like Teachers that we have be using in particular for this piece always seem to end up in the pub/bar at the end of there hard working day.

Another reason why i thought it would be a good idea was for a tansision from the scene previous to this which i think will blend the piece together well.

1. ending shot from the classroom after parents eveningis a long shot of jack sitting at his desk


2. Slow zooming into jacks face


3. getting to extreme close up then a slight fade


4. still on jacks face slowly zoomin back into focus


5. new set, he is in the pub with a collegue looking lost

One of the reasons to wh this shot should be in this piece was because it would be a great place to show 'Jack' making a change in his life

The next time we have organised to shoot is the entrance of 'Nicole Robinson' and the start to the change in Jack Allcock life

So as the Art Director/Manager i had to make sure that the scene is set for this shoot, we wanted to try and use the sme room for this piece of footage so the classroom props were needed as rom the classroom scenes previous.

• A reply slip for the parents evening



• Hair dryer to use for effects



• Folder used for a student file.

This is Where my idea of the lighting comes into play, This opening sene of the woman into the story is comical in the usage of prop comedy, so me being incharge of getting props had to make this work.


I used a set of Dedo lights within the shot for when Nicole entered the room to emphasis the meaning of her positon within the film and also the major change of Jack Allcock and the start of plot point one.

And we used a giant fan to blow Nicole's hair about to create the fantasy dreaming senario which jack entes on first sight of Nicole.

This idea was mainly from the american tv series of scrubs where the character John Dorian (Zack Braff) goes into his fantasy world/dreams.

As this scene was a key usage of prop comedy i think it worked really well and we pulled it off with flying colours.

This ws the lovely lady that i was trying to get to play the part of 'Nicole Robinson' but unfortunatly she is unavailble due to disertation purposes, this ment i didntreally have many other friends that fitted up to our perception of what we wanted this 'MILF' to be so i delved into the group as a whole tried to sort out a fitting person to fit the role

The Hot blonde senario

WANTED!

Alright mark!!

During the filming within the classroom, i felt that we got a substantial amount done in the fact that we got the opening shot from where the classroom shots begin and Amy the camera operator gt many different angles of the shots that we needed so there was more choices availble to the editor already, this is already a major possitive for us as a group.
A problem that i felt tht we were always going to face was lack of students availble to us when called upon,

The way that i thought that we could hide this problem within out film is to play with the camera angles more and use a more directive shot approach, this for one can be benifitted for our main character by making him more prominante within the piece.
When visualising josh as an open shotwe can catch it from behid the front row of pupils to feel lke more of a full classroom and only needing 3 extra's

Also a way that we can use this to our advantage is by using the people scripted in our pieceto have shot reverse shot confrentation with 'jack allcock' only visualising the two in conversation and therfor hiding the rest of the classroom and helping the student shortage.

For example, the image i have uloaded would be a good shot position to use as it is from the students shoulder and only reallypicks out the teacher in shot.

Sound Technical details/glossary

Microphones used

Rifle Microphone
This long microphone is great for recording voices on location. It records primarily only what it is pointed at so it's great for not recording unwanted sounds. I used it in the vast majority of scenes, while also using it for foley work.
The microphone was used on PhantomPower from either the Marantz or the Cameram, though it did contain the option of using a single AA battery.
Connects using a three-pin XLR cable.
Also connects easily to a boom pole.

Stereo Microphone
Smaller and less sensitive than the rifle-mic, this microphone lived up to its name and recorded in clear stereo. This mic was used to its advantage in the classroom scenes.
The microphone is forced PhantomPower.
Connects to a six-pin XLR lead which then splits into two regular XLR cables for optimal capture of stereo sound.
Connects to a boom pole through the use of a detachable connector.

Omni-directional Microphone
This is the basic microphone which comes when renting out a Marantz from stores at the university. It records In most directions, so I used it for post production voice work (dubbing) and for atmosphere tracks.
This microphone has no need to be powered through PhantomPower.
Connects to a three-pin XLR cable.


Sound recorders

Marantz PMD660
This solid state recorder can record hours worth of high quality recordings.
It has two XLR inputs (for stereo sound). Records in 48kHz and 16bit quality.
This is what I used for all the atmosphere tracks, foley, and any post-production voice work.
Has the option to send PhantomPower to any microphone connected.
Very easily (and obvious) meter for controlling sound volumes.

SONY PD170 camera
We used this for all on location sound work. It has two XLR inputs in to receive stereo sound and records straight on to DV tape for instant access in the editing room.
Also has the option to send PhantomPower.
While not obvious, there is a levels adjuster for adjusting the volumes.

Extra Equipment

Wendt mixer
Comes in two or three lead input/output varieties, though both seems to complex to use wihtout training. The three lead gave me the most hassle on location, so much so that I instantly ditched it.

XLR Cables
Industry standard cables which connect the microphones to recorders.

My job within the group was Art Director/manager, Within my role i have to sort out all the different props needed for the specific scenes that we are shooting. As well as looking for locations that we as a group need to be involved within our film piece.

One of the main scnes that we used more than once on our film piece was the classroom scene,

Prps needed for this piece as followed

• educational posters
• notice boards
• pencil holder, for desk of main character
• white board (aready provided in classroom)

Additional props for classroom scenes

• condoms (for sex ed scene)
• banana (for sex ed scene)
• test papers
• register
• calculator

The main extras within the classroom scenes are the pupils who are going to be used, the main problem that we had when coming to the classroom scenes was the booking of the room. basically the only rooms tht were mainly availble to us for use were university clasrooms and the same classroom ws never availble to us which made the filming more difficult as we were always on a tight schedule as rooms were only avalible f or a maximum of 2 hours at a time and those two hours were the only time we needed extras to be our students. and it ws unbeliveable to how many people wernt availble for usage due to the timing. The props that i got for te classroom scenes were all bought from poundland apart from the condoms which ended up as a bit of a coinsedence. as we got into university to start filming our classroom pieces we needed a vast supply of condoms for the sex ed scene and we didnt have enough to cover the amount needed, however there was a 'sexucational' stand at the top of the stairs giving out free condoms and so they gave us free condoms if we entered there competition. this was great as w got what we needed and possibly got a chance of wining highstreet vouchers aswell!! woop woop!

14th dec tutorial and editing

Annie kindly offered to come back in for our piece to so we could show her more footage, Josh got an early start on neatening up the rough cuts... he was still doing this late last night. I feel bad for Josh at the moment, we had the footage... in parts to give him to edit, but having other group work on the go, essays and so forth he hasn't been able to do as much as he had liked. I came in yesturday...(14th dec) to offer support, I dont feel very confident editing so I was observing offering suggestions and asking him to cut or keep in verious scenes, I was also trying to sort out a group folder and mine and Marks piece so I wasn't always in the editing room, I was a bit disappointed that when Annie came to see it we only really had a sequence: beginning, middle and an end, I wanted to have an editing beginning at least!! we also got confused AGAIN about the midpoint when Annie questioned us about this we all look quite confused, I dont know why that happened... we HAVE a mid-point we just need to the audio to go with it but that had not been put it place at this time.
Later on Mark was able to give Josh his hardrive, which althought enabled Josh to edit further footage left Mark without resources to complete sound on any of this Marks work, in our group and others, So there was a bit of frustration in the group, HOPEFULLY when we are all together later on today, Josh will be able to work with mark, Ill be able to construct the group folder, and everything will come together!!! FINGER CROSSED!!!

friday 11th

ROCKY START we didnt have anything new to show Annie so came to the tutorial empty handed.
we didnt start filming till late because people weren't that organised.
We managed to film the shots we needed, the parents evening bit could have been a bit longer, I felt abit unconfortable climbing over a desk to get to josh and we needed to speedthings up for Jamie who was playing Shaun, he had to go. It got a bit stressful, because we were doing all the scenes out of sequence we had to keep looking back at where we were in the script and because we hadn't stuck to the script in parts... it made life a little harder,
we ended up with the ending and all of the scenes, we didt have full use of the room we started off in but we got the shots we needed, we really just want to get this edited a.s.a.p so Mark can get on with his sounds!

8th dec 2nd proper day of filming

we have managed to find a room that is more approprite for what the classroom scenes, we found it to be a little do big But Sam suggested we use the camera cleverly to diguise this fact. He said we could take shots from certain angles so that we could only see where the pupils were sat and disregard the rest of the room, - having watched the footage the following day I agree that it worked well and that we had captured the scenes to the best of our abilities.
I t was a lot of fun but I had to keep ouching the group on from different scenes because different extras had to go at different times.
But apart from that we were on schedule, Josh ahd to adlib his lines a few times and we had to change words in the script so it would be more suiting in situations, but I think it went well, we are having to film the final scenes on friday. - the "daydream" -parents evening and the ending... its just the editing I'm worried about, we havent got much else to show Annie if we dont sort out the footage.
p.s we used lights today to illuminte Nicole as she came throught the door it looked brilliant, she waved her hair about and look directly into the camera, the lights look amazing, big thanks to Sam for thinking on the day and we also managed to "borrow" a fan so we got get a proper effect! it looked great!

Tuesday 15th December 2009 - The day before the deadline

Yesterday we had a tutorial with Annie where we showed her our film – and I have to say I was shocked at how little of our film we have edited. This is by no means Josh’s fault, he has had little time to edit the piece and has deadlines just like the rest of us. However, I do feel that if we had been organised and prepared throughout the whole production process, then there would have been plenty of time left for editing. It is also really hard for Mark as he has to wait for Josh to edit the footage before he can edit the sound – it looks like Mark will have to edit the sound tomorrow, the morning of the deadline, which isn’t great.

I have every confidence that we will get it done but I would really like to look at the piece before the hand in time. I’m concerned that we aren’t going to get the plot points sorted, there has been a lot of confusion over them and yesterday we realised that we didn’t have a mid point.

I just want to confirm the plot points for myself and the rest of the group:
• Inciting incident – parents evening
• Plot point one – Sean’s sabotage
• Mid point – Jack realizes that he doesn’t have to sabotage Sean to get closer to Nicole, and plucks up the courage to ask her on a date
• Plot point two – Sean’s moved school
• Ending – Jack sees Nicole and asks her on a date, and she says yes!

It’s so so important that we get these plot points in there, it is been marked in terms of them and we will have not met the brief if they aren’t evident in the piece.

For the mid point we were going to use an interal monologue of Jack saying ‘wait, I don’t have to do this…’ etc as he’s about to set Sean up again. Because we don’t have this shot, maybe we should just use any shot we have of Jack sat thinking/staring and put the voiceover over it. I spoke to Sam about it yesterday and he said the same thing. Please have a look at the link I posted below of the opening of the first episode of The Inbetweeners. It is a good example of an internal monologue and is also very funny. There is frequent use of the internal monologue in all episodes so check out any of them on YouTube as well.

Josh I’m coming in later on so I’ll call in and have a look at how it’s coming along and let you know what I think about the editing/shots used – don’t get annoyed with me though!
See you all later or tomorrow

Sound Recording 11th December

After all the problems I had had throughout the project doing sound, I went back to an old tried and tested set-up. One rifle mic, no mixer, straight into the camera/Marantz.

Out of all the shoots, this is the one I was most pleased with sound-wise. Voices were clear with very little feedback off the boom. The whole floor was quiet and didn't give us much disturbance at all. Sure I still fell back in to the routine of leaning in too close with the boom and getting it in shot but thats something I will just have to remember for the next project (If I ever do on set recording again, which I hope not to do).

It feels great to finish filming the whole piece. Its taken us a long time, too long, but many of the reasons for this were totally out of our hands.

Now comes the editing, something I believe I need as much time to do as possible. The sound edit isn't just for me, its for the whole group. If I don't get enough time, then it reflects badly on the piece. Not good.

Sound Recording 8th December

After the problems with the previous shoots, I thought I may go a little different with this shoot. As I'm also working with stereo sound in my sound piece, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and use the short stereo microphone which I had acquired from stores.

Now the problem with a stereo microphone is that with double the sound comes double the cables. This is especially unhelpful when you dont have a cable basher to be in control of where your wires are constantly. Another problem with the microphone is that it didn't seem to be as sensitive as the regular rifle mic that we use. (Maybe it was just me again, like many of the sound problems...) This lead to me leaning the extra little bit closer to get the sound and sometimes causing the boom to be in shot.

On that note, after looking at the footage which is currently being edited, the feedback that I'm getting from Josh (editor) is that the boom appears in shot A LOT and sadly wrecks a few good bits. In my head I've been waiting for the camera operator (Amy) to tell me if its in, but looking back I've been a bit selfish on this. With such a small crew and no monitor hooked up to the camera, it would be one more small job for her. I should have been asking at every new set-up where the edge-of-frame was, so I can concede that its totally my fault.

On the plus side to the mic, it does take a stereo sound and this is helpful in the classroom scenes where theres more than one person talking at once.

Finally, one last problem for the day, which is yet another fault of mine. A big fault this time, that lead me in to trouble outside of the group. We had been running a little late in the classroom scenes and were all a little stressed. I had a copious amount of equipment and once it came the time for us all to pack up and leave, I didn't run through and do an equipment count. Once I got home and started work on more sound work I found that I had actually left behind the standard microphone which is given out with all the Marantzs. Ouch.

I had to tell stores on Friday, they were... unimpressed.

8th December 2009 - Filming Day and Influences for scenes

Ok so today we planned to film the classroom scenes and parents evening. I was disappointed that people were late so I’d wasted my time writing a rehearsal schedule (annoying as I stayed up late to get it done)! Josh had also forgot his script and had half of Nicola’s at his place, which made it difficult as we only had one script to work with between our entire cast and crew. I had printed a schedule for Nicola, Mark and myself (thought it would be useful for Mark to know where he’s as with the sound too) which I think was helpful when it came to filming, although Mark hadn’t brought his storyboards which slowed us down a little – not entirely Mark’s fault as he thought that I would have been picking them up (explained in previous post).

Despite the negatives listed above, I think we did a fairly good job today. We had a huge classroom with only 5 extras, but worked around it by blocking the back half of the classroom off with boards and ensuring that the left hand side of the classroom was entirely out of shot at all times. Our extras were great and were understanding when there was some confusion between our group about what scene/shots we were doing. They did everything asked of them and also gave us some input in to how they thought something should be said, etc, which I think was very useful – their age group are our target audience after all!

We did get all of the classroom scenes filmed today, which is great, but I am still disappointed that we didn’t get the parents evening scene completed as well. There was no reason at all why we couldn’t have finished all of the filming today – I had done a realistic schedule and, had it been stuck to strictly, we could have done it. In my opinion, yes we don’t want a negative atmosphere when on a shoot, but it isn’t negative to push to get things done when we’re working to a deadline. I think that everyone needs to take shoots seriously and act professionally, rather than making the main aim of the shoot to have fool around and have a laugh. I know I sound so miserable and I’m all for having fun, BUT when there’s time for it!

Anyway, we have made a decision to film the parents evening scene on Friday. I cannot attend the shoot due to hospital appointments which cannot be missed, but Sam has volunteered to take my role of Camera Operator for the day. Sam has worked along side me wherever possible and has also completed some of the storyboards, and I trust him completely to film this scene on my behalf. Having said that, I still don’t like that I’m not going to be there – I like to know what’s going on and have my say!

Guys here are a few links that I think you should check out:

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqr8yPipfJ8

This is the opening scene to the first ever episode of The Inbetweeners. I think that the voiceover used here throws the audience straight in to familiarising themselves with Will, the protagonist, and it may be interesting to try a similar thing for the opening of our film. Josh, I know you’re really up for this and I’ve not been so sure, but I think that if it’s made to me humorous like this one it could be great. It will have to be scripted and acted very well though!

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TYr9Vg9Uj0

This could be good as it’s a conversation between Simon and Carly, but Jay keeps coming in to it. It would be interesting to look at the camera work here as we will be having a conversation between Jack and Nicola, with Sean having a little bit of dialogue every now and again (the parents evening scene). Simon also really likes Carly so it might be good to look at what techniques are used here that we may be able to use to demonstrate how Jack really likes Nicole. An interesting one that I noticed is how Simon is sitting and is a little lost for words, whilst Carly is standing confidently above him. It’s almost as though he’s looking up to her. Furthermore, it’s as though she is above him, too good for him, and he cannot have her – we could use a similar thing in our film to show how Jack feels around Nicole, and to emphasise how he cannot have her whilst he is a pathetic teacher (at the beginning of the film). We could use camera/actor positioning to signify his confidence growing throughout the film (i.e. Low angle shot of Nicole above him/high angle of Nicole looking down on him to begin with then, as his character progresses and he becomes more confident, this changes so that they are on the same level).

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htyf5wnC96w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6gva6Sz67A&feature=related

These are a couple of clips from Mean Girls, I know it isn’t like our film but it’s useful to look at the shots they use in the classroom – plus we need to look at film styles rather than sitcom styles

Monday 7th December 2009 – Plan for Final Shoot

Hey guys, I think Nicola’s already text you about Annie finding us a room, but here are the details. It’s Owen 1027 and we have it booked from 11am-2pm. Josh that means that you can make work! Anyway me and Nicola were talking and we think that it is a good idea to meet at 9.30 tomorrow morning to have a full rehearsal – this obviously won’t be in the room but we can use the media base to run through it. This will be WITH the extras so that when it comes to the actual shoot we will be ready to get straight down to it.

PLEASE NOTE that Annie has said that the room we have has lots of windows which may cause us a few problems when it comes to lighting. Please bring in anything that you can think of to block out the light.

I haven’t got Mark’s storyboards, my battery went earlier so couldn’t ring him to bring them down for me AND I don’t have his number saved so I can’t call him to let him know – he’ll be panicking! Hope you read this Mark so you know.

Anyway the schedule for tomorrow is as follows:

REHARSALS

• · 09:30 – meet in the upper café
• · 09:40 – by this time we WILL be in the media base and ready to rehearse – we will run through the opening classroom scene first (page 1 of the script)
• · 09:55 – Maths scene (page 3 of script)
• · 10:05 – English scene (page 4 of script)
• · 10:20 – Sean’s sabotage – throwing his homework away, changing his grade to an F (page 6-8 of script)
• · 10:30 – Sean’s moved school (pages 8-9 of script)
• · 10:40 – Sex Ed scene
• · 10:50 – Go to the Owen 1027

We have no time to rehearse the parents evening scene. This isn’t ideal but as it only involves 3 actors we will be ok to rehears it for 15 minutes before we start shooting the scene.

SHOOT

• · 11:00 – Set up equipment/scene
• · 11:15 – The opening scene – Jack’s entrance (page 1 of script)
• · 11:40 – Maths scene (page 3 of script)
• · 11:55 – English scene (page 4 of script)
• · 12:15 – Sean’s sabotage (pages 6-8 of script)
• · 12:30 – Sean’s moved schools (page 8-9 of script)
• · 12:45 – Sex Ed scene (page 2 of script)

We will then let all extras leave and use the remaining hour for the parents evening scene.

• · 13:00 – Rehearse the parents evening scene
• · 13:15 – Shoot the whole parents evening scene (pages 5-6)
• · 13:35 – Shoot Nicole coming in for meetings with Mr Allcock
• · 13:45 – Jack’s fantasy scene – his imagination
• · 13:50 – Pack away equipment
• · 14:00 – FINISHED!

I have left the sex scene until last with the extras as we all find it funny and have a laugh with it – which is good, but we’ll HAVE to speed it up a bit if we know we only have 10 minutes to do it in. I’ve also left Jack’s fantasy scene until last thing because I know how awkward it will be for you both...With only 5 minutes to do it in there will be no time for awkwardness so you’ll just have to do it!

Sam here is the props list for tomorrow:

• · condoms
• · plastic tray for the condoms
• · posters
• · a register
• · coffee cup
• · whiteboard markers
• · hairdryers
• · pads of paper
• · usual white shirt/tie for Josh
• · 3 nice outfits for Nicola – think she’s bringing them though!
• · Items we may have to use to black out the light coming through the windows

I have prepared a shot list which I will bring in along with the storyboards. Mark if you bring in your storyboards I can look at them for a few minutes whilst the actors are rehearsing before the shoot and add them to the shot list.

We have just 3 extras so far, Josh can you contact Emily, Natalie and Ellen again please? And everybody else just try and get anybody!

IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT I HAVE MISSED OFF PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME ASAP SO THAT I CAN CHANGE IT. It needs to be sorted by tomorrow and I need to get some sleep!

Problems with sound

2 Days of filming - 2 Problems to deal with.

The first problem happened in the first bedroom scene. The room we were using was incredibly small. Great for the visual, I'm sure, but for the sound? Not so good. Every sound that was made was twice the volume as usual and I hadn't had the foresight to book out a mixer.

So instead of maxing out the sound, I opted to use the Marantz for this scene where I was in control of the audio. The problem with that being that I would have to sync the sound in edit, especially hard when you're not using a clapperboard and declaring which shot is being filmed.

The second problem was worse in my opinion. The room which was booked out for us (which Im sure were all still grateful for) was twice the size (height wise too) that we needed and it created an almighty echo with the sound. As we had seen the room before filming, I came prepared. I brought a mixer! Also, my plan was to get as close as possible to the actors with the boom so that no shouting was involved. Also another problem was a constant fan working in the background. Turn the mic up and the fan could drown out the actors.

We only had two hours in the room so we were under pressure to get stuff done. I had already used the mixer before so I believed I knew what I was doing, but sadly when it came to it, it was obvious that I wasn't experienced with it enough. When all the equipment was connected there was an incredible feedback and the quality in disgusting.

Instead of using another twenty minutes to sort it (we were already behind) I opted to ditch the mixer and hook up straight to the camera and keep my fingers crossed. Sound from there was passible.

Its extremely frustrating that after a whole semester of absolutely loving the sound class, finding that I lacked the knowledge to overcome these problems in a quick and productive fashion. I SHOULD have known the small room would create problems, and I SHOULD have known exactly how to use the mixer.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these problems can be fixed in the edit room. If not, it looks to me like I've let the group down. Not what we need right now.

friday the 27th

I have been glued to my phone and checking anyone who could possibly be intersted in acting, these past few days have been so stressfull, I'd like to appologise to anyone who I snapped at, it seems like I have given myself alot of work to I have had Mark asking me for "proper storyboards" and I felt the need to say well if you want them doing properly please feel free to them yourself! I'm still working on the script! I had other members asking why I hadn't written on my facebook wall about needing actors...I ASKED EVERYONE TO DO IT. It feels like everyone expexts me to to be doing everything, thats not how the group should run. I quickly told Mark if he wanted to improve the storyboard feel free I then repeated to everyone..."get on facebook and get actors and extras- anyone will do!" - I of course did this myslef on my own facebook.
I think it was just one day where I felt alot of pressure, don't get me wrong there isn't one person who isn't pulling there weight but it does feel like people COULD do more if they chose too.
We DON'T have actors for today I've called for a meeting about peoples attitudes and their responsibilities, we need to help each other out not just think if that's their job then stick to it, the buid up to friday was not a good one for myself but on the other hand we have a scheduled filming session for tuesday... so we have full weekend to get actors and fingers-crossed a room!!!
And good work for Josh having Captured our footage... lets hope he keeps in the scenes that RELATE to his character, the scene I'm talking about looks good, don't be embarrassed you wanted to do that scene!

24 nov filming on the first day

I think the whole day was a great success.
I directed Josh and me and Amy worked together on camera shots, Sam worked well with Amy on setting up shots and getting the camera angles right, he also brought all the props we needed, which helped out massivley and he was constanlty on hand if we needed anything, he managed to get a last minute whistle too which was a big part of the scene with Josh later on.
We thought about having him whistle with his fingers and doing the sound seperately and syncing it in but the whistle was FAR better.
I felt the day went well, Sam showed us the field he had spotted and it was ideal, and free there wasn't many people moving around.
He then directed us to a quiet pub where we filmed the scene he had wanted in from the start!
We also had a "sex scene" with Josh and Amy in a car which was interesting!
I felt confident that Me and Josh worked well on each scene, I liked directing him and showing how I 'd intented it to go, Josh put his on spin on certain shots but he got the job done so no complaints there.
Mark had difficulty with the sound at times there was a crackling in the headphones at one stage but we got that sorted out in good time, Amy worked really well on camera she seemed confident having looked through the storyboards and had come prepared knowing what she wanted to get, I hink we al did to be honest, but she was open to ideas and the more footage the better really.

24th Nov first OFFICAILL DAY OF FILMING

filming the P.E lesson, possibly the funniet thing I have seen in a long time!
we took about 6 takes of this.
Josh did so well and he really looked the part!

running on and off the camera - shouting after his pupils, had the effect I wanted, I actually couldn't stop laughing welldonw josh!!

smartening up Jacks act! we had difficulties with sound and Mark was a little worried, he can fill you in but we sortd the issue out, we just kept hearing a buzzing in the headphones!

We dont see any pupils in this bit but you know there there, well acted.

Bless mark standing up all day collecting sound! Go Mark!!

20th Nov Tutorial with Annie

I thought we had done a good job at preparing for the tutorial, I thought it was a good idea to use the storyboards that we had had each done, we had a disc with are rough cut (this wasnt able to be shown however- we didn't have a Mac in the room).
We went through are idea and filled Annie in on the progress so far, AGAIN we got ourselves confused with the plot points.
This is what we actually HAVE: Act one, incident - he meets Mr.s Robinson

Plot point 1- decides to mess with the kid

Act two, incident- he is about to ask her out on a date

Plot point 2 - kid leaves the school

Act three HE MEETS MRS. ROBINSON AGAIN AT SCHOOL

I dont know how we got it confused again? I think, well it says in my research book we had it down as: act one -incident, act 2 - incident - 3rd act....
I think we have concerntrated more on the plot then the actual points that MAKE the story!!
We had a meeting STRAIGHT AFTER and used the sheet Annie gave us which helped us clairfy our plot.
We then got into a debate/ argumument over where to film the first scene, (where he wakes up)
my room was ideal and I didn't see the point in changing it, but Josh thought it was a bit too far to go, (all the way to my house)!!! and recommended his room at his flat, with one day to go before filming and no camera on hand to do test shots I said it wasn't fair. Amy also said she was happy filming there and liked the shot we could get in there. Josh still wasnt that happy about it.
I think this is another one of those situations where he found it hard to acceot I wasn't happy with his choice and the reason behind it was unbelieveable I even turned round and suggested giving him the 50p for the bus.
Myself along with all my group have become good friends, we all have banter and get on well in and outside the group I think though Josh may have a problem with the idea of me being project manager, he thinks and has said before "your not in control of me, and your not telling me what to do", I've said before I'm not about that, I dont want to boss people around but I'm going to give him stuff to do and set him deadlines like everyone else. He gets the fact I have job to do and have to organise what happens but it makes it SO hard to try when I feel he wont co-operate.
Also Mark shocked us today saying he wasnt happy with the sounds and saying he would find it difficult to get comical sounds to go with the piece, I have no issue with that AT ALL, I do however have an issue with the fact we have asked him if he is ok, does he want help, do u have any issues... and he always answers no I'm fine, this upset me slightly because as soon as Annie questioned him and how he was getting on he came out with that! No one had any idea!
I have since spoken to Mark and we have sorted out the issue and he feels ok, he just wants to get on with researching his sounds and finding them and then finally inputing them into our piece.

the first half of the script 18 nov

This has already been posted by Amy I believe, I chose to email everyone with the script and I ideally wanted them to email back in a different coloured font their opinons.
It didn't quite work out that way so we got on a few computers all read it out and the majority thought it looked good, a few idea's/ criticisms but all input welcome.
There are some lines I put it just for Josh, like "(he mutters under his breath) dickhead" and in the maths class, "I have four fingers and one thumb, what does that equal? ... a fist BOOM) Some of those lines I know, seem a little agressive for Jacks character, and will either be taken out or adjusted.
I think it's important to get Josh comfortable with the script, if there is something I am certain should be in there, then I will argue my point and definatley excercise my right as a script writer and a project manager and over rule the matter. Not to be harsh but there are some bits I genuinely want to be kept in, just beacuse it'll be funny and works well in the scene. I will never be harsh about it, If I'm ever adament that a certain line should stay in I'll say it in a jokey way, but people can usually tell that I'm serious anyway.

some storyboards!

photos from are ruff cut with mark playing josh

I directed Amy on the kind of shots we were we looking at from the storyboards, Amy already had idea's of the shots she wanted.
This one is one of my favorite a POV shot from "Josh's" perspective. we see him holding up the alalrm when it goes off, meaning he is running late.

We have mark fast asleep, this is one of the first shots we took, Sam helped out alot wth props in order to make the place messy.

Shot at the foot of the bed, you see him in this shot waking up and hitting his alarm, as you can see we got this from a few angles.

A few shots to play aroud with in the editing suit!

he wakes up and looks directly into the camera.

-Josh had the idea that we do an internal monolgue like Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, "my name is Jack, welcome to my life" etc... we will see if I can squeeze it into the script. Good idea though!

We decided when we had the meeting that because I have a spare bedroom, and the way we drew the room while planning the scene, that the room would be suitable for the shot we have, we just had to move the bed as we wanted a shot at the foot of the bed. I feel this will work well, and I'm pleased with that shot.

Wednesday 2nd December 2009 – The Updated Script & My Opinions

Making an Entrance

Scene 1

It’s really early in the morning, Jack aged 29 is fast asleep in bed, he has missed his alarm twice already... he is now 45 minutes late, the alarm goes off once more, he rolls over fumbles toward the alarm before finally checking the time.

JACK

Oh shit!

He jumps out of bed, throws his clothes on and runs out of his room.

Scene 2

He is running down the school corridor, he’s badly dressed, he pauses before he gets to his classroom door, straightens his tie and walks in.

STUDNET 1

Sir, you’re...

JACK

Fuck off Simon... Right quieten down, (pause)

(He sits at his desk n rummages through his class notes)

JACK

Oi! I said quieten down! (Pause, he goes to stand up) SHUT-UP!!

Don’t think we need him to repeat this and shout, think it’s enough to say it once then carry on with the line below

(The class settles down) Right now... where are we? He says this while looking through a textbook)

STUDENT 2

In a classroom Sir!

(The class begin to laugh)

JACK

(Looks up from the textbook)

Right do you think I’m in the mood for this? One more crack out of you and your out of here, you got that?

Think he seems aggressive here – perhaps he could just say ‘get out’, as though he just can’t be bothered

(The class fall silent again).

I thought so ... (he whispers) dickhead.

Jack walks into a full classroom of students, the girls are giggling and the boys are being rowdy. Someone has written “SEX” on the board with an illustration of a large Penis next to it. He walks round the classroom handing out condoms to the pupils, before putting one discreetly into his pocket. He notices the illustrations on the board and lazily rubs the penis off.

JACK

Sex, right so someone fill me in on what we know about sex,

(The classroom falls silent all apart from a few giggling girls)

Someone must know something... who draw that cock on the board? Perhaps they could tell us?

No? (Pause) right who can tell me what it was that I just gave you?

SEAN ROBINSON

A jonny Sir

Think somebody else should say this – I think Sean’s a good, quiet boy – would expect a naughty kid to shout out this line

JACK

And what do we use them for?

SEAN ROBINSON

To stop girls getting knocked up

JACK

Yes, well that’s on way to put it.

Right open them up... don’t be shy, Simon take it out of your mouth!!

STUDENT 1

But it’s a strawberry one

JACK

Did you hear me? ... Right now

The scene ends with him holding a banana. (FADE OUT)

We now see a drunken Jack holding a Kebab in one hand, and leading a drunken woman with the other, they are both laughing. He chucks his kebab on the ground and opens the door to his car, he takes her hand n gently pushes her inside, he starts passionately kissing the young woman’s neck; she pushes him away for a brief moment.

WOMAN 1

Do you have one?

Jack carries on having not heard her.

Do you have one... a condom?

JACK

We don’t need one, its better without one, come on Sarah.

WOMAN 1

It’s Stephanie?

JACK

Ah yes Stephanie... sorry.

Think we could cut out the kebab part and just have the bit of them in the car – it’s only a flashback so needs to be relatively short and snappy. Like him not knowing her name.

We next see Jack in a Maths class, he’s teaching the pupils timetables.

JACK

Right so 7 times 7 would be... Jenny?

STUDENT 3

Err... 48. No 49

JACK

Ah... (He pauses turns around and taps about on his calculator) yes correct!

Love this bit of him having to use a calculator to check it – it’s funny

STUDENT 2

Sir can you teach us something else, this is boring!

JACK

He looks nervously through a textbook

I’m sorry boring? You think this is fun me for me do you? Come on get up here and teach then... no ok then

Think this is aggressive – not sure that we should portray him to be

(He then mutters to himself) I have four fingers and one thumb, what does that equal... a fist BOOM

I like this but don’t think it fits in with the script – maybe a bit random

Anyway...

STUDENT 2

What?

JACK

Nothing, were doing timetables today, right next question to you then err...

(Once again he looks through his class notes) FADE OUT

Its fourth period English, Jack comes into the class holding a cup of tea, his tie hangs loose, his top button undone and he appears to have a blue patch of ink under his shirt pocket. The class are once again rowdy, and throwing balls of paper to each other one of which lands on Jacks desk.

JACK

Ok ok settle down, hey what’s this?

He picks up the piece of paper and unravels it. He reads aloud:

Mr. Allcock literally is All- Who wrote this?

The class fall silent.

Love this ^^

I’ll ask again, who wrote this? Right seeing as none of you want to admit it, your all in detention, until that one person comes forward.

The class let out a drone. A few of the students start falsely blaming Sean,

STUDENT 1

Sean!

STUDENT 2

Sean, idiot

I like this bit and it allows us to keep the bit in where Jack’s thinking ‘even her son thinks you’re all cock’ – I think we need a shot of somebody else throwing it though so it’s clear that Sean’s getting blamed wrongly

JACK

Ah Sean was it? Look I may have a funny sounding name there mate, but maybe next time you could go into detention for being a bit more creative? I mean all cock? I practically handed that one to you there didn’t I? Right Sean see me after class, right “Metaphor’s”

He begins to spell the first three letters before looking round at his class.

Can anyone hear spell ... Metaphor?

I really like this bit, it’s funny and not predictable like the dictionary idea on the original script might have been

s

Its drawing to the end of the day, Jack is seen sipping his brew by his desk, he fondling a parents- evening slip in his hands having noticed them in a pile on his desk.

JACK

Right the bell is about to go, we have a parent ...evening thing on at the end of this week apparently, (jack looks at them curiously)

So if you could take one, give them to your parents and then bring them back so we know whose coming.

I think this is a bit formal for Jack’s mind – he’s clueless and would most likely rather that nobody bring a slip back. I feel that he should be more like ‘so take one and give it to your parents…but try not to bring it back yeah’, or ‘lets do us all a favour and not bring them back though yeah’

ACT 1

Jack is his classroom; he is sat behind his desk. He is finishing up with another pupil’s parents. He gets up and shakes their hands. He looks at the next name on the register and looks up to see Sean Robinson stood outside the door talking to women with her back to the wall. He signals to Sean to come in, Sean signals to his mother and she gets up.

JACK

Right only have more to go and then I’m done.

He checks his notes before he see’s Mrs. Robinson walk through the door, she walks over, he turns and looks up. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, she has wavey blonde hair, blue eyes, she is dressed smartly and smile at him. Her hair is waving about her face seductively; she says something to him and holds out her hand. She carries on talking but he can’t hear a word.

MRS. ROBINSON

It IS Mr.Allcock isn’t it?

JACK

Huh? What? Yer, yes...err- hem I’m sorry, would you like to take a seat?

Jack signals to her to sit down.

Like how he’s speechless – it straight away shows a change in his attitude

JACK

So your Sean’s mother, Mrs. Robinson, pleased to meet you.

MRS. ROBINSON

Ah, call me Nicole

JACK

Shall we get started? Here are you son’s marks from previous assignments.

Jack presents them to Nicole, he seems to get lost in Nicole’s face he hair, her lips. She reached for the piece of paper Jack has in his hand, and before he can control himself, he stands up, pulls her face towards his, pushes her body towards the desk and passionately kiss’s her, she whispers his name again and again. This time a little louder.

MRS.ROBINSON

Mr. Allcock, Are you sure you alright?

JACK

Erm, I’m... I’m sorry what?

MRS.ROBINSON

I said are you ok? You seemed to be somewhere else? Can I see Sean’s assignment?

Really like the imagination idea

JACK

God, yer ha I’m sorry it’s been a very long day, here, now as you can see he is under achieving, (pause, he looks like he is thinking) we need to tackle this head on, with your co-operation we can help Sean achieve a high standard of work.

MRS.ROBINSON

Whatever it takes Mr.Allcock

JACK

Unfortunately we are out of time Mrs... Nicole

Jack goes to get up, and bangs himself against the desk in the rush, an awkward handshake follows. He watches Nicole leave the room n slowly sits back down, for a moment he seems to be in a daze,

Internal monologue (JACK)

Ok ok, keep your cool, not sure exactly what’s just happened but I’m pretty sure... (Pause) I’m in love ... oh my god what? Her OWN son things you’re ALL COCK!! You have no chance son! SHIT ... she wouldn’t look at me, I smell bad, look like shit, I’m pretty sure I have worn these boxers twice in a row, and I can’t construct full sentences around her. Yer I’m offensive to ALL 5 senses! Fuck this Allcock, sort your life out.

It’s 7am, Jack’s alarm had just gone off, he turns over noticing the alarm, and gets up, we see him wash his face, pull on new underwear, pull out a freshly ironed out shirt and does his tie, he gives a cheeky wink at the camera.

Not sure about the cheeky wink in to the camera – maybe a shot of him looking in to the mirror and winking at himself?

JACK

We’ll see who’s all cock now!

He exits the bedroom.

We see him walking towards his classroom, mug of tea in hand, he has a smile on his face.

JACK

Begin montage of Sean sabotage

Morning class, how are we all doing? (He doesn’t wait for an answer)

Right, I presume you have all done your homework, place them on the end of my desk now please, and get ready for your test.

The class groan.

Come on, it’s not that bad... (Having watched the last pupil come up to his desk) right is that the last of the homework? Here (handing tests out) pass them along, you have 15 minutes.

Jack sits at his desk and look through the sheets of homework, he spots Sean’s

SILENCE...IT’S A TEST!

He takes Sean’s homework out of the pile, takes it below the desk, scrunches it up and throws it in the bin. The bell is about to ring

JACK

Right pens down, tests to the front, Sean where is your homework?

SEAN

What do you mean? I handed it in sir

JACK

It’s not in my pile, and after I had that chat with your mother, I’m going to need to get her into school.

SEAN

But Sir I? –

JACK

Especially after I spoke to her just yesterday, I want her in tomorrow please, tell her after school. Class dismissed, so disappointed in you.

Jack is cleaning up the classroom, its 3.45 the class has just left; Nicole knocks on the door and walks in.

MRS. ROBINSON

Mr. Allcock, you wanted to see me?

JACK

Well ...

The next day we see Jack inside the classroom, the pupils are busy doing work, making noise but not being too much, he’s looking through the test papers and when he gets to Sean’s he reads through it and makes it a C grade, he looks up at Sean who is busy with his work, takes out a pen and smiles, he changes the grade from a C to a D, he quickly marks the rest and hands them out.

JACK

The next day after class, Jack is sat by his desk, he notices it’s nearly 3.45, he straightens his tie, tucks his shirt in, and squirts breathe freshener in his mouth.

Bring... it ...on!

There’s a knock at the door, its Nicole she smiles sweetly before entering.

The next morning while emptying a bin Jack stumbles across that note from earlier in the week “Mr. Allcock is literally all cock!” He decides to place the note in Sean’s possession in another bid to get Nicole back this time he plans to make a move.

ACT 2

Internal monologue

Actually I don’t need to do this, this is pathetic, just ask the woman out!

Fancy meeting sometime when, shall we discuss Sean over a drink, this is going to sound odd but would you like to...

All the pupils file into class and begin to seat themselves.

JACK

Right settle down ... NOW, thank you, right oh where’s Sean is he late?

STUDENT 2

He’s not in Sir, I think he’s moved.

JACK

Moved? Moved where? What are you talking about?

STUDENT 1

He’s moved school, his mum mentioned him not doing well

JACK

Really? That’s interesting (trying not to look effected), right open you books to page 26 please.

I don’t think that he should try not to look affected, I think we need to see how much this has effected him. Maybe he could be like ‘Really?’ looks shocked and bewildered ‘Right, erm, open your books to page 26 please’ and rushes out to the headmaster to confirm what he’s just been told.

Over the next few scenes we see Jacks appearance deteriorate, his mood worsens and he has a generally negative attitude. We see him throw away his alarm-clock and wake-up late.

We see him sat in the classroom playing with his phone

ACT 3

STUDENT 1

Sir are we not doing much today? – its 2.30

Jack looks up from his desk

JACK

What do you mean?

STUDENT 1

Well all you have done today is make Simon cry, and told us that education is pointless…

This is funny

JACK

And? Look I can’t be bothered with this, raise your hands if you want to go early?

A few students raise there hands

JACK

Ok, get gone then.

Its 4o’clock and Jack is still sat there, looking depressed, he can hear a voice in the distance, a faint laugh and a women saying thank-you, he recognises it to be Nicole’s voice, he panics, gets up in a rush, smooth’s down his hair, checks his breathe and tucks his shirt in. We then see Jack walk up to the door and peer out into the corridor, Nicole looks round having noticed Jacks head emerge from the door way. Jack quickly steps back into the classroom – realising he looked like an idiot, he emerges from the classroom with an awkward smile on his face and begins to walk towards Nicole,

Nicole is stood by a locker and has some books in her hand, she is clearing out Sean’s locker, she looks as beautiful as ever and smile sweetly.

MRS. ROBINSON

Mr. Allcock, I thought that was you.

JACK

Mrs. Robinson, yes I thought I heard voices, how are you?

MRS. ROBINSON

Very well thank you jus cleaning out Sean’s locker, I gather you have heard?

JACK

I have, I’m sorry I couldn’t offer the help he needed but hopefully he’ll be happy where he is now.

Nicole smiles sweetly and then turns to leave.

MRS. ROBINSON

I’ll be seeing you Mr. Allcock

JACK

Call me Jack, oh and Nicole, I was err, thinking… (awkward pause) if you wanted to go out like… and talk… you know, about something other than… um Sean?

MRS. ROBINSON

You mean a date? Jack are you asking me out on a date?

JACK

Well I…

MRS. ROBINSON

I’d love too, I must be going but here, this is my card, call me and we can arrange something?

JACK

Jack is now smiling

Sure yer will do… I’ll call you,

Nicole walks off, leaving Jack stood in the corridor by himself, he looks at the card, and then gives a cheeky wink to the camera.

Nicely done, like the ending. I think they should set a definite date though so we know he’s got what he wants. Also not sure about this winking to the camera business! ha