Evaluation

Overall I think the piece has turned out really good the the actors have really played their parts well portraying the emotions of the characters. As the producer I took a step back from all creativeness in the piece and feel as though the whole concept of the piece isn't mine but have enjoyed this as I managed to really focus on finding good actors and locations in which would work well trying to bringRuby image to life. There are many thing within our piece that I would change and do different if I had more creative control such as different camera shots and i would have edited it different trying to create more cuts during the long sequences in kitchen and office.

Post-Production

As I was the Producer My Main role was insuring that everything as planned out and scheduled for the shoot so I took a slightly back seat during the edit, and giving my opinion and help when needed. I decided to take this time to ensure that the Production  Folder contained all work that needed to be done and chase up the others in doing the paper work required from their roles.

Here is a Shooting Log that Joe produced:

Date/ Time	Scene	Type of Shot	Location	Description
2/5/12- 5.00 AM	Sun Rise	Extreme Wide	Norfolk Heritage Park	A simple still shot showing the city go from dark to light
2/5/12- 5.00 AM	Clouds	Wide	Norfolk Heritage Park	A still shot again just showing the clouds gradually move across the sky
2/5/12- 9.00 AM	Morning Traffic	Wides/Mid shots and CU	Drake House Way	Lots of shots of traffic passing, to show sheffield getting u for the day.
2/5/12- 9.30 AM	Office scene	Static Mid shot	Knutton Road Studios	A still shot of John at work having lots of work given to him
2/5/12- 9.30 AM	Office scene	CU	Knutton Road Studios	John answering the phone in a depressed manor
2/5/12- 10.00 AM	Office scene	Mid Shot	Knutton Road Studios	John going into a day dream with his head flat on his desk
2/5/12- 10.00 AM	Office scene	Mid Shot	Knutton Road Studios	John in his day dream playing with his horrible boss
2/5/12- 11.00 AM	Office scene	extreme CU	Knutton Road Studios	Johns boss being spun around on a chair looking up at his face
2/5/12- 11.00 AM	Office scene	Mid Shot	Knutton Road Studios	John being handed even more work aswell as being told he has to work Bank Holiday
2/5/12- 12.00 AM	Office scene	Tilted Mid Shot	Knutton Road Studios	John going mad throwing his work around and graffiting on the walls (day dream)
2/5/12- 12.00 AM	Office scene	Static Mid shot	Knutton Road Studios	John entering and leaving for work via the lift. Busy scene
2/5/12- 12.00 AM	Outside office	Wide Shot	Knutton Road Studios	Panning shots of the office blocks showing our location
3/5/12- 2.00 PM	Early Morning Breakfast	Mid Shot	Kinnaird Road	A few shots of John getting ready for work whilst his wife constantly nagging in his ear
3/5/12- 2.00 PM	Leaving for work	Mid CU	Kinnaird Road	John opening his front door and slowly leaving to work
3/5/12- 2.00 PM	Returning from work	Mid CU	Kinnaird Road	The same shot as when he leaves, john still looking really depressed and fed up
3/5/12- 2.00 PM	Evening Dinner	Mid Shot	Kinnaird Road	Amy walking around the kitch moaning at John for bill aswell as her going out and him having to make his own tea. John now lookinng really depressed
3/5/12- 3.00 PM	Evening Dinner	CU	Kinnaird Road	Close shot of John drinking his wine as well as some mood shots
3/5/12- 3.00 PM	Evening Dinner	Mid Shot	Kinnaird Road	John staring in a the mirror then goes into another day dream
3/5/12- 3.00 PM	Living Room	CU mid shot	Kinnaird Road	John in his day dream having his wife nagging him, he then chokes her to the ground
3/5/12- 4.00 PM	Leaving for Good	Mid Shot	Kinnaird Road	John opening his front door relieved and feeling free, he slowly take a breath in then starts walking away from the house
3/5/12- 6.00 PM	Leaving for Good	Wide Shot	Norfolk Heritage Park	John walking down through the park on his own into the distance
3/5/12- 6.00 PM	Leaving for Good	CU	Norfolk Heritage Park	Some close up of him sighing with relief then setting of walking into the distance

Here a Song Log that Jordan and Paul Produced:

Sound Log



Film: ‘Escaping’



Sound Recordist(s): Jordan Deakin, Paul Manning


Sound Editor(s): Jordan Deakin, Paul Manning



File Name / Description



Drama Original Sounds 



01             Early Bird Song 00:04:17 Gentle bird song


02             Early Bird City 01:21:09 Gentle bird song + distant city sounds


03             Early Birds with Quacks Early morning birds with quacks


04             Scene 6 Take 1 Keyboard tapping, boss “by four”


05             Office phones ringing


06             Scene 6 Take 2


07             Scene 6 Take 3


08             Scene 6 Take 4


09             Montage Take 1


10             Montage 2 Red phone call


11             Montage 3


12             Montage Take 4 “Holiday declined”


13             Montage Take 5


14             Printer noise (on set)


15             Dream Sequence Take 1 Office


16             Office Dream Take 2 


17             Office Dream Take 4 General noise


18             Dream Take 5 “Cowboy”


19             Dream 6 “Day off”


20             Dream 7 “Day off” (best version)


21             Traffic


22             Traffic 2

23             Traffic 3


24             Traffic 4 Longer cut 01:48:14


25             Traffic 5 Moped



Supplementary 



01             Breakfast Sighs


02             Axe Murderer Take 1


03             Axe Murderer Take 2


04             Old Codgers


05             Got to get to work


06             Job up yer arse


07             Phone fucking eyeballs


08             Pauline payslip


09             Sandra’s Chlamydia


10             Paul Ruler


11             TGI Components “nutsack”


12             (Urgh!) For God’s sake


13             Sandra take it for once


14             Nagging


15             Didn’t have time to make yer tea


16             Continuous nagging


17             Multiple nagging


18             Multiple nagging 2


19             Throttling


20             Printer (Sheaf)


21             Sheaf Phone 




Day Two Filming 



01             Pub with Lauren (test)


02             Scene 2 Take 2 Pub with Lauren


03             Scene 2 Take 3


04             Scene 2 Take 5 “Bills”


05             Bills 2


06             How was your day?


07             How was your day? 2


08             How was your day? 3


09             You’re late!

Production

During the shooting everything went really well. everyone in the group works really well together all for filling their roles and communicating well with each other. The schedule that I planned gave us enough time for each shot and everyone was in the right places at the right times. Nathaniel really got into his character and gave a really good performance when it came to his scenes, especially his day dream sequence at work. Here are a few still from the day of shooting:

Bex's House

Knutton Road Studio

 Roads near Norfolk Park

Final Script

Now that we have all location and actors secured Ruby Produced a more in-depth Script for the Piece:

Pre Production

Equipment

As both Bex and Paul have DSLR cameras we do need to borrow these from stores. Also we were planning on using Pauls Tri-pod, Clapper Board and Steadicam.

This then left sound and lighting to be booked out. The week prior to shooting we booked out the appropriate equipment so that when it came to shooting we know that we had everything we needed and only needed to pick it up. 

We booked out the following

• Marantz 661
• Wrifle Mic
• 2x Clip Mic
• Boom Pole
• XLR Cable
• Keno Flo Dive-Lite 400
• Dedo Lighting kit

As Bex has a car she would pick up the heavier equipment such as the lights then we would be able to transport them around in her car leaving us to take the lighter stuff on the bus with the rest of us. 

Scheduling

After talking to the contributors, as the producer I decided that filming on Weds 2nd May and Thurs 3rd May would be best as they were both off uni and free the entire day meaning we could get all filming done in one go rather then in small parts. 

For filming the sunrise scene I had to research into times in which the the sun rises and weather. Here is a weather for cats for both days and schedule of sun rise and setting times:

(timeanddate.com)

(BBC Weather)

After looking at these meant that Wednesday and Thursday would be the best days weather wise to film and Tuesday and Friday are forecasting to be raining. Also if we wanted to shoot the entire sunrise we would have to be on location at around 5am to get the build up and gradually increase in light. 

Now that I had this information I was then able to create a basic outline of a schedule but due to the fact I didn't have the shot list at this point I was working off the initial version of the script to work out how long we will need to be at each location for. This is the Schedule I produced:

I sent this to both Nathaniel and Francesca so that they were kept up to date with the projects progress and knew when we needed them.

I had to use a journey planner to research the length it would take to get to Knutton Road Studio and Bex's house. I also got the busses that we will need to get on the day of shooting.

(route to get to Bex's house)

(Route to get to Knutton Road Studios)

Parashoot

Due to technical difficulties I am unavailable to Log in to Parashoot even after resetting my password several times, receiving emails form previous project it still says "No User Found" when I try to Log in. I have emailed Dominic, my groups main tutor and I'm still waiting on a reply on what I should do.

Finding Locations / Talent

Locations

As producer I took responsibility to try and find actors and locations for the piece. As soon as Bexs, initially said about the long road I know that we would be able to film this an Norfolk Park, so this was one of the three locations sorted. Also as someone said about filming the sun rise we would be able to use Norfolk Park.

View up entrance path

View over City

For the scenes that take place in the kitchen and hall way Bex offered to use her house. This meant that the shooting times would be flexible as we were able to use her house as we needed. The scenes that do take place are the morning scene in which John is sitting at table and Amy is nagging at hime about bills and how he never goes out etc. We will also need to film scenes in which he is leaving and returning from work and taking his ring off to leave for good.

Map of Kinnaird Road where Bex house is.

The third location that we needed were offices. This was so that we could film shots with similar framing to at home but instead of having Amy nagging we will have Johns boss nagging. Rubys mum works at Knutton Road Studios and Ruby managed to talk to her mums boss and ask is it would be possible for us to use an office space. He kindly agreed and we managed to secure out last location.

Outside view of Knutton Road Studios

Map of Knutton Road

Talent

Now that we have sorted out the location I took started looking for actors to play our characters. From being producer in the experimental project I had contacted several performance students so asked the initially if they would be willing to help. Nathaniel McCartney was really interested in helps us and really liked the whole concept for our piece. Through him I managed to secure Francesca as Amy. This then left the boss character. As we wanted an older boss Paul offered to play the role if we were unable to find a suitable person to play the role.

Initial Ideas Development

Initially we met up to discus ideas and what route we can see our drama heading down. Bexs could see this long road, framed by rows of trees and a man walking down it, walking away from something. Talking about what he could be walking away from lead to the development of this guy being trapped, be it in his home and boring work life, and finally having enough and leaving.

On Friday the 21st April we had to present and pitch our idea to Dom so Paul wrote up this initial script and treatment in order to portray what we wanted to do:

TREATMENT

Director: Ruby Harman

Producer: Emma Corbett

Programme: Drama Film ‘Journey’

This film charts an ordinary day, in the life of an ordinary man, and the decision he takes to escape his ordinary life forever.

Fed up with the relentless monotony of his humdrum life, and the relentless nagging from his humdrum wife, one man decides enough is enough and decides that the time has come to make a change.

“Today is the first day of the rest of his life.”

 

Duration: 1 X 5 minutes

Independent production suitable for evening screening on BBC4, Channel 4 short films strands, SKY Arts, competitions, festivals and webcast.

Format: Snappy, quick edits (Edgar Wright style), dual cameras, shot on location.  Extensive postproduction.

Audience: Teenagers and adults.

Aim : The aim of the film is to be optimistic and show how a person can alter the course of their life and regain the control of their own destiny that they once thought was lost to them.

Resumé: The film address social issues of repression, and dissatisfaction and show how one man changes his life for the better.

Suggested Elements: The programme will use the depiction of early morning sunlight and the outside world beyond the windows of the character’s home and office to depict the entrapment that he feels.  Use of colour and lighting will highlight the drab interior confined world that he spends the majority of his daily life in and the struggles and monotony that he faces every day.

The end scene will be ultra colourful to highlight his escape and his new journey in life and his new adventure, free from his trappings.

The carefully considered and manipulated use of sound editing will also build up the struggle of his every day life and then a calming soundtrack over the ending will emphasise the freedom he achieves.

Locations

Three locations:

-   Norfolk Park overlooking Sheffield city centre

-   Kitchen of working class home

-   Office interior

-    

Characters

Three characters:

-   man

-   wife

-   boss

Costumes

-   Man: shirt, tie, typical office attire

-   Wife: dowdy wife casual, beige / drab colours

-   Boss: smarter suit and tie

Props

-   Kitchen: cereal, milk bottle, bowl, spoon, clock

-   Hall: mirror, keys, bowl

-   Office: desktop / workstation items, files, pc, keyboard, phone, mug, pens, stapler, paper, office clock

(END OF TREATMENT)

Script

Exterior:  Norfolk Park.  Early morning 

Sunrise over city, city coming to life

Interior:  Ordinary working class kitchen.  Same early morning

Man sat at kitchen table.  Cereal bowl and milk bottle indicate breakfast.

Behind him noises build (kettle, toaster, radio).  Incessant nagging of wife.  Quick cuts from both sides behind his head nagging him.  He is being nagged from all sides.  Man looks forward ignoring wife as best he can.

Close up of kitchen clock hitting 8am.

Man finishes cereal puts down spoon in bowl, stands up, leaves table.

Cut to: (snappy edits)

Int: Home hallway

-   Close up: mirror reflection, man putting on tie

-   CU: putting shoes on

-   CU: hand picking up keys from bowl

-   Wide: house door shuts as he has left for work

Int: Office corridor

Lift doors open, man piles out with numerous other people.

Int: Open plan office

Man walks down middle of office towards his desk

Int: At desk

In set up reminiscent of being sat at kitchen table, man has outside world view from window behind him.  Inside all furniture is grey and artificial lighting harsh and washed out.  Desk top paraphernalia indicates work station.

Around him noises begin to build (tapping typing on keyboards, printers, phones ringing) arms of unidentified person dumps huge bundles of paperwork on his desk with a thud.  Phone rings, sounds of disgruntled client on phone.  Behind him boss is ‘having a go’ at him in the same manner as nagging wife in kitchen.  Same cuts in edit so that man gets verbal abuse from all sides.  Man continues to look forward.

Close up of office clock hitting 5pm.

Man puts down last file on his mountain of paperwork, stands up, leaves desk.

Int: Open plan office

Man walks back down middle of office.

Int: Office corridor

Man gets into lift, doors close.

Int: Home hallway

(Snappy edits)

-   Wide: Door opens as he walks in

-   Close up: hand putting keys in bowl

-   CU: taking shoes off

Int: kitchen

Man sits down at same table that he got up from this morning.

Table set for evening meal: water jug and glasses, place mats, cutlery.

As breakfast, noises build behind him (this time boiling pan, microwave humming, washing machine whirring).  Incessant nagging of wife.  Quick cuts from both sides behind his head nagging him.  He is being nagged from all sides.  Same as breakfast.

Man looks forward ignoring wife.

Calmly gets up and leaves table.

Cut to: (snappy edits)

Int: Home hallway

-   Close up: mirror reflection, calmly, man takes off tie

-   CU: putting shoes on

-   CU: hand over keys in bowl

-   CU: man takes off wedding ring and puts it in bowl with the keys

-   Wide: house door shuts as he has left leaving keys and everything else behind him

Ext: House

Noises, and all other environmental sounds, fade as we follow him walking away from house, onto pavement, and set off down road

Ext: Norfolk Park (same location as beautiful sunrise)

Man walks away.  Camera stays at park gates as he walks off into distance up the park tree lined avenue.  Leaving the city, and his old life, behind.

(END OF SYNOPSIS)