Internal monologue Blaines blog

Blaine is somewhat a Shakespeare of today's society, with his very elaborate and extensive range of vocabulary backed up by his some what baffling knowledge we both agreed that he would write the internal monologue script. we both discussed what we wanted the monologue to give to the audience and Blaine then went away and wrote some potential lines for each scene.

Like Blaine said within his post we didn't know how it would sound until we were there watching the film and listening to the monologue but because we had planned everything to a fine detail, the final product sounded great. To view Blaine's somewhat detailed post that shows his vast capability and wisdom with words follow the link below:
Internal monologue Blog post

Production photos

During production, I have been taking some photos to create a portfolio of the production process and these are just a small minority of the pictures taken which are a preview of how myself and Blaine work on set and how we go from ideas to film.

This is a make shift dolly that I spontaneously thought of one evening, I combined the wheels of this small trolly with some toy car track to make the ride smooth and the shot smooth when we wanted a pan shot of the protagonist in the final scene.

In the end the dolly didn't work on the track because it kept coming off, but we tried it without the track and it worked well. As it was raining i had brought many umbrellas and we were shooting under one of them because we really needed to capture the last scene. We got some very good shots but we are going to have to re-shoot because the lighting changed very quickly which made many shots impossible to film.

This is just an action shot of Blaine filming the classroom scene, it shows SLR camera that we are using. (Got you Blaine) (It also makes it look like your wearing nail varnish)

This is Blaine explaining the scene to the actors and extras in the classroom, he is explaining the shots we are using and then we had a run-through of the script.

This is a picture to give a sense of the scene, but it also act as a continuity image because whilst filming they had to leave and enter the room many times to acquire many different shots and in order to have great continuity I had to record we everyone was sitting.

Finally this is just a picture of the shot list that Blaine create after we had a brainstorm of ideas for each scene. This was an efficient way to record the shots that we had captured and needed to film but whilst we were getting these shot both myself and Blaine were coming up with new shots which we thought would look good at the time and we got many extra shots on each scene that we were filming.

If you want to view Blaine's post on-set organization it shows all of the different shot lists that we used and how we organized each day of filming.

On set organization Blaine's blog

Throughout the production process on set organization has been key in making sure that every thing runs smoothly to a certain extent that is manageable. Because we cannot control the weather some dates which we planned to shoot or even tried, have had to be prospered or re-shot due to the weather, but umbrellas where always on had because myself and Blaine had a contingency plan for if such circumstances occurred.

Blaine has made sure that all technical equipment was working and charged before each day of shooting as well as the shot lists that we defiantly wanted to get but could then be added to on the day if we thought a specific shot would look good and our creativity took over.

To view Blaine's post on our on set organization follow the link below:

On set organization

Call sheet

A call sheet is a list of actors who will be required on set for each day's shooting as well as the preparation that needs to take place in order to make sure the production process runs smoothly.

We are shooting on around 6 separate days if everything goes according to plan and this is the call sheet that we have been using whilst filming and in preparation for upcoming filming dates.

The dates that I have included are not set in stone, this is due to the fact that we are not paying our friends to participate within our film, they are giving up their time out of the kindness of their hearts so in return we are mainly working around what days best suit them and which days they are available together when needed.

A call sheet can be simple or it can be very, very detailed. Our call sheet does not need to be overcomplicated like for example a feature length film call sheet with hundreds of actors needed each day, vast amounts of camera equipment, lighting equipment, wiring, sets, explosives..... You get the point. Our call sheet is laid out in a very simple two column design that includes all the information needed. To view our call sheet, which may have amendments if filming dates change follow the link below:

Google Docs call sheet

costume and props, subtial but vital parts of of our film

When people hear the word filmmaking, they immediately picture film sets with large complex cameras and do not always take into consideration the smaller things that make up these huge productions.
The importance of costumes is often overlooked, because it is a small factor that everyone takes for granted but the implications can be phenomenal if the costume is wrong in any shape or form. This is also the case for props within film.

Multinational film producers have teams of people to produce and check over any props and costumes that are made and included within the film making sure that the continuity is perfect when actors have breaks and come back to a scene with an extra button done up on their jacket. However we do not have these teams to look out for us so we will do this ourselves but just to give you an idea of the amount of effort and work that goes behind these unseen necessities of films here are some lists below of the people that would be present on set:

-Props Master

The property master, more commonly known as the props master, is in charge of finding and managing all the props that appear in the film. The props master usually has several assistants.

-Props builder

The props builder, or more frequently prop maker, as the name implies, builds the props that are used for the film. Props builders are often technicians skilled in construction, plastics casting, machining, and electronics.

-Armourer or Weapons master

The armourer is a specialized props technician who deals with firearms. In most jurisdictions this requires special training and licenses.

-Costume designer

The costume designer is responsible for all the clothing and costumes worn by all the actors that appear on screen. They are also responsible for designing, planning, and organizing the construction of the garments down to the fabric, colours, and sizes. The costume designer works closely with the director to understand and interpret "character", and counsels with the production designer to achieve an overall tone of the film. In large productions, the costume designer will usually have one or more assistant costume designers.

-Costume supervisor

The costume supervisor works closely with the designer. In addition to helping with the design of the costumes, they manage the wardrobe workspace. They supervise construction or sourcing of garments, hiring and firing of support staff, budget, paperwork, and department logistics. Also called the wardrobe supervisor. This term is used less and less.

-Key costumer

The key costumer is employed on larger productions to manage the set costumers, and to handle the Star's wardrobe needs.

-Costume standby

The Costume standby is present on set at all times. It is his/her responsibility to monitor the quality and continuity of the actors and actresses costumes before and during takes. (S)he will also assist the actors and actresses with dressing.

-Art finisher or Breakdown artist

An Art finisher may be employed during the pre-production setup to "break down" garments. This specialized job includes making new clothing appear dirty, faded and worn. They are also known as breakdown artists.

-Costume Buyer

On large productions a buyer may be employed to source and purchase fabrics and garments. A buyer might also be referred to as a shopper. This distinction is often made when the lead actor in a production has control over their wardrobe, and they may personally hire this person.

-Cutter/fitter

A costume technician who fits or tailors costumes, usually on-set. They can also be called cutters, seamstresses or tailors. Some celebrity actors have favourite cutters, and larger productions may hire several and have them on set at the same time, particularly in period film projects that might have complicated or extremely expensive extras wardrobe.

I would like to say that both myself and Blaine played the role of all of the above minus the weapons adviser, costume designer, costume buyer, and costume fitter. so overall we researched the clothes that our actors had and asked them to wear a specified costume. The main protagonist was the most important to get the look and representation of him correct. We wanted the audience to be curious why a well dressed man is laying, asleep in a graveyard clueless to how he got there. This uncertainty within the audience is what the main protagonist is experiencing and this empathy is what will engage the audience with the film and make them want to keep watching.

We told him to dress in smart casual so: Jeans, he had some converse shoes, a shirt which can be seen within the scene under a black smart coat. We also wanted him to have a bag which was a contrast to his jacket and jeans. Overall he looks very good and within the scene that we have filmed the costume has worked perfectly, every time we have filmed we have asked him to remember what he is wearing due to the fact that the narrative of our film happens all in one day which means we need him to look the same to have good continuity.

The Main props we are using are; a red rose with thorns which the young girl will touch and bleed which leads us to the other main prop, blood. I researched into how to make blood and there where many different ways to do so, I tested lots of different formulas but thought that treacle and food colouring worked the best.

Apart from these main props which we have already bought or made there are no other purchases that need to be made. In terms of costume we need to make sure that the teacher looks like a teacher and the girl is presentable and creates the correct representation of her character, we also need to keep making sure that Toby, our main protagonist keep wearing the same attire to keep continuity in check. Overall we have learnt through many discussions and research how to represent characters through costumes and Mise-en-scene to the extent that we want them to be interpreted by the audience.

Pre-poduction location testing

Myself and Blaine did a small 30 second short clip of one of the shots that we want to include within our film. It is just a quick test of the location and sourroundings to see what the noise levels were and natural lighting that was avalible. It was extremal cold so my hands were shaking like mad but we can over come these factors by having professional equipment when the real production is filmed for example a tri-pod, some gloves and a better camera will all be vital equipment we will use when the clapper board snaps for scene one take one of our short film as well as estensive planning on behalf of myself and Blaine and professional acting. (Sorry blaine)

Pre-poduction testing from Tom palmer on Vimeo.

Scene 1 location and potential camera shots

Most writers, film directors and script developers have a preference for one style of writing over another. Some writers are more interested in developing complex, interesting, and quirky characters. Others indulge in eye catching visual effects or heart pumping action.
Myself and Blaine are very interested in very complex narrative based films which are predominantly character driven and this is to a certain extent what our short film will consist of. We have taken inspiration from many films that follow this style. Blaine's posts on sources of inspiration and Directorial techniques to consider as well my posts, Inspiration for our short film, True leaders of film and Three inspirational films from our teacher extensive DVD collection show our interest in this style and how we were inspired by these films and their unique styles.

Our film will strongly focus on the emotional development of the main protagonist and due to this being our main focus we want the cinematography to be very minimalistic, giving off a great sense of realism but also to accentuate that the main protagonist is just a real man in the real world, any over elaborate visual effects will digress from this sense of realism as well as the over attention to detail as it would then not portray the real world but an idealised version. This links with the postmodern theorists that we are learning about throughout the A2 course and how they believe the media portray an idealised world to us and this is another post-modern asset that our film includes, we want to portray the real world.
Both Blaine and myself have discussed the visual style of our film in great detail and my fellow director has written a post on cinematography: the look of our film which gives an overview of our discussions as well as some great examples for you to look at.
Above is just a very simple picture of a location which could be used within our first scene, it would be the place were the main protagonist wakes up, the protagonist would be centralised within the shot on the path laying down.

These four shots give you an example of the overall location that we want to use. The graveyard will be the opening location and because it is a very morbid but surreal place it will add to the ambiguity of why the main protagonist is their. The shots above are some examples of some establishing shots we could use before you see the protagonist on the floor, these establishing shots will set the mood of the film as well as providing a picture the audience can paint of the general surroundings that the main protagonist is in. Like myself and Blaine said the shots we used will still be thought about and look great making sure we portray the message that we want they will just not be overly visually stunning due to the realism we want to create.


Another idea that we had was to have a two shot of a couple of graves, one of them being rendered down a little and he other either relatively new with some flowers next to it. This shot will juxtapose the two types of graves showing that one is frequently visited with fresh flowers placed upon it and generally being clean, but this will then be emphasised by the rendered grave or grave with no flowers signifying the difference between them. we want to then use a close up shot of the rendered grave making sure that the name is in focus and centralised within the shot, this will mean nothing at the time but it will be referenced later within the film.
We also played around with the shadows around the graveyard which made the visual look of the shot very aesthetically pleasing, this part of the location could be used for the protagonist to walk through, he would also create a shadow and with the glare from the sun there would be minimal detail on him so he would look basically like a shadow. we wanted to uses this part of the grave yard because it has no path and this would be a great place to bring in the theory of semiotics that Blaine was deconstructing for one of our ancillary products. We want the protagonist to walk on the grass but respectfully not walk at the heads of the grave stones where many people would create a visual outline of where the body is. This would show and act as a sign of respect and would correspond to the protagonists selflessness nature. This would be a very simple way to incorporate semiotics within our short film but it would show that we are thinking about the production of our film in great detail.
This is a picture of the road just outside the graveyard. We managed to create a very good image on camera incorporating the light of the sun that beams down onto the road where the protagonist will walk. The darkness at the side will emphasise the beam of light that the protagonist appears to be walking towards. the outline of the protagonist will only be visible as he walks down the road to end the first scene. When taking this picture I thought about our underlying style that we wanted to include, film noir, which will also be portrayed within the flashbacks of the protagonist. This then meant that we had to think about the chiaroscuro within some shots to conform with the conventions of film noir.

Within this picture I was trying to re-create the glare from the sun that blinds you if you look towards it, so I faced the camera towards the sun just over the trees to reconstructed the visual image of the protagonist opening his eyes to be blinded by the sun. This did work to a certain extent but the image is not bright enough to re-create the effect on screen but I think we will have to create some artificial light to help create this effect on camera or we could add an effect on within the post production process.


Whilst we were walking around we came across an archway of trees which created a very mysterious walkway which we could try and use within our film. I thought about this later on in the day and I realised that if we did use this archway then it wouldn't be conforming to the minimalism that we want the cinematography to portray.

Over all after taking these location shots it has boosted my confidence within our chosen choice of location, first of all because we acquired permission to film within the graveyard. But whilst looking around and taking pictures I began to create the movie within my head, planning out every shot and detail that we would include and it all started to piece together.

Our choice to use the graveyard for our first scene I think will create the first enigma within the audiences mind. 'well why is this man here, on the floor?' I think it will give the correct ambience that we are looking for, which is to have a familiar location that the audience can relate to because this will add to the realism but they will have no idea why the man has woken up their and due to the overall mysterious and spooky feel that a graveyard includes it will add to the ambiguity of the whole film and can create many questions that the audience are left with still un-answered which corresponds to the postmodern active consumer that our film is aimed at.

These images are just locations shots and do not convery any of the camera shots and angles that we want to use within our film. This will be done within our pre-production testing with the main protaganist within the film and this will be filmed , uploded and analysed shortly afterwards.

Follow the link below to view this post:

Pre-production testing scene one, graveyard.