Storyboards... results of auditions.

So lately i've been stuck at home, battling my ever persitant allergies. It's because of this I haven't really been able to go out and location scout to the extent that I've needed too. All is alright however, because in the meantime, I've been drawing up storyboards!
For those of you that don't know what a storyboard is; it's something like a comic book, usually hand drawn, representing the order, style and types of shots that will be implemented during Principle Photography(the shoot). Here's a really cruddy picture of the first page of storyboards for this production:


'Looks like they're sitting at the bottom of a dirty fish tank right?'

The results of auditions that took place on June 9th - June 11th turned out to be pretty inconclusive. (I want to give a big thanks to all who helped me however. If it wasn't for you, i never would have been able to pull this off. Thankyou _Fareed, Bonni, Tabitha and Chris for booking the rooms, waiting for actors, having to talk to me and wait. Out of the 21 actors scheduled from Monday thru Wenesday; only 7 showed up, and six of those actors came with the intentions of trying out for the character Joseph's part only. One actor auditioned for the part of Chris. So I find myself very indecisive. Torn between several issues. These issues are far too many to list..so lets just say, i'm much more indecisive now than I was two weeks ago.

I have decided to contact another casting agency in the hopes that a better set of actors will present themselves. Most likely I will hold another casting session in the days following the (18th of June). These auditions will be individual sessions. Not nearly as preplanned as the talent circle group was.

Here's a picture of my assistant director (Tabitha) and myself viewing the audition tapes back:


The ideal posture for creative thinking.

Tomorrow i'll be location scouting through Richmond Park. Wish me luck!

Auditions and Location Scouting.

I haven't posted in awhile, but I have an excuse.
The past few weeks were absolutly mind bogglingly busy. (That might not be a word, but that's how busy I really was.. ..really!)
I finished up the final week of classes, passed all my exams(somehow), and dove straight into the pre-production of this unfinished short film. I am still learning as I go, so some things are very nerve wracking, yet exciting none the less.

One of the many things I did the past week was LOCATION SCOUTING.
Things needed:
1. London A to Z map.
2. Pictures of location from www.filmlondon.co.uk
3. A friend, or a girlfriend.
4. An idea of where you are going and how to get there.(WARNING: THIS RULE (MUST)BE FOLLOWED IF YOU ARE BRINGING YOUR GIRLFRIEND ALONG. ..IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME ..THATS FINE..I WARNED YOU.)

So far I have found 3 of 10 locations. Several Location Scouting events have been scheduled for next week. Hopefully we find the locations needed for the right price!

Casting will begin next week on MONDAY the 9th of June 11am till 3pm. It will last for three days. Hopefully everyone can make it at such an early time (that goes for myself as well). I have about 21 actors auditioning for the two male leads. I've given everyone around 15minutes to audition, so hopefully that will suffice.

I'll keep you all updated on how it goes.
Stay tuned.

- Jason


PS:
Location scouting can be a very dangerous experience if you have no sense of direction what so ever. If you are one of these people (like me) I suggest you hire a location manager, who will find the place for you.

Producer, Assistant Director and updates.

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What your looking at above, is none other than the script breakdown of this film. Cut and pasted onto my walls with Blue Tack. A truly miraculous substance that never seems to dry out! ....alot has happened since the last post, so let me bring you up to speed.

1. I finished the script breakdown.
2. I still haven't made a working budget
3. I found an AD -or assistant director.
4. I'm going on a Location Reccee Saturday.(this was originally scheduled for Friday, but my still photographer rescheduled.
5. The producer called me back. -what did he say? All will be explained, look below.
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So last week, the well established (one heck of a nice guy) 'Producer Adam' gives me a ring. After throwing him a completely unsolicited script during our Producing and Directing class (he was a guest speaker), he was very much obliged to read it through. Not only that, but he was nice enough to give me a call back in less than two weeks! (I'm sure he knows how greatful I am. The fact that he would take the time out of his busy schedual for budding film-makers like myself...) Especially when they act like I did below.
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The conversation went something as follows:

Producer Adam
Jason?

Jason
Yes?

Producer Adam
This is Adam, I came to your class
to speak about producing the other day?

Jason
Oh, OH! Hey! Thanks for giving me a call!

Producer Adam
Hey, no problem. I just wanted to say I liked your script.

Jason
THANKS for giving me a call! ...AND liking my script!

Producer Adam
It's okay.

Awkward pause

Jason
Thankyou sooo much for giving me a call!
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After the call, I ran thru my university screaming like an idiot... not a smart thing to do when your supposed to be in class... One thing I learned from all this; however, is that the excitement of meeting new exciting individuals in this industry and gaining their recognition is almost never ending. So always take every chance you can to take that next step, because it could just be the biggest and most extrodinary step you've ever made.
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During my stay after university classes, I usually hang around the MES; where I bother fellow students working as slaves behind the desk of our equipment logging department. There I made Tabitha my Directors Assistant. This was because I believe she can do the job, answer my questions, and handle her part of the work and technical issues(which may very well confuse me). In other words, I believe she can get the job done and I trust her to get it done. I'm pretty sure having Tabitha as my AD should make things a heck of a lot simpler from here on out.
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On Saturday, I am going on a Location Reccee with my Still Photographer to some locations I would like to check out. Too see pictures of possible locations, please check back after saturday.

Also, casting may commence tomorrow when I send notices out through Talent Circle and UK CAST NET. Stay tuned for more info.

PS: The final draft is the 12th Draft.. No more rewrites. Promise.

Update and promotional logo.

I threw together a promotional logo the other night.
Nothing particularly fancy, just something to get the idea across and possibly attract bigger name actors and crew members.

Oh, and I gave the script to a big name producer on tuesday morning.
He's worked on various big budget features..

More updates later..

Proof Reading, final corrections being made...

I have finally finished the script break down. However, now is the time to scan through everything to make sure I haven't made any mistakes. The final draft of the script will be the 10th Draft, and I should have it done by today or this evening. I have a bit of school work to finish up, so no real work will probably be finished until Friday of this week.

Correcting, Rewriting...

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So what have I been doing so far this week concerning the film?
We'll, I keep rewriting the script whilest doing the break down (which really slows things down.)
Today I plan on actually finishing the script break down and starting on some sort of production schedual. Lets cross our fingers I can get through the screenplay once more without changing something.

Script Breakdown In Progress...

Okay, so I said I would have a decision as of today, on whether to hire union actors, class mates or experienced crew. After looking at several websites for the duration of the last couple days, I have concluded that I can make no serious decisions before the BREAKDOWN OF THE SCREENPLAY is finished and a proper schedual has been made. I have finished the 5th draft of the screenplay, and am currently breaking it down.

For those of you who don't know what a script break down is (warning you, i'm still learning myself.) It consists of seperating every working element.
From locations,props and characters to dialog, wardrobe and special effects. After doing this you can kind of estimate a budget range and put together a production board(which will help you devise your shooting schedual and such.) Lets say you want to break down your screenplay. There are two diferent ways to go about doing this. The first option is to steal your younger siblings colored markers and pencils and start coloring up your screenplay using a set of conventions as I have outlined below. The second is further defined later. The color coding system seems to vary, but as of right now, this seems to be what most people are using.

Day Ext - Yellow
Night Ext - Green
Day Int - White
Night Int - Blue
Cast - Red
Stunts - Orange
Extras/Silent bits - Yellow
Extras/Atmostphere - Green
Special Effects - Blue
Props - Purple
Vehicals/Animals - Pink
Wardrobe - Circle
Make Up - Asterisk*
Sound Effects - Music - Brown
Special Equipment - Box
Production Notes - Underline

For the record, this is just one example and I have pretty much copied from this script break downsheet:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Script_Breakdown_Sheet.pdf

The other possible way you can break down your screenplay is downloading a program that does it for you. Now, progs such as EP Scheduling, Movie Magic and Sun Frog Film Scheduling are all fine and dandy.. but i'm positive that neither you nor I want to shell out 300 bucks for a program. Especially if your a poor student such as myself. After two days of searching however, I have found that a screenwriting program called Celtx actually helpfully allows you to not only markup your screenplay, but compiles the information into your break down.(AND IT'S FLIPPIN FREE!) All you have to do is point and click. There are several other options that i'll leave for you to figure out yourself.
The website for Celtx is http://www.celtx.com/download.html.

Knock yourself out.