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this day was so strange to see everything come to reailty as i didnt expect for things to look how i imagined it was so cool to see.

makeup and hair began practising looks on the characters (see below) while i worked with the props department on making things i focused on the cereal bowl as that was going to have our title of the film written in it. i took charge as i had worked with resin before and knew it would speed up the prop making process.

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I have always loved directing short films and after a video project last year, when I was A.D for Lucky Bytes I knew I wanted to pitch something this year. After the Video project meeting, i was excited as the possibility of having creative control over something that i had helped build from scratch rather than a script that was given to us previously.

My friends Emma Newbery and Jay Pollard all felt the same way and it was a fairly easy decision to work together. This decision also came from the fact we have worked on projects together before and the outcome has always been efficient and satisfactory. With Emma having experience in producing and Jay in script writing the roles were self-explanatory.

During the Project timeline we were also in Programme production coinciding with the module which was difficult at times however for the development process made the meetings easier as we were all free at the same time.

During these meetings we started throwing concept ideas out but none stuck. In the end our vampire character came from an offtopic conversations about someone watching what we do in the shadows (2019). This ended up with a spiral conversation about fantasy shows we enjoy such as Doctor Who (1963-present) this ended with us agreeing we wanted to create a supernatural show where our main character is a vampire. We took inspiration from the shows we spoke about and noticed most of the main characters offered comedic relief in dramatic times so We decided to make our genre comedy/drama to have to opportunity to recreate this

However the tough part to decide was what would be the plot and character development process. We each started suggesting funny problems that this vampire could have such as "he is alergic to blood" or "he has blunt fangs so he cant bite" but we knew we couldnt make a comedy/drama short film round one of these. It felt like it was too cheesy, so we took a different approach and looked at the negatives of being a vampire. We looked at common similarities to human lives as we wanted to create something that viewers could relate to in their own way. The one that stood out was eternal loniness. We decided to focus on this theme and make our vampire feel isolated after years of being alone and watching people he loves die around him.

Along the development process, we struggled with creating a build up to the climax of the plot. We couldnt decide what was going to make our character (Ash) do something different with his life. Thats when one of us mentioned a bucket list possibly being found from years ago and it saddens him to remember those he lost through eternal life yet it motivates him to write a new one with modern tasks to complete before he stands in the sunlight.

After this successful meeting, we had a brief plot and character to start developing the story with. I personally get shot ideas from listening to songs that sound like the scene mood I'm trying to match. I made a small playlist and started to develop my ideas for the opening scene to establish the film and feeling (I've inputted this playlist screenshot)

I wrote this idea out and discussed it with our scriptwriter and producer the next day and they liked it. Jay and I immediately got to work on drafting this opening out and Emma started working on placing this into our pitch.

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Moving onwards our next step was to do auditions and interviews. We created a Google form and sent it out for people to choose their ideal time we had this set out so we knew who was auditioning and their ideal crew roles before they walked in (as seen below)

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We polished off any final touches to the script and sent out the availability form for pre-production week.

From this, we created a spread sheet that only myself, Emma and Lara (group supervisor) could access that way knew who was late and who wouldn't be in. (as seen below)

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On Wednesday we called everyone in at 9 am because we were having Thursday off due to Programme Production.

We started by having a welcome meeting, where we discussed themes, concepts, and visions about the film and then spoke about what would be expected, the health and safety. I personally showed them my slides of the pitch as it described what I needed to say while I also announced that it was a collaborative film and that if someone had a shot idea that they think would work better please tell me. Having the welcome meeting allowed people to feel comfortable and look forward to working on this project. (as attached)

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After sending Andy out for locations he came back with 2 possible ones as we already had the indoor scene locations sorted out as filming at Nathan's and filming at Ruby's.

However, we needed to find a bus stop but we knew we wouldn't be able to get a real one due to risk assessments and permissions.

So we had to find somewhere that looked like one or that set dressing could make it look like one (set below) we decided to go for this as it was a safe option as it was on campus. (i've also attached the conversation our loaction manager had with our supervisor about this location)

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For the rest of the day, we continued to do our script breakdowns together and thought of some clever shots such as a one-shot scene for the party scene. we also talked about transitions from flashbacks to the present day. (as seen with examples below)

We started to gather where we could source props from and the set dressing and prop department went to the props store to see if we could source props to save money on the budget.

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Over the weekend, I knew we had a lot to prepare and get through for the following week of pre-production.

With the Script breakdowns done and locations decided I started to work my way through the scenes and create a shot list to send out to everyone (see below)

This week would be when we start booking equipment out and have meetings with Connel and Jake so it was useful to have shots to discuss and have help deciding on how to do them.

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We all met at 2 pm as of programme production. However, today was mainly focused on having meetings for camera, lighting and sound to discuss how to do certain scenes such as the one-shot scene and lighting tricks.

These meetings were useful as they allowed us to get some deeper ideas such as costume colour theory. That people would usually miss. Through these meetings, we also set up the necessary inductions for each department further in the week. I found it to be important to be involved in these meetings while discussing ideas because then down the line there would be no confusion of ideas.

While myself and Emma were in these meetings with the few departments, we left our A.D in charge of everyone else and he was tasked with sitting down with the creative departments and writing lists of everything that needed buying, that we couldn't previously source, He also went through and looked for cheaper alternatives and when we returned i also searched for the same on sites such as facebook marketplace and eBay (see below for my searching for a bench)

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During this day most of our crew were off on previously mentioned inductions for their equipment. We also sent our A.D. with them as it was useful that someone else knew what they were doing. i didn't attend as I already had the inductions the previous year.

The costume department went to the costume store with some actors to find period-style outfits for the flashback. Those who were asked to bring things in to wear tried them on and costumes were finalised.

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The camera, and lighting, sound departments all met early as we were having a meeting on what equipment we were booking out to use and where we were to store it.

I made note of this as I made sure each department was in charge of their equipment and only theirs as I didn't want anything getting lost or damaged because of someone else. This was something i wanted to work on, having a clean, organised working environment on set and this is one of the ways i implemented it. As a clean working environment allows workflow to be efficient and quick

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Today was mainly about making sure all questions had been answered everything had a solution to it and everything needed was there ready for it to be used.

I spent my day personally planning the one-shot scene layout with the camera department as we knew it was going to be difficult therefore we had to choreograph each movement to each interaction perfectly to pick it up on camera (as seen below) i made a flow floor plan to show the direction of movement for the camera and actors.

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By the time it was time to pitch we already had a script opening for people to read, while also having creative visions, inspirations, research and shot ideas laid out. This was due to us being excited and wanting to film it even if it hadn't chosen. In the pitch, we described our comedy type as being witty and offering that light to dark, these choices of genres paid off as in our snippet of script, we had a few laughs which solidified the confidence that we were capable of creating this ideal script.

Thankfully all this previous work and excitement payed off as we got chosen. Moving forward it was time to develop the script and characters. Jay and i worked closly and decided we wanted this vampire to meet someone who linked with our theme differently. We wanted these two characters to form a bond through mutual understanding of each other and help one another without realising it. And from there the character of Taylor was created.

We knew we had a lot of work to do to develop the story lines as we wanted each character to have a motive, background and reason for being a part of this story. But

after all the scene planning and back and forths of emails with the scriptwriter, to develop these scenes further, such as the party scene (as seen below) we finally had a finalised script and were ready to get a team and cast together.

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This process was smooth and during this process I relayed information about how filming and pre-production would happen. I did this throughout the solo auditions as people tend to listen more 1 on 1. I explained information such as what would be expected from their ideal roles, and how we would send out an availability form every week for scheduling and one before filming the filming weeks.

Throughout this Emma and I made notes on the performance or role experience for the interviews to look back on in the future (as seen attached) We allowed people to have the chance to resay their ideal roles in case they changed their minds this worked well as a few people wanted to change their first choice.

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Once done with the audition process, Emma and I sat down to decide on roles. It was a fairly easy process as there was no gaps that needed filling anywhere. We decided Jay to be A.D. as he knew the script inside out and had also been there through me talking about shot ideas. We made a few people P.A.'s as we trusted them and their skills to help out where people needed help.

After the decisions had been finalised emma sent out the cast and crew list. Upon feedback everyone was happy with their roles.

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After this, we had a table read and it was interesting to hear in people's voices how this film was going to sound. Throughout this, I read the stage directions and went into further detail such as type of locations, lighting, what types of props etc. That way each department could start writing down and thinking of ideas. Everyone seemed to enjoy the script which was a relief.

We immediately started looking at locations as a group and had our location manager (Andy) go and scope out some places we would possibly use. While Andy did that the rest of us started doing script breakdowns together.

I found this to be more useful as last year we were all left alone to do it and this caused confusion down the line as people were getting confused and ideas didn't match up for certain scenes or people just didn't make one for their department causing chaos on shooting day.

Together we wrote on the board what shots, equipment, audio, props and set, costume, makeup+hair would be needed for each scene. This proved effective as not only did everyone make a script breakdown for their department, but they also understood what the other departments were doing each scene this allowed PAs and production coordinators to also have clear understanding of everything immediately. (examples below)

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The producer and I sat down at this time and began working through the shooting schedule of the availability form we had sent out for filming week.

This was a challenge as people were working and some people wouldn't know their availability for future dates till further down the line. However, we managed to put everything in those two weeks while leaving some days free in case we needed to pick up. We had to bear in mind that some people only got their work schedules on the weekend but for the most part, we wanted to get all major big scenes done within the first week as we had confirmed availability at this point. (see shooting schedule above) This was then past along to out A.D. to create call sheets

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After this, i sat down with the sound team and began discussing music choices and types for the music we wanted to use. We compiled a playlist of songs that fit the theme of what we were going for (as linked above)

This day was mainly about signing off all the creative department needs such as ordering things needed and finalising costumes. It was also for finalising equipment usage and knowledge of what was being filmed.

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floor plan and flow chart of Rubys house

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floor plan and flow chart of Rubys house

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After this Emma, Jay and i stayed behind after everyone had left to debrief how we felt and what we needed to do to prepare for the following few weeks.

Overall we were all set to get filming and it was a nice relief to not worry as this point last year i was still getting infomation about the film. It was nice to see my communication skills had paid off and my choices of how to work and organise had made it so everyone had everything there ready to go.

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Moving into production we wanted to ease our selfs into fast next few weeks, Therefor we started by booking out the recording studio in order to do the Voice Overs

Throughout this session we recorded lines for scenes 4,6,7 and 15. This was a lot of fun to do as i personally had never worked in a recording studio so this was a learning curve for me. However i drew from my previous skills of directing in a studio for Programme Production such as being about to clearly communicate what i want and the effects i want to create. I did this by giving examples that our actor could relate to in order for him to practise and warm up.

This recording session went smoothly as i could have wished and we were wrapped up in less that an hour which i was shocked by. We made sure to keep to team small to only one sound crew member, producer and A.D. in order to limit distractions and to keep efficiancy high. This evidently worked from the time it took us to complete this session

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Thankfully the previous day was a short shooting schedule as we knew that today was going to be a very busy and long day due to us moving to two locations and it being night shoots

We arrived to our first location being at Ruby's house at 3pm to set up. We were very fortunate of the time of year it was due to it going dark earlier, this meant that we could start filming earlier in the day which was nice.

We set up and everything was running smoothly. I made sure to ask our A.D. to put more set up time in for this day due to it being the first day everyone was on set I wanted to allow room for confusion and time for people to get into the flow of working on set again.

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This was a fairly easy scene to direct as while everyone was setting up i made sure to designate time to sitting down with the camera crew and cast together to discuss the scene and the motives behind each character. While also reminding them what had happened in the scenes before this.

Together we collaborated and discussed acting choice they could make to futher develop their characters and their characters motives. Having this conversation was extremely useful as it allowed everyone to understand the scene in as much depth as possible while also allowing room for them to have freedom, I found the importance of having the camera crew there useful as it meant they knew and were in the loop about acting choices they needed to catch. This technique was something i carried on doing throughout the production

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By the time we wrapped up ready for the next location it was a bit later in the night, therefor i decided to make a smaller crew in order to make this more efficiant time wise. It was getting colder and i didnt want people who didnt need to be there to be stood freezing. This choice massively impacted our shoot as although we got the scene done faster, it meant a few of us had to multi role,

However our cast size was a lot bigger due to us filming scene 12,13,14 at this location. Set up at this location was a lot smoother and faster due to us only bringing the equiptment we knew we needed.

I once again sat down with the actors and talked them through the scenes like previously (as seen above) once again this proved useful as we wrapped up in no time.

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This day was our last day on set at ruby's house. However was a very stressful day as we had every character on set meaning people having to multirole throughout the day. furthermore we had extras coming in to fill the scene.

Today was the day of filming the party scene (the one-shot) which even though we had planned out thourally, we hadnt rehearsed on set. While doing my usual technique of sitting with the camera crew and cast i decided to take a different approach to this day as while we did this we also walked through the actions and choregraphy we had planned out with the camera. As we were using the gimble for the first time.

I futhermore sat with the extras and explained the film and the scene we were doing today. I pushed them to bring individuallity to their roles even though they were extras and encouraged them to have fun. I provided many breaks and constantly talked to them to make them feel comfortable as i know it can be overwhelming being on set with a large crew working around you.

This preparation and techniques worked well as even though i didnt manage to bring my camera to take photos this day i did get a video of walk through rehersal. However padlet wont let me upload it due to storage. Overall this day was successful.

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Unfortunatly this was an early start for the crew due to clashing modules starting later in the day, As previously stated we struggled with knowing availability due to work schedules not being released. Therefore we wanted to get the scenes with the most amount of people in done in the first week. This worked well production wise however everyone including myself was tired from the busy shoot days.

Thankfully this day was a relaxed short scene which meant that even though people were tired they could relax and have a breather compared to previous days.

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In terms of directing i spoke to phoebe and Shay about how i wanted them to be, as even though they are young they were playing older parts which can be quiet difficult. I explain how i didnt want them to play it as old and fragile but rather more mature and settled in there life, this way it would make the acting more realistic

As for nathan even though he wasnt talking in this scene i wanted there to be some awkwardness and obliviousness from him not understanding why carol is disturbed by the dead body. We did this by coming up with a smile and a wave at carol in the window after dumping the body. This way it would have the comedic effect of this abnormal situation feeling normal to him. I carefully watched over this from the phone connected to the camera as i had to sit outside to cue Nathan. (as you can see above)

Thankfully this day stuck to its time scheduled too as we were wrapped by 11 AM which was nice as people could go home and enjoy there early weekend as we werent filming on the Friday, out of principle we knew it was going to be a busy week and people including ourselves needed a break

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Once again this was a short day due to clashing module. Therefor this was a later start however immediatly we had to make changes to the shooting scedule due to someones availability. However, this change worked in our favour as it would mean we would be able to shoot all of the opening montage in one day rather than over the next few days.

An issue we ran into was lighting however because as it was going dark early it meant the lighting was different inside the kitchen to the other day in the morning. I spoke to the lighting team (which was once again limited due to availability) about possible help. We agrees on flooding the room with some bright light (not too much cause he is a vampire) from the direction of the window. This created a nice dingy/grainy effect on camera almost like the curtains were shut to protect him from sunlight.

Once again this scene was no dialogue only movement so i walked nathan through step by step of how to knock over the cereal bowl and duck out the way so the camera could get a shot of the sanguine bowl.

Having this short crew was effecive even though it wasnt nessisary as we noticed attendance was dropping without warning. We understood that work couldnt be helped but we noticed people were just not showing up even though they were available or the were leaving early and not completing and help pack up their department. This is when we decided to seek the advice of out suporvisor who sent out an email reminding people about attendance.

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In the bathroom we were very limited to space there for i we had use and room for one light we dicided to once again dimly light to room with one LED light and i made sure to mention to the editors when i saw them that colour grading will need to be focused on heavy in that scene.

i personally had to watch again on my phone and direct through the door which was a challenge but tested my communication skills. i was fortunate that this scene was going to be muted as it was apart of the montage so i could guide reactions throughout the scene (see above)

Overall despite being a short day i could tell that peoples attendance was effecting morale in those who were constantly having to multirole, including myself. I was getting frequently frustrated with having to explain to people why they needed to stay such as the editors as i explain one of them should be making an editoral log of transitions, scene fixes ect. This caused issues later down the line in post-production. However at this point i started doing that for them.

However, we got wrapped and packed down for 5 pm a short but successfully productive shoot

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After that email had been sent out, it seemed to have an effect on attendance as more people showed up again and thankfully so. As today was a big prop day and set design as it was Coffin day. the camera crew and props department were called in early to set up.

We had managed to borrow a show coffin from a funeral home and while people went to help pick it up the rest of the crew started setting up. The camera crew and i immdeiatly set up dolly tracks for the tracking shot down the corridor into Ash's bedroom. We worked a transition into the room by blacking at the door making it look like the viewer had past thought the closed door.

Then the coffin arrived and set dressing began. At this point everything was chaotic but in the best way as everything was being done. It was a relief to not have to multirole and to just be able to focus on discussing shot and acting choices with the actor and crew.

this day was incredible to watch as i feel like everyone finally clicked into their role and ust got on with their tasks. whether this was due to it being a important day or because our suporvisor was there, i couldnt tell but i was grateful that nothing caused us an issue.

After set dressing the camera crew got some b-roll shots of candles and the set while i debriefed with our actor what was happening.

As he was previously made aware he would be laying in a coffin he had previously said he was comfortable with that idea. However i made sure to check in again with him to see how he was feeling incase he had changed his mind but he agreed that he was still comfortable. After this mental check in i proceeded to talk through how i wanted him to act.

In this scene i directed him to not be as smiley or reactive with his facial expressions as this was the viewers first time seeing him and we wanted to create a spooky effect until the montage straight after. otherwise the comedic beat of it would be uneffective.

Overall, despite there being a lot going on this day we got thumbs up from our suporvisor that we were doing a great job and i was relieved and thankful to have some confirmation that i was doing everything right. The actual filming went perfect after a slow start due to us not being able to get a good shot handheld with the RED we moved to the gimble however and this made it smoother. From there time passed by and before we knew it we were taking the coffin back to the funeral palor and packing up for the day

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This day was by far my favourite filming day. The producer and i decided to keep crew to a minimum as it was a very boring day action wise. These scenes were the scene we had previously recorded voice overs for. There for we didnt need sound crew for the full legnth of filming only for room tone and live writing sounds.

Set dressing and props were called in early in order to completely transforme the basement (linked before and after below) It was incredible to see. Despite it being a lot of shots of the same thing, this day took longer than expected however the finish product showed how much effort and time went into this day.

While directing i stood behind the camera calling out directions as emma read the voice over out loud. This allowed nathan to hear the lines. I used my studio skills from directing in programme production to help me with this as although i was in a studio it had similar elements as calling shots with rolling live.

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We then switched to the gimble in order to make the start of our circular transition behind the back. I personally took charge on operating the gimble as the camera crew were having issues controlling it at times. I asked Nathan to stare ahead at the camera in thought but then remain fixated on the previous point as i circled round him with the gimble. This meant that continuity between this scene and the flashback scene for transition was easier to match up in editing. We tried this a few different times with different expressions and eventually landed on a shot that made him look scaed and confused. this made sense as in the next scene he sees his old coven members.

After this we wrapped up and shortened the crew again as we were advised by our suporvisor for our bus stop scene.

Thankfully due to winter nights it was already dark so by the time we got there Our producer did some set dressing and everyone set up.

meanwhile while this was happening i spoke to our two new actors who had joined us for this scene and breifed them on how the day went and what was going to happen. I mainly focused on the character of blake as this was the viewers first time meeting her. I wanted her to to understand blakes annoyance at being bothered in the bus stop and very dismissive. I took a relatable approach to explaining as "when your younger siblings keep wanting you too play with them but you cant be bothered" and this seemed to work well as her performance was better than i imagined. Once again i spoke through character choices such as Taylor drunking awkwardly from the wine bottle in pauses as she is drunk and Blake eardropping and reacting to the conversation rudely. This further added to the comedic awkwardness of this scene.

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Today was our final day and you could tell people were excited to be done but also for those who worked closely on it such as actors and camera crew it became a bit upsetting as we had so much fun spending time with each other and knowing this was one of our last creative projects together it made us upset.

i personally was glad to be finished filming as i still had pre-production to do and i was excited to see what our film would look like edited together. However it did make me sad the collabrative efforts of everyone had nearly finished.

However we still had the rest of the transition and coven scene to film. We changed the set dressing in the basement while makeup and hair got to work on making the coven look spooky. While all this was happening we immediatly set up the gimble to make the transition scene easier as we had learnt.

I walked through the shot to save time as we were on a time crunch due to the module running along side. As soon as we got the actors down and into place the camera kept rehearsing while i explained how i wanted soloman and isabelle to be two contrasting characters in the terms of attitude however almost be vampire parental figures to Ash as he was a new vampire at this point. I directed Bethan to take a more Matural protective yet soft approach when talk to Ash and for Oliver to be more blunt and harsh fueling his action to walk off.

Overall this was a fast and efficiant day despite emotions we all kept professional and produced high-quality work. I called that it was a wrap and we started packing down. I continously praised and thanked everyone for their hardwork.

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For myself and the editor this was just the beginning to another step. We got the continuity notes and began working.

They had previously already edited some of the scenes while we were filming to be more time efficiant. However, this cause issues due to no one taking editoral notes like i stated multiple times, therefore a lot of editing was down to them questioning my memory and continuity notes.

However over Christmas, i recieve a panicked message that the audio for the party scene on the LAV mics wasnt up to standard which meant we had to call in for ADR to be done. Thank fully i took charge of that scene from that point and luckily those who needed ADR were still in salford (ADR linked above)

From then on i worked extra closely over christmas coming into uni during the holidays to sit down with one of the editors and help them edit. We were panicked as the other editor had left their harddrive in salford and wasnt able to do editing at home.

The producer and i helped out and pulled weight for the lost time due to this unorganisation over the holidays and we each took three scenes, Myself with scene 8, 9 and 10 as it was the scene with the issue in ADR. This eased pressure for Oliver as he wasnt getting swamped with work.

After all this was completed it was time to piece it together by this point the other editor was back in Salford and brought what they had previously edited.

I wasnt able to attend the screening however i made a copy to watch back at in order to create my reflective essay.

Overall, i am pleased with the outcome of this project i think my work ethic and organisational skills really helped make a smooth and coordinated production. The tactics i have learnt i will take forward into the future. Afterall this is the end of the process