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Monday 26/2

We first had a brief and full read-through of script

I began to make notes on possible props needed, highlighting any notable mentions in the script

I then started to create a document detailing each and every scene in the film; this included the page number, whether it was day or night, a colour scheme, the cast included, the props and furniture needed for the scene, a moodboard, and any further notes I deemed important

I then had a meeting with the actors to discuss character-specific props, and find out which items people already had, which I needn’t buy

Tuesday 27/2

Unfortunately I missed the morning today due to an eye test (emergency as my glasses had broken) followed by my PRP Viva.

I joined my group at 2pm, where they had just started another read through of the script, now pausing after each scene to address the needs and ideas of each area of production. I joined in with this discussion in relation to my production design, expressing and discussing my ideas and asking which props people already had on hand.

Finally, I furthermore completed yesterday’s document detailing the aesthetic and needs of each scene.

Wednesday 28/2

Had a 1-1 meeting with the director of the film to take her through my ideas and documents for the project

Reccy’d a location for “Taylor and Finn’s bedroom: nightmare” and hand-drew a plan of how I want to decorate the set

Worked in general on sourcing props, finding items on eBay such as zippo lighters etc

Made signs for the protest scene using black paint and A3 card

Thursday 29/2

Went through the script and my plans once more to whittle down the exact props needed for each scene

Created a poll in our Facebook group where people could tick the box of which items they’ll be able to provide (so to not waste the budget)

Stood in to help as a dummy actor during a tech rehearsal where the original actor was not available

Created a mood board and set plan for the bedroom nightmare scene

Friday 1/3

Went to the precinct before our morning brief for a first scout of props and set

Put together a final list of props I’ll be needing to buy, key coding the list for each scene

Presented this list to our producer who approved it

Went out into the city centre to source and research possible props and set items, taking photos of each

Saturday 2/3

Put together a full proposal document for the set of Finn and Taylor’s room, complete with prices and sources of intended set and props

Picked up deck chairs for theatre and roof scenes

Picked up blanket and sleeping bag for theatre scenes set

Sunday 3/3

Confirmed prices and set with our director and producer

Went out to the centre to buy the plant for the bedroom set

Ordered strip lighting and neon wall light to be delivered for Monday, a day before the practice shoot

Picked up various camping equipment from my father as set for theatre/camp scenes; this included a portable stove, portable kettle x2, camping plates and utensils, camping table, and more

Picked up airbed and blanket from cast member for tomorrow’s shoot

Picked up airbed from Livvy for tomorrow's shoot

[Submitted Monday 4th due to issues with Microsoft account, but discussed with Naqqash]

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PRE-PRODUCTION: (Open for additional pages!)

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PRE-PRODUCTION: (Open for additional pages!)

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IMMORTALIS SOMNUM - SET DESIGN

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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Plan for Finn and Taylor's bedroom in the nightmare scene, including moodpboard, room drawing, and proposed items + sources + prices

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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Plan for news scene.

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Open for additional pages!

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Props list for crew.

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Monday 4/3

Today we had our first shoot in the Robert Powell theatre. Courtesy of my father and grandfather I had managed to gather a lot of camping equipment over the weekend in order to create an authentic looking set.

Before the shoot could begin, I put the set together; this included items such as two camping chairs, a camping table, a blow-up bed, sleeping bags, blankets, and camping cooking equipment including a kelly kettle, portable stove, and a set of portable pots and pans.

When this was done and shooting was in motion, I began to write a plan of the props needed for the rest of the week, and later gave this document out to the group.

Tuesday 5/3

This morning we filmed Taylor and Finn’s camcorder footage. I went to get some squirty cream and a paper plate for the actors to use in the shot.

We later took the photograph of Finn and Taylor and their baby in anticipation of Finn’s nightmare scene. For this I went down to the prop department to retrieve a toy baby doll.

The afternoon was where the day got interesting for me. We held a test shoot for Finn’s nightmare scene in the bedroom, using the TV acting studio. I brought my duvet, tapestry, cloud wall light, and faux houseplant, and the coloured strip lighting for the shot. After setting everything up, the end result, paired with the pink gels over the lighting, looked incredible. I have attached an image below.

I originally planned on laying the lighting strip around the edges of the bed, but given the duvet was so thick it wasn’t so well seen on camera. I had the idea to lay it stylistically around the bed on the floor, creating a sort of frame of light. This worked very effectively.

The cloud wall light was also supposed to lay above them as they slept, but after trying different positions I found it looked far more effective resting on the shelf around the baby items.

I also brought a tapestry to cover the wallpaper in the TV acting studio, but we couldn’t find a way to make it stick to the wall. In the end the idea was scrapped. We toyed with the idea of getting a large wall cover, and I researched prices online, but eventually we figured that with the lighting and everything else as a distraction the wall looked fine as it was.

To accent the decoration I added a faux houseplant. This idea was based off of common vaporwave style aesthetics, which often feature plants amongst modern-neon decor. I felt this theme worked for the neon, 80s, dreamlike shots.

We had a few baby items on set to show the intention of the decoration for next week, but for the actual shoot we intend to have much more.

After the shoot, I headed over to James’ house to pick up a bag of comics and games he was kind enough to provide for tomorrow’s set.

Overall today left me feeling very excited for the actual set and shoot next week.

Wednesday 6/3

This morning we shot Casey’s bedroom scene in Georges’s bedroom at Peel Park.

I set up the scene using the comic books and video games James had provided, as well as some Nintendo DS games from another cast member, and my lava lamp from home. All of these items I felt described Casey’s personality perfectly: games, comics, and bright retro items. I topped it all off with a Pikachu figurine.

As well as this, I also changed George’s bedding from a grey duvet cover to a red checkered one. I felt this cover fit more within the colours of the film and scene, as well as Casey’s personality: bright, retro, and colourful.

The afternoon found us shooting in the dressing room of the Robert Powell theatre. For this shoot, I brought two vintage cameras to create the 70s aesthetic of the set, and a set of makeup brushes to set the context of a dressing room; CJ also brought a set of vintage lipsticks. All of this we spread around the side-tables of the dressing room in order to create an authentic and contextually accurate environment.

Having visited the prop department yesterday and been told there was no megaphone we could borrow for Friday, I consulted with Seb and ordered a budget-friendly megaphone off of Amazon for delivery tomorrow.

Thursday 7/3

Today we shot the Green Room scenes in a local wedding reception venue. As our location was so grand already, there actually wasn’t much set to dress, other than creating a comfortable blanketed bed on the floor for Finn.

As all of my blankets and duvets had already served in shots of the film, I asked for members of the cast and crew to bring as many of theirs as they could. Unfortunately only one or two people delivered, so the end result of Finn’s makeshift floor bed was far more underwhelming than I expected. However, not all was lost, and I felt the final set-up — although initially disappointing — actually worked on screen to show the scarceness of supplies in their dire situation.

Friday 8/3

We started today filming the protest scene in the car park of the Old Adelphi. I had previously already made the protest signs for this shoot, however after talking to Seb I found it would appear unusual on-screen if they were all in the same handwriting, colour, and style. To combat this, before the shoot I got up early to head to Salford precinct for more sign-making supplies: paint, card, and brushes. I returned to set with the items and asked whoever wasn’t already occupied with a job to make a sign to use in the protest shoot. This worked fabulously as we ended up with a variety of styles, quotes, and colours, which — in amongst my original signs — i think looked a lot more authentic in the end.

In the afternoon, we attempted to film the roof terrace scene but unfortunately the weather was against us. Like the green room scenes, the roof terrace setting was fitting enough that it didn’t really require much set dressing. As per the script, I advised for the two deck chairs to be in shot as props, but eventually the director decided against their use as the shot looked better with the actors leant against the balcony. Unfortunately this shoot was partly scrapped due to awful weather.

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ROBERT POWELL CAMPING SET

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FINN NIGHTMARE SET TEST

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PROTEST SIGN-MAKING

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Monday 11/3

Before the morning shoot began, we put up the set in the Robert Powell, using the camping equipment, camping tables, chairs, blow up beds, etc. Relying on photographs I took last week, we managed to copy the set from the last shoot piece by piece, making sure the continuity was perfect

After this I unfortunately had to return home for very urgent family matters, so to make sure everything was packed up in its right place and nothing was lost I sent a photographic guide over to the group about which components went together and where exactly the items should be packed into. All went well and nothing was lost.

Tuesday 12/3

I started today by visiting some local charity shops and home stores  in search of appropriate set for Thursday’s “Harper’s house” shoot.

Sebastian sent me over some photos of his room (the set) and I set about mentally decorating it and shopping around for items that matched my ideas. I managed to buy a cheap yellow blanket which matched the colour scheme, and also gathered a list of potential items, including a rotary phone and some pieces of wall art.

In the afternoon, I headed back to university for the “Finn’s bedroom (nightmare)” shoot -- the shoot we'd tested last week. On the way, I headed over to my flat to pick up props, as well as my duvet and a few pillows to dress the set.

Today was quite possibly my favourite shoot of all. I was so happy with the set in the end; I can only imagine how cool it looked on camera. Having a rehearsal of today’s shoot last week was a marvellous tool: everything was done quickly and efficiently, and the final result looked great.

I felt the light strip which rested on the floor around the bed was really effective and created a futuristic, city-esque, vaporwave style feel

I also felt the yellow cloud light worked great amongst the baby gear, creating that soft sense of love, care, and parenthood, accentuated by the teddy bear and baby items

Finally, I loved how the houseplant accentuated the vaporwave style aesthetic against the neon lighting

Overall I was very happy with the set

Wednesday 13/3

This morning we filmed the news reporter scenes in the Quays News studio.

As the location was already a working and perfectly decorated news studio, there wasn’t really much room to set dress at all today.

Instead of furniture, therefore, I used props. I had George (our actor) holding a handful of papers to appear more news-reader-like on screen. But most importantly, I came up with a great idea using some coffee cups:

Halfway through setting up, a sort of ‘eureka’ moment struck on how I could use props to create an interesting point about the world and our character. In the spirit of an apocalyptic world where people aren’t even able to sleep, I dotted around some disposable coffee cups on the desk in order to create the illusion that our anchor had been drinking them desperately to stay awake. I felt the cups worked very well as a subtle but effective tool.

In the afternoon, we filmed the final nightmare scene in the Robert Powell. As the scene required a blank stage,  there wasn’t much set to dress other than a black “slab” we made from a table and black cloth. Therefore I spent the rest of the afternoon helping out in general on set, holding back the stage curtains for the shot and so forth.

After the shoots, I returned to the shopping centre to buy the rest of the set for tomorrow: a clock from TK Maxx, a rotary phone from B&M, some old fashioned vinyl records, a dreamcatcher wall-art canvas, and a family themed wall quote to create the set for Harper’s parent’s bedroom.

I also had Stacey send a family photo we could print off and use for the shoot tomorrow

Thursday 14/3

Today consisted of the last shoots of the film

This morning I headed over to Seb’s house to dress the set. I wanted a 70s style, old fashioned, family-home aesthetic for this shoot.

On the table we had my vinyl record player and records, a red rotary-style phone, and a retro-style clock (time stopped for continuity). On the bed laid the yellow blanket and above on the wall the dreamcatcher canvas and two family-style wall-art quotes. And on the wall we had Harper’s (Stacey’s) family photograph, framed and ready to be used as a prop in the scene.

I was very happy with how the set looked for this shot — I felt the items I bought really captured the retro, 70s, family theme I was going for.

As it was the final day, I also sorted out the last of my receipts and budget matters, making sure I got all the money back I could from the project.

After the shoot, I visited George’s flat (our base for storing equipment over the course of the project) and picked up every prop and piece of set that was mine so I could take it home. I ended up filling a trolley with the amount there was but I managed to get every item back in one piece.

And just like that, my time on Immortalis Somnum was over.