Let's Make a Movie!

Veronica's quiet café life gets turned upside down when she has a run in with a vampire. With the help of her close friend Pat, she attempts to hide newfound vampirism from her girlfriend Laura at their three-year anniversary dinner. The night quickly turns to disaster as the sadistic vampire returns to finish the job.

Claudia & Myself spent hours going through the script creating shots that we felt would look amazing and tell the story. The Shot list would help us in every regard on set as we could track what shots we wanted to do, in whichever order and we could go through the list and eliminate certain shots if we felt they weren’t necessary or if they didn’t fit with the time frame for our shoot.

A shot list is a core component, having a copy of one on set at all times which you can write/edit is essential, it keeps the pace of production going and I’m glad we had completed one, I couldn’t imagine a world where we didn’t have one.

I consulted with our core production departments and asked them if they would need anything added as well as discussing production details and what we will need for the numerous shoot days.

We successfully acquired and booked the equipment we needed for this shoot thanks to the Universities Equipment Store and our crews due diligence in helping to achieve this milestone.

Start Date: 15/11/2024

End Date: 02/12/2024

UPDATED End Date: 05/12/2024

The focus here is world-building, it is our establishing scene so wide shots were vital to achieving this.

"The long shot or wide shot (often abbreviated LS or WS) is a wide, encompassing shot that shows a large area (width, height, and depth) of the film space . Physical (or spatial) relationships between or among subjects, objects, and their actions are clearly visible from this apparently distant vantage point." Bowen, C. (2023)

The distance between Pat & The Stranger shows a non-existent relationship, the stranger ignores him showcasing pride as he walks by. Pat looks at him with suspicion. We can tell from this shot that these two don't know each other but one is suspicious of the other.

We shot a specific moment in scene 5 where The Stranger appears behind Veronica. We coordinated this out and it looked great, while intended to be subtle, he really became the focus of the scene because he ended up in the centre of the frame. His menacing presence took up the scene, I felt like an extra layer of foreshadowing was letting our audience know that The Stranger would be right behind her so when he inevitably appears in Scene 6 from nowhere it would be obvious he was stalking her.

We wanted a mix of Wide & Close Up Shots to capture key moments and the action a whole.

"The close-up (CU) is the intimate shot in filmmaking. It provides a greatly magnified view of some person, object, or action. As a result, it can impart rather specific, detailed information to the audience." Bowen, C (2023)

The Stranger is an ominous character and has a luring personality the shots need to reflect a monster, signal to us that this guy is pure evil. The Close Ups are an audiences way of seeing every detail so showing him in the most detail was key to show his monstrous face (not that the actor has a monstrous face in the slightest).

"Now the director blocks the cameras by working out specific shots, composition, and camera movement as well as which camera will cover what actions as the actors walk through their blocking. Initial camera blocking will be based off your storyboards or shot list, but often changes will need to be made on the fly based on the actual set and other logistical issues that may present themselves (otherwise known as “reality”)." Artis, A (2010) Changes would always occur, the specific way we had shots envisioned will not be accurate, it is up to us to execute them accordingly and address change. Watching rehearsals and getting involved in creating ideas for the composition of shots was essential without knowing how the actors would play out scenes it would take more time to block out the scenes.

Action Tracking shots are difficult to pull off, there are many factors to keep track of. I have done them before and maintaining the focus involves distance and keeping that distance, if I were to be a step behind the quality of the subject in front of the camera would be lost.

Ramping the action requires speed, but we are holding expensive equipment? The logical solution is spotters, anyone who can watch and guide the operator until they reach a target destination helped for the overall safety. When The Stranger walks with the frame in his appearance it had took us a while to pull off the shot multiple takes of adjustments and changes in execution. We thankfully landed a satisfactory shot.

We started with a long shot to capture the grab from a distance, the aim of this shot was to show how helpless and alone Veronica is, she is fending for herself in this moment and nobody is around. Shots like these remind me of B Roll the more moments you have which cutaway and leave room to breathe the better, B Roll can help cut corners in scenes and mask over certain moments to return back to a appealing point.

An amazing shot we achieved this day were all of Veronica's face reactions to this event and this is due in part to the acting, we are able to show closely how scary and traumatising this situation is.

The location for this shoot was ideal for the purpose of cinematography, the lights in the background look spectacular on camera, it opens up the potential to use Halation in colour grading which refines the glow from lights. There is plenty of depth within the darkness and it adds layers onto the scene and for the context of this scene works perfectly with this action.

It was our first day here and we had plenty of scenes to film, my personal favourite is scene 10 as we could play with lighting and again it has a nice mix of close ups and wide shots. Trying to showcase Veronica's hunger consuming her could be an amazing compilation of shots which should work together.

Scene 7 had a great set design, Veronica’s bed was full of secrets about her character, having a wide shot for this scene would help bring it all into frame. What I like about shooting waking up scenes is playing with camera in terms of shots, I love the shot of when she initially wakes up and sits up, it is focused on her face and we are brought up with her, revealing where she is. The movement in camera is also an important tool to help convey feelings and emotions, the aim here was to blur the shots slightly to convert a feeling of sickness, the unknown, pain.

Always with camera we are aiming to tell the story, tell us who a character is, record the action in front of us. Positioning, angles, distance, size all matter. Every decision must be deliberate. I aimed for the shots to keep feeding us information about relationships, feeling and motivations.

"Shooting lots of cutaways will make your end video 5 times better and editing will be 10 times easier...But if the action is up at the altar, how can you get a cutaway and still cover the bride and groom? Simple, “steal” them and “cheat” them whenever the opportunity presents itself." Artis, A. (2010) I have done videography for weddings before and I am extremely familiar with doing this. The way of shooting cutaways for films is as simple getting reaction shots where characters are reacting to lines. later on the execution of the mirror shot will need time to transition so having shots focused on Pat talking and reacting was important. In each scene it was always important to continue filming even when characters are not speaking, footage like that is priceless.

Scene 10 was Veronica’s descent through temptation, she is battling her urges, resisting to hurt others. POV shots are great at portraying various feelings and we wanted to showcase this monstrous side she has now inhabited. When she creeps towards Pat there are multiple shots which need to be incorporated together to show of this deadly creature who sees an opportunity. This carries through into Scene 11 where wanted to really nail in her desire to feed, her heightened instincts.

Shots between Veronica & Laura had to show that these two are in a relationship. The distance between the two of them had to be close, the way their bodies look relaxed around each other. Our Two Shots perfectly place them within each others space, they take either side on the screen but both hog the middle to be close to one another.

The scenes within the film are full of details to pull an audiences attention, objects and possessions that we show on screen and highlight will have relevance in future scenes or in immediate actions. it is like miniature Chekhov's gun, we show it so an audience know its there and the film is full of it, from a narrative and camera standpoint it makes logical sense to keep feeding our audience with information and clues.

We were aiming to shoot in a high quality and we had the equipment to achieve that. 4K Quality, 25 fps. Sony A7 III is a personal favourite camera of mine, cinema levels of quality in a compact style camera. It was pairing this primarily with the Gimbal for steady shots.

The BlackMagic 6K Camera is a familiar tool I have used in various ways for a multitude of projects, you are completely in control with this camera. It is one of the highest powered cameras we have to create a film. UHD 4K, 25 fps was the targeted rate this camera would shoot at and should match up equally with the Sony A7 III.

"Impatient shooters should be aware that there are some crucial settings in any video camera menu that can make for some big headaches in postproduction and even during shooting if you are not familiar with what your camera is doing to your footage “under the hood.”" A, Artis (2010).

Knowing our settings and getting to know what each function is capable of or knowing what to avoid before shooting had to be done. We did not want to film with LUTs applied to the Camera as it would give any colour grading process freedom to control exactly how the shot looks. Camera Audio had to be available for the purpose of Audio Syncing and Playback. Once the cameras were optimised and the functions were set it was perfect to begin filming.

We shot a lot of these scenes during the day, excluding scenes 13, 14 and 16. So we improvised with the indoor scenes especially surrounding the window that was present within the dining room. We took some time to block out the window with bin bags and blankets, it worked out. it was effective but certain corners where rather bright on camera, I figured when it came to the colour grading I could dull down the highlights within the background so it didn't look like daytime, fortunately a lot of the indoor lighting our lighting operator set up helped to sell the illusion by giving the room an evening tone.

I am not a particular fan of relying on focus assisted red lines as I believe sometimes it could be slightly off, I like to rely on my own instincts and perception, I would used cameras built in zoom to focus on the details its capturing and seeing if the focus is off and adjusting. Additionally, on set we had another screen with the use of the Ninja Flame, it is a wider screen so it really helps to see those details before we film a shot.

The Ronin DJI Gimbal & Sony A7 III carried production this day, we had few opportunities with the BlackMagic Camera but I used it to create the panning up shot as veronica's slammed into the table. "Your move has to be smooth like butter, baby! That means it should be: slow, steady and controlled. This means you absolutely need to be familiar with the sensitivity of your particular camera’s zoom control." Artis, A (2010) Shots for any scene need smooth movement, I have adopted a stable position which is similar to a military style pose its bent knees reduce bobbing and improves stability, the camera is tucked and held close even on the gimbal you still need to maintain the stability.

There was a lovely shot I made where Veronica is backed up into the table and she picks up a knife. Getting that shot was insanely difficult and if I had any way of automatically adjusting focus it would have been perfect, the shot is potentially in the final product and reviewing it. I can say it looks great, it is just the focus causing the knife to be blurry was an issue.

In retrospect this scene would have been perfect for slow motion shots, adjusting the shutter speed and adding some post production magic, capture amazing shots that could have worked quite well in the film. However, it would be a drastic change in the overall cinematography for the film it could be work but there would need to be more moments utilising slow motion so it doesn't feel out of place.

Scene 12A was a nice scene, it is a short scene which sets up the middle act. It also raises the atmosphere for what is next to come should be unexpected. It is a lot of wide shots but it isn't a scene heavily invested into the emotion so shots like these are good for scenes to keep the action moving.

The ending is always a highlight to film it starts with a serious tone but ends one a lovely note, we have been through the height of the film and it was time to deliver a solid ending. All the action is coming to a close and we didn't get too brave with the shots here, we are aiming for a resolution, dialogue is a heavy focus, so we set up shots to capture this. A personal favourite shot was the shot of the Wine Glasses, we used a pull focus which shifted from the glasses to them. it is an amazing shot, pull focuses need a lot of precision so we did this shot several times to make sure we had the perfect version. I placed the wine glasses to the side and framed it so our two characters would be wedged between it and I thought it worked out beautifully.

This was also the time where we had to discuss the plan on finishing Scene 6, we concluded that Wednesday next week would be our best opportunity. I quickly sent off an email to get our bookings extended and successfully got the Camera & Sound gear sorted, however, the lighting gear had to returned.

(In reference to organisation of the project) "The best editors in the business have this down to a science. The idea is that you want a well-thought-out system for keeping track of the changes you make over the course of a project and that your system is understandable to other people with whom you are collaborating." Artis, A. (2010) Constantly in our Data Wrangling process things change, files get renamed so mine and joes job was to keep up to date with each other and the changes we make or what we do with the files. It would be a collaborative effort our jobs are intertwined and we would have to help each other even if it wasn't necessarily our job, but that is the nature of working together we knew we wanted this to succeed so we both put in maximum effort to work collaboratively.

We returned the lighting equipment as we unfortunately could not get it extended for the final shoot day. But determined to still utilise lighting we would end up grabbing four apertures so we still had lights just with certain limitations.

I do particularly enjoy Data Wrangling I could spend hours organising files. The documented log sheets made this process easier for us and the details they had were important for post-production. I would love to see how production companies organise files so I could further develop the way I’d approach the organisation process.

We would still have files to data wrangle once we shot Scene 6.

Scene 6's time to be finalised had arrived, I still had to complete the Audio Data Wrangling and having confidence in Claudia to film the remainder of the scene allowed me to take this time and finish this task so I could arrive on set, help create shots and see the end of production. During this production we took a break and I immediately got to work on making wrangling what we had just filmed, I wanted to get to work on editing the next day so it was in the best interest that we did so. The same thing process happened again when we wrapped up filming.

We just needed a couple of shots to complete the shoot and despite bring the BlackMagic we primarily used the Sony A7 III to capture the fight scene between Pat & The Stranger.

"A static shot on a static tripod is the height of boredom and public access TV production values. If you want your images to feel dynamic and hold an audience’s attention, sporadically work in some well-timed pans, tilts, zooms, rack-focus moves, dolly shots, and solid handheld camerawork in between those rock-steady tripod shots." Artis, A. (2010) I totally agree with this statement, shots need to help bring the world alive. The more explorative we had gotten with the shots the better the film would look overall. Scene 6 is full of moving shots and even some standstill shots integrated between them. My aim for a majority of projects is to always explore a curve of moving shots, do pans, tilts, zooms and rack-focuses.

IT'S A WRAP!

There was a significant turn in events occurred during this post production day, unknown to us at the time there were powerful PCs on Campus and located in the New Adelphi. Thanks to a lecturer, (Who had a class on where we were originally editing), they tipped us off to this room where the monitors were plenty wide for editing and the processing power was able to render footage on DaVinci without causing lag on the playback. This was a blessing in disguise and we would utilise this room to it's maximum potential.

Transferring the organised files between our Hard Drives was done in a manner of minutes when it usually took hours. We could swiftly get to doing work.

"Simply watching sound levels on a meter or relying on your naked ear will not reveal the following: a cable clunking against the boom pole, air conditioner noise, hum from a computer, a distant plane, a loose mic in the zeppelin, excessive street noise, etc." Artis, A. (2010) I recently invested into a voice over set up at home, and this included a powerful set of headphones and these were a perfect pair for editing, there was small cracks in the audio at times where a boom pole got knocked or a subtle bit of chatter could be heard and these headphones are perfect for an audio editors arsenal.

When it came to audio editing I wanted smooth transitions between dialogue clips(using constant gain and fade in and outs), heightened & level audio, create immersive soundscapes, etc. Audio editing is amazing when done right. I used adobe audition at points within the editing process to adjust audio files by adding reverb that would echo at the end of audio clips, such as a table slam and horror tones/notes.

We ran into an issue on "Shoot Day One" with a hard drive writing issue which we were both able to fix via Premiere Pro and its sequence editing features saving the footage from that shoot. Additionally, we spoke to Tom Harrison and got a new USB wire for the camera to avoid this issue in the future when using the BlackMagic.

Issues occur in every aspect of the production and it’s up to you to figure out a solution. What I appreciate most about the experiences and the journeys I’ve been on within this course has taught me so much about every aspect of production it makes approaching issues like this easier because these issues could occur again and they could have happened to me so that knowledge is scared, in broadest of terms.

What I enjoy about these roles in unison is how well they work together, Camera and editor go hand in hand because the shots we had made are easier to do when you know how you want that shot to look because you made it. Also it connects me closer with the production, being involved in every step of the process is satisfying, from my own perspective I don't like to sit back at any moment I want to be actively involved and I think my roles are perfectly designed that way.

Scene 11 was another personal favourite scene to shoot, similar to the prior scene the camera would tell the audience what Veronica was feeling as she never spoke or made a sound. We had this extreme close up, low angle shot of Veronica staring intently at Alex, this angelic glow is behind her and it was meant to show an energy within her the point that would push her to do something despicable. Also, it is another great use of tracking shots as we follow Veronica, I set this one up differently it is a much tighter shot, she is no longer in danger, she is the danger and her presence needs to take up the screen but also establish where she is and her frame of mind, which is hunger. She is on the hunt. When we switch to Alex it is much wider we see a familiar position that Veronica was in, all alone sat in one place and vulnerable.

Scene 13 was a singular medium close up of Pat saying his lines to Veronica, we had an extremely small crew for this. Core sound, lighting, camera and director with our producer close by just in case. We filmed this shot and it was fun experience to be with a small crew, of course we are there to shoot as professionals but its nice to chat with the crew and just take things easy.

Here you will find a daily breakdown of the filming process for this Video Drama Project. We shot a short film called "A Love's Bite" where I was assigned the roles of Camera Operator & Editor (Sound & Colour Grading).

All the best,

Alex Heald

| In Review: It has been a pleasure, I am proud of this work and despite the limited time schedule, I would happily put in more hours to increase the quality of the film and create a directors cut, this project has a lot of love and passion put behind it from many talented individuals. I have discovered hundreds of things about the filming process especially my work ethic and how I would like to take this experience going forward.

The Fairlight Tab is an audio section of DaVinci Resolve, I have used this before and it would be useful for any audio editing that was required. It has multiple features including EQ (Equalisers), limiters, compressors, noise reduction, distortion, etc.

You could also switch Track Types from Stereo to Mono, which I believed was causing an issue as the stereo channels appeared to make the audio only appear out of one channel (right ear) when using headphones for the editing, but mentioned later on in this Padlet, my decision to switch the channel could potentially of made the audio to be reduced than intended. It is something I should have discovered earlier but going forward it I will know better.

The first two days (aside from some previous work on The Stranger Burning effect) were spent editing the complicated fight scene that was Scene 17 (The Fight) it required the most attention as it needed the most amount of sound effects and getting the shots to add up accurately needed time and care. We obviously didn’t want to consume all our time on one scene so after a few hours we would switch to either the opening or endings.

I believe I tested some colour grading on the ending shots, I was aiming for vibrance because this a positive moment within the film so the colours needed to pop and be vibrant. I liked what I did for the final shot but I knew approaching colour grading in the future days would need to fit the tone of the scene. Such as Scene 6 it needs to be dark, the darkness stands out and it is sharp.

Dialogue heavy scenes do not need too many sound effects it is important to pay attention to the details happening within the scene as there could be a door that opens, a cup that is placed down or even a punch. I added the details I saw. Dialogue must reach around -6db, sound effect and tracks can follow closely at -12db. I aimed for these volumes so when it came to later stages there would be layers and placements for each of them like an audio hierarchy.

Joe kept giving me scenes to edit, I edited them accordingly, we had a good chunk of the work in a rough cut stage which was satisfactory for us. Our mentor came to watch the rough scenes we had made and offer their thoughts and advice, it was incredibly useful and this is where the idea to make The Stranger's voice luring and i wanted to attempted my best in doing so.

Our director was with us this day to look at scenes and make adjustments, I transferred several timelines and files over for the purpose of editing. It is so useful to have our director by our side because they hold all the creative control, they know what they want and they can demand and lead us to deliver.

Scene 15-17 was filled with tons of sound effects there was dozens of things happening within these scenes, punches, table rattles, swiping a knife, grabbing a crucifix, screams, doors opening and closing, etc. I created this soundscape and kept adding layers to it as we went down this process. i like the sound design here, doing sound for fight scenes is nice because it brings the visual edits extra life.

Our director joined us for the editing process to fine out the details we had gotten from our rough cuts that we developed. They would remaster scenes alongside our editor and I would have them passed back to me for the final sound edits and colour grading.

Scene 6's sound needed to show a massive shift in tone, there was less background noise almost silence, it would feel uneasy and the tone would start to rise, leaves would rustle in unison with the action on screen, the music would pop in when the shot of the stranger appears the tension rises. It culminates until the sound rises, horror hums until Veronica is grabbed and we're back to an overwhelming amount of noise, Veronica's cries, she winces from the bite, I added gore sound effects to signal a bite. The Strangers voice is nothing but present, loud and full of bass I wanted his voice to be luring take the attention, he should be intimidating and scary.

Aside from the sound effects used from SoundSnap, Adam our sound recordist had recorded foley and wild tracks on set and that included SFX for the necklace, leaves crunching, umbrella falling, etc. Audio files like these are perfect, they save so much time and the quality is suited specifically for this scene so it doesn't sound out of place.

Scene 10 & 11 where scenes which used a heft amount of sound effects, Veronica attempts to cope with her transformation and urges that are quite overwhelming. i wanted to use sound in these scenes to give a viewer insight into how she is perceiving things, she looks at Alex's neck, Alex's voice is muffled, we hear heavy heartbeats but they are not Veronica's we hear her heightened senses, we see what she sees. Scene 10 is tamed and introduces this urge, it kind of makes her unknowingly lean in towards pat so I raised that sudden tension with a crescendo. Similarly I subtly muffled out Carmilla in the background as she reaches in, I like to use audio to show the focus in line with the visuals.

Our worst fear and nightmare had occurred, Joe's hard drive decided it would be the best decision to stop working completely. All our VFX, footage and edited portions of film seemed lost, it was truly a devastating time. I tried to use my laptop and a program I had available to help run a diagnostic on the hard drive and hopefully repair it externally, unfortunately it was useless it never responded it only beeped louder by the second. Then, came a glimmer of hope, DaVinci Resolve saves internally onto the computer itself, the day was saved! I quickly transferred everything the director and Joe had worked on to my hard drive and handled my own with care going forward. All we lost was the VFX files that Joe sunk hours into while it was still devastating, we could begin to recover what we lost while continuing to edit this film. We lost progress but we still had time.

Bowen, C. (2023) Grammar of the Shot (5th) Taylor & Francis Group.

Colour Grading was made as the final touch before the completion of the film, I wanted to achieve a film look, key features from my own research is to darken the blacks, use warmer colours (adjust temp), soften the details, minimise the shadows and use Halation. I wanted the film to pop, be vibrant, have depth and avoid dullness I think I achieved that with the this cut of the film but I would keep working on it as there is plenty of room to improve and make the film looking just that more stunning.

Halation is new feature I had not used previously but it was used affectively in this film. Scene 6, 11, 17 & 10 had halation effects applied to their colour grading. Where there was a source of light or an object bouncing light halation would made it look shinier and I believed it worked great within the film. I wanted to use Bloom as it works with Halation as it further increases the light volume making it pop and stand out. DaVinci gives you a lot of control over the colour and details you want to add, I could spend hours trying out different colour grade methods. A grain overlay would have been a good final addition to the film it adds that extra bit to the composition of the film.

We had completed The Stranger burning VFX, Joe's efforts were not in vein we added an extra layer on top with embers and it looked great. I adjusted the ADR of the screams and increased the volume of the fire and sizzling, it is impressive work.

We had the film theoretically completed, tomorrow would be spent doing our final touch ups before we shipped the product, in case of emergencies I always had backup files of MP4/MOV of the film, due to recent occurrences.

I had created two timelines for the exportation of the film a 4K version intended for the publication of the film and a backup 1080p version for safety. I would be the last to touch the film so the honour of rendering the film was down to me.

Last minute issues always occur and the first export of the film was a disaster, (a momentous occasion soured by a mistake) everything appeared normal initially but unfortunately there was a major issue which needed to be resolved. We worked up until the deadline, getting every detail right and things still slipped through the cracks, we cut it close, way too close. Nevertheless, I'm still satisfied with this work and I am happy to say I am working on a version that will go public in the future with remastered audio and scenes. For now this film will be closely looked after by the director themself.

| Upon Reflection: I have extensively listened to the 4K exported version of the film and there are necessary changes I would immediately make. The volume without headphones and on devices like a TV or Speaker appears to be suffering from some quietness, I have determined it could be a compressor issue as it has targeted the lower frequencies resulting in quieter audio and sound effects reduced in their quality or alternatively it was the Mono channels I used for the audio which was intended for the purpose of headphones compared to stereo. Additionally, a specific hum between Scenes 16-17 (The Fight) that was used to turn up the "tension" of the scene was delayed in the time it was intended to end and while it may be a perceived as a minor slip up on my part it is vital that these detail are perfect and just as intended. I would also work closely on the audio in the final scenes, as it is still too noisy and should be cleaner.

On a fortunate note the levels within the film maintain a similar level, making the film easier to listen to at its highest volume as it doesn’t exceed a threshold which could impact speakers.

Written by Robert Graham

Directed by Mara-Jade Rushfirth

Produced by Ocea-Lily Jarvis

A Moonstone Productions Film.