"Did you get your precious photos?"

Here are some wonderful production pictures from our day of shooting in Wolverhampton. The pictures were all taken courtesy of Jason's phone (although some were rendered unusable due to a high rate of MySpace-self-portrait images.) These are the better ones that show our progress through the first half of the day.

Here are Sam and Ellie setting up the shot just outside the tunnel. The shots in and around the tunnel area were especially difficult considering the number of people in the area. However, by filming as soon as people were offscreen, we managed to get the footage we needed.

When we found out our most complex shot was ruined by the appearance of construction and a hundred cars, we had to change the location and the shot on the fly. The best location we could find on such short notice was this long and empty road, along which we could film the tracking shots we needed of the main character running...

This is Ellie (securely) in the back of Pete's car, filming Jason as he runs down the street. We constantly had someone posted at the end of the road with a walkie-talkie so that we could be warned of any approaching cars.

A nice shot of Jason between takes. He did a lot of running that day.

Jason between takes again, with Pete's (and Pete inside.)

After filming the tracking shots with Pete's car, we got some shots of Jason's character having a breather. This is a shot that would lead into a flashback (you'll understand when you see the film.) We picked it because it was the busiest visual area on a long, flat and rather boring brick wall.

"Why does everything in my life have to be such a complicated disaster?"

We must be cursed...

On Thursday night- the night before we were set to film - at around 11pm, one of our group members got a text message (not even a phone call!) from the main actor in our film, telling us that he had to pull out due to "prior commitments". We also lost the supporting actor, as he was a friend and was in the same performance group. We were 9 hours away from our allotted shooting schedule, and our only two actors had pulled out of the film.

We were due to shoot in Wolverhampton at 8am the next morning, and our equipment was booked out for that time only - it was going to be near-impossible to book out the same gear again in time for us to book other actors. We emailed John Bradburn expressing our concerns, but by the time we woudl get a reply, we'd probably be in Wolverhampton filming.

We decided that two of our group members would have to bite the bullet and step into the roles left by the actors. We got into Wolverhampton for about 9am, and filmed for most of the day in the areas we had chosen.

Yet another massive problem we hit was that one of our original locations - and the area for the most complicated shot in the film - was invaded by construction workers who weren't there when we originally scouted the area. There were cars all up and down the road, builders walking around the area, and various diggers ripping chunks out of the floor right in the background. The location was obviously a bust, so we had to find another location on the fly. We went with a long, almost unused road near a construction supply site which provided us with a place to film, but being almost totally different from our first location, we had to rethink our shot plan. Originally, we planned to track backwards, focused on the main character as he runs down the road. Then, when he reached the corner, the camera would slow down, allow the actor to run past to the left, and then the camera would fall in behind the actor, tracking forward as he ran on. Obviously, with no buildings or corners at our new locations this whole shot plan had to be nixed. So, we decided to have a simpler tracking shot in front the main character as he runs down the street, which you will see in the finished film.

Jason's phone was on hand all day to take some pictures during production, so if you want to see some of our photos, you're in luck, because they're coming soon!

"And now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base..."

This is a cool little pedestrian-sorter near the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, where we are going to shoot our film. Considering our dystopian/totalitarian setting, we thought this might make a nice visual addition.

This is a long tunnel, also near the Stadium, was seemed like a good enclosed space to use as the main character is running.

The tunnel's exit, leading up to street level.

This is a grungy alleyway we thought went well with the visual theme for our film. Again, this is a location where the main character will be running for his life.

This is a quiet road in Wolverhampton town centre, where we plan to film yet more shots of the main character running for his life. This time however, we are thinking about using a car to get some long tracking shots of him as he is running along.

Yet another grungy alleyway, perhaps for our character to catch his breath...

This is a big fence near the railway bridge and a small construction yard. If at all possible, we'd like to be able to film on both sides of this fence, as we are planning to use this as the main physical border between our character and his ultimate goal.

Finally, this is the railway bridge near the canal where there is plenty of tall brickwork, fencing and a big canal, all of which can potentially be used as the physical barriers in our story.

"Look the first thing you do when you start a band is talk about your influences..." - Pt. 2

Considering a portion of our film contains running scenes, our group decided it would be a good idea to look at various films that have running/footchase scenes, and analyze some of the camera and editing techniques used. So we sat down as a group and thought of films, then found the sections on YouTube:

Run Lola Run

In this example, the main character is running to meet with her boyfriend. She is frantic and desperate to get there in time. There are lots of tracking shots used, and the camera is always moving, giving a sense of movement and speed. There is an excellent example of this at 03:30, where the camera is moving backward down the street in front of Lola, she turns a corner, and the camera turns with her, and falls in behind her.

Hot Fuzz

Again, the camera in this example is always moving, lending it a sense of speed. There is also generous use of whip pans. Also worth nothing is that the subject of the shot is often kept in the middle of the frame, with lots of movement shown in the fore and background. Objects moving in front of the camera are also used to edit into another shot, making the whole sequence smooth and fast.

Casino Royale

While the camera work is not as frantic in this example, the camerwork still adds to the effect of the chase scene. There is some movement later in the clip as the camera follows one character through a busy construction site. There are one or two whips pans in there as well as characters reach a corner, or the focus shifts from one character to another.

Brick

This example seems to be the odd one out, as the camera work, editing and sound design are not as frenetic as some of the other clips. For example, there is no music as the chase goes on, and the sound is very subdued; all you really hear is the sound of their feet hitting the pavement. There is also very little in the way of camera movement (aside from the first shot as the chase begins) where the camera is usually low on the ground and the characters run from the distance past the camera. The editing also has a much slower pace, as many of the shots are quite long.

So looking at these clips as influences for our film, we have to look for common threads in each that basically define a scene showing someone running, and try to replicate those themes and/or techniques in our own work.

"Look the first thing you do when you start a band is talk about your influences..." - Pt. 1

When talking about our ideas, we thought of films that we were influenced by, and that we could lift (read: steal) ideas and themes from. Here are some future/dystopian/totalitarian rule films that we were influenced by:

FILMS
Children of Men
La Haine
1984
A Clockwork Orange
V For Vendetta
Minority Report
Equilibrium
A Scanner Darkly
Blade Runner

BOOKS
Hand Maid's Tale
Noughts & Crosses series
Bloodtide
Snow Crash
Anything by Philip K. Dick

GAMES
Bioshock

After browsing the internets, we also found a list of the Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time. Most of the movies we have listed as influences are on this list, and there are also some on there that we never thought of, but do fit the theme of our piece perfectly.

"Eureka! This year Christmas will be ours!"

Right, we've come up with a (semi-decent) final idea that we think is still (mildly) interesting and is (just about) feasible.

We looked at the notes for the last blog, and we came up with some more small ideas that sort of tie together some of the themes from the seperate ideas we previously had.

Our plan is to portray a United Kingdom in the not-too-distant future, which is ruled by a corrupt and oppressive Government. Basically, the Government is now all-seeing and all-knowing, and controls almost every aspect of life for the people living here. We took the idea of corrupt government, and decided it worked well with the themes of being stuck in a small town with no prospects, as the future-UK is now poverty-stricken and generally a shit place to live. CCTV all over the place, police kicking peoples teeth in, it's not very nice.

We now need to come up with a storyline. After someone watched Enemy of the State, we had the idea of having someone running. The audience doesn't know why at first, but we eventually find out that he is being chased by agents of the Government looking for secret information that he has stolen that could bring down the entire institution. We never have to know exactly what information he has, we never have to actually see the people chasing him, and the run-down aspects of future England will create a dynamic backdrop that is actually kind of easy to film. We can simply go to crappy-looking parts of town.

One aspect we need to work on is how the audience will be able to figure out that the film is set in a dystopian future England. One option is to use a voiceover narration, but nobody liked that idea. Another option was to have the backstory brought up in conversation between characters, but this does not really work either. For example:

JOHN

Remember when the Government started monitoring everyone with CCTV and computer databanks back in 2010?

PETE

Why yes! They instilled a sense of fear with their roving police units that still lasts to this day!

This does not work, as it sounds contrived and generally shit.

What we decided to go with in the end is a pre-title preface crawl, such as the opening to Star Wars or Blade Runner:

The opening crawl is quick, simple, and gets across important backstory without making the audience feel like idiots.

More soon!

"Lady, I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, an' don't you forget it!"

After meeting last week and not really being able to come up with a good idea, we got together as a group again this week and tried to power through the writer's block to come up with a good idea. These are some basic ones we had that generally cover the idea of the kind of politics we want to talk about:

Dead-End Towns- What life is like living in a small, dead-end town.- No future, no prospects- Trapped by parents jobs in town- Friends and others going off to 'the big city'- Depressing visuals, abandoned buildings, grafitti - Stuck, nowhere to go
- Industrial cities no longer thriving, factories shut down etc
- Main source of work gone
- Influenced by Billy Elliott, La Haine, The Full MontyInvestigative Reporting- Confronting bad people about crimes they're committing- Often gets jacked in the mouth- Camera pushed away, lots of swearing/bleeping- Covers child porn, war crimes, manipulation of UK single charts- Needs a story thread, some sort of political slant - Film could move from docu-footage to narrative viewpoint
- Influenced by The Cook Report, Brass Eye, The Weather Man

The Powers of Government
- Can a government have too much power?
- What if a government used their position to exploit the masses?
- Would they use fear (terrorism, crime etc) to strengthen their own position?
- Totalitarian rule
- CCTV, ID Cards, computer databases on everyone, government telling you where to work, where to live, where to shop etc. Restrictions on leaving and entering country. Prisons for anyone who rebels. Capital punishment?
- Could things possibly go so far as to create a dystopian future?
- Influenced by V For Vendetta, 1984, Equilibrium

We will have another look at these ideas as a group and try to come up with a solid idea that incorporates some of the themes from the above notes.