Introduction

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The idea for the film "The Lonefret" revolves around the character of 'Black Jacket' as he forms an unusual bond with an out of time electric guitar. I decided that I was going to be the director, writer and producer of the film. I worked with a small crew to shoot the short film, which lasts around 10 minutes long.  

 

What is your chosen specialism and why did you choose it?

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My chosen specialism is directing. I decided to focus on directing because I really enjoy the role, in addition, I have many ideas for films and I would like to maintain creative control. I feel that being the director is the main way about approaching creative control when developing the screenplay into a film. 

 

What did you hope to achieve at the beginning of the FMP/what skills did you hope to improve or learn anew?

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I hoped to learn far more about the directing process than the little I knew. I was intrigued as to learn about blocking, working with actors and being a leader of a film crew. I also felt I had to improve on clearly conveying my vision to the other members of the crew, as this is a crucial element of being a director I made this my prime target so that there was no confusion and everyone was on the same page on set. 

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Primary Research

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I decided to carry out primary research to help influence my work but more importantly to learn from the masters of filmmaking and implant the learning into my own film. A good example of this is that I learnt about the legend of Robert Johnson after viewing the film Crossroads. I was heavily influenced by the sacrificial aspect of the Robert Johnson story, therefore in the script, I made the main character sacrifice his horse and not his soul as a twist on the common myth. In addition, I also wanted to perform primary research so I can identify and understand the target audience I would be making the film for. I found this very important as the reason you are making the film is for the audience. 

 

Secondary Research

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The most influential parts of my secondary research by far has to be getting in contact with the director of the major motion picture 'Bone Tomahawk' and asked advice as to how to make the costumes and props seem right for the time and realistic. After our email conversation, I decided to turn the Native-American's clean costume into more of a worn and torn piece. A particular camera movement in 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' that mesmerised me upon viewing it. Therefore, I pledged to myself to recreate a similar style of the pan that was epicly shown in the film, this can be seen at the campfire scene in the final film where the main character of Ed looks across to his guitar in which the camera pans to and from the guitar. In addition, the classic western True Grit starring John Wayne had an element that I deemed very interesting which was the character's struggle alcoholism. This inspired me to add a similar element into my film where the main character, Ed, constantly goes to drink his flask of whiskey but there is a running gag that he never gets to actually drink any.  

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Experimental Research

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One part of experimental research I delved into, was getting footage of the locations I scouted with the actual camera and pre-determined grade. This really helped in solidifying the final look and feel of the film, which made the filming days more smoother as I knew how the film should look and more importantly, feel. Likewise, I decided to record a test version of the final scene on my phone with only the locations and no actors. I also edited the sequence as I saw it being in the final film, doing this drastically helped when actually filming the final scene as I had a really clear plan as to where to block the actors and how to compose certain shots. As a final note, I got access to a video assist monitor that lets you see what you are recording on camera but on a large screen. I tested this out with the DOP and I was really happy with the piece of kit and ended up using it extensively throughout the entire production process. 

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How effective was your research? 

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Looking back at my research I feel it was mostly very effective as it helped me visualise and plan the entire film in my head and on paper. I feel if I weren't to commit into doing intense research then the final film most definitely wouldn't of unread out the same. However, in some occasions, I find that some research, although important in the pre-production stage, deems useless when actually on set as every day I was directing I always ended drifting away from influences and get inspired by random thoughts and in a way improvise a lot on set. I feel like if I researched into more specific elements of the film, then the film would have a better feeling of attention to detail than it does already. 

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What specific problems did you encounter relevant to your specialism and how did you deal with them?

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There were very little problems on set, I feel this is because each day was very well planned out and I managed to convey my vision and ideas clearly to others, therefore, there was no confusion which then leads to no time delays or general problems. On the other hand, the only issues regarded people having other commitments to the film. Such as the DOP having to leave the set early to catch a train home, which ended up in a rushed filming day. I checked the footage from that day and was very unsatisfied, I feel the decrease in quality spawned from the rush of trying to get every shot done within the limited time we had with the DOP because he had to get the train. In the end, to deal with the problem of the lack of quality I decided to reshoot the majority of the shots rushed on that day. 

 

How effective was your planning? Talk about location, cast if appropriate, story-boarding, time planning/production schedule?

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I believe that my planning was very effective and in the end, made the majority of production run very smoothly. Every day before shooting I would write out a detailed plan showing what shot to get, what action occurs in the shot and when it should be done in relation to the time we had. I found these sheets I made extremely helpful and most often I barely looked at the script and mostly looked at the detailed sheets that I planned the night before. I found it a lot easier to find a certain action or shot by using a custom sheet then having to search through a large script, it saves time that is very valuable on set. In except for filming the horses, I managed to go to every location and do a scout before we filmed so I got a sense of the area the actors and crew will be working in. I also took many photos of the locations to show to the DOP to inform him about the certain shots I was thinking of getting when actually shooting in the locations. When it came to actors, I always had Adam in mind to play the lead role. This was mainly because of his hair, slim build and his skill in spinning revolvers and also that he is generally a really nice person and I get on with him well. With the other character, Geroge, I similarly wrote the role for John who was also the sound man on the film. Therefore, there was not much planning in the casting of the actors as it had already been figured out in my head long before production even started. 

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Talk about your success or otherwise of successfully maintaining production diaries and weekly journals. How did these contribute to both your understanding and the quality of your final production?

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I believe that the final film has successfully earnt itself in the Western genre, being a huge western fan directing the more Western tropes such as spinning the revolver, riding the horse and the locations. I am really happy with the outfits and props, the costumes feel lived in and worn in some cases. In addition, I believe the actors done a great job at visually conveying their characters without a single word of dialogue. The music used in the film is very important to me as it in a way control the pace of the film, and I believe that the pace and music are very to the point. The cinematography one of the greatest aspects of the film, there are many shots in the film which I am still shocked that I was responsible for them turning out how they did. As a final note, I firmly believe that the sound in the film is really great. I made sure that the sound man recorded as many sounds as he could on set, and I even attended two separate sound recording days for foley. In general, I am very proud and impressed with how much I have pushed myself to become less of a drifter and more of a director. 

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What do you plan to do next and has the process helped to focus your attention and build your confidence in terms of pursuing your career aim?

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The next step in my life after college will be attending the Norwich University of the Arts where I expect I will learn so much more about film production and theory. In addition to this, I plan on daring to make a feature film on the side at university which I believe is very doable and will be the biggest challenge I will have to face in my life so far. I would want to make more short films beforehand, where I practice more with the use of dialogue that this film lacked completely. I want to research more into the role of a director, I believe that you can never stop learning and there will always be more things for me to learn along the way about how to be a better director as myself and time go on.