Some new stuff

I'm currently working hard on my final year project and dissertation. Because I did all the final year modules last year I only have the FYP to do which means the deadline is January 4th 2013. There's actually plenty of time to do it in and in fact too much time. I kinda miss the student life already because all I seem to do these days is stay at home and surf the internet when I'm not working. I'm a self-confessed procrastinator but I actually stuck to my schedule this year and got everything done. I set myself the target to film all footage in November and I got it done by the 23rd. The film is currently at just under 12 minutes long and is almost finished.

So yeah, basically it's about a guy who gets sent to prison and he gets harassed by this big scary inmate who wants £5 a week. The minimum wage for UK prisoners is 30 pence an hour so obviously this guy can't afford to pay up. It's not just this inmate who's picking on the main guy because a guard takes delight in making him suffer also. But he's got one friend inside, a good guard who is trying to look after him and keep him out of trouble. I won't spoil the ending though so just keep checking back and the film will be online someday soon.

I filmed a few scenes at my university and I even had support from the local police force to use some of their cells as a film location but red tape got in the way last minute. So, I bought a few MDF boards and made a prison cell set at my house. I stapled cardboard to the door and painted it a greyish/green colour to make it look like a cell door. On camera it looked okay so I was happy with it. I was then able to film the remaining scenes at home and it turned out pretty good. I also borrowed two 2000k lights from the University stores and these were perfect. Portable daylight almost and I managed to get perfect exposure throughout filming.

Obviously had a few problems which means I now have to do ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) since I was unable to record sound externally. The boom pole the uni gave me kept collapsing and you couldn't really control it in such a small area because it kept hitting things. So I thought screw it and just decided to do dialogue replacement at a later date. Visuals are pretty much done which means I only have audio left to do. My assignment is investigation into matching sound design to cinematography so yeah. I'm also gonna compose my own music for this film and that will be the last stage of production.

OCTOBER=Pre-Production

NOVEMBER=Production

DECEMBER=Post-Production

So far so good. Oh and yeah. I no longer believe that a no-budget film is possible. Yeah, I'm sure you can piss about with your mates and create a 2 minute movie for free and I did several of these a few years ago. But seriously, I've already spent close to £300 on this film. Purchase of props and costume came up to around £80. 1.8 prime lens, £55. Other equipment few quid here and there oh and I also hired a few actors. Hats off to them though because they agreed to do it for free but I paid their expenses which all added up to about £100. Consequence is, I've now only got £13 in my bank account. Looks like I'll have to use my credit card now or dip into my business account.

So yeah that's my life currently. I just wanna finish all this and do something useful with my life. Hopefully I can get a job in January when I finish uni. Someday I'll just fuel up my car and follow the sun and see where I end up. Or maybe I'll be able to finally renew my passport and get the hell outta the UK. I've also started sharing tiny bits of my wisdom on Twitter so if you want follow me @91beard.