The UFilms Virtual Film Festival

Sadly, this year we were unable to do the annual UFilms festival at college, creating out short films and premiering them at the festival due to coronavirus. But luckily, we are in a time now were we are able to communicate with others through the use of technology and so this year we were able to keep the festival going by putting it all online. 

As we weren't able to create our big short films this year, we were given a couple of challenges to keep ourselves preoccupied and creative, as well allowing our new films to be put into competitions to show off our skills and see what we can come up with at home. The main film competition we had to enter was to create our own independent short films, being no longer than 3 minutes and revolving around the theme of 'isolation' (which is a theme very fitting for the time and probably the only thing we really know at this point).

The other challenge we could do as well is the teamwork challenge, where we have to work around working with others without actually getting to meet up with them in person.

At this point, we only had a week and a half to come up with an idea and to create our films so I needed to really think about what I was going to come up with and create that would fit the theme of 'isolation' and would be suitable and worth putting into the competition.

My Short Film Idea

As it has been a really hard and dark time for everyone, and I have to say myself I've really struggled with trying to stay positive, stop being anxious and keep creative throughout lockdown, I thought it would be a good idea to try and make something very positive and heart-warming to try and cheer people up a bit. But it was quite hard to try and think of anything cheerful and happy as everything that is on social media and the news is all about the devastation of coronavirus and never really speaking about the positives or shedding a light on the good news. 

So, as I was struggling more and more to try and think of something happy and cheerful to create for the competition. It wasn't until one day when I was sat doing my work in the kitchen, I saw my mum speaking with my auntie and my little cousin over the fence (as they live on the other side of the fence behind my house), and I saw how happy they all were when speaking to one another and passing things over. I then finally came outside to join the conversation and we had a good laugh and tried speak about anything other than what was going on in the world. It was when my little cousin went back inside that my auntie told us that my cousin had been feeling really down, getting upset that she won't be able to see family and friends for a little while and dealing with not being at school with her best friends and classmates. This was really upsetting to hear, especially about my little cousin who I usually see almost everyday over the fence smiling, playing and being happy. 

For a while I had only really been thinking about how elderly people, like my Grandad for example, are feeling when they aren't allowed to go outside and are not able to see anyone. But I never realised how much self-isolation was actually affecting young children too. Everyone is dealing with isolation one way or another but some people are finding it very difficult to cope. For me I'm too afraid to go outside as I don't want to catch anything, even if I am safe I still get worried that something might happen if I leave the house, but luckily I am able to talk about my anxiety and worries about the pandemic with my family, members from my course and my best friends. 

So, I started to think about the way I have been dealing with isolation, as well as how my little cousin, Libby, has been dealing with it herself. This then spiralled and started to form a few ideas for a short film. I forgot that there wasn't going to be any dialogue in the film so an original idea was having me and Libby hanging out at the fence, having fun by playing catch over the fence, or passing over some treats, or even having a water balloon fight. Which then towards the end of the film it gets a bit more serious when Libby asks me why she can't see her friends and when will this all be over, with me being unsure and answering truthfully saying that I don't know exactly but we have to keep hoping that everything will be back to normal as soon as possible. I thought this was a sweet idea as it is a truthful discussion about how kids are feeling in isolation and how unsure everyone is until we can go back to some type of 'normality', and if we will go back to 'normality' and will life ever be the same again. During isolation I have been questioning what will happen after all of this, like many people have, and what will life be like when this is all over. It is just a very strange and scary time and it's hard to see if we will be able to get out of this soon. Luckily, here in the UK now death tolls have gone down massively and hopefully it will keep that way for now on, till the point where no one is getting infected and no one else will die from this virus. But, remembering there is no dialogue, I had to think again about how to translate the fears of the virus and trying to help others out and keep safe.

With having no dialogue in the film, it should have been easier for me to figure out a visual story that translates to an audience as I have done a few projects now where this is no dialogue throughout the video, but I was finding it difficult now as I liked my original idea. I also needed to think that the challenge is I must film everything within my home and not break the rules of the challenge or the governments rules of social distancing. 

Keeping in mind that my home will be where we film everything, we would only be able to film Libby from our side of the fence. So, I needed to think of a story that would mostly take place at my side but also including my little cousin. Thinking back to how I have been feeling during lockdown and being too afraid to go outside, and for this challenge having to stay in the proximity of my own home, I then started to develop a character that was very similar to me during this time. I came up with this very anxious character who will not leave the house at all, not even to go into the garden where she is still safe and distanced from everyone. This could also be the development of agoraphobia which is a fear of going outside that many people with anxiety can develop, especially during this pandemic as anxious people will believe going outside at all isn't safe. 

Now having this character in mind, I started to create a story around this girl, this idea mostly happened when I was explaining my idea over text with one of my friends. On this particular day the film is set, the girl is minding her own business and preoccupied with her work until she takes a little break. She goes into the living room and turns the TV on, only to be bombarded with more dreadful and anxiety-inducing news about the coronavirus (as I had created this idea a few days before filming, the news seemed to be getting worse when covering the huge impact of coronavirus and how many lives had been lost). Immediately she starts to get worried and turns the TV off, now having the thought of the virus in her head she goes back into the kitchen and washes her hands thoroughly. As she finishes washing her hands, she looks out of the window and sees a little girl over the fence holding a sign up to her. This goes on for a little bit with the little girl holding up signs asking if the girl is ok and if she wants to come and spend time with her at the fence. The girl contemplates going until she starts to think back to the news and a possible outcome that the little girl could be infected. So, the girl puts up a sign saying she is unable to, leaving the little girl upset and feeling guilty about it. As the girl is back to working, the little girl still isn't finished with trying to get her out of the house and check that she is really ok. So, I thought of a little montage with the little girl putting signs on the inside of the girls' fence (still trying to persuade her to come outside), throwing paper planes and toys over, as well as the final straw being when the little girl throws a water balloon at the window. The girl really doesn't want to go outside and to stop the little girl from distracting her she ends up moving into the living room to do the rest of the work, making the little girl feel guilty and sad for upsetting the girl. As the girl goes on with her work, she now thinks back to the little girl and feels awful for not playing with her. So, she has finally had enough and decides she wants to go outside and spend time at the fence, as well as finally being able to face her fears of going outside. But, on her way to the door, anxious thoughts run through her head of reasons why she shouldn't go outside, showing news coverage about coronavirus and the shots of the little girl sneezing and coughing. As these thoughts run on, the girl has made it to the door and finally has the courage to open it. She is then greeted with the girl at the fence smiling at her, allowing her to feel at ease and go to the fence to spend time with the little girl. 

Original Rough Idea

The film is very much about how people shouldn't be lonely during this time and to allow them not to be so anxious and tense about the situation, obviously still keeping to the rules and restrictions that the government has put into place but making sure we are still keeping healthy by making sure everyone is ok and staying safe. It is also a hopeful message that if we stay safe and keep distanced than it will stop the spread of the virus and will one day (hopefully soon) allow us to be able to spend time with others without having obstacles or barricades in-between us. But I think the story definitely fits the theme of 'isolation' as it shows the thoughts and feelings that occur when being isolated, as well as the actions that are caused in people during isolation. 

After finally getting an idea and making notes of the story, I started to plan and think about how we were actually going to pull this film off. Luckily, my little cousin was onboard with starring in the film and helping out as she has been very bored and she loves to act as well (as she was in the John Lewis style Christmas Advert that I created with Amiliyah). 

We didn't film until the end of the week (Thursday 7th May) before the festival started as we sadly had a few personal family issues that had happened that caused us to put off filming, as well as my auntie being busy at work and unable to help Libby on her side of the fence. But we had a few conversations at the fence about what was going to happen, hopefully when we would be able to film and giving another rundown of the plot of the story and certain scenes that we would be filming. We did also have a few small meetings whenever Libby and my auntie were free over FaceTime to again discuss more about the film and to make sure we had a good day to film when everyone was free and when the weather was great, as there would be a lot of filming outside and if it went dark or rained it would ruin shooting and cause a huge continuity problem for filming. As this film only needed to only be between 30 seconds-3 minutes, we knew that it would only take us a few hours in one day to film everything which isn't bad at all, especially once we got all the shots done. 

One of my concerns and worries is that I didn't have a script and didn't create a script to work from. I believe scriptwriting is one of my biggest strengths when it comes to creating films for projects and recently, I think just me having a lack of creativity and not being in the right frame of mind to produce a script came into play. Throughout lockdown it's been hard to come up with new ideas and to create a great script that allows me to escape the state of the world at the moment, but I've been finding it really hard to come up with anything. Even for this project I found it hard to come up with a script, even when the script didn't need any dialogue it was quite hard to come up with something. Luckily, I had many notes and the outline of the story in both my notebook and my head, so I was able to work with that but I think it may have been much better if I were able to write a script and possibly be able to create a shot list, with scene timings on it, from that. I think it would have been better if I tried to create a script as I would be able to see how long I would need to film certain shots, as this needs to be a minimum length of 30 seconds-3 minutes. So, the script and shot list were my only problems when it came to the film, but I think I still did well to come up with an idea and have a clear image of shots in my head, as well as noting them down in my notebook. 

So, I didn't really do any pre-production for this challenge, not as much pre-production as I have done before for different projects before that. I think this is mostly due to needing to film as soon as possible as we were given the challenge briefs a week and a half before the film festival, with me still changing around the idea until I got something I was happy with and also getting family members onboard with helping me out. 

Preparing for Shoot

Actors:

There are only two characters in the film, the anxious girl and the little girl over the fence. I had already cast Libby as the little girl which she was more than happier to play, but now I was still unsure about who was going to play the anxious girl in the film. As she is based off of me and how I am feeling during isolation, it is understandable that I would play her, and I also don't have anyone my age living at home with me.

I did think about changing the age range of the character to suit possibly my mum or my sister but, my sister was busy on the day we planned to film (as she is a primary school teacher and had to be at work on that Thursday we filmed) and my mum mostly wanted to help out behind the scenes rather than be onscreen. So, the only option was to have me play the main focus of the film. I didn't really want to have myself in my own film as I would have to edit it afterwards and I am a very self-conscious person, so to see myself on camera makes me a bit uncomfortable. I also thought it would be too much if I am creating the film, directing it, starring in it and editing it but as I have a lot of time on my hands this was all something to keep me busy. I think I was mostly nervous that I was going to overact or not look natural and end up ruining the film as I have done acting before and I did drama for GCSE but I didn't know if I would be able to act well on camera and if my performance would translate well. 



It was definitely after I had given it a bit more thought and spoken about the film to Libby that it was best if I star alongside her in it as it was something fun for us to both do together and we felt comfortable acting alongside each other in it. So, I think it would have been better to have had an actual performing arts student as the lead and acting alongside Libby, but I think it was much better that I was acting with her as she gets nervous around new people and doesn't do the best acting as she usually does, as she is a pretty good actor. But remember to the previous project we worked on together, the Christmas advert, I was only directing and she got nervous to act around everyone there which caused her to become shy, so she was much happier that we were acting together and that we were only acting in front of our family. 

Locations:

One of the rules for the challenge is to film everything at home, so that we stay safe and don't go against the restrictions the government has put into place. All of the story is set at my home anyways so that wasn't a huge problem to try and find other locations to film in. Originally, I did think to try and film in my cousin's garden (the house on the other side of the fence) to film Libby on her side, staying distanced while filming as well. But remembering the rules of the challenge I wasn't able to do that and also thought it was safer, though I know none of my family have the virus but in case they did, to keep to the rules. When creating the idea, I just needed to think of ways to keep everything over on my side of the fence and at my home. This wasn't too hard to do as scenes I thought of, originally, where we would see Libby on her side were just taken out and changed to just seeing her from my side as she pokes her head above the fence. 

There were only a few locations that I thought about filming in and those were:

• The garden (at the fence mostly) - Luckily the garden is very spacious so there was a lot of space for us to get loads of shots from, whether those be of Libby (mostly Libby at the fence) or seeing the back of the house. I also, this was mostly for practice to see if I could keep the camera steady on the new tripod I got, took some shots of various things in the garden like the sky, flowers, trees, leaves, etc. So, I thought we might be able to place those within the film somewhere, maybe as an introduction or some cutaway scenes during the film.
• The kitchen - This is where my character would mostly be in the film, working at the kitchen table, using the sink to wash her hands and looking through the window to see Libby. Also, some scenes would be able to get filmed with me in the house and Libby at the fence as we have large, glass doors to the garden, so when getting the camera at the right angle it can get us both in and have a wide shot. 
• The utility room - This would be used for the scene where the my character is making her way to the door and getting nervous and anxious to go outside, this shot was quick and easy to do as it is just me walking and shots of clips from the news and Libby sneezing and coughing would cut in between. Also, another shot would just be the door opening and seeing Libby at the fence. So, there wasn't a lot that would be filmed here. 
• The living room - Again, not a lot was filmed in here only the scenes where I watch the news on the TV and end up doing my work in their as I don't want to be disrupted by Libby. The living room is also a large space so I was able to get shots from different angles and get a lot of the room on camera. 

I was able to work really well with the space I had at home and I don't think not being able to film at my cousins house really effected the film in any way. Also changing from the different locations/sets in the film made it a little less boring than being in one confined space. I think this wasn't a problem to work with my own home as I was able to be more creative and utilise the space I have, thinking where I can set different scenes and where to get the best shots in those areas.

Timeframe of Shoot:

I didn't really have an exact timeframe to complete the shoot, I had just suggested to my auntie and Libby about starting filming around 11:00 am or 11:30 am and just for them to get ready by then. I was also going to film a few things before starting to work with Libby so the shoot might start at 12:00 pm if I haven't finished with those as soon as possible. But, other than that, I didn't have an exact time of when we would be finishing filming, I just said that we needed to try and film everything before the sun sets and before the weather gets bad as the forecast for later on in the day wasn't meant to be great. All I knew is that we would be filming for a few hours and this didn't matter too much as we were able to get lots of shots and also creating this film would be passing the time. So, it didn't really feel that much like work but having something fun to do and keeping creative and spending time with my family during these tough times. 


Scene Timings:

I spoke about this briefly before saying I didn't actually create a script, which also lead into me not creating a shot list with scene timings on it. I think it definitely would have been better if I had done this as I could determine how long my short film was going to be (keeping in the 3-minute limit), as well as knowing how long to film certain shots. But, at this point, I just thought it would be safe to overshoot than undershoot and work with the shots I had got on the day of the shoot. This wasn't something that worried or phased me too much but I did think more about if my idea and film were going to be too long. 

Health and Safety:

When thinking about how we were going to film certain scenes, I definitely took health and safety into consideration as:

• Coronavirus - Needed to stay distant from Libby, my auntie and uncle (helping on the film) at all times. Luckily, there is a fence between us so we wouldn't be breaking the rules and wouldn't get too close to each other. So, social distancing was a huge health and safety risk we needed to think about and make sure we were doing throughout filming.
• Ladders - As Libby needs to be seen above the fence, whenever we do see her in the film, the best solution was to use a stepladder so that we are able to see the top half of her, also better to see all of her when she is acting. I also needed to use stepladders when filming Libby, still keeping distanced, but also needed to get the best shots of her and keeping the camera as still on my tripod as possible. So, when it came to filming, my mum would be holding the ladders whilst I was on them and either my auntie or uncle would be holding the ladders for Libby as she was on them. We also needed to make sure the ladders were sturdy so that they don't wobble and result in us falling off and injuring ourselves, so we needed to make sure they were going to be on flat surfaces. This wasn't a huge problem for Libby as she was on her patio but I was only able to film on the grass, so my mum being there to keep them steady was the best solution.

I think those were the only main risks when it came to filming as the film doesn't have any massive stunts or dangerous acts going on in it. So, we just had to be made aware of these two main health and safety issues. 

Cinematography:

This was one of my main concerns as I am not great on camera, although I could only use my phone as I don't have a proper camera like we have at college I was still worried that I wasn't going to do a great job on camera. It's not one of my strongest points as I tend to do the more creative roles like directing and writing. Whenever I create a story and think of an idea I always visualise what shots are going to look like, and when working on a project at college I tend to work very close with the Cinematographer or Director of Photography to make sure we are on the same page of what shots should look like, as well as getting suggestions about the look and positioning of the camera. But I have never really worked on camera. There have been few times that I have been a camera operator and only then I was told what to do, mostly told when to start recoding and just making sure the camera was at level and steady, but other than that I have never fully been hands on with camera.

I think I felt more at ease and comfortable with doing camera as I use my phone every day and I know all the camera features on the device, as if I were to film with a camera from college for this project, I wouldn't exactly know what to do. Working on camera is something I need to try out more and practice with, as I have also just got a camera as an early birthday present and something to practice and pass the time with during isolation. So, it's something I definitely want to try more when we go back to college and do more projects, even if they are quite small projects, I would like to have more experience with a camera. But working on camera was quite worrying to me just because I've not done it a lot and I am not as comfortable doing that job role. Luckily, I had also just got a tripod for my phone that I was able to use throughout filming which I think helped much more with my steadiness of the camera rather than being freehand.

Props:

We didn't really need many props in the film, mostly for the scenes with Libby when she is trying to get my attention:

• Signs - I made these the night before filming. These are the signs that are used when we first seen Libby. As we weren't able to have dialogue in the film, I thought using signs to communicate with each other from a distance was good idea, with me creating a few for Libby to hold up and one for me. There was a sign that I cut out of the film as this scene started to become longwinded and it didn't really make a huge difference in the story. 
• Paper planes - I also made these the night before filming, I made eight in total. Originally, I thought Libby could throw quite a few of them into the garden to get my character's attention but instead we thought one would be enough as the scene would be too long and take up all the time left of the film. Also, we thought it would be best to have one as each time Libby tried to throw more, the wind started to pick up and end up blowing the paper plane back towards her or either not reaching as far as we would've like in the garden. But it was good to have a few of these planes just in case and also to have backups in case one got damaged.
• Water balloons - These were from Libby, I thought it would be a fun idea to have a scene where Libby throws a water balloon at the window to get my attention, causing my character to get annoyed and leave. So, Libby and my auntie filled up a few water balloons, a lot of them were multiple colours so we needed to have a few that were the same colour to in case the shot didn't look good or the water balloon didn't go onto the window. This was to also help with continuity as it would've looked strange if we had a pink balloon, thrown by Libby, and then have a green balloon, thrown by mum behind the wall of the house, splat onto the window.
• 2x balls and a space hopper - This was part of a scene that was deleted from the film (as it took up too much time). This was meant to be after Libby's first distraction, with the paper planes, where she throws two balls over the fence, each one being larger than the other with the space hopper being the last one and catching my attention with me looking annoyed. Also, for anyone who has watched the film, you will notice that in the scene where the water balloon is thrown at the window, two balls have magically appeared in the garden, so cutting this scene out did cause a little continuity problem but it wasn't seen for very long and doesn't distract from the story. 

I also needed a few props just to make up some scenes where I am doing my work in the kitchen:

• Laptop
• Workbooks/notebooks
• Stationary
• A Streetcar Named Desire playbook - It is one of my favourite plays and I just thought my character would be doing an assignment on the book. 

So, there wasn't a large number of props we needed, the more important ones being the ones Libby use but that was about it. 

Costume:

This was probably one of the easiest parts of planning as me and Libby just picked out our own clothes:

• Libby - To wear a bright and vibrant top, it didn't really matter what she wore on the bottom half as that wasn't going to be seen through the fence. 
• Me - All black clothing.

This colour difference was done intentionally to show the personalities and feelings of the two characters. For Libby's character she is wearing bright and colourful clothing as she is a kid and she wants to just have fun and play, as for my character I feel nervous and anxious constantly and during isolation it's made those become even worse.

So, finding costumes wasn't too much of a challenge as we needed to wear our normal, casual clothes.

Research

I tried do a small bit of research about the theme and topic of 'isolation', not as much as self-isolation like we are doing right now but researching how isolation can mentally and physically make a person feel. There wasn't too much online of people's experiences with being or feeling isolated but I could guess from similar meanings and words of isolation that it mostly makes a person feel very lonely. This loneliness then causing a person to become upset and distressed because they are alone and may feel as if they are disconnected from the people around them, as well as feeling disconnected from the world. 

From reading about loneliness, I then started to think about other feelings a person may get during isolation, like bored, claustrophobic, anxious, scared, depressed and maybe even hopeful. Once thinking about those thoughts and feelings, some I have definitely been feeling, it wasn't too hard to then create a character who feels this way which then led into creating a story surrounding them and their feelings during isolation. 

I also researched films that revolve around the feeling or notion of isolation, for example:

• The Shining (1980) - Follows the story of Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) and his family living in an empty hotel. The hotel has a dark and violent history, causing this history to come back and haunt the isolated family. Jack gets cabin fever, leading him to become murderous, as his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), becomes an anxious wreck as she worries about the mental state of their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), as Danny sees strange supernatural acts and starts to learn the past of the hotel. Stanley Kubrick makes the story more terrifying by showing us that there is no context of time, showing that during isolation we don't keep track of time and the days that go by as we seem to start repeating ourselves and don't know how to keep ourselves preoccupied.
• Cast Away (2000) - Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks) survives after being in a deadly plane crash, though he must try and survive on an isolated island. He ends up becoming friends with a volleyball, called Wilson, and he starts to reflect on his life before the accident, the person he used to be, and reminding himself of what civilisation once was. 
• Room (2015) - Joy (Brie Larson) and her son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), have been helped captive in a small room for years. Her son doesn't have any concept about the outside world, having lived and grown up in the small room for all of his life. Though they are both together, they are isolated from the outside world, trapped, claustrophobic and left to deal with the darkness. 

Though these films don't discuss what it is like to live through a pandemic you can still understand how these different characters deal with isolation, and how much isolation impacts them and their story.

I didn't really do much research on coronavirus, as it is always brought up in the news and on social media and the same information is always brought up about it. Just to make sure everyone stays distant from each other, that they stay at home, make sure they don't have certain symptoms, etc. I also felt that I didn't really need to do much research on coronavirus as, in the film I do have some news coverage about it and show how coronavirus can be spread, but the story doesn't really revolve around the physical effects of a person with the illness. It's only about the repercussions of people having to stay inside and be isolated from everyone, so it isn't about the illness itself.

A great way of trying to stay positive, as everyone is doing, is communicating with their friends and family via text or FaceTime. Luckily, I still have my mum and my sister at home with me to keep me company, as well as having some of my family only on the other side of our fence. But for those I can't see in person, other family members, I make sure to keep in touch with them by texting them. Though messaging people constantly, instead of speaking to them face to face, isn't something that I have only been doing because of the pandemic and is something very normal for me, as my dad has a job in Italy and sadly, he has been stuck there since they put the country on lockdown. But even then, I have been messaging people who don't live in the same country as me for a while, as a few years ago I only moved back here, in the UK, after living in Dubai for 11-years. I stay in touch, every single day, with a few of my best friends who still live there, and luckily, I got to see them all before lockdown as I had a week's holiday in Dubai during the half term. They are so great to talk to when feeling anxious about everything and to learn how they are dealing with the virus over there compared to back here is very interesting. So, getting to talk to them and learn how everyone is dealing with isolation differently was great to hear and understand that every single person was feeling similar to one another. Scared, worried, anxious, lonely, etc. Wherever a person is they are feeling exactly the same way as you do as everyone is dealing with this situation, it is a global pandemic. So, to learn that, definitely made me want to do a happy story and also include all the fears and feelings everyone has been dealing with into the film.

Whilst I was doing my pre-production blog for my short film that we were meant to be doing at the end of this year, I started to watch a few short films online to see the different styles and stories and how they keep the story to 15-minutes or less. There was one short film in particular that I had watched, before this challenge was set, from a YouTube channel called Omeleto. The short film was called "Catch", it follows the story of a father and his daughter trying to stay safe in a post-antibiotic world. The short film originally came out in 2016 but Omeleto re-released it on their YouTube channel at the end of March. Though it isn't about coronavirus, it does show us two family members living through a pandemic, that could potentially happen in the future, and how it has affected them physically and mentally. The father in the film is paranoid constantly as he has already lost his son and wife, causing him to become anxious for his and his daughter's safety. Also, for the two, it isn't easy to keep inside constantly, especially when he has to look after a child who wants to just play. The short film is very emotional and quite dark but is very similar to what we are living through at the moment.

This was a film I had sort of kept in mind, I think more in a negative sense as I didn't want to create a film as upsetting as that, as when I watched it we had been in isolation for a few weeks and watching this made me feel more anxious and worried about the situation. Though the film is brilliant, beautifully shot, structured, and talks about a massive issue that could happen in the future, I found it really upsetting and I didn't really need that at the time. At the moment, people are going through enough of a dark time and for me to create a film as dark and serious as that wouldn't help people escape what is happening in the world right now. 

The Shoot (Thursday 7th May 2020)

The day of the shoot I think went successfully, even without a lot of planning and preparation beforehand. 

On the morning, I had got up early and got ready for filming, getting myself ready and then filming some scenes that didn't include Libby just yet. Luckily, I was able to do this quite quickly, taking probably around half an hour, and this also let Libby have some time to get ready before she started to film any scenes. 

After finishing those scenes, I then started to get Libby more involved and for the rest of the day filming went really well as we were able to film everything pretty quickly, especially before it got dark and before the weather changed, as it was a really good and sunny day to get the best lighting and to be able to film outdoors. I don't think there were many issues or problems throughout shooting as we tried to keep the story and filming scenes as simple as possible, as we were filming all of this in one day. I'd say filming the scenes with me in them were quite difficult as I don't really like looking at myself and needing to see how I looked on camera was something I wasn't exactly confident and comfortable with, but after a couple hours of filming I didn't care so much and just wanted to make a great film with some believable performances. It was mostly hard when filming scenes, for example in the kitchen, where it had both me and Libby in the scene (her at the fence and me sitting at the table) as no one would be on camera to see if the shot looked alright as my mum was outside giving cues to Libby for when she needed to do something, as I had to act in the scene. It was quite difficult to film those scenes but luckily, they looked good and we were able to use them in the film, it also only took us a few takes to get the perfect shots as sometimes the cues wouldn't come in time or would be at the wrong point causing us to have to do another take. 

Another issue that I had filming was one of the final scenes of the film, which was the scene where the door opens and we see Libby waving from the fence. I was hard to try and find a way to open the door without getting me on camera opening it. I first tried it with me opening it normally but it didn't work as I got myself in camera. I then also tried opening the door by finding a wire that I could wrap around the door handle and then pull the door open, but this also didn't work as the wire kept slipping off the handle and wasn't strong enough to open the door. My last idea, and was the only solution, to opening the door was for me to be behind it, from outside of the house, and have me pushing it open and move out the way quickly so I don't get myself on camera. This took a few takes and we finally ended up getting a good shot of the door opening and seeing Libby at the fence. 






Those were probably the only issues that we faced, as I remembered to film all the scenes that I had originally thought of, as I quickly made a small list of different shots that I wanted to get for the film and ticking them off as we went along. The rest of filming, I think the whole shoot took about five or five and a half hours to film, went really well and we were lucky to still have great weather and get all of the film done in one day. At the end of filming we had around 100 shots to use, many being retakes of certain shots that had a few salvable moments that I thought would be good in the film. Throughout the day after filming a few shots, I would then go back to my laptop and airdrop the footage from my phone to my laptop and save it on my hard drive. I would watch back on a few to make sure they were fine to use and see if we needed to reshoot any of them, and that the lighting and camerawork was alright, which luckily, it was and I was surprised by as I am not great at camera. 

My favourite shot that we got was the one where the water balloon hits into the window. This was something we needed to get right as we didn't have many water balloons and we only had a few that were the same colour that Libby used in the closeup of her throwing it. Obviously, as Libby is only small and isn't able to aim the water balloon all the way from where she is at the fence to the window where I am sat, my mum was stood, out of shot behind, the wall of the house where she would throw the water balloon. The first take we did didn't go well as when my mum threw the water balloon, and think she was stood quite close and didn't throw as hard, as the water balloon ended up bouncing off of the window and splatting on the floor rather than onto the window. But luckily, the second take we did, went perfectly as it actually splashed water all over the window and I was still able to go on with the scene. I did genuinely get scared which I think helped with me becoming annoyed and leaving the room, though I was expecting it to happen I didn't realise how loud it was going to be when it hit off of the window. I found that a really fun scene to do and it ended up really well and I was able to put it in the final edit of the film. 

I think filming, and the film itself, may have been better if I had created a script and a shot list with scene timings on it so that I was able to figure out how long shots should be and it would be easier for me to determine when it came down to editing. I also thought that I should have reshot the final scene of the film, where I finally go and speak to Libby at the fence, as I felt that it wasn't as impactful and emotional as it should have been and was also quite short in the edit.

I think if I had filmed this, without the restrictions of lockdown and out of lockdown, I would have filmed some scenes at the house at the other side of the fence so that the story could really show the two different perspectives of how the little girl and this anxious teen are dealing with isolation. This would have also been better as Libby would have been in the film a bit more rather than myself, letting us both get an equal amount of time onscreen. Also, if I weren't filming this in lockdown, I would want to do this with a crew of people as I only really know how to direct and that's a job role, I am most comfortable with and enjoy doing. So, having a camera operator who is able to get great shots, and also to use an actual camera when filming, would have made the film much better, as well as allowing me to see what is actually being filmed on camera. Having another actor to play my character in the film would have been better as it gives them more experience in acting and also allows me to worry about my job in directing more rather than what I am doing and how my performance looks on camera. 

Other than those minor problems and thinking about how the film could have been better without the restrictions of lockdown, I think the shoot went really well and I kept to the rules of the challenge with creating a film around the theme of 'isolation' and staying at home to film all of the scenes. 

Working on Team Short Film

Getting a team together for the teamwork film challenge was last minute, being a few days before I filmed my own short film. I think it was Sam Liddell who put the team all together, adding us onto a group chat and figuring out some ideas for the film. He had planned a few Zoom calls but I was unable to join them as I was preparing for my short film, as well as filming it on the Thursday that they had a big team call. 

After I finished my shoot of my short film, Sam asked if I would like to help him work on the script for the film which I agreed to and was happy about as I felt this would bring my creativity back for writing scripts and creating more stories. So, me and Sam had an hour's phone call where he told me about the idea of the film, each character that is involved and what their purpose and reasoning is in the film.

The film, which we called "Lockdown Perceptions", focuses on the lives of five different people during lockdown. Each character has a very different personality to the other and is experiencing isolation in various different ways. When the team was put together, I remember putting forward that we should do a happy and cheerful type film, or something quite comedic and fun for audiences to watch, so the story very much went down the comedic route as it turned out as a mockumentary.

Once Sam told me the basic and brief outline of the story, he then spoke about the different characters/actors involved in the narrative:

• Josh Durnall - A very flamboyant and over the top character who wants to be better than everyone. He likes to show his support for the NHS on a Thursday night by outdoing himself each week when cheering for all key workers, getting angry at those who don't cheer as much as him. He also loves to make TikTok videos. 
• Sophie Ashcroft - A hippyish and conspiracy theory believing character who doesn't believe that the coronavirus is real. She talks about how she goes to large protests with other none believers and how they connect with each other by embracing one another.
• Dylan Pitt - A laddish, carefree and naive character who just wants to party and hang out with his mates. To pass the time he films himself reviewing films and TV shows that he has seen, as well as speaking on his memories with his friends.
• Kate Drummond - A hands on mum who doesn't care much for her many children. She is finding it tough to cope with them all during isolation, as she tries to keep herself busy by yelling at them and watching Disney+.
• Kate Whittaker - A fitness freak who films herself working out and making healthy recipes for her few viewers online. She is self-absorbed and believes when her neighbours go out to cheer for key workers, on a Thursday night, that they are actually cheering for her. She is also not the person that we see in her videos as she lies about staying fit and healthy by ordering takeaways.

After being introduced to all the characters, at the end of the film we see them having a Zoom call together speaking to one another about their experiences in lockdown and what they hope will happen after all of this is over. I think we also thought to show a where are they now type of montage after the Zoom calls, with Sophie's character finding out she has caught coronavirus after one of her protests. 

I think me and Sam worked well to get a few ideas, with him taking down notes as he was going to put all the script together, but I think it was good to have some input towards the idea as I didn't really do much else on the film as we had planned too (with me needing to edit and finish the rest of my own independent film for the deadline). But, me and Sam came up with a few more jokes for the film and I elaborated on a few of the original ideas and plot points. 

But I think the outcome of the film was good and it turned out really well. Some of the ideas and story had changed quite a bit after mine and Sam's conversation over the phone, I think this was mostly due to trying to get the length of the film down to its maximum time, which we all hadn't realised was three and a half minutes. So, we had a version to send to our teacher, Kelly, for the competition and also had a full-length version with the whole story from the script Sam wrote. 

Editing

Editing the whole film took me a day and a half to do which isn't too bad but, throughout editing, it was quite stressful for me. I have only edited a few different projects and it's something I am still learning and getting used to. I think the only things that were making me feel stressed about editing the film were 1. seeing myself back on video, as I find it hard to look at myself and the way I look and 2. cutting down all the shots to the maximum length of the film, as well as making sure the film was structure well and that it still consists of a clear story.

Day 1:

I first started with structuring the story of the film, placing shots that I wanted in the film and cutting them down to be shorter in length (as this film is limited on time and having long shots will be a problem when it comes to adding more important shots to create the story). It did take quite a long time when figuring out what shots and scenes to keep and what to cut out, as there were many great shots I had got, causing me to become stressed about the outcome of the film. I did eventually sort this out, cutting a few scenes and shots that weren't completely necessary to the story. 

Once I had placed a few shots in order and thought that the fit best together, I then made the vibrance and colourisation higher so that the shots were much brighter, this helped that we had a very sunny shoot as the lighting made the brightness better on the shots. 


Day 2:

There was one last scene I needed to put all together which was the quick cuts scene towards the end of the film, where my character starts to get many anxious thoughts rushing through her head telling her why she shouldn't go outside. So, I cut between a couple of shots I got of Libby, coughing and sneezing, and various clips of the news. To show that these scenes were all in the girl's head, I lowered the vibrance and colourisation of the shots, as well as increasing the faded film effect on the shot. I thought this worked really well as I just started to mess about with the colour effects, as I tried to follow a tutorial on how to make the shots look more like a dream sequence but it didn't look good and ended up making the shots look grainy. 








After making sure all the shots were pieced together properly and in the right places to tell the story, I then added the title and credits to the end of the film. My only problem with this was I didn't actually have a name for the film but, it didn't take too long to think of a name as I came up with the title "A Little Distance".

The last and final element that I needed to place in the film was music. This was one of the trickiest parts of editing for me as I needed to find copyright free music that was similar and fit the music I originally thought of (which was the song "Married Life" from the film "Up" (2009)). It did take a while to find some good songs but I did eventually find that too that I thought would be great in the film. These were two copyright free songs called "Childhood" and "Growing Up" by an artist named Scott Buckley. I think they both worked pretty well in the film and they were both fitting for the story. 

I think I did my best with editing the film, learning to take my time and to try and not get frustrated when cutting out, as well as cutting down, scenes and making sure I picked the right ones to keep in the film. 

Evaluation

Looking back at my efforts on my short film, I think I did very well to come up with an idea in a short amount of time and then needing to film, star and edit it all in only a few days. I think I could definitely improve on my technical skills as I still haven't had much experience on camera and editing but I think I did a good job to try and do that all on my own and have a pretty good outcome. I also think I did well to keep within the rules and restrictions of the challenge, being able to create a story that revolves around the theme of 'isolation' and being able to tell and show a story only through the use of visuals and no dialogue. 

Everyone's films at the festival were really good and everyone came up with such great stories and ideas. Mine compared to all of them is hard as they were all very different to one another, some being truthful to what is happening at the moment, some being horror films and discussing the apocalypse or a dystopian future, and other films trying to cheer people up. I think everyone did an amazing job to all come up with different stories and show our own thoughts and feelings about isolation in our own perspective. 

*My short film "A Little Distance" is at the timeframe 3:33*