Diary Entry One

It's less than a week until we start shooting The Flight of the Flamingo so I figured I'd kick-off a new production diary (the long awaited sequel to the original production diary).

I've spent much of this week casting and arranging a schedule with actors. One of the difficult things with the crowdfunding was that it was hard to get (or offer) firm commitments from actors whilst we were still unsure whether we'd meet our funding goal and be able to go ahead with the production. Now that we have the money, it's perfectly easy to get actors attached, it's just that with such short notice there are bound to be schedule clashes. STILL I've now cast 80% of the roles, including all the principal ones, and I reckon we've put together a pretty damn good cast. I'll update you more on the various actors and various characters in later production blogs.

Locations have proved my Achilles heel in the past and they are, once again, proving a little difficult. I'm having quite a lot more help this time round which is great and we've got a few different places locked down. That said: there are a few crucial locations I've yet to secure and it's really vital that I manage to get them sorted in the next few days so that we can focus on shooting as soon as that's started. I have the location for our opening day's shooting, which is great, but I've got to sort out a whole bunch of extras for that scene, so we'll have to see where that goes. Ideally I'd like to get about 20 people, but it's going to be a case of how many people (mainly my friends) we can get to turn up for free because paying out 28 sets of travel expenses in one day is going to be extremely pricey.

One of the last problems that I'm dealing with is a little script one. I've been aware (people right here pointed it out to me) that the ending is going to be polarising. A couple of actors have read the script and asked me if it's missing pages at the end, because they feel like something's unresolved. And a few other people have, hand's down, told me that I can't end it as bleakly as I have done. I'm going to take a look at that final scene. Obviously, I wrote an ending that I, personally, like but, if it doesn't work for other people, then I'm willing to change it. I have a feeling, however, that when we come to shoot that scene, the impact, as it's currently written, will be pretty intense. Who knows?

My chores for the next few days involve locking stuff down: cast and crew, locations, extras, props, costumes...etc. These are all the fiddly bits of production that I'd much rather delegate to someone else but, for the time being, I'm going to be overseeing them. I've developed a minor obsession with Google Documents spreadsheets, which are great when you can't be near the cast and crew every day. Hopefully that's going to give us a solid, flexible base from which to build a more detailed production schedule.

I have a few general questions to pose to readers of this diary: In addition to the sound recordist that we are paying for the shoot, someone has offered to be a sound assistant for free- does this seem like a really helpful role? How much do you recommend, for a 12 day shoot, shelling out for a MUA? I usually use students but I won't be able to get anyone to commit for that length of time on nothing but expenses. And are there any British actors between 45 and 70 (outside of the really, really famous ones) who you like? Maybe someone you've seen in an indie but haven't seen that much elsewhere.

Over and out.

Good luck!

Here we go!

Can't wait for my VOD!

Diary Entry One


And are there any British actors between 45 and 70 (outside of the really, really famous ones) who you like? Maybe someone you've seen in an indie but haven't seen that much elsewhere.

Over and out.

That's, almost, a generation and a half difference there, Nick. I know it's PC, today, to refer to both sexes as actors, so are you looking to cast female or male? Who is this character? Can you give us an idea?


Good Luck! I'm excited to subscribe to your production log.

That's, almost, a generation and a half difference there, Nick. I know it's PC, today, to refer to both sexes as actors, so are you looking to cast female or male? Who is this character? Can you give us an idea?


Ah, yes, should've been more specific. He's a man, he's the father of a 20 year old so I figured the age range could be pretty wide (they're a posh family). Other than that I don't have many specifics. He's quite a dry, witty character- bit of a silver fox, very successful and on the ball.

Hope that helps (I must learn to be more specific with my casting) :)

You're going to have the time of your life. Shooting a short film is incredibly fun, but the added intensity of shooting a feature is exhilarating! Whatever the filmmaking version of "break a leg" is, do that!

You're going to have the time of your life. Shooting a short film is incredibly fun, but the added intensity of shooting a feature is exhilarating! Whatever the filmmaking version of "break a leg" is, do that!

I believe it's 'fracture your skull'.

Yep, I'm certainly getting the 'exhilaration' thing coming through- I just hope this doesn't turn into nervous panic over the weekend ;)

Oh, and it was Phil's birthday today so Happy Birthday Phil!
:bday:

Wow, good luck. Seems to be coming out well.

Diary Entry Two

We're three days into production now, so I thought I could spare some time for an update.

Our first day was a logistically tricky party shoot but it worked out really nicely and was one of the smoothest shoot days I've had. We shot it all handheld, following our lead character through the party first and then picking off the shots for reverse close ups with the different interactions.

On day two we reshot the scene that we did in the promotional video but in a different location and with one different actor. We also did some more scenes at the same location with those actors, and that all went pretty nicely although I stupidly forgot a prop, so we're going to have to shoot some pick-ups there next week. You can see some BTS photos from that day's shooting here. (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.395740120489293.88805.321667724563200&type=3)

Today's stuff was good again. We had fewer script pages scheduled for today so more time to play with and, perhaps, we were a little slack in the morning and didn't quite get all we needed done with an actress before she had to depart. But after that we got the majority of the shots that we wanted and spent some of the afternoon as a compact (4 person) guerilla shooting crew out on the streets of London, getting some amazing looking shots of our lead actor as he travels around the city. Once again you can check out BTS photos here. (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.395832150480090.88831.321667724563200&type=3)

All things considered it's going pretty well and the footage we've (well, Phil) shot looks amazing. We'll keep you updates as we go along but we're shooting outside London tomorrow and then some pivotal scenes on Friday so it's going to be a busy end to the week!

Moar pics plz.

I just want to whet your appetite a tiny bit with some production stills!

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/New%20Flight%20of%20the%20Flamingo/ScreenShot2012-07-18at195337.png

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/New%20Flight%20of%20the%20Flamingo/ScreenShot2012-07-18at200059.png

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/New%20Flight%20of%20the%20Flamingo/ScreenShot2012-07-18at195838.png

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/New%20Flight%20of%20the%20Flamingo/ScreenShot2012-07-18at200321.png

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/New%20Flight%20of%20the%20Flamingo/ScreenShot2012-07-18at200426.png

And that's it from me!

Looking good, guys!

But the lady in the last shot seems to have looked at the camera. Hope you have another take.

Looking good, guys!

But the lady in the last shot seems to have looked at the camera. Hope you have another take.

That woman literally turns round for a fraction of a second whilst she's waiting to cross the road (it's a long shot anyway) and I think she's actually just checking the traffic and vaguely notices the camera. Either way, she's only looking in that direction for a split second (which Phil has captured wonderfully in that screenshot!).

Diary Entry One


And are there any British actors between 45 and 70 (outside of the really, really famous ones) who you like? Maybe someone you've seen in an indie but haven't seen that much elsewhere.

Over and out.

Maybe a Scottish accent won't do. Even if that's so, maybe he's good at affecting different accents.

I got nothing else off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll be searching the brainbanks for more actors I might have seen in indie shorts etc. But I immediately thought of Robert Harrison (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1389725/) just because ever since I saw...

1_7knCm2Axk

...I haven't forgotten being wowed by his powerful and very able performance. I still would like to see him in more roles.


Holy crap, looking at his IMDb page I see that he was in Valhalla Rising. Cool flick. I wonder who Roger was. I might have to rewatch that just to try to pick him out. Nice.


And, Sandwich on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/24312738)

Everything looks great so far. Can't wait to see more.

Seriously, it's a mystery to me. I know the number-games you play, adjusting this and that setting, off-setting that one with this one. I have a rudimentary understanding of what goes on behind the camera, cinematography-wise. But I just don't get it.

How do you make the image look that good?! This early footage looks really nice. Great job, Phil. :)

A couple more days worth of production BTS stills:

Day 4 of Production (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.396532687076703.89017.321667724563200&type=3)
Day 5 of Production (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.396536683742970.89018.321667724563200&type=3)

Bonnie! :D

Bonnie! :D

Yup, that's my dog and she was a star all day :)

Great BTS stuff! Just a question, I see that the mic is hooked up to the camera. Is Phil doing all the sound mixing (setting up recording levels) as well?

Great BTS stuff! Just a question, I see that the mic is hooked up to the camera. Is Phil doing all the sound mixing (setting up recording levels) as well?

Nope, sound guy does it all!

He certainly spends enough time fiddling with the back of Phil's camera...

BTS pics look great. Looks like you guys are having fun.

Of my 86 page script, I've cut 1 page and we have 3 pages left to shoot.

Hard to believe.

Shit that was fast!

Shit that was fast!

Yerp. I imagine it would've gone even faster if I'd slept properly at all for the last couple of weeks!

Phil even managed to fit in another (absolutely incredible) short film shoot during that period. That man is bionic, I tell you. I am more human but still capable of working fast, even if it means being director/writer/producer/grip/runner ;)

Wow! How many shooting days?!

Those images look amazing, yup. :cool:

Wow! How many shooting days?!

We've done 9 long shoot days.

As I say, there are one of two bits that we need to pick up still. The start of the Olympics is a little irritating because a.) There are helicopters all the time, b.) London's painfully busy and c.) One of my actresses was performing in the opening ceremony and had this entire last week wiped out by rehearsals.

But still, we're very nearly there :)

I fancied making a teaser trailer this afternoon but discovered that I only had one afternoon's sound files on my computer... gave it a whirl all the same...

WCFVd7Bcfxk

I'm normally pretty good with accents, but all I got out of that was 'dog,' 'xbox,' and '20-year-old.'

I'm normally pretty good with accents, but all I got out of that was 'dog,' 'xbox,' and '20-year-old.'

Good to know in general for the dialogue. I hear it perfectly, which is probably a combination of understanding the accent and having heard the lines plenty of lines. The levels might be a little bit low because my audio editing skills are not exactly up to scratch. I'll put the line in spoiler tags below, as I'm curious to know if other people can't make out what's being said.

I don't know whether to punish the fucker for stealing the dog or for not having an xbox like every other 20-year-old.

I'm normally pretty good with accents, but all I got out of that was 'dog,' 'xbox,' and '20-year-old.'
I'm English and it took me a few plays to get it myself. :P

I went and listened to some of the other takes of that bit of dialogue and, perhaps, now that you've mentioned it, it's delivered a little too fast.

I still hear it very clearly though. I'm wondering if the effect of not being able to see the video at the same time makes it harder to hear. It's out of context and we're socially trained to associate mouth movements with noise. Hmm...

I'm wondering if the effect of not being able to see the video at the same time makes it harder to hear. It's out of context and we're socially trained to associate mouth movements with noise. Hmm...

That's definitely true and probably has at least a small part to do with it. But I actually think it's mainly the speed and lack of context (as it just comes in with the line since it's a teaser) which makes me think adding video alone may not be a perfect fix.

I still hear it very clearly though.

Well you did write it, and like you said, hear it a ton of times delivered in that way.


Not trying to be just critical, it's got a nice pace, and I can see why you picked that line because it gives an idea of the core of the subject but also is really non-specific and almost non-sequitur so it piques the interest. The idea and execution of the teaser works and is good, the line delivery just hinders it (for me).

Not trying to be just critical, it's got a nice pace, and I can see why you picked that line because it gives an idea of the core of the subject but also is really non-specific and almost non-sequitur so it piques the interest. The idea and execution of the teaser works and is good, the line delivery just hinders it (for me).

The reason I chose it is, actually, because I only had sound files from one afternoon and that was probably the best line that I could use!

I might have a fiddle and see if I can find something that's clearer (there are definitely better lines for the trailer, I just don't have access to them).

I have to say that, despite writing the film, I routinely found that I was the worst at remembering the lines on set :D But clearly if both you and John have had difficulty hearing it then it'll need tweaking. There are several other takes of that line, I just chose the first one I heard.

It should read:

I don't know whether to punish the fucker for nicking the dog or for not having an xbox like every other 20-year-old.

Geez, some people can't be bothered to show up with their lines properly memorized. :cool:

I don't think it's the accent or the levels. It's too fast.

Here's the good news -- that's not something you need to concern yourself with. Let your editor sort it out. Hey, have you found one of those yet? ;)

It should read:

I don't know whether to punish the fucker for nicking the dog or for not having an xbox like every other 20-year-old.

Geez, some people can't be bothered to show up with their lines properly memorized. :cool:

:lol:

Well, I feel like a fool...

I don't think it's the accent or the levels. It's too fast.

Here's the good news -- that's not something you need to concern yourself with. Let your editor sort it out. Hey, have you found one of those yet? ;)

We should have a chat about that, eh? ;)

Good to know in general for the dialogue. I hear it perfectly, which is probably a combination of understanding the accent and having heard the lines plenty of lines. The levels might be a little bit low because my audio editing skills are not exactly up to scratch. I'll put the line in spoiler tags below, as I'm curious to know if other people can't make out what's being said.

I don't know whether to punish the fucker for stealing the dog or for not having an xbox like every other 20-year-old.
I got that with the exception of 'or' (I heard 'and'), but I think the reason behind the lack of understanding is speed. I know the accent very well, as a close friend has one very similar, but others often cite him speaking too fast as a reason for not understanding him, so it's probably that.

Hi guys, just thought I'd drop a quick update (not a proper diary entry).

We're doing our final day of shooting tomorrow, just grabbing some bits and pieces that we didn't manage to get during our first couple of weeks of shooting.

Then it's on to post which is involving a real bevy of Indietalk talent with Cracker Funk on editing duties, Jooble doing an awesome title sequence and harpsichord writing the original score!

More exciting updates to follow :)

Sounds good :cool:

I'm pretty darn happy to be part of the team! :)

Hey Nick,

Will there be an official screening?

You guys work fasssssssssst!

I'm pretty darn happy to be part of the team! :)

:yes:

Hey Nick,

Will there be an official screening?

There definitely will be. Once the film has been completed we will do a London premiere and then hopefully get the film shown at a few UK and international festivals.

You guys work fasssssssssst!

To be honest, when you've got a compact crew and you know that you're budget isn't going to stretch to 5 weeks of shooting, doing 8-10 script pages a day isn't that much. Undoubtedly we sacrificed quite a lot of coverage but I'd rather sacrifice that than a.) not get the film finished, or b.) end up going massively over budget.

Great to see familiar names on the project.

Hard drive catastrophe at our house! Most of our important stuff is backed up, but only to the point before we started on the score for The Flight of the Flamingo.

So, I started again last night. It's going well though- I'm a very fast worker when I'm inspired, and all of the piano recordings are still on my recorder.

Here's a taster of what's going on over here- I recorded this piece for the film but just found out that the music won't become public domain for another two years. :P

http://soundcloud.com/patterns-in-the-ivy/john-pearson-rachmaninov

Well, Royal Mail manages to lose a hard drive with all our footage on it so, only today, did I manage to get all the footage on my computer and take a look. Having spent the afternoon skimming through the stuff we've been shooting for the last month, I'm really excited. I'm sending it off to Cracker Funk tomorrow and I can't wait to see how he interprets the footage.

I can probably throw up some more screengrabs if people would like to see them. There are some really cool looking shots and some really great supporting actors. Some of the bits I watched back today were really funny and then the romantic bits made me all swooney...

I can probably throw up some more screengrabs if people would like to see them.

Well, I get the whole enchilada soon enough, but I believe I can speak for many others when I say :yes:.

Well, I get the whole enchilada soon enough, but I believe I can speak for many others when I say :yes:.

Well, here you go! Bear in mind that I am not as competent at making screengrabs as Phil...

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-15at130541.png

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-15at142317.png

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-15at142148.png

haha! nice.

Well, here you go! Bear in mind that I am not as competent at making screengrabs as Phil...


They look good. Really good. I think i'll hire you as the official screengrabber for my film. You bring a certain quality to the art.

;)

Eww, ungraded footage :P

The Enoch screengrab is really really nice! I like that :)

One thing i noticed is, that the FS100 needs some grading especially in the highlights. They tend to be yellowish!

The guy in the middle pic is thinking, "That rug really tied the room together, man." ;)

Because you've all been so damn nice, here are three more (gross, ungraded) screengrabs focusing on the dog-stealing trio of Marco, Tringle and Chip.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-17at190345.png

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-17at190206.png

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/TheClapperBored/Screenshot2012-08-17at190013.png

Love the looks on their faces in the last one.

Top Screengrab turned out quite nicely, considering it was shot with one very very crappy garden lamp :P

I am now hooked up to the internet in Amsterdam and thought I'd post a few screenshots of the scenes I like too :)

Bear in mind the 2 min Photoshop Grade and the not so perfect framing due to quickly whacking it in 2:39 widescreen!

A very angry Ronnie and Paulie who just enjoys what's on TV!

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/Ronnie_Paulie_1.jpg

Sebastian talking to Enoch:

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/Sebastian1.jpg

Sebastian in a fancy elevator :)

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/Sebastian2.jpg

Marco:

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w375/Philarntz/Marco1.jpg

So, as most of you know, we've filmed The Flight of the Flamingo!

We're now in the post process so I thought I'd send out a message to see if any other Indietalkers want to get involved!

Currently the following ITers are involved in the production: NickClapper, Phil_UK, harpsichoid, Cracker Funk and Jooble! Pretty awesome, huh?

So, it'd be great to get some more positioned filled by ITers during post. Let me know if you're interested in helping out with any of the following:

Sound Design (the biggie)
Website Design (required asap)
Marketing (might be fun experience..?)
Anything else you can think of that might be useful!

Obviously, you'll all receive full credits and, for the bigger jobs, we can negotiate some sort of compensation!

Anyhow, let me know :)

Hi Nick,

I would be interested in helping out with marketing, I worked in PR for bands for 7 years working with both national and international acts on their UK tours so know a bit about marketing and PR ;)

If you want to talk further you can email me at:
Contact@absolutionfilms.com

Also if you have time I may have a short script for you to look over ;)

Awesome!

I'll email you straight away and absolutely feel free to send anything my way :yes: