A few times I’ve heard people say that all screenwriters should at least attempt to make a short movie. It always sounded like good advice, but until last night I never really understood the significance of why. I was sat there trying to edit the sequence of Dr Crabtree speaking to Jess on the phone. …

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We worked faster today and while we managed to get all of Ben’s shots done, we still didn’t quite finish as much as we’d hoped for. The ritual scene took up the main bulk of the day after we’d shot the conversation between Jess and Dr Crabtree at the flat. Chris did an amazing job …

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It didn’t quite go as planned, but on the whole it’s been a fantastic day. Everyone showed up on time and we managed to shoot all of the Dr Crabtree office scenes. Ben and Vickie gave some splendid performances and Daz, Nic and Chris really started to gel as a team. Our biggest problem was …

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And so it begins, the next step up the big filmmaking ladder. I’ve spent the whole day preparing for the weekends shoot. I’m totally paranoid something is going to go horribly wrong at the last minute, but so far, it’s holding together nicely. Amber has completed as much of the book as we need for …

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I’ve just finished a rough edit of the footage shot on Sunday. It’s shaping up rather nicely. I’m so glad I read Walter Murch’s ‘In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing‘, the core theme is crucial to natural looking cuts and is very well argued. It’s helped me immensely (and it …

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And lo, they went forth to a desolate place and recorded footage of such beauty and grace that the director did sayeth unto the crew, ‘Jiminy! That was easy.’ Methinks however todays spectacular success will be hard to repeat. I’m well aware of the concept of beginners luck, and I’m sure, once I start to …

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Tomorrow’s the Big Day. Our first proper shoot of scenes with people actually interacting in. My first proper experience of directing (I don’t think I can call the one on ones we shot the other day proper directing, can I?). We’re going to shoot what is, in the script, the church scene, but is now …

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Had a fantastic meeting with David/Ben (his stage name is Ben Shockley, so I’ll refer to him as Ben from now on). Ben is very keen to help out and is happy to do it for nothing, which is marvellous. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and made a first rate cup of tea, …

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Yesterday (Saturday) proved an excellent training day. We set up in the flat and worked through the scenes set there to try and get the lighting right. Chris did a superb job and the results were far better than I hoped for. I’m just glad we went through all the learning curve without the actors …

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Things have quietened down a bit in the last couple of days after the blistering start to the week. Plans are sorted now for the weekend to go to the flat where we’re going to shoot a good portion of the short and I’m off to the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury tomorrow to finalise …

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