Chris Jones's Blog, page 12

The Watchers: Our Long Journey Into Space for #Impact50

Guest post by Andrew McGee

Who’d have thought making a film set in space would be so tricky?

The Watchers was shot in late 2016, and through the hard work of an amazing cast and crew, the pre-production and shoot itself went extremely smoothly (even with my own laptop almost falling off the set, see below).

Jumping straight into such an ambitious film straight after graduating, with professional adult actors and a fully constructed set of the International Space Station (thanks to the wonderful Jason Kelvin), was such an exciting time as a director. I’d like to discuss the process in detail once the film’s out (because the shoot is definitely still fresh in my mind…), but creating zero gravity by pushing a wheelie chair with a broom and hanging tennis balls from fishing wire was certainly a highlight.

The edit was locked soon after wrapping and we brought on composer Thibault Chavanis, whose score has become such an integral part of the film and taken it to new heights (I was banned from making space puns on set. It didn’t last).

Then it came to the visuals effects, and things came to a grinding halt.

The kindness and generosity of everyone who backed the film meant we could get it off the ground and get everything in place for a successful shoot, but the truth is VFX are very expensive and time-consuming for the standard we wanted. We were comparatively low on budget for a professional-looking final product, and didn’t want to compromise on that vision. I’ve done effects for a few of the shots and tried doing it all myself at one point, but we’d be waiting another year for release while I worked out what on earth “parallax” meant.

We contacted several production companies and their interns which looked positive for a while, but those options eventually fell through. I then came into contact with a filmmaker and digital compositor who offered to help for a reasonable cost. His professional background was legit and I enjoyed chatting to him, but after weeks turned into months with little to show and progressively more outlandish excuses while avoiding communication, things became very strange and obviously didn’t add up.

We should have moved on sooner, but the hope and assurances that the supposedly finished files were just around the corner was a powerful draw. It’s a learning curve, and a slightly depressing lesson about trust. Anyway, it’s now looking like small claims court for the sake of my small deposit. The film would’ve been out many months ago if it wasn’t for a con man (Andrew Scott Marshall, if any filmmakers come across him).

Thankfully we now have brilliant VFX artist Adam Wilkes on board and performing miracles, and we’re very nearly there.

So thank you to everyone who’s followed and supported the film for this long, especially close friends who are likely sick of me going on about it and repeating “it’s getting there”. Obviously we expected it to be completed long ago, but hopefully this has explained the difficulties with post-production for a film with this much green screen and destruction.

Of course there are a few things I’d do differently now, like being bolder with shot choices and more playful with zero gravity, especially having learnt so much as a filmmaker since then. But it’s something I’m incredibly proud to have directed, and to have worked with so many talented people who helped make my original dodgy storyboards a reality. A longer wait inevitably sets higher expectations, but I do hope you think it’s been worth it. It’s definitely a better space film than The Cloverfield Paradox, but that’s not exactly a high bar to reach. It’s a small, intimate story with the backdrop of a Hollywood disaster film (for a fraction of a fraction of the budget), with fantastic performances of four very different characters dealing with an absurd, horrific situation in their own very human ways.

The film’s been in some stage of production for the entirety of my post-uni adult life, and in that time I’ve found a job as an editor, other projects have been written, shot and released, and general life stuff happened in between. I’m not quite sure what life will be like without that Premiere file staring back at me from the desktop, but I do know it’ll involve another stupidly ambitious film to obsess over for a while. Hopefully with fewer con men though.

There are so many people to thank for putting their trust into us and this project, and all will of course be credited at the end of the film. For now I’d just like to give a special big thank you to our Co-Exec Producers: Laurian Gridinoc and Susan Astley, without whom this film simply wouldn’t exist.

So when can we finally see it?

Soon!

Or from April 28th, to be more precise.

Instead of an anticlimactic release online after all this time (and leaving it to the mercy of being watched on phones – the horror), or getting people together just for a 10 minute screening, I thought we’d get a few other filmmaker friends together to premiere their latest shorts for an hour, since there’s rarely an opportunity to share smaller independent films with an immediate audience. This includes another short which ties directly into The Watchers, Can She See Us Daddy, which I co-directed with David Jacobson, the writer and producer of The Watchers.

This will be on the Saturday 28th of April, provisionally at 7.30pm at Met Film School by Ealing Studios, and the film will be viewable online shortly after.

The Watchers and Can she See Us Daddy were primarily made for the Impact50 competition, a great initiative for collaborative filmmaking, then we’ll be submitted to festivals and other competitions (including one run by NASA…).

Not long now, so watch this space!

Andrew McGee

https://www.facebook.com/thewatchersshort/

Watch inspirational dance film shot over two years, umpteen countries and with four generations of iPhone… and meet the filmmaker

I met filmmaker Miklas Manneke at the Tampere Film Festival a few years ago and he recently shared this video he has shot on his travels. I asked him what he learned making it… (and check out his impressive Instagram too)

Why did you choose to do this?

This is a passion project that started over 2 years ago in China when I started asking strangers to dance for me. The world is in a place right now where there are so many things dividing us, be it boarders, languages or culture. There was something special about sharing that moment with people around the world when they danced. Something that transcended geography.

How did you shoot and edit it?

The project was filmed entirely on iPhones over the course of two years and 4 generations of the phone. The project was edited in premiere with a editor. We spent a long time going through various versions of the edit. It really was about refining the edit and looking for the best moments and how they can flow together. It was also really important to get the extra perspective on what has been filmed.

What was the biggest lessons you learned?

The biggest lesson was that you should’nt be scared to ask. It was about putting myself in the position where you have to approach people and ask them to dance.

That also lead to making the piece too. We had an amazing colorist, editor and sound designer involved who loved the challange of working with iPhone footage. So it’s about embracing an idea and pushing through. The same with the music. I reached out to Young Father and Ninja Tune who loved the video.

What advice would you offer a filmmaker considering something similar?

My advice would be to use what you have available to you, be it a phone or mirrorless camera. Content is what talks to people eventually. With enough determination you can get amazing people involved.

Miklas Manneke

instagram .  twitter . vimeo 

Film Directing Fundamentals Part One… Map the DNA of your screenplay so you can bend with the winds of production problems and NEVER snap

Last week I directed an extraordinarily ambitious short drama for a charity. You will hear more about it in the Winter as it’s a Christmas family film.

Stupidly, on this project we broke all the long established and sensible rules.

It had kids. Lots of kids.

It had a story spanning five decades.

It had a dog!

It was a hard six day shoot that we needed to squeeze into a seemingly impossible four day shoot due to the budget.

It had night shoots.

It even had snow!

As a filmmaker I was pushed to the limit. But then, on reflection, every film should push us to the limit I feel. Otherwise we are not maximising our opportunities and pushing ourselves to grow. Never phone it in. Never.

In the few brief breathers on set I contemplated what was happening and how, astonishingly, I was staying on top of it all and not, literally and figuratively, loosing the plot.

I want to share in a series of blog posts, what I believe to be some of the defining strategies and choices needed to make a low budget film. Not so much simple tips and tricks, more deep strategy and attitude, the stuff that will keep us all afloat amidst the battle to shoot our masterpieces… And we must always believe we are making a masterpiece.

Part One… Understand the DNA of the story and trust the script

Often, when all hell is breaking loose, we need to think on our feet and make radical decisions in the moment. And we need to be right.

As a director, we don’t choose this as a strategy going in. It just happens as actors fall through, schedules slip, locations turn out differently, it rains… yada yada.

How can we make these spur of the moment choices that radically impact the script, and always make the right choice?

How can we bend with the wind and never snap?

In this instance, knowledge is power.

Knowing the script and story intimately will be your greatest ally. Whenever I found myself at the crossroads of ‘the old plan having gone to shit for reasons beyond almost everyones control’, and the ‘new direction thrust upon us’, I would ask myself, what is in the DNA of this scene? What must happen? Why? What is the single most important thing? And how can we achieve that with the resources at hand?

Can characters be combined or switched? Can scenes be merged in order to clawback some schedule? Can that three page scene be reduced to a quarter page? The famous Indiana Jones sword fight is a good example of this.

Surprisingly, the answer will almost always presents itself and often, it can be an improvement on what was written.

This happens because we know deep inside, what we need to get from the scene. Experience, and a great team surrounding us, a familiar team, also make these often inevitable shifts in direction much easier.

This process in itself can reduce (and that’s a good thing) a screenplay that is over written into a leaner, tighter more focused piece of drama.

But you MUST know what is in the DNA of the scene so that IF you are forced to abandon setting, sometimes characters, and find you no longer have the ability to shoot great coverage (there is only time for one shot and not the four you planned etc)… Then you KNOW what to do, instinctively, elegantly and with confidence.

On the last day of the shoot just gone, we had a problem. A big problem. The last scene was a flashback to 1967 in a new location, a home at Christmas. We had planned it in one location, shooting what we needed to shoot in 2018 over a couple of days, then dressing one room to look like 1967. The room we had was perfect.

Of course that location dropped through just before we started shooting. The new location was even better for the 2018 scenes, but once we got there, it was clear it would never work for our 1967 scenes, no matter how skilled the dressing.

The production team worked the street, knocking on doors and charming people, but we came up short.

What can we do?

Let’s change the location of the drama. Where else could it happen?

On the street? No, too much 2018 will be in shot?

In the garden? Possibly, but it’s a bit weird.

What’s in the DNA? What MUST happen?

In the story, the father character injures his foot and cannot walk. This happens on the way to a childrens ward in a hospital where he plays Father Christmas every year. What to do? He cannot let the kids down. Who else could play Father Christmas? His son… And so the his son, the lead character in the film, becomes a reluctant Father Christmas.

That’s the DNA. That’s what MUST happen.

So how can we sell that we are in 1967?

What if we get an old car, a car from 1967, and shoot it at night so we cannot see the house clearly? That would be a great setting and would work for the period.

What if the mother character slams the car door on the fathers foot? That would work.

What if the whole scene plays out in and around the car?

BOOM! A few hours later and Judy had found several options for old cars and later that day, against all odds, we shot it.

The ability to convey this new vision to the cast and crew is essential too. You must be able to present this new version with certainty, And you can and will IF you know in your heart that you have delivered on the core needs of the scene.

The cast and crew are looking for certainty in their leader. Remember this. It’s fundamental. Make it look effortless too, like you are in complete control. Always.

Our experience from past shoots and the familiarity with crew will help in this regard too. The more you shoot, the better you get at problem solving, and problem solving  FAST. The more you work with people, the more you figure out each others weaknesses and strengths. The more you develop shorthand and confidence. TRUST.

Above all, take a GREAT script to set, Then trust what is written on the page. It will save your film if you do this.

I cannot tell you how many times I have found myself in a situation that was unplanned and with no immediate strategy to fix it. What to do?

Trust the script!

SHOOT THE SCRIPT.

Shoot the DNA of the script.

Because the script worked BEFORE the shoot. It will work after the shoot.

This is not licence to rewrite on set, this is about refining the script on set.

Stick to the plan. Stick to the DNA.

Rewrite at your peril. Writing is hard enough when there are no production pressures and endless days to get it right, let alone 32 minutes over lunch. And major changes often have often and unforeseen consequences that only appear in the edit.

Trust the script. Dig deep to find the DNA, and shoot that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creating historical ‘Hero Photo Props’ for your shoot… Top Nine Tips

Nothing bothers me more in a film than a REALLY bad photo prop – you know where they show you a photo from wayback when, and it’s a terribly photoshopped image. Fail!

I have made several films now with historical photo props, some of which are featured ‘hero’ props on which plot revelations revolve… And I knew that it only takes one bad prop to bounce an audience out of a story, and so I have always insisted on making these photo props myself.

These props are actually as important as any single shot in you film. Don’t delegate it like you might delegate getting other props.

Then adds the production issue… You need your cast in both situation and costume in order to get the image, to take the photo. Sometimes it’s an image that is photographed inside the narrative (so the photo prop cannot exist in other scenes until the scene where the photo is taken has itself been shot). The photo cannot exist before the scene in which it is taken is filmed. This is a production and scheduling headache. Yikes!

Add the usual production pressure cooker, the cast only being confirmed at the last minute, budgets, schedules… Well this is why so many badly Photoshopped images make it into films.

Here’s what I have learned.
Don’t shoot it in the main shoot

If you can, just do the shot of the actors looking at the photo and stage it so that you can shoot the photo (the reverse shot in effect) later in the shoot or in pickups. This will give you time to get this all important props and photos spot on. A ‘hero -prop’ photo is a heavily featured prop and needs to be world class.
Treat generating this shot like it’s part of the shoot

Often you shoot a scene, and then you need to stage the scene again to take the photo to make the prop. It’s annoying to most cast and crew as everyone wants to move on. I get it. But shooting this photo now, and taking five minutes to get it right, will save you tons of heartache later.
Use your iPhone

On the shoot we just did, I shot all the photos myself on my iPhone, using the fake depth of field effect and then ageing them in a combination of iPhone apps and Instagram. The results were amazing. I printed them out on matte photo paper and they look great.
Age then old school

You can, and should, distress and age the images further by creasing and scratching etc.
Photo Frames

If you are showing a number of images in frames, go for different sizes and get frames that are era specific, supporting the narrative. Tell a story over time with the photo frames themselves.
Killer Image

Often you just need a single photo to be ‘the one’, the picture that pulls the focus of the drama. The others around it solidify the illusion and must be great, but one will be where the audience is drawn. Make sure this one image is world class, and I would also say large so all detail can be taken in and it dominates.




Hide the fakes among real photos

Use real photos from the era in order to hide the fakes inbetween. Real photos always sell the era authentically and convey the events and emotion powerfully. They also cost nothing to stage, they already exist. Time to dig through the shoeboxes in the attic. Friends have also sent me scans after social media shout outs for specific images.
After Effects

It’s not too hard to do a visual effect if you need to add a photo to a frame, or replace one. Of course I would VERY strongly recommend not doing this for all the obvious reasons, but if it’s a choice between a less than brilliant photo prop and spending a little time and resources on a special effect, I would chose the latter. We have done lots of these with Phone image replacements to great effect (though phones are easier as they are their own light source).
Never use the actors acting headshot

I have seen this so many times and ever time I cringe. Make the effort and get a photo that does not look like actors headshot sent out by agents. Photo here is the fabulously talented Cera Rose-Pickering and you can follow her on Instagram @misscerarose)

Do you have any tips of your own to add?

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

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How I made a SciFi Epic Film on a shoestring… Making KIDDO

I recently saw a staggering short teaser for a sci-fi epic called KIDDO and made on a shoestring with tons of love.

I asked the filmmaker Tito Fernandes more about why and how he went about it.

Q – Why did you choose to make this epic sci-fi short? 

Tito – First of all I did to get it out of my system. It was a project that I conceived along side my brother 6 years ago that recurrently kept coming up and poking us around. So much so that something had to be done. First we attempted to make the feature into a short film but soon realised we couldn’t afford it. Therefore we compressed the same idea further and, although the reality was that it was still out of our means, it was more tangible. It took me 3 years to get the courage to jump head first and after 5 months of pre-prod I secured 2 days in a London studio. Once that was done it took another 2 years to process all of the material needed to get to the current result. A great crew was key on the shoot as well as the scattered team that did the post all over the world.

Q – What was your main ambition for the film?

Tito – The ambition is to get exposure and perhaps get noticed. I want to evolve my career into directing full time and this is one of my stepping stones. The dream would be to get someone interested and get the idea optioned for further development.

Q – What was your process? Particularly with such accomplished visual effects?

Tito – As I described above, the process was a very traditional one, pre-production and production was standard within the green-screen way of shooting film and post was slightly off key in the way it all come together. The nature of having a team remotely linked and cooperating with the latest technology, was both humbling and super exciting. It was a nightmare to produce and keep track of everything but it’s also something I would have struggled to do even 5 years ago. In all we had artists in 25 cities from 15 countries and plenty of people in London for final assembly. KIDDO is a labour of love, dedication, persistence and courage. Hope the images evoke those feelings.

Q – What are the biggest lessons you have learned making KIDDO? 

Tito – What I learned the most is that there’s still people out there that are in the game for the passion of creating good imagery. Out of 10 responses to my invitation 9 were NOs, but one was a YES or a MAYBE. This was reflected throughout the whole process and allowed for my spirit to sustain the hope it needed to persist.

Resilience became my biggest asset and continuing to reach out became an escape. Eventually all pieces fell into place and it all happened. A lot of it had to be done by myself including all stages of VFX because when you lack the funds, and even though artist are tremendously generous with their time, you can only count on yourself to do the tasks that no one else wants to do. But that drive and leadership by example kept everyone believing how serious this project is and how serious you are in wanting to complete the project, which in the end is the hardest and biggest accomplishment of all.

On a personal level, that quickly became my main objective as morally and ethically I owed it to every single person that had invested their time and talent into this piece of work. I just hope they’re are proud to have been part of the ride.

You can read more about KIDDO and follow / like their social media channels with the links below.

https://facebook.com/KiddoMovie
https://instagram.com/kiddo_movie
https://imdb.me/titofernandes
https://instagram.com/titomfernandes

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

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Two important lessons about running auditions and castings for a film

Actors are extraordinary and courageous.

I just spent a day casting a film we are making in a few weeks time and saw scores of for several parts. I will be posting more on this next week but I wanted to share two insights that struck me, one about writing and directing, the second about the trial of being an actor and why we can learn from their courage.

Why Casting Will Improve Your Script

I like to improvise in castings, not just read lines from the script.

This gives me a sense of who the actor really is and how they can reflect the written part.

For me, it’s not about slavishly making the actor perform my supposedly great writing, it’s about freeing them to interpret it, to bring the most creative, authentic and courageous self, and allowing them to find it.

Of course this makes for oftentimes electrifying auditions.

What I have found is that actors will more often than not ‘lean in’ to that proposition, embrace and play with it. They love it. And then then the magic of creativity flows. They will discover detail, subtext, honesty, moments, interpretations… all manner of good stuff.

Alongside my notes of who resonates with the parts more than others, are copious notes about individual performances that I will literally write into the script that night. Sometimes it’s a small detail, sometimes it’s a huge emotional moment that isn’t on the page yet.

In the search for the right cast, you may well experience a hundred outstanding performers interpreting your words. That experience is like finding creative fairy dust that will improve the magic in your story. They will fix plot problems you didn’t know you had. They will find ways to tell your story without dialogue. They will improve your script, so long as you listen with an open heart and mind.

To my second point.

The experience of auditioning is both humbling and exhilarating.

Seeing hundreds of actors, all ages and background, come in and give 100% in the face of terrifying statistical odds… well it reminds us all that we can all toughen our skin a little.

These guys EXPECT rejection and still give it their all. And they do it by being more vulnerable than most writers or filmmakers will ever experience. That is really something to behold and celebrate.

So let’s not EVER be assholes in auditions. Let’s work hard to acknowledge people by looking them in the eye. Let’s ask how far they have come. Let’s  shake hands and thank them. These are strangers who want to collaborate with you, and to prove it, right now and in front of you, with very little prep, they will share their heart, mind and soul for a few minutes, and then leave with a smile and the expectation of rejection.

These people are fucking warriors.

These people are the epicentre of our stories.

These people are actors.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

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The Impact50 Countdown Has Begun… 100 days left to make your film

In just over 100 days, the Impact50 filmmaking challenge will close. The closing date is April 30th at midnight UK time.

Can you make a short film from a two page script about the end of the world?

If so, invest a weekend and become part of the Impact50 feature film challenge.

Teams from around the world have begun optioning scripts and making their films now, many of which you can watch on the site.

We already have the first submissions on the site to watch, and we know that many many more filmmakers are playing this game more like poker and keeping their entries close to their chest.

Want to be part of this global filmmaking adventure?

Here’s what to do…

Option one of the 55 scripts HERE.
Make a film and submit it to us.
Get feedback and resubmit it if you like.
We will then take the best submissions and make a feature film.

Last time we did this with ‘50 Kisses’, we ended up in the Guinness Book of Records! This time we are going for the most directors on a feature film, as well as most screenwriters, so you could make it into the record books!

Guides and rules are HERE.

The countdown is ticking… Act now…

Chris Jones

www.Impact50film.com

Making Feature Films For No Money: How I Made My “★★★★ Intense and Tender Psychological Thriller” and Premiered in London’s West End

By Brian Barnes

I have a confession to make.  I’m a terrible producer.  You’d think that after making films day in and day out since 1987 I’d have learnt the one key skill a producer needs.  But, no – still no further along that road.  That key skill?  Raising money.

That means that, as a director, I have had to develop another key skill.  Making films for no money.  And boy, have I developed that skill!

Exhibit A:  At the turn of the century, I made a short film on DV for £12 (US$16).  It played at a film festival in London’s West End.  It was programmed with another short film that was shot on 35mm for £20,000 (US$27,000).  We stood no chance.  We won the Audience Award.

What that experience taught me was that, if you concentrate on script and performance, you have a chance against the “big boys”.  Not much of a chance.  But a chance nonetheless.

At about the same time, quite by accident, I saw that my old friend Eddie Hamilton ACE was giving a speech about how he cut micro-budget feature ‘Urban Ghost Story’.  Eddie is a true tornado in the film business.  Film editor to the stars.  But he had to start somewhere.  (As it happens, he started with me – the first film he ever cut was for me.)  When I arrived, I saw that Eddie was sharing the stage with a man called Chris Jones.  I went to the event to see Eddie speak.  I stayed to hear Chris.

What Chris said about how they got their film made truly inspired me.  It made me realise that my no-budget techniques could be scaled up to a feature film.  But I didn’t just want to make a feature film.  I wanted to make a good feature film.  That I could sell.  That people would pay money to watch.

One of the main things I learnt from Chris is that the film industry isn’t a “filmmaking business”, it’s a “film marketing business”.  And I realised that I knew nothing about marketing.

With Chris’s help, I visited the mother of all film marketplaces – the nuclear furnace that is Cannes.  That was a revelation.  I urge anyone who is serious about making feature films to make the trip and walk through the main sales floor, or “The Bunker” as it is affectionately known.

Looking all around you at these miles and miles of posters for films you have never heard of, you really understand that your film is a product.  And, like a tin of baked beans on the supermarket shelf, you have to make your product stand out.

Another thing you learn in spades at Cannes is how the film business is full of crooks and sharks.  At one party, I got talking to a distributor.  He was so drunk that he had completely let his guard down.  He was proud to tell me how he had ripped off a filmmaker.

This filmmaker was trying to sell a heartfelt documentary.  The distributor feigned disinterest, but he offered to buy all rights in perpetuity for US$7,000, as a “favour to help a filmmaker out”.  He told this filmmaker that the film had no value and, “This is the best I can do for you”.

The filmmaker took the deal – he didn’t know what he was doing and was broke and desperate.  It had cost this filmmaker US$150,000 and 3 years of his life to make this film.

The distributor told me he made US$50,000 out of that film in the first year alone.

And he didn’t owe the filmmaker another penny.  “Didn’t I do well!” he beamed at me over his whiskey.

And here’s the kicker.  For “only US$10,000 a month” he offered to consult on my film and “get me a really good deal”.  I made my excuses and left.

I’m happy to tell you that I learnt enough about marketing my film and avoiding sharks that I got a deal from my top choice distributor in 5 minutes.  It’s a good deal.  We get a VOD release in 13 countries and every one of my hardworking cast and crew earns money from the first dollar of revenue, as we all have gross points.  There are some good guys out there.

But what about making a good film?  Well, we’ve had a couple of 4-star reviews – “The Redeeming pulled off slow burn horror/psychological thriller amazingly” and “the authenticity…packs the climax with emotional truth”.  So, there’s that.

And will people pay money to watch our film?  When we launched our crowd-funding campaign to set up our West End Premiere, we were fully-funded in 4 days.  Of a 30 day campaign.  Oh, and our trailer has been viewed nearly 15,000 times in 2 months.  Clearly, we have done something right.

Want to know more about how we did it?  Why not come and watch ‘The Redeeming’ with us in the West End on 6th February 2018?  We’re doing a Q&A after the film where we will be talking some more about how to make a no-budget film that people want to see.

I have another confession to make.  I’m really rather proud of our first feature film and I just want to share it with the world!

Brian Barnes

About the film // Follow us on Twitter // Connect on Facebook

Editing Meet the Nativity and getting to the final cut by Christopher Frith

I had worked with director Chris Jones previously and he called and asked if I was available and explained that there would be four days of principal photography with an additional pickup day later in the process.

We would finish editing an episode a week, then grading and mixing later in the week for our Monday deadline and release. I was putting together all the episodes simultaneously on my own and would then meet up with Chris to refine the next episode to release. Once Chris and I were happy with an episode, we would show it to Glen Scrivener from ‘Speak Life’ for his feedback, so from my perspective as the editor, there was a kind of two-step approval process before an episode could be ‘locked.’ This meant getting to a first cut very quickly and keeping my project organised so I could quickly address notes from Chris and Glen and allow myself to focus on the story and characters. With no time to waste, this is the how I setup and executed the editing process on ‘Meet The Nativity.’

Assistant Editor Hannah Leckey prepared all of the dailies. I like to edit from sequences and have each setup a different colour in the sequence so it’s very easy for me to look at a scene and see how much I’m using the wide, close, POVs etc. and if I need to go back to the dailies for more options I can see that ‘I’ve got four yellow ones’ or four medium shots of this character, for example. I find it much easier wrapping my head around all the footage when it’s laid out in a sequence, rather than thumbnails in a bin.

I also do have scene bins prepared so I can see little thumbnails and understand the coverage I have to work with but once I start editing, I’m going from the dailies rolls.

This is all done using the ‘local clip colour’ feature in Avid, I also use the ‘source clip colour’ by colouring all of the even scenes green and all of the odd scenes blue and then I have separate timeline views which will show me either the local clip colour or the source clip colour so when I’m looking at a scene, I can see how much of each setup I’m using.

And when I look at a timeline of the entire film, I can see how long each scene is relative to each other which is very helpful for examining the pacing and structure of a film.

I almost always begin editing a scene simply by using one of the selected takes, or the last take or something. Usually the second or last takes tend to be the best. I’ll edit the scene very quickly without properly going through the footage just to try and understand what it’s about and discover the strengths and weaknesses of the scene and very quickly I can have an informed conversation with the director about what works and what doesn’t – at least there is something on the screen. After the initial assembly, I will then go back and look at all of the footage and now I have a better idea of what problems I need to solve and I can watch everything with more of a point of view. I do eventually watch every frame – it would be irresponsible not to – but this way I already have my head around the coverage and I can get my first cut much more quickly. I’ll then swap out performances if and when I find better takes and if there is anything that stands out – a good look, reaction, movement – whatever it is, I’ll cut it onto my timeline at the end so I don’t forget about it and once I go back and tidy up the scene even more, I’ll think about potential places to put any cool moments that I really want the audience to see. I am quite happy to make a mess while I’m assembling and choosing my favourite bits. Sometimes things that ordinarily would never go together get juxtaposed by accident and that can spark some creative ideas sometimes. Once the first cut is done however, my timelines stay very neat and organised. It’s very helpful when working with a director to easily make complicated edits and trims without knocking things out of sync, punching holes in the music or atmos tracks. I like to be able to hit play at any time and know that whatever is about to play will be presentable. I don’t like working with a director and then spending ages patching things up after they leave.

Luckily Chris is very good at imagining what the final film will be like, however I think directors, especially these days have come to expect a bit more polish, even on first cuts. No longer can we simply edit picture and track – everything I show will always have a basic sound and VFX pass and ideally music as well, if I’m allowed. Some directors I’ve worked with won’t watch anything with temp music and others refuse to watch a scene without it. Luckily Chris is happy with temp music, which I like because it makes me look good..! Music can elevate a scene so much. With this in mind, I never put music on until I’m happy that the scene is working well on it’s own. It’s important to only use it as icing on the cake, not as a crutch to hide poor editing or story problems. I do like to put it on before showing others but it’s usually the last thing I do before presenting a scene. It’s very important to me that whenever I play back for a director, I’m showing them a reasonable representation of their film and giving them confidence in its’ potential, especially when working with new directors. The less they have to imagine, the better. With Chris I also cut quite tightly to begin with – I don’t really assemble scenes with lots of ‘air’ in them – I just cut them the way I imagine them being in the film, and even then they still often get quite a bit tighter before they’re finished. That certainly happened a lot on “Meet The Nativity.”

At the end of the day, it’s all about storytelling. Crafting a film that makes sense, that pleases the audience, that is engaging. We want the audience to get to know our characters and care about what’s going to happen. With editing we are using shots to create energy, reveal scale and geography and make the audience feel as if they were there. For me, Media Composer is the most robust tool that lets me get the ideas in my head onto the screen as quickly as possible.

Christopher Frith // Film Editor

http://imdb.me/cfrith

What can we learn from 15 second horror winner ‘Emma’?

This short is a FANTASTIC example of what makes a successful film and filmmaking team.

Emma is a creepy 15-second horror film, created by director Daniel Limmer of Nemada Film Productions that won first place in the international 15 Second Horror Film Challenge.

What can we learn from this short?

Got to be in it to win it*

Above all, action trumps planning. The world is full of people who would have done that too, only they didn’t. Those people – the procrastinators – they have chosen to discuss, plan, dream, get distracted… What can we do? Take action and DO IT! (note to self, DO IT!). Stop procrastination. Now.

We have EVERYTHING we need

Yes, it doesn’t matter what kit you have, this film could have been shot on the lowliest of smartphones. No fancy kit required, no big crew needed. Literally could be shot in one hour. With a crew of one and cast of two.

Ideas trump kit, resources (and excuses)

This simple film, on a technical level, isn’t that impressive. The photo frame which utilised some kind of green screen could have easily been motion tracked in After Effects, so the image in the fame moved relative to the frame. Instead it’s kind of like a ‘hole’ in the picture just looking through into the background. It would have been easy to talk oneself out of making this short as that special effect is quite complex to do. Or do it the super easy the way that they did it. Yes it’s a crude effect, but it works because the IDEA is more important than the execution.

Stories are like magic tricks

Audiences LOVE the familiar, as well as a surprise. We LOVE mystery and stories that unfold like a magic trick, seducing us with the familiar then hitting us with a stunning surprise. Only after the surprise do we realise that it was the inevitable conclusion to the story (act or scene).

Short short short!

Most films are too long, and with a running time of 15 seconds, the filmmakers perfectly pace their story. Thank goodness as this wasn’t the 60 second challenge as it may not have worked as well. How short can your story be? Can it be reduced? Consider that this film grabs the attention in 15 seconds, and as such, it represents an EXTRAORDINARY calling card. Of course that calling card needs  to be backed up by longer work, but once you have someone on the hook with a 15-second-promise, asking them to watch a longer short film, even a feature film, is not such a big ask.

*I felt the need to asterisk this point as procrastination is the greatest enemy to success. It forever creeps up on us, feeding on our insecurity, anxiety and filing the gap with seemingly important shit that when examined, never gets us closer to our goal, but offers the illusion on forward steps. Above all, get real about your procrastination habits.

Final thought… Why not ask what you could do in 15 or 30 seconds? Choose a genre. Get the smart phone out and create something right now. One of the most successful short films I have ever made took three hours and was made in the evening of the shoot of another drama – I just had the kit, a sudden idea and didn’t talk myself out of it.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

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