SHORT: The First Fireworks

tired

tired

Well-known member
The First Fireworks Poster mum 2.jpg


This is a film I've been wanting to make for years - I waited too long.

First fireworks was originally a play written by Alex Broun - an amazing playwright. I first saw the play about 12 years ago and since then I've directed and acted in a number of his plays.

I've read and reread the script and mulled over it for way too long. now I'm getting it done.


The film is set in a park at midnight on New Years Eve - lots of fun with lighting!

I'll be directing the film and a mate will act as DOP - I did some preliminary lighting tests looking at using a combination of street light, moonlight & candles.

We've since done more tests and I'm happy to lose the candles and just have a mix of a street light and moonlight.

The film will run 7 -10 minutes and we've hoping to get it done in one night. We've decided on using 2 matched GH4's with Canon FD lenses (we already have those)

here are the initial storyboards for the film

and here is the crowdfunding campaign

We aim to shoot in late Feb,early Mar because I want to spend time in rehearsal with the actors - still auditioning.

Both roles are big - it's definitely character driven - no action, just two women on a bench.

One of the shots that I feel is critical to the film is at then end where I want to track in slowly on the daughter when the fireworks start and her mother dies - getting the technical aspects right and the performance I want is going to be interesting.

I'll keep this updated on a regular basis but that were we are so far - I'd appreciate any comments you might care to make - anything goes, I'm way to old and ugly to be offended by anything.
 
regular basis - HAH!

The crowdfunding is going reasonable well - 60% in 11 days but I'm having a problem with the contributors - most are donations not claiming perks and they are all friends and family - I just feel awkward about it - silly really I'd have no problem accepting money from strangers.

Auditions will be held this Sat but it's really hard getting quality actors on a no budget film.
 
Good luck with the project. It's a nice crowdfunding video and I like the opening and closing sequences. Could you share how you did the storyboarding?
 
Thx - I would rather have had some actual footage but it wasn't feasible so interview were the next best thing - you can see passion that Alex has for his play/script.

For the storyboards I used Frameforge 3D (can't draw for ****) - I'm a bit anal when it comes to this sort of stuff so I guess I just wanted to get everything super clear in my mind and relate that 'vision' to the team. Just trying to avoid conceptual/creative problems down the line - everyone can interpret a script differently but the flow of images leaves little doubt as to want I want.

We are already discussing additional & alternative shots but at least we're starting from the same page/image.
 
I think you do right to storyboard it. I'm sure it must be a good discipline. I looked at program called iClone which I think will be very good for storyboarding. In fact, with that program, you probably need to be careful to not get too carried away and up trying to animate the entire film.
 
oh yea - I've seem that! people go crazy and seem to forget the purpose of storyboarding - still if you were going for major funding it might help - some people have no imagination (the ones with the money or casting directors - said with a hint of personal bitterness)
 
We held auditions today and I went in thinking that we would struggle for talent but there were some terrific actors - I just have to match up a likely mother & daughter but there are a couple of great possibilities.
 
I thought I had posted more about this - damm I'm sorry

I did extensive rehearsals with the 2 actors (I come from a theatre background) I don't believe there's such a thing as too much rehearsal and I certainly wanted the actors to 'inhabit' the script to draw better performances out and to save time on the actual shoot. By the time we were ready I had the performances I wanted and was feeling very confident..

We ended up filming in April 16 and completed the film in one night (the 1st mistake). It was etting cold and availablity was a problem so we decided to shoot with 3 cameras, A static wide and the dop on one side with a 2nd on the other. We shot in 4k so we could crop in on some shots to mix it up a bit.

I focused on one monitor from one camera and that really was a bad decision, I was trusting that the the other actor who I'd rehearsed thoroughly would perform as expected - not so.

I really didn't notice till the edit that her actions and demeanor showed all this anger , she kept glancing behind at something and so much of the footage was unusable. I spent months trying to edit around her and kept giving up, I was a real nightmare.

Finally I handed the edit over to the DP who sat on it for some months (he was busy) and then tighted things up, did some grading and composed the music (multi-talented fella) and handed it back in March of this year, almost 12 months after the shoot.

I'm actually very happy with the result, I think the time away from the film gave me a more objective view. It's not the film I intended but it's a nice little film.

time to throw it to a few festivals and MOVE ON.

Next time? I don't think I'll trust my actors as much, I'll retake till I get the performance I want and one camera is more than enough for me to cope with, if that triples the shoot time - so be it. I'll find the budget to get (somewhat) more experienced crew & gear and not rush.

I think all the problems with the film were down to me, if we had shot over 2 nights there would have been more time, If I concentrated on each actor equally I would have the performances I wanted.

https://vimeo.com/214995069

password is AlexB
 
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