A Late Mood Board

A little bit late but here is a moodboard that I gave my set designer.

Fifth Run Through

Now that there was only really the chatshow to film it was time to rehearse my final main character "Jenna Flax".

Second Day Filming

Here's some more behind the scenes footage, this time from the second day.

Fourth Run Through

And likewise this time with both actors.

Third Run Through

Once the first day was shot we could start rehearsing the next bit. Here's the first rehearsal I had with just the lead.

First Day Filming

It's a little late but here's the a little bit of behind the scenes from our first day of shooting.

Second Run Through

Here's a little bit from our second run through, this time with both actors.

First Run Through

Here's a snippet from my first run through with my lead actor.

Making and Erecting

I got my classmate Steve to do a few designs for my set.

I picked this one, with an colour scheme of purple and green for the opposite board.

We then set to work painting it with the help of Olivia and Danny (both pictured). Then on the day of the shoot we set to work erecting it. We initially had a bit of a mare with regard to how we would make it stand up: we had planned on making a frame out of the wood we had anyway but seeing as I don't know my woods I was met with the nasty surprise on the day from Steve saying that we couldn't use chipboard, which was all we had. Also the wood that we planned on using to make a brace turned out to be a little on the weak side. After much exasperated noodle scratching our tutor told us not to worry seeing as it only had to say up for a few hours and said we could just rest it against the wall and secure it with gaffer tape, so we did. Once that was all done it was then simply a case of bringing in the furniture and other decorations had hey presto, one budget T.V set!

Script Breakdowns

Then along with the shotlist and in line with the script of course, I made some breakdown sheets.

Rough Shotlist

Of course what would govern the scheduling would be the shotlist so I did a rough shotlist.

Ralph Singleton's Film Scheduling

Now that the script was in the bag I felt I should now consider the planning the shooting so I turned to Ralph Singleton's originally titled Film Scheduling.

How Not to Write a Screenplay: general notes and the 5 dramatic values

This book's pretty good. So I did a bit more reading and notes.

How Not to Write a Screenplay: a good exposition

With the arrival of my Amazon purchases I thought I'd see what I could take from them. Here is what Denny Martin Flinn has to say about a good exposition in How Not to Write a Screenplay.

Jenna's Moulding

Jenna seemed to be needing a little more definition so I imagined her in various scenarios. Here they are...

How Jenna Should Happen

After considering the penultimate scene, which is in effect the climax, I realised that it would require a great deal more thought. The final message of the film would be driven home in this scene. I already knew that to convey the message I had to slap the viewer in the face with something totally ghastly and awkward. Other than that however I had no idea what to do so I started by drawing a little timeline that I felt would be a suitable direction for things to go.

Audition

Just before I started writing the third draft we actually had auditions for the part of Colin/Mack so I was always writing with a certain actor in mind. Before the interview I had a little chat with my casting director Louise (who of course organized the audition) and we thought of a few things our potentials could do for us. I took some extracts from the second draft and thought of some other improv situations. She thought of a few too.

COLIN

Inter: What exactly does being a lookalike involve?

Colin: I basically get to go to loads of parties! Haha! [Straightens face] No, it's a serious profession. I take it very seriously. People all over the UK depend on lookalikes to make their parties memorable. People love walking past a lookalike and having to double take. They all want photos taken with me so they can show their friends. The lookalike business is booming, as they say. There are a lot of people who would love to have my job, and I'm grateful. In fact, my agency, Fake Faces, is something they call an 'international player' now. I've been to loads of great places – Japan, Switzerland....Wales. They love me in Wales.

Inter: What would be your response to people who see lookalikes as the worst excesses of a mindless, celebrity obsessed culture?

MAC

Inter: How do you feel about Now magazine referring to you as a national hero?

Mack: Haha, yeah. Well obviously I'm humble, you know. You've got to be. But I've worked hard to get where I am and I reckon I deserve it. I'm not gonna say “Hey everyone, I'm a hero” but if that's how people see me then great.

Inter: Some people have criticised your meteoric rise to fame based on a chance appearance in an advertisement....

INTERVIEWER

They start, you respond, they improv

Inter: So do people actually think you're T-Mobile Mack?

Colin: [Concerned] Well, yeah....[brightening up again] Anyway, I love the parties, people are so nice... mostly

Then do likewise

Inter: What do you think of the celebrity culture in this country?

Mack: Oh I love it. I think this country has great celebs, and I'm speaking from experience; I know a lot of them personally. Celebrities are treated well here, we're appreciated.

Improv for other parts

You're at a gig and asked who the best celebrity is + who's the worst .

(this will involve appropriate lines from casting director).

You're a gormless fan impolitely asking for an autograph, persistent yet surprisingly unenthusiastic!

Despite not knowing who they are you're shouting abuse at a celebrity only really because everyone else is.

You're unnecessarily respectful of a nearby celeb.

Casual conversation referencing a celeb causes you to go into an over the top unnecessary rant or ode, the choice is yours.

(this will involve appropriate lines from casting director).

You see a celeb having lunch, give them a lot of unwanted attention and then are bemused as to why the conversation doesn't go anywhere.

(this will involve appropriate lines from casting director).

Here's our star and some of his audition...

Infomercials and a few showbiz interviews

The chatshow I felt was probably the most important scene of the film so needed to do a little more research on chatshows and budget television.

More Awkward Interviews

The awkward interview research was seeming pretty effective so I did some more.

Awkward Interviews

To make the chatshow even more dreadful I thought I'd look at some typical "awkward interviews".