Cheyenne Joseph // UCA Television blog

What this consisted of; So, straight after filming my shoot, there was a 2 week gap in between my wrap time and being on camera for Rosie's shoot. I was very nervous to look through my footage straight after shooting for some reason and now I kind of wish I did it sooner. Maybe that comes down to the fact I am a very harsh critic when it comes to my own work but that being said, I think it is important to pay close attention to every detail. However, I wish I did this on the actual shoot days when I was directing. The first initial days of creating a rough cut required me to scan through the clips and get a general Idea of what clips can work. I also scanned through the audio, renaming the major audio tracks that I knew I would be using. This will make it easier to find in the edit.  The rough cut stage required me to piece together the different sections to see how well they will fit together. This proposed a few problems because I had not finished shooting and therefor...

My role as cinematographer/camera operator on Rosie shoot. During Rosie's shoot, I was appointed to be in the camerawoman. This was such an eye-opening experience and a really  helpful yet fun one as well. During this time I was able to really improve my ability as a camera person but I also learned a lot from her and how she structured her shoots. What I learnt Since Rosie  spaced out her shoots over the course of six days, she allowed a lot of time in between scenes and days, this meant that on each shoot day there wasn't a lot of scenes to go through. She was allowed herself to have time to go through it and make sure she got everything. I saw how pleasant your shoot day could be if you're not rushed to get so many shots all in one day. I generally think I will now implement this into my future projects because I really preferred how the day felt. But, the only thing is when you're not paying actors you can afford to have so many shoot days, but when I was...

Shoot Day 4: Rochester What the day consisted of;  Shoot day 4 was originally meant to be my final shoot day but because we couldn't finish on day 1, I knew it wasn't the end so I kept that in mind during the day. The plan for the day was to use Rosie's house for the bath tub scene and after that, head down to the university campus in Rochester to shoot the art class/ art corridor scene. This day was meant to be the shortest day and I thought if we have time, maybe we could head back to maidstone and finish off the shots that we didn't get to finish from day 1. Sadly we were not able to to do that because scenes inside took a lot longer than usual. Another thing to note about this shoot was the fact I had to draw images on the art boards on the day because I ended up losing the art canvas that was used during day 2. What went well During this shoot I was confident in the shot styles we got. I loved how my vision really came...

Shoot Day 3 : The Summer house - London What the day consisted of: Well, this shoot day was by far one of the most mentally strenuous days due to the intricacy of the required shots. This was the shoot day where I needed to capture all the art montage shots as well as  so I had to make sure my shot list was correct multiple times before I shot anything. This day also had the most outfit changes and it was important for me to make sure I don't clash outfits with the other scenes that I will be shooting/have already shot. This also meant that I had to have all the correct props for the shoot as there would be cross overs from other scenes. This really highlighted the importance of knowing your film and knowing exactly what is needed for every scene to avoid any continuity issues. I arrived early to set up the summer house as I realised during the test shoot how long it would actually take. This made the day go a little quicker and was more efficient. The table set ...

Shoot Day 2:   Hackney House and Nearby street What the day consisted of;  This shoot day was a very demanding one to say the least. There were so many scenes to get through and they were all really important so they all needed great deal of attention and precision. This shoot day had 2 locations which were very close to each other. I first shot the scenes of Isaiah and his friends (a cast of 3), before shooting all the scenes that occur within Isaiah's house (cast of 3) with a crew of 3 including myself. What didn't go so well Issue 1: This shoot day was probably the biggest disaster out of all of them for so many reasons. First of all, since I lived really close to the extras I was using (Isaiah's friends) I thought it would save time and money by getting a lift with one of them who drives. BIG MISTAKE. Making this decision actually made me an hour late to my own shoot simply because both of them did not have good time keeping, he told me that he was...

Shoot day 1:  Maidstone Mote Park & 180 Upper Fant house What the day consisted of; Shoot day 1 took place in Maidstone and featured 2 locations. Maidstone mote park as well as a private house in Maidstone. This shoot day was actually the longest as it was a 12 o’clock start and ended up finishing at around 12. I had a crew and cast of 6 and it was still a somewhat stressful for a variety of reasons. I will start by talking about all the things that didn’t go so well since it played a major part in the entire shoot day. What didn't go so well Issue 1 First of all, my camera man and production assistant where late together. My sound operator was also late, and one of my actors. This then set me back by a whole hour but I thought it would be fine because I catered my schedule for a little bit of lateness. So, after briefing everyone about what the plans where for the rest of the day, I proceeded to packing all the equipment and sorting out transport. This ...

Directing Tips I wanted to refresh my memory on directing tips or just any information that will help me during my shoot days. I came across a really helpful video on youtube which had compiled interviews and responses from varies Sundance movie directors.  Directing Techniques & Tips: Best of Sundance Directors I picked out the main tips that can really apply to me during shoot week. The first question was: Whats your process for working with actors? Drake Doremeus states it is important to spend time with them and get to know them , understand what they like and don't like so you know how to better work together. Focus on one thing at the time, let them bring themselves to the part . How do you work on a tight deadline? Gerard McMurray states his tip is to shoot wides and masters when you're up against time. He shot lots of characters in lots of different locations so its important to get what you need and not be too caught up on the...

Risk Assessments Over the past 3 years I have created various risk assessments. So I was pretty familiar with the layout and what content you need to include. However, this time round I was in for a surprise because of how in depth and detailed it needed to be. But I only learnt that after sending in my first draft risk assessment. Initially I thought I covered everything but after getting some helpful pointers from Simon, I realised it takes a lot more to create an almost industry standard risk assessment. Below was my first risk assessment for my 4 day film shoot. I initially thought I covered everything because it was one of the longest risk assessments I've ever made, but it actually only scraped the bare minimum of requirements and I received some very helpful feedback from my tutor. Simon's feedback; Amended Risk Assessment. This experience made me realise how much you really need to think about the risks you will be taking because you're not j...

Commissioning an Artist for props So, I have had the luxury of being able to commission my own mum to make the art props needed through out the film. The art props needed were;   x 2 Art sketches on mini canvas boards (For art class scene)  x 1 sketchbook semi filled with various designs (Main prop which is shown throughout) x 1 final art canvas piece - (This consisted of 3 separate canvases to make 1 final piece) semi finished final piece (to show within montage showing the progress of the final piece) 1 small canvas piece (Isaiah brings home an art piece to place on the counter, parents ignore)  So, even though I already know this person and can contact them in an informal way, I still took it very seriously when communicating my ideas. After all, where you know the person or not, you still gave to be able to know exactly what you want and now how to communicate this with them. The communication between ...