Process, idea, and reflection.
We finally finish the film!!! 🙂
Me and my cousin felt like we can still add or change something to make it even better but for now, we think this is the most suitable outcome aligned with the storyboard. I think we need to step back for a while since we’ve been editing this for three weekends straight. Again, for the time being, we’re pretty satisfied with what we got. So happy to finally share it!
The progress is slower than we expected because of a lot vfx happening, especially on the act 2 part. We need to clean out the studio and change it to black background.
For now, we’re done with the final cut, and currently doing colour grading and finishing. I’m hoping we can finish and get the final video tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
We started late on the 2nd day. We were supposed to start the makeup at 9am but the makeup artist came pretty late (but it’s okay, her mom’s sick) and the shoot was pretty easy today so after making sure that the time is enough, at around 12 we started filming the first scene.
Siddhi helped me again today, taking pictures. I told her that my inspiration is Tim Walker’s Lil’ Dragon. A bit motion blur and she captured it flawlessly!!
Yve and Fiorella help me on the garments. I kinda had to hands-on today for the styling because Yve modelled for me yesterday so I know how to put the clothes better. Had to note it to myself to focus on the directing part.
The bad habit that I got is, every time I was in a pinch I kinda panicked and it makes my decision making fell short. I ended up with a lot of ‘what ifs’ and ‘should’ves’ on post-production. I should’ve used a black backdrop for the floor to accentuate the white garments. I should’ve thought more thorough about how to style the garment. I should’ve did a lot more on the set design and so on. But in the end, I decided to write it down for my future self and just suppressed the feeling with gratefulness that I’m able to film the whole shot list and done it safely. And even if we’re late, we did it! So beautifully as well!
Some polaroids that I took today
We went straight to post-pro over the weekend now!
The crew today: me, Irfan, Siddhi, Yve, and Jodie (makeup artist). A lot of friends came later, some to be my colourful creatures (thank you Ellen, Joy, Jessi, and Wenqi! <3). Some came to talk and liven up space. I had a blast today!
Also today I did the fitting for tomorrow with Yve.
We can’t try one of them though because it’s too small for Yve. I hope it’ll be fine on the model tomorrow!
For the costume, I contacted some CSM students. I went to their White Show Instagram account (@opus.19) and searched for the right garments for my short film. Some of them tagged on the photos, found their names in one of the photos (attached below) and just searched them. Or look at the following/likes from some people or posts. They are all excited to participate in the film and to be honest, it’s quite the burden. But I need to fake it to make it right.
So I choose 6 of them to portray the cocoon (picture attached below)
One of the chat with the CSM student that I contacted. As almost all of them haven’t got back to London, I made appointments with all of them to meet up on the 7th at CSM.
The only props that I need is a mirror and I was kind of relaxed about it since I made an appointment with National Gallery. But three days before the shoot I found out they don’t have full-length mirror. So I canceled the appointment and rushed to search for another hire place, amazon, and ebay. One hire place called Granger Hertzog. They have cool stuff that I think will suit the film.
Unfortunately it cost around £100 and I prefer not to take it since my laptop crashed at that time and I had to spend a lot on it 🙁 but I thought it will be my last resort if I couldn’t find anything. Then I tried to google mirror again and I!!! found!!! it!!! Sold at Argos with half price and I can grab it from Shepherd’s Bush’s branch which is nearby school. And I can return them. Perfect. I got it two days before the shoot.
As for the studio, I called the media store first thing in the morning at 10am and they told me they will send an email when the booking system is up. I tried to wait at first but then my feeling told me that I have to open the orb webpage. And voila! It’s open! And there are many spots left for studio 2, 5, and 4!!! I’m so happy I literally booked the three of them at first, because the date of the shoot wasn’t fixed yet, I need to adjust with my cousin, Irfan’s schedule. Then we decide on 9 & 10, so I let go the studio 2 on the 8th and decided on studio 5 on the 10th. I feel super happy that I got the studio :’)))) I got all the equipment as well and thankfully as Irfan goes to Metfilm School he can get all the equipment needed that are not available in Lime Grove.
I collected the clothes from CSM students today and will go to CSM again tomorrow (because of the changes on shooting date). A textile student from CSM, Wenqi, collaborated with me and helped me find fabrics and created these colourful creatures:
Thanks to my flatmates Sophie and Emily for being my fitting model!
I contacted the models and makeup artist. The model confirmed for the dates, but the makeup artist couldn’t make it because she forgot and had an interview appointment. Thankfully she recommended me one of her assistants who also go to LCF. And I asked some of my friends as well just to be safe so we’re good.
And for the clothes for stage 1, as the designers that I contacted and Fashion Crossover haven’t replied to my message yet I decided to buy a dress from Topshop. I think the shape and colour fit with the image that I imagined.
I’m excited!!