We'll meet again...

A hugely important part of this project has been our weekly meetings.  They have taken place in animation studios, offices, bars, lecture theatres, restaurants, streets, seminar rooms, corridors, etc.
On top of that there have been Skype meetings, phone meetings, text conversations, emails, tweets, facebooking, blogging and even good old-fashioned talking!  You name it, we have met and talked about it some-how, some-way.  And this is why we are still going strong with the project.  Despite the fact that all the students are now very busy with their other projects, despite the fact that Derek and myself have lots of other work to do, our communications on Deep have always been strong and we talk through everything at our weekly or bi-weekly meetings. In between that we discuss it by email, text and facebook. And where would we be without Dropbox?  Two years ago I had not heard of Dropbox.  It is hard now to remember the wold without it.

Here are some photos of our meetings.

Not too many as I have realised since I took these pics that there is only one thing duller than a meeting and that is a photograph of a meeting.  Having said that, a Deep meeting is normally quite fun.  You just had to be there...

Deadlines looming

The heady summer days of the live action shoot are far behind us, the rain is falling and deadlines are looming for all working on the animation side of things.  I have undertaken to tie everything together in the form of a design bible, something we really need to keep the consistency and to make sure we have the many different animation styles working well.  The new term has got underway and all of us, staff and students are short of time.
Derek has produced a great storyboard, really detailed and beautifully drawn.  Here is a sneak preview:

More to follow soon.  In the meantime as promised, here are a few more pics from our live action shoot.

Caroline and Jamie in Victorian dress being directed by Derek as Jon approaches with a big stick.  Can't remember exactly what the stick was for...

The Falmouth Hotel bedroom became a less romantic place as the temperature rose and more and more of us crammed in.

Thankfully Claire, our make-up, hair and costume person had done a fine job to make the actors look cool and gorgeous.

The hiring, moving, storage and returning of all the equipment from both the media stores at UCF and from Provision in Leeds was a huge undertaking.  Most of this was organised by Kirk, who worked his summer around Deep and threw his considerable energy into getting all this and the crew together.

We were proud of our resourcefulness with both costumes and props and how we managed recreate the various film genres that Derek had randomly- er deliberately written into the script.. 

Done and Dusted

No, not the film, just the live action is done.  But it seems momentous and indeed it does mean that a third of the film, roughly, is there or at least on a hard drive somewhere...

It was a very intensive week with late nights and early mornings.  Huge amounts of organisation went into making it happen, getting the actors, camera, props, costumes and the D.O.P. down to Cornwall from all over the country.  On the shoot the students were fantastic, Derek and I were amazed at the level of commitment and energy that everyone put into it.

Here are some of the pics I took during the week, not all fine examples of photography but I really like this one:

 Caroline and Jamie, our two lead actors, graduates from the Performance and music courses.  They are dressed here for the 1950s hotel bedroom scene.

 Sasha, a third year from animation who helped us in various ways all week.  Freddie, also a third year who was invaluable to the whole shoot and Brian who valiantly came to the rescue with the sound and who we are hoping to see more of.   Half of Derek is visible.

 Our three mobsters pose outside the Falmouth Hotel with Tommy guns - they rather fancied themselves in these clothes.  They were fantastic and scared a couple of guests, including a little girl who may possibly remember them coming through the foyer brandishing their weapons for the rest of her life.  Great stuff!

 The Falmouth hotel were very accommodating and allowed us to do this.  Thankyou!

 The Victorian costume drama scene here.  Caroline argues here with Stu, our Inspector Small.

Stu came all the way down from Newcastle and was a star, a fantastic actor who made us all laugh.

At last we can see Matthias, the brilliant D.O.P. who shot these live action scenes on this Red camera.  

Next to him is Will, a film student who was an important part of it in his role of assistant to Matthias.

In the background are Derek and Kirk - what can I say? It certainly wouldn't have happened without them.   

 Some scenes were harder to do than others and this, a concrete rubbish-strewn alley at night in the wind and rain was one of the less comfortable experiences.  But it was fun. The two leads here were supported by a rag-tag army of extras brandishing their weapons, ready for action.

 Two days in the TV studio provided a lot of material for the animators to work with. In the background here is Jack, a family friend of mine who helped us in the studio.

We didn't let the actors get away with anything, here they are picking up gaffer tape from the floor,  (as it happens, Kirk and co. had to spend a long time with white spirit and a scraper after we had finished the week as it wouldn't actually come off that day).

Caroline in a sequined dress shooting at cartoon characters in a Hollywood nightclub,,,of course!

 Jamie had been sloshed with water many times for this rainy street scene.

 On the far left is Jon, a film student who was in charge of lighting for the week and did a great job.

And the first scene we shot.  Outside Tremough House where Jamie and Caroline do a Victorian style romantic run towards each other.

 Derek explaining how to run.

Georg turned up to help here too, which was great.  We were so lucky with the weather that morning.

And that's it for the moment.  I have more pics to put up soon and I am going to invite others to contribute to this blog.

The auditions for the the live-action parts went very well.  Credit must really go to Kirk who was a star in organising and setting the whole thing up.  He had help from a film student (who's name I will find out), who recorded the whole thing for us and our own Seb, who was on hand to help in lots of ways.
The actors, all performance students, many in their second year of study, waited patiently outside for their turn to audition.

I found the process very interesting as it wasn't something I'd ever been involved in before.  I was sitting next to Matt Walsh from Dog Bite Productions however, who was very used to auditions.  Because of this he had some interesting insights at the end, things I hadn't consciously thought of, such as the shape of a jaw and the relative heights of the male and female actors.  Despite this we had all three arrived exactly the same conclusion independently as to who were the right people for the two main parts.

  
All the actors were great and very patient with us,  Hopefully all that want to can be involved too as there are many extras and baddies needed.
It was a real collaboration between staff, professionals and students.  During the process there appeared to be little or no division between us in our pursuit of a common goal.  Great stuff!

Last Wednesday we pitched Deep to a good sized audience of students (and even Georg!), mainly from animation but also some music and a couple of drama students too.  I was particularly pleased to see many of our third years there.

 Derek did a brilliant job in getting the concept over and Rosa followed him by showing how incredibly organised we are and making us all feel as if it is actually feasible.

We have been very happy with the response and interest from students so far, a nice long list of names.  Derek and I are meeting this afternoon to begin to contact some of these students with a view to briefing them on what we would like them to do.  We have appointed Kirk as Creative Producer, a perfect role for someone like him, who is great at making things happen.  He has now set up our 'Deep Hayes' facebook group.  Supporting him will be Emma Walsh in a production co-ordinating role - she is just the right person.

So here's just a quick run down, things happening this week will include:
Derek and I to contact some of the students today (including music students) and arrange to brief them.
Derek and I to meet at Woodlane library tomorrow, sketchbooks at the ready and nail these art styles so that we can set the pre-production lot to work.
Briefing the CG people - we have a couple of shots we can give them.  This was Derek's idea - to get them working straight away - and I think it's great, it really feels now that the film has begun!

Getting ready to pitch

Derek and I recently presented 'Deep' at a lunchtime 'Research Bites' session.  And so it has now been offered it out to potential collaborators.  We've had discussions with Performance and Dance lecturers and Derek has also talked to staff from the Film, Music and Illustration courses.  We have Jane Pugh, the script-writing lecturer looking over the script for us.  There is a buzz at last!

Rosa Mulraney is on board.  We are very pleased that she is interested in helping us as we are going to need a serious bit of organising.  


And excitingly, Derek, Rosa and I have met with the Falmouth based film production company, Dog Bite.  Matt Walsh is keen to help us with the live-action elements of the film and has agreed to work within our budget constraints to find clever ways of cutting costs.  Working with DogBite will really push the film into a more professional environment for the students.  We will have the option to make use of their green screen studio facilities for some of the scenes, while others would be shot on location.  They have agreed to work with some of the student collaborators and give them a taste of the pressures and standards of a professional environment.

We've also discussed the film with three of our level 2 students - Kirk, Freddie and Callum, who we feel could be useful in helping us to pitch the idea to other students. Derek has put up a notice on the DA home page and a couple of emails offering help have trickled in already.


On Weds the 30th May we are pitching this to the students.  How the idea is pitched and therefore received is going to be very important in getting good collaborators on board. Derek and I are working on pitch material, me on some concepts and Derek on a kind of potted history of film.  Matt Walsh from Dog Bite Productions will be at the pitch too, which is great.The next step in the process is to cast actors for the live action parts of the film.  Derek has identified a possible male lead amongst the performance students and we are hoping that the pitch will bring forward other actors.  


As we work towards the pitch, there will be posters and emails going out left, right and centre.  Things are moving fast and yet, strangely we have yet to begin...

We now have a script.  Our very own Derek Hayes has been hard at work writing the most deep and obscure juxtaposition of scenes known to University College Falmouth.
I have been going through it with him, taking some of it out and shifting some of it around.  I found it interesting how keen I was to engage with the characters in the form of a more traditional narrative structure, while Derek has been staying closer to the original idea, which was to be totally abstract, while giving us a tantalising glimpse of a story.  Obviously, the result will be somewhere between the two and in the end we agreed on most things.  It won't be a massive re-write, more of a strengthening, a re-jig and a cut or two.  There are some fantastic visual moments in it and some good jokes (some that I didn't get at all).  But it was the strange, surreal elements that I liked best and this is what I'm hoping will make it really interesting, that our two characters will inhabit a world where anything is likely to happen.

Here is one of the concept pieces, based on a scene from the script.  We both had a go at doing the image, this one is mine, a more organic, decaying scene, but we are going to go with Derek's (which I don't have yet but will put up soon), which is a more orderly, sinister approach to the same idea.  (Does this sum up the difference between us?!!)

We have also presented the project to several of the University staff at one of the monthly Research Bites and appealed for collaborators.  This is really what we now need, to get a good team on board.  And so with this in mind, Derek and I will discuss the next steps at Rick Stein's chippy this evening.
More later...

Kick off

What a coup!  Derek and I have managed to interest the animation producer, Helen Brunsdon in our project. Helen and Derek share a passion for film and I think that is why she likes the idea. 

Because that is what Deep is about, it's a film about film.  

And here is the proof of our meeting with Helen:  

  

We seem to have earmarked a special 'Deep' table in The Riverbank pub here in Truro (Derek and I used the same one for a story discussion a couple of weeks later).  For Helen and I, who live within easy walking distance, that meant that we could have a reckless couple of glasses of wine.  Derek had to be more restrained as he was driving back to Falmouth.  This was just as well as we needed him to be nice and lucid while he explained his vision for the film to us.  

Helen asked lots of questions to draw out the important stuff.  Afterwards I felt I understood it, even if I couldn't yet exactly see it in my head, I could get the themes and the emphasis.  As I intend to art direct, I will need to have a strong vision myself of how I want it to look.  At the moment all I have is the word that surely almost every art director must throw around vaguely to start with: I want it to look 'stylish'.  

With this word firmly planted, I have been getting together some images for a preliminary mood board, having great fun looking through stills from films such as, Metropolis and Saturday Night Fever.  I've found lots of film posters and book jackets that could make nice animation styles, with some adaptation.
At the moment we have so many ideas that it will be hard to pare it all down.  But pare we must.

Helen meanwhile, has sent us a schedule and a list of things to do and Derek is simply writing the entire film (the easy job).  At this stage, we are all pretty excited about making it and have great hopes that it will be the first of many films made in association with UCF.  For all of us and Derek in particular, who has been making films for many years, it is good to think that this can now be tied in with our University teaching, modestly funded and with benefit to all who sail in her.  The combined experience and expertise of Helen and Derek should be enough to make any student want to clamber on board.