I'm Attempting To Make A TV Series
Discussion
H18 ENF said:
Unfortunately Simpo's wonderful offer of lending us his rather lovely TVR has fallen through as we are filming on a day that he has pressing commitments
I'm free in the afternoon so if you decide to use a location somewhat closer to Simpo Hall it can still be done 
(Most splendid to hear I have the car of a 'colonial eccentric' though! Tally ho and don't skimp on the pate)
Zad said:
All I can say is - Splendid! Professor Elemental deserves to be seen by a wider audience and this sounds absolutely perfect. Even better to have a PHer behind it. I wonder if Garlick might be persuaded to lend you his Chim, in return for doing a blog post.
Ah thank you - very kind of you! It's starting to really come together now - the props are being made by the Ex Head of Doctor Who (Not sure if I mentioned that before) A couple of Pictures attached, (work in progress) Our 'Kontaktatronic Headset'
&
The Statue of The Golden Frog - With 'Needle of Destiny'
4sure said:
Erm.....The needle of destiny looks like a pen of the ballpoint variety.
I keep hearing Mr Jonn McEnroe in my head , is he correct ?
Ha! The Needle of Destiny is unfinished and so would probably be more accurately described as 'The Needle of... errrm... oooh... where did I put my can of spray paint'I keep hearing Mr Jonn McEnroe in my head , is he correct ?
Edited by 4sure on Saturday 7th April 01:03
As for hearing John McEnroe in your head... there are too many obvious jokes to go with but the main point of them all being I have not one clue what you mean? If you could post again explaining it to me (it is Saturday Morning after all...) - sorry if I'm being slow.
H18 ENF said:
johnfm said:
Re: catering.
If on a budget, you should be on the black. Short film producers are brillinat at this sort of thing. PGTips and places like that will give you tea/coffee supplies if you write to them. Try writing to Pret or Greggs or similar to get some free food. It all adds up.
Though the biggest costs will probably be kit (lighting & sound) and post production - though it depends how you shoot and cut it. Given current camera tech, you need to probably spend more effort on sound recording than lighting tbh. Sound is always the thing that gives away a low budget production.
Good luck!
RE: The PG tips etc I would think that's a very good idea, getting the time to organise it all is the tricksy bit! I'm getting through most of it but will certainly take you up on those ideas. If on a budget, you should be on the black. Short film producers are brillinat at this sort of thing. PGTips and places like that will give you tea/coffee supplies if you write to them. Try writing to Pret or Greggs or similar to get some free food. It all adds up.
Though the biggest costs will probably be kit (lighting & sound) and post production - though it depends how you shoot and cut it. Given current camera tech, you need to probably spend more effort on sound recording than lighting tbh. Sound is always the thing that gives away a low budget production.
Good luck!
Regarding sound - you are spot on, it's the bit that is always a major give away, but so tricky to find a decent sound op, especially one to work on pilots/low budget stuff.
We've got all the kit we want for next to nothing - shooting on EX1s, recording on to a Samurai to get the MBps up to a broadcast standard, as we have had some interest to run the pilot. The olny bit of kit that I'd love to have but haven't managed yet is a Jib and a jib operator. The production values just look so much better with stuff like that. Fortunately I've got an Orbit dolly so that will stack things up a bit.
Hopefully should have all the locations sorted fairly soon aswell, not that they are proving to be that cheap!
Look at successful comedy or drama - none of the success is derived from visual style, or brilliantly devised jib shots etc.
It is just a luxury which will cost you time and money.
Focus more on making sure the script is as good as it can be. Spend time on a cast read through and rewrite. Spend time rehearsing - so you can make sure you can get all the scenes shot on schedule.
Stuff the jib - well blocked master, good coverage on MCUs and Cus, keep an eye on continuity and eye lines.
Good luck
Looks like a really interesting, and hopefully really funny, little series. Can't really go wrong with anything that mixes Flight of the conchords and Dr Who
Anyway, watched a few Prof Elemental related things on youtube and came across this one which strangely isn't posted in this thread yet even though it's what the whole topic is about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-eh3mRvtY
Herbal, no thanks!
Anyway, watched a few Prof Elemental related things on youtube and came across this one which strangely isn't posted in this thread yet even though it's what the whole topic is about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-eh3mRvtY
Herbal, no thanks!
I'm hoping it becomes a funny little series to be honest, as there's quite a lot riding on it for me. I direct a lot of tv in Spain but nothing in the UK and this is meant to be a crossover piece for me. In the meantime I'm trying not to think about what it may mean in the longer term and just enjoy working on what is proving out to be a very interesting project.
I didn't post that link up to Youtube because it is all about raising money for the project, which I didn't want people to get the wrong impression about the thread.
However, now it's up you may also be interested to see the behind the scenes one we did, where you can tell a little easier that it was -2 when Paul when in the sea and in fact snowing...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHX1rmk9t_s
I didn't post that link up to Youtube because it is all about raising money for the project, which I didn't want people to get the wrong impression about the thread.
However, now it's up you may also be interested to see the behind the scenes one we did, where you can tell a little easier that it was -2 when Paul when in the sea and in fact snowing...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHX1rmk9t_s
Gratuitous >bump< to say hurrah!
Congratulations on getting your funding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKYvwjKqDo
Congratulations on getting your funding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKYvwjKqDo
Ah thank you!
Yes we did get our funding target and more! A fantastic response! So ester day we filmed a short thank you -http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKYvwjKqDo
Today we shot our first scene, featuring a guy from Ohio. And when I say 'from' I really do mean it. He set up a green screen studio in his living room and I directed it remotely from our rehearsal venue in East Dulwich, really bizarre way of doing it! We have shot some video of how we set it all up, but we're leaving that o the 'making of' extras...
Yes we did get our funding target and more! A fantastic response! So ester day we filmed a short thank you -http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKYvwjKqDo
Today we shot our first scene, featuring a guy from Ohio. And when I say 'from' I really do mean it. He set up a green screen studio in his living room and I directed it remotely from our rehearsal venue in East Dulwich, really bizarre way of doing it! We have shot some video of how we set it all up, but we're leaving that o the 'making of' extras...
So I have finally returned home after having been away for about a month, my wife remarkably still recognises me!
So the shoot has been and gone and the edit has begun.
It was a bloomin' manic week of filming but I have to say it was incredible.
As some of you may have gathered from other posts we lost our locations about 2 weeks before cameras were due to start rolling, this caused us all sorts of problems. Fortunately the National Trust came to our rescue through the guise of an Events Manager at Petworth House, the largest NT property in the UK. Ian Pearce and his team there are just incredible and if you ever get the chance to have a look around it is well worth a visit. Considering the locations I needed to film I thought we would have to find at least 3 separate properties to shoot, but such is the diversity of Petworth House we could film it all on site! Bloody incredible! The place is remarkable and I implore you to pay them a visit.
The weather was always going to play a part in our week but somehow when we needed it to be dry it became dry! We were, by and large, very lucky!
People who don't work in the industry always assume that Film crews have an easy life, I assure you it isn't and I want to show a huge amount of gratitude and appreciation to anyone who worked as part of my team on Chronicles. The hours were long and they worked for 7 days straight with no breaks or complaining.
One of the guys who came on set with us for a day wrote a blog about his experiences, it actually gives a really succinct insight as to what it's like working on a film set - have a gander here - http://eddsnotdead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/elementa...
I have started a rough edit of it all now before handing it over to a proper editor so we can begin properly working on the post production. Hopefully all shall be ready by August - that's the plan at least.
Below are some production stills that I took along the way - in case some of you are interested. I'll keep you updated as we go.
So the shoot has been and gone and the edit has begun.
It was a bloomin' manic week of filming but I have to say it was incredible.
As some of you may have gathered from other posts we lost our locations about 2 weeks before cameras were due to start rolling, this caused us all sorts of problems. Fortunately the National Trust came to our rescue through the guise of an Events Manager at Petworth House, the largest NT property in the UK. Ian Pearce and his team there are just incredible and if you ever get the chance to have a look around it is well worth a visit. Considering the locations I needed to film I thought we would have to find at least 3 separate properties to shoot, but such is the diversity of Petworth House we could film it all on site! Bloody incredible! The place is remarkable and I implore you to pay them a visit.
The weather was always going to play a part in our week but somehow when we needed it to be dry it became dry! We were, by and large, very lucky!
People who don't work in the industry always assume that Film crews have an easy life, I assure you it isn't and I want to show a huge amount of gratitude and appreciation to anyone who worked as part of my team on Chronicles. The hours were long and they worked for 7 days straight with no breaks or complaining.
One of the guys who came on set with us for a day wrote a blog about his experiences, it actually gives a really succinct insight as to what it's like working on a film set - have a gander here - http://eddsnotdead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/elementa...
I have started a rough edit of it all now before handing it over to a proper editor so we can begin properly working on the post production. Hopefully all shall be ready by August - that's the plan at least.
Below are some production stills that I took along the way - in case some of you are interested. I'll keep you updated as we go.
From the photos and the blog, it looks like hard work! I'm surprised you got all the shooting done in such a tight schedule, although it looks like the National Trust have their act together when it comes to working with TV and film. Then again I suppose you only have to look at Downton to see how it can be mutually beneficial. I can't wait to see the final product!
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