DIRECTIONS UNIT: PRODUCTION SCHEDULE (Call sheets)

When planning my Production times I worked around my teams shoots and my locations. Since Trine had already planned her shoot for the 10th-11th February I discussed working from the 13th-14th. Filming the entire pub sequence in one day was the best choice since it allows me to get everything with that location done in one day and gives me more time with the exterior location which I think will be the hardest part since we need to make sure no cars or people are in shot since that scene is based after the outbreak.

This is my first call sheet for the 13th February Shoot:

I chose to start so early since we could have issues with the actors arriving late, having to take multiple shots. So I discussed with the land lord coming in early so that we could get set up and film everything before he opened up at 4pm.

Looking towards planning the 14th shoot which is all outside. The footage in the house is only 3 shots and this could be done in less than 30 minutes, an hour maximum with blocking and have to do multiple takes. However, we need to have the extras make-up'd and put into costume so I asked the residents if we could have longer at the location to make up all the extras as well as film the footage inside the house. After this we haven't got a short time limit as the rest is outside but of course we need to work before it gets dark. So I decided on these times with the 14th Shoot call sheet:

With this I added the amount of time to ensure that we had enough time to get all the extras make-up'd without rushing. While this is happening we can go and film Jamie and Jacob's scenes inside the house and we can also make a start on the outside sequence if we have the first zombie ready by that point.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: PROPS LIST

After I broke down my script I wrote down all the props that would be required for the shoot. 

Props list - Pub scene

- Flowers

- Pork scratchings 

- Pint glasses

- Shot glasses

- Whisky glasses

- Chopping board

- Knife

- Lemons

- 'Please Leave Quietly' sign 

- Shaun's name badge

- Beer bottles

Props list - Street and Shop scene

- 'Things to do' board

- Strawberry Cornetto

- Can of coke

- Coins

- Dog lead

Almost all these props I either own or can buy but there's 2 things that I'm going to need to get made and that's Shaun's name badge and the please leave quietly sign.

With Shaun's name badge I feel it will need to be the same sort of colour as his tie, this is often the case with companies. If they where a white shirt and blue tie the name badge will likely have blue in it somewhere. 

I want to have the sign almost the same as the one in the film. Mostly because this isn't scene in hardly any pubs around Britain but adds to the comedy of the scene as Shaun and Ed leave screaming out 'White lines'. 

DIRECTIONS UNIT: LOCATION CHOICES

When looking into the locations that I'd need for 'Shaun of the Dead' I watched back at the original scenes and found I needed 4 main locations:
- A pub
- A house (specifically Kitchen and Living Room)
- A Street
- A Corner Shop

Pub
After looking around Rochester I found a small pub, just 5 minutes away from the UCA Student Accomedations. The Ship Inn is a small, Free House ran by a man called Richard. When walking past the pub each day going to University I noticed it was small, simple and very much like a classic pub. It's just like the type you get in Shaun of the Dead. So I spoke to the landlord and asked if it'd be possible and he agreed to letting me film here. I sent an email explaining my requirements:

"Hi Richard 

I came to the pub the other day and discussed filming my next University project there. I'm emailing just to confirm that and to just explain exactly what it is I'm hoping to use your pub for.

Firstly let me just thank you for saying yes! As students it's so hard to get permission off people to film at and I'm trying to stay local to Rochester rather than going into Chatham or Strood.

My project is to re-make a section of a film, I get to choose the film so I chose the zombie-comedy 'Shaun of the Dead'. The scene involves 2 friends sitting and chatting in a pub, that's literally it! The actual scene that I'm making can be seen here if you'd like to look at it more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93fDmh6XKo

So what I need is these things, if they are okay with you of course!

- Access to the pub when it is closed to allow us to work freely and avoid disrupting your customers

- With your permission, have our crew and actors in with our equipment, this will include lights

- We will need to have the actors 'drinking' at one part but I will either give you the money for the alcohol or I will bring it myself, this is completely your choice.

- We will need to film a section outside at night time once the shoot has finished but this won't affect your customers or business I can assure you! It's simply the actors leaving and we will get this another time.

We would only need to be there for one day, for around 4 hours at most! But I would need to visit the pub about 2 other times before the shoot. Once to take some photos just to explain in my course work why I'm using the pub, another would be when the pub is closed again for a tech-check, this is where we bring our equipment, set up and just ensure we are ready for the shoot. This would take about 2 hours.

So, would it be possible to use your pub on the 13th February, Monday from 10:30am-3pm for the actual filming day? And then 8th February, Wednesday at 12pm for the technical check? I'll come to the pub during the week to take the photos for my work it doesn't have to be when the pub is closed! 

Any issues please contact me at anytime, my number is 07415701633 and you can email me at anytime!

Thanks again!

Gavin Roberts"

I received an email back from Richard saying "Hi Gavin, All that is ok with me so crack on, Regards, Richard". I aimed to explain as much detail as possible in the email so there was no misunderstandings or problems when it comes to using the location.

Location Recce
When looking at the location, it's perfect for what I'm looking for. The pub is a decent size. It's not newly refurbished so looks like a classic pub, it's not chain owned so there's no logos or trade marks around which we would need to get cleared. Also, after working with the BBC and speaking to a Producer he told me that if there are a number of different logos in shot, such as beer pumps, then we aren't breaching the product placement laws since there's no focus on a specific brand. There's enough space to have camera and lighting equipment in the building as well as cast and crew. The pub is closed until 4pm from Monday-Friday so we would be able to get all the recording done without disrupting the landlords business and the windows all have blinds on them which means we can block the light out and make it look like more like a pub. This is ideal for a pub to replace 'The Winchester'.

The House + Street
When I was looking for a house for the second year of University, we looked at a house and although we didn't end up taking it, one of the 3rd years of Television Production lived there and when looking around, the kitchen and living room were really big and good sizes for filming in. The house is on a long street, away from the main high street and roads so not many cars come through this way. The street has a shop at the end of it which can be used for the scene as well if we can get permission from the shop owners. Below are the photos of the kitchen and living room.

                                                     

                                      

                                      

The flat looks ideal, not too big where it could be a private home and not too modern or freshly decorated so it looks like people have been living here for a while. As well the lighting suits here and we have plenty of natural lighting coming in from the windows so we won't need extra lighting which means less kit. As well, outside the house looks like a street where you would rent, rather than privately owned houses. It also looks like a classic London street. The street isn't hugely busy as well which means that we could get the footage with no cars going past. However, because we haven't paid and gotten the road closed, we may have cars coming down the road and it also means for Health and Safety reasons we can't film on the road.

                                        

The Shop
At the end of Upper Fant Road is a Spar Store. The shop's layout is perfect for what we need, although the owners asked for no photos of the interior to be taken for personal reasons. The location of the fridges, freezers and counter is perfect and there's a section at the back where we can hide the extra who's playing the zombie. After talking to the shop owners they said it would be fine as long as we didn't stop the public from entering the building and we weren't to have any blood anywhere around the building.

                             

DIRECTIONS UNIT: ACTING DRUNK

When looking into how I can have my actors acting when it comes to them being 'drunk', I did some research on how to act drunk. Although I've been drunk many times myself, everyone is different but you just need to be able to show that you are drunk without doing anythings silly or stupid.
Edgar Wright directed the film 'The Worlds End' which is about a group of friends coming on a pub crawl and he directed this really well.
I've seen plenty of actors act drunk but over do it where it becomes really stupid and not believable. However, I found Simon Pegg's technique of this is 'The 12 stages of drunkness' and this helped me when planning through my directions for the actors with this.

At the beginning of the film they aren't drunk, they've had one or 2 pints. By the second scene they've had a couple of pints. They'll start to have a slow blink and deep breaths because the alcohol is kicking in. By the scene where they're outside the pub they will be drunk and very drunk so they'll sway and be loud, etc.

This little bit will make a huge difference to the scene and really bring out the comical side of the scenes I've chosen. As well as making this much more believable.

CONTEXUAL STUDIES: AUTEUR

In this essay, I will be discussing what an auteur is and matching that with a chosen director. I will be using websites to help explain the auteur theory and then visual images and clips of my chosen directors work to justify and explain why they match with this theory. I have chosen the Director Tim Burton for his classic style of dark, scary and gothic look but mixed together with the opposite emotions of happiness and love. 

 The Auteur Theory is “theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture’ (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 20-07-1998, https://www.britannica.com/art/auteur-theory) which I interpret, means a director with a unique style, someone who stands out from other Directors and who’s work you will know just by recognising the visual style of the film. This theory has been used since the 1940s and can sometimes describe a Director as an ‘artist’, depending on what it is they are being classed as an ‘Auteur’ from. For Directors, this would often be the overall visual style of the film. Perhaps their use of action over dialogue. Alfred Hitchcock is often classed as an Auteur for his amazing work in film making. One of his most artistic pieces of work can be taken from his film 'Vertigo'. This scene is very early in the film and it's the characters Scottie and Gavin meeting. When you watch this for the first time you won't see it, but the second time you watch, the characters choreographing is astonishing, Youtuber Nerdwriter1, breaks down the scene and describes the scene as "This scene is small and often over looked, but it holds up the rest of the film. How many other Directors could choreograph this conversation in such a way that it works like a dance?" (Nerdwriter1, Mar 23, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgnNakO6JZw) Alfred Hitchcock was an artist when it came to films, his techniques, his methods of blocking out the characters so that it works and flows with the dialogue is seamless. However, my example is not Mr. Hitchcock as he is already well know for his work in Film. 

Tim Burton is my choice of Director and I would say that he is an Auteur. Tim Burton is known for his unusual style of film making and love of stop-motion animation. He loves to join such dark and almost horrible styles with such loving and happy characters and stories. An example of this can be Tim Burton's 'A Nightmare Before Christmas'. The photos below show you the style of the film.

The film looks dark and gothic, as if to be a horror film. But, the actual story is sweet and heart warming. A skeleton finding the beauty of Christmas and learning that Halloween and scaring people isn't the only holiday to look at. Discovering love that was right in front of him (the character Sally) and finding himself after feeling lost for so long. 
Another example is 'Dark Shadows' a few photos from the film are below:

The film tells the story of a man turned into a vampire by an evil witch who wanted and loved him, but he did not feel the same. Even though you get this dark and horror look to the film, it's actually a comedy film and brings entertainment to the viewers. Tim Burton even said "I am not a dark person and I don't consider myself dark." He brings a twist to his films with the way he styles them. He is also an actual artist as he use to work for Disney. Watch makes me class Tim as a Auteur is that he doesn't go with 'the usual' with styles. Something that is dark, gothic and eccentric would naturally be classed with a horror, thriller or much darker genre or movie. The classic idea of Dark = Bad/Evil and Light = Good/Hopeful. 
Tim Burton doesn't care for how it 'should be' he see's this in his own visual style and brings forward a story of happiness and love with such a dark and horror like style and it works as well, as a fan of Tim Burton's work I love the way he uses this style. It makes him stand out as a Director and he pushes the limits. Some call him crazy or weird but I find it poetic and artistic. Tim Burton once said "Don't worry about how you 'should' draw it. Draw it the way you see it" This is why he is an Auteur, a love story should be with bright colours, happy surroundings and beautiful and attractive characters to most people. But Tim Burton can achieve this with a story of an Undead Bride, a gothic and jazzy style underworld and the story of love coming together (The film A Corpse Bride) he is an artist and a true auteur.

(Photos from google.co.uk)

DIRECTIONS UNIT: ACTORS CASTED

After putting up the advert for the 2 characters, Shaun and Ed, on Casting Call Pro, I only received 3 applications for Shaun and received 0 for Ed. So I then began searching for actors myself through the website. I narrowed down my search my looking for male actors, who could act between 25-35 and lived in Kent, since I can only afford to cover the travel for my actors it would be helpful if they lived around the same area as me.

ED



I first found Thomas Jacob-Ewles. Thomas doesn't have a huge amount on his CV and annoyingly didn't have a CV, But in his interests explained he was interested in Comedy and Student Films as well as having a Undergraduate Masters degree in Drama and Theatre from the University of Kent. I tried to contact him to ask for some work he'd done however after emailing and calling I couldn't seem to get hold of him.





Next I found Michael Speller. He is an actor based in Kent and his show reel on Casting Call Pro caught my attention. He's good at bringing a character to life as well as bringing comedy to his acting with quick punch lines and enthusiasm. His experiences are short but from his show reel I was very impressed and he could clearly act. As well his interests are Comedy and student films along with short and action films in his interests. I called him after getting his contact details from Casting Call Pro and discussed the project and he sounded very enthusiastic, however, because of he works Monday-Friday he is unable to help with the shoot since my shooting days are on a Monday or Tuesday.





I widened my search and tried London and found an actor called Peter Tyrrell. Peter has already been in a short film based around a Zombie Apocalypse and has worked on student films before. His show reel shows that he is a confident actor and that he has an interest in comedy. However when I got in contact with him he informed me that he's currently working on a feature film and wasn't able to help with the project.




Finally I found an actor called Jacob Sheerwood. Jacob's CV was very impressive, he's a very experienced actor having done theatre, TV and done 3 feature films. I called Jacob and spoke with him about his show real (very impressive with a broad range of his acting roles) we discussed the project and he said he was very interested. When I explained that the project was a student film and that I couldn't afford to give him payment for the project he was hesitant at first as he's just finished another feature film which was fully paid. Although when I offered to pay for his travel he agreed to help with the project. I went on to explain the filming dates and that this was my own interpretation of the film and that it is only a few of the scenes. We also talked about the locations and travel cost. Overall he seemed very happy with the project and is looking forward to it.


SHAUN
I had 3 actors apply for the role of Shaun, however, two of the actors also applied for my last project and explained that they would only be interested in the project if it was a fully paid role, which I can't afford. So I took a look at the other actor which applied.

Kit O'Donnell is an actor based in London, He's had 2 roles in Theatre and 2 roles in short films. He doesn't have a show reel on his casting call pro page but he did say he would be interested in coming for an audition. I sent him an email with the script asking him to do a read through as the character Shaun as he thinks he would be portrayed, I wanted to get an idea of how he feels the character would act. I asked him to record it and send it to me. However, 5 days past and I never got a reply and due to the short amount of time, I had to look else where.





I started to struggle with an actor for Shaun so I contacted my cousin Chris Thomas who is a Writer and Director based in London. He did Film Production at UCA a few years back and told me to take a look at an actor called Jamie Terry, who has done acting work with UCA a few times. I found him on Casting Call Pro and was very impressed. He's had a wide range of experience as an actor in TV, Student and Short films. He has also done one feature film. He looks the right age and is based in Kent. When I contacted him he was very interested in the project and even more so when I explained that it was my own interpretation of it and he liked this.

After I got both my actors I asked them both if they would like to meet and have a read through of the script and talk about the project. Jamie agreed and we set the date as 9th February at the Whetherspoons at Rochester. Jacob sadly said he wouldn't be able to since he has work and children to take care of but he would defiantly do the filming dates.

(Photos taken from castingcallpro.com)

DIRECTING UNIT: CASTING EXTRAS

With the scenes I have chosen, to really bring the scenes to life there are 2 locations where I need extras. The Pub and the Street.

The Pub
If Shaun and Ed are in their local, there would be other customers drinking. You wouldn't really go to an empty pub to drink and hang out with your friends. As well, in the script there are 2 people in the pub which are focused on. One man and woman. So from this I figured that I needed the following extras:
- 1 Customer
- Mysterious man
- Woman
- Man and a Woman (couple outside)
- Man/woman (Zombie outside)
The 1 customer will be in the background and with some help with sound design, help to make the pub feel more alive. So for these extras I've casted the following people:




Domenic Esposito. He's a jewellery student at UCA and a warden at the Student Accomedations. I've known Domenic for a few months now and he has a very punk-rock style as well as long hair, half shaved. Since the character in the script needs to be unique and stand out I asked Domenic if he'd be interested and he agreed. So he will play the Mysterious man.







Zak Wilkins & Victoria Simmonds. These two are my classmates and also in a relationship, both are eager to help with the project and don't mind being on camera. Since they don't have a main role or any dialogue, I'm not breaking the rules with not having classmates are the main actors.










Morgan Ferriday. He's my flat mate and offered to help as an extra. I want Morgan to play the first zombie that is 'seen' in the film. Since the zombie is describes as a 'Shadowy Figure', Morgan regularly wears black clothing and is a big fan of zombies so showed great enthusiasm when talking about the project.










Kim Robb. Kim is the make-up artist for my shoot, she's also in her 30's and looks good for the woman in the pub, her age sets her aside from the other cast members. As well Kim will be on set so this is more helpful.









Jason Efstathiou. Jason is part of my crew and has also offered to be an extra. I want him to be in the background in the pub, just to add to the atmosphere and make the pub feel more like a pub with customers in the background.
Jason is also going to be playing one of the zombies, specifically the one that is seen in the shop, this is because I'm planning on having that shot as a focus shot on Shaun and only Jason's figure be seen in the background.



The Street
When Shaun is walking over to the shop to get a drink and something for Ed. When walking we see 4 zombies along the way, the focus being on the final one at the end which Shaun says he has no change for because it's originally the homeless man seen in a previous scene. 3 zombies are seen in the street and one in the shop that Shaun goes into




Jemma Cotterell. She is also one of my classmates and did acting in my last project. Jemma also chose Edgar Wright as her Director so I want a sort of cameo in my film. Jemma is also comfortable with having make-up and contacts put on and has been directed before by directors. I'm having Jemma as one of the zombies.









Jack Nix. He is part of my crew and is also okay with make-up and contacts being put on. Jack is a huge fan of the walking dead series and of the original Shaun of the Dead and volunteered to be a zombie for me.





Chelsea Douglas. Chelsea is one of my flat mates and loves zombie films, programmes and the idea of the zombies in general. When we've been in our flat I've seen her pretending to be a zombie and she is very amusing and convincing. Chelsea asked to come onboard with the project as she wants to photograph the behind the scenes and when I asked her to play a zombie she happily agreed. I want Chelsea to play the zombie with a green coat and dog lead. This also means the zombies are 50/50 with gender as well.