Reflection

Overall, I feel as though I have gained extreme confidence in my time management and organisational skills throughout this task. I have experienced lack of direction in situations, during our film tasks and by this I have been able to progress my own skills by resolving the situations.

By completing my model tasks, I feel mentally prepared to recreate more with the knowledge gained throughout the construction and pre planning. Having classes on scale drawings and experimenting with different techniques also helped me practice my skills. I have accomplished a lot of different attributes that I thought were impossible and was able to realise the potential in my work.

Sketch Up

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

We have been assigned to build a model based on a theme of a book or film that was made before the 1970s. For this project, I have decided to chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This book first came out in 1964. Later on, there were two films made based on the book. Willy Wonka is a man who owns a chocolate factory and creates so many different sweets and good treats. He sets out a competition for 5 lucky kids to come into the factory and explore. Little did they know, he was on the look out for the right kid to take over his factory.

I watched both versions of the film and read the book before I started the project and took notes of things I may want to include into my model. I am very excited to start this project, I have a lot of ideas that I want to experiment with and cannot wait to go and make things such as furniture. I like being creative and making things with items I no longer need.

I will use sketch up and draw a scale drawing of the floor plan of my design. I will then start on my 1:50 scale and when I happy, I will move on to making a 1:25 scale.

Making my Model

When making my 1:25 scale detailed model, there were a lot of things and ways I wish I had changed when making my final piece. Most of my furniture was not accurate to a 1:25 scale and looked a little odd when put together under the same model. Another thing I realised when making my model was that I painted the walls after putting them together but an easier way would have been to decorate and paint each wall however I wanted and putting them together in the end.

Some of the problems I encountered was being too ambitious. I attempted to add a chandelier to my model from adding extra foam board attached from the top. However, I realised this would not hold well so I had to tone back some of my ideas. I wanted to add more accents of gold so I added gold curtains, gold stairs and golden eggs. Most of the things I added were originally gold but for the bathtub of golden eggs, I spray painted Chocolate M&Ms and put them together. I made my posters which I attached to a golden frame that I put up on the wall.

I put together a box and attached two studs on the top as the door handles. This box was his experimentation box where he would go inside and there would be a little office/lab where Wonka works on new experiments. It is quite huge, so I added a ladder which he would use to get up to the experimentation box.

I wanted the room to be simple and extremely high-tech looking with modern designs. It felt too empty and not enough warmth was felt when I analysed my model. This is when I decided to add a plant. I used an old foundation lid as a plant pot and glued in a stem with several smaller plants on it. It made the room look a little more homely. My favourite experiment, was the door. I spray painted foam board gold, very lightly and I then brought it closer to buldge up and build a little more depth to the colours. It leaked all through the middle and I continuously moved around my piece for it to create different patterns. This was a success and the effect looked amazing. I then added a small ball of strong glue as a handle and wood for the top of the door.

The main colours for this model was white, purple and gold. After watching the film, I realised the most dominant colour was purple. I wanted gold to add class and as he was the king of chocolate I wanted to enhance this effect into my model. The white was used to keep it modern and clean looking which In my opinion, was successfully achieved.

With the carpets and little bit of marble in the room, I spent a lot of time experimenting with. I wanted to find the perfect flooring for my model so I painted a piece of fabric and placed it like a small rug. I then removed it and decided to replace it with a larger bit of Vinyl. I liked the marble look but it didn’t go well with the original colour pattern so I decided to cut a piece and put it on the top of the wall to match.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my model and think I have achieved everything I initially planned. I am happy that I have experimented with different materials and ways in which I could create things whilst not spending any money and using sustainability. I am happy that I have been able to use the theme of the film of Willy Wonka and adapted this to a modern room.

Some things I regret, is not making it look too much like how Willy Wonka’s room would look like. If I had managed my time better I could have experimented more and added more sweets and actual chocolate related decorations. I feel like I could have experimented more with some of the walls or even the floor. Originally, I wanted to design a room with two floors but again, me being ambitious I was wasting time in designing what was required from me and decided to focus on building one room.

If I could change anything, it would be the process in which I made my room. I would start things and end things differently. Overall, I am very happy with my model and know what to do when making more models.

Model Making

(All Documents are attached in workbook)

We had a few classes on scale drawings and how to do them. We were given a guideline room in which we had to copy and as we were drawing, we were being taught what the measurements are. We were taught to always measure in mm which then translated to meters in life size measurements. This works out easier when using a to scale ruler. We have been mainly working with the scales 1:25 and 1:50. 

I bought all the equipment needed for this such as the to scale ruler, a pencil when drawing, a trisquare, a cutting mat, glue and a scalpel. We were taught how to use all of them and how they would help with our drawings and even when developing our drawings. When drawing we were taught to always go over lines so we could find our exact meet point when cutting out our different measurements. We were then taught how to elevate our to scale drawings and even make 3D versions so we could start to see our plans visually. 

We practised drawing many different times and were handed foam board to start practising model making. I struggled very much with this but finally got the hang of it. We were taught how to use Sketch Up so we could draw up our ideas and plans on the web and have a 3D representation of our ideas. We were also taught how to correctly make windows for the models we had to make however, I missed this class and nobody was available to help me so I came up with my own strategies of how to make a window and calculate it right. 

I started working on my two model making sets. I started off by designing ideas on Sketch up and then made a to scale drawing. As soon as this was finished and I knew the measurements I wanted to use, I started creating these on the Foam board. I drew out my measurements and started to cut them out and put them together. I started off with my 1:50 model as this was the easiest option and I wanted to experiment before I started on my more detailed model. 

 

Reflection

I can not contact my Director as I do not have a number or email for him as there was poor communication throughout the process for this group so I asked one of the individuals in the art department to give me a brief paragraph of feedback on my performance. The person I asked was Cameron who worked in this group as props buyer but spent a lot of time receiving instructions from myself. This is what he said..

“Although I only saw Nada in production meetings. She applied her self whilst in production and really took control of difficult situations when there was no one else to co-ordinate, she took charge in clearing the previous set in order to speed up the turnaround for our set. She was always On hand to touch up make up and hair. I think Nada could improve on her patience as, at times whilst waiting around she became slightly agitated”

I am pleased that my crew member was able to see that I took charge when I saw things were not productive enough and we were running out of time. I do understand that I could be more patient, however I am so used to being productive and being busy that I did not know how to wait. 

Overall, I have learnt quite a bit from this shoot. 

 

 

Extra Visits

Today I decided to revisit all the locations mentioned in the book of ‘A Cupboard Full of Coats’. From reading the book, I have a visual idea of what everything looked like but being there in person changed everything. I got to visit Rio the cinema in which Jinx visits when she becomes older and takes her son for a trip to watch a film. I visited downs park and saw all the old houses on the road. I was able to take a walk down Hackney downs park which was a bigger park than I expected. The roads all down my journey were super long and I had no idea at all. It was spacious and beautiful to walk down somewhere knowing you have read about it and imagining all the events replay in my head. This was a great experience. I tried to talk to somebody to find out what the houses were like and what life was like in Dalston in the 80s, but nobody wanted to be interviewed and everyone else was in a rush. But just being there, gave me a good feeling and better understanding of the place.

Group Task

 

 

 

We were all put into groups today, we were set a task of putting together a Mood Board from the 70s to the 90s and every individual in the group had to cover a topic in the end. I chose to cover hair and make up and I also covered music. This was the outcome of our Mood Board.

We then joined with other groups, assessing all the Mood boards and receiving feedback from other groups. After looking at the conclusion of the 70’s group work we completed, it seemed the feedback we all received was that it looked too vague and concentrated more on the aesthetics of the final Mood Board rather than the relevance of the pictures on there. So in my Individual mood board, I will make sure that all my pictures are relevant to the book of ‘A Cupboard Full of Coats’

Evaluation

Now this was my final group in working for this activity. This was a very interesting one because my groups and roles were confused and I didn’t realise I was in this group until again a week before the film date. This group was by far the MOST unorganised group I have worked with. Although my Art Director contacted me before, I was replacing her on another film so I thought that the emails I was receiving was for that. After a while, Danni our project leader assistant had noticed the lack of communication in this group and called an urgent group meeting. The only trouble is this was called on the day I was filming for one of my other productions so I was not able to attend.

I met the Director on one of my other films and asked if he could contact me and I had passed him an email so I am ready for the shoot. As a director, I felt it was his job to add me to all the emails he was sending me and possibly even update me on what it is he wanted. I waited and hadn’t received any emails from him so I was completely oblivious to everything. My Role on this film was a Costume Designer which I was not informed by anyone nor did anyone from the group contact me. My Partner Alina has given me permission to use her research for my work book and write it out as though we have both worked on this together but I refuse to use someone elses’ hard work and claim it as mine so I will evaluate how the day of filming went and drop the role I was given as I took part in no form of the pre production for this film.

On the day of the filming, we were asked to come in at 8am I made sure I was there at 7.30am so I could fit in as much extra help as I could. I helped our producer bring in the breakfast and hand it out. I met the actors for the first time and had words with the AD as to what she may need help with so she had me on standby the whole shoot. I done the actors’ make up and helped Alina dress them up. There were last minute issues such as clothes not fitting the actor which of course, could not be sorted before as there was no dress rehearsal because of the laziness of the director not making sure all his crew were prepared. I went out to buy some pins and adjusted most of the clothes.

When I had sorted everything out, there was nothing left for me to do although I was on standby so when I had the opportunity, I decided to talk to the BAF student to see what their roles were like and what it consisted of. I managed to speak to the sound people, the second AD and the young girl in charge of the Movie Clipper. All the other roles were far too busy working so I didn’t get the chance to talk to them. However, I was able to sit in the studio and watch the way they worked both alone and in a team.

SOUND                                                                                                                                                                              Sound are there to make sure there is a perfect balance between purity and clarity and all on a mutual level. There is a main one who works on a sound machine and he listens out for any extra background noise. There were also two people using boom’s to pick up everything the actors were saying. It picks up specific sounds even though they had mics attached to the actors.

MOVIE CLIPPER                                                                                                                                                            Ana was working on the Movie Clipper. She must use it on every scene and take, changing it on the board as they go along. This changes every time. Also, the sound of the clipboard is to help the editor distinguish where the beginning is on a take.

SECOND AD                                                                                                                                                                    The second AD is the Assistant Director. He mainly looks after the cast. He brings them on, makes sure everyone is there and contacts anyone that is not, he looks after them making sure they are ready for shooting, they are fed and watered and they are genuinely looked after on the shoot.

What I enjoyed most about this shoot was learning all the other different roles that we have not yet experienced and I liked watching everyone’s performances on the roles. On my other shoot I was assigned to one role so it was difficult to move away from that and watch how other people were performing. On this shoot I was able to walk around everywhere, ask a lot of questions, meet everyone else and do extra jobs as a runner. I helped in every department possible and even gave out directions as the art director was suppose to when we were setting up. I realised the fact that this group was so unorganised and nobody knew their roles, it gave me an opportunity to stand up and take charge because I didn’t want us all to sit down and have no part in this film. I gathered the art department together and assigned roles to everyone.

What I least enjoyed was the lack of communication from both the Director and Producer and how disorganised this group was. Nobody was ready and nobody knew what roles they were doing. This was good for me however, because I was able to take over nad learn how turn things around, even if it happens to be on the date of shooting.

Comparison

My First film to be shot was On The Door Step. In this film I felt like I was allowed as much creative input as I wanted. I was able to make a lot of the decisions, making most of the pre production more organised. I was calm throughout the whole process for this group and had so much fun taking part in it. I didn’t feel nervous, stressed or constricted because the Director trusted my work strongly. She let me have input in most things and even asked for my opinion on things that weren’t in my department. I didn’t have a section which I enjoyed the most because I enjoyed the whole journey of pre production and film day.

The pre production for me, was the hardest bit of the project for this group. This was because, the Director I was working with was very specific and precise about what it was she wanted. She was challenging to work for as she kept changing her mind continuously throughout and more towards the day of the shoot. She even made some last minute decisions on the day of the shoot. However, the shooting went by so smoothly as it was extremely organised and everyone was prepared for it. We managed to finish half an hour earlier than the actual wrap time.

The difference between the two was that one was that my first film was more laid back, prepared but less strict with specific rules whereas my second film was not. This made me feel very unprepared and startled as I was not used to the working level of my second film HUMDRUM. Everything was more strict and every decision had to be put by the Director first. My first film was ok with times and didn’t ask for us to come in until 9.30 whereas my second film I had to be there for 8am which was extremely early. I arrived 10 minutes late and I got into serious talks with the Director as I couldn’t get the make up all ready in time for the time she requested. This changed everything and I felt like I lost all opportunity of impressing my Director. If  I knew that all Directors worked differently and you need to be able to adapt to every type, I would have rushed when making my way in the morning.

If I had to choose one which I preferred, I would pick On The Door Step. I felt like it could be both professional as well as fun. It should always be about the experience and learning new things which you were enjoying. The first production On The Door Step gave me that opportunity. I was not afraid of asking questions and I was able to be as creative as I wanted to be. Although the other production was very organised, I felt like the Director was doing all the work and I was more of a runner. I didn’t get to experience my role as  much as I did on my other production.

If I could change one thing about these two, it would be the preparation of the both. I spent more time in meetings with HUMDRUM because there was a mix up in all the groups and I didn’t realise I was assigned to three groups. Also, I didn’t meet with the ‘On The Door Step’ group until the week of filming which meant I had to work very quick but I didn’t mind. I would have just wanted more meetings and prep with them as they seemed very active and fun to work around.

Overall, I really enjoyed both productions. I have learnt many different things from both of the productions and how different people work when organised and laid back. This has given me a different experience in group work too. Sometimes you will have to work with people you do not get on with but somehow it is ok. It all works out better because you want to prove your place on a production and show how good you can work and when you both are able to do this, it makes the team stronger and work well together. You are a good example to the rest of the team.