Since my short films narrative runs over only 1 day, there was no huge costume changes whereas there were many changes with the SFX and since the filming was over 2 days, I had to keep and eye on the continuity of the makeup and costume. Keeping the continuity in the outfit was extremely easy as my main character was wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt with the hair up in a pink scrunchy, since it was such a simple outfit with only a few elements to it, it was very easy for it to flow.

The makeup and SFX was a different story completely, in scenes 1, 2 and 4 my actress had some self harm scars on her arms, where as in scene 3 these same scars had to become open cuts. Because I wanted to sell the effect of the cuts in scene 3 being the same cuts that had healed for scene 1, 2 and 4, I had to make sure they were in the same place on my actresses arms, the same size and shape so that it translated well. I had taken pictures of the scars when I did them on the first day so that I could use it as a reference for placement when it came to doing to cuts the next day. My actress had fake tanned earlier that week and so when the SFX was removed, her fake tan had been removed with it, hilariously, this actually helped an awful lot to show where the original scar SFX had been. My other main piece of SFX, that I did on the second day of shooting was the inverted pentagram on my actresses back, this was new in this scene so the continuity did not matter in the same way as the cuts. However, I had used the inverted pentagram symbol in the first 2 scenes and so the same symbol being carved into her back acted as a link between the scenes.

This has only been an extremely short and basic blog but I felt it was important to talk about this as an aspect of my production.

Since the planning for my short film has been all done by me, my actors aren’t really involved in knowing much about the film, it’s storyline, and the shots I wanted to be filming with them all. So I decided, to make sure they were all aware of the context of the film, their involvement, and the shots I needed to take, I gave them all a copy of the script, the shot list and their call sheets a few days in advance so that they were up to speed on the whole production. I also gave them all contributor release forms for them to sign, this makes sure they agree to me using the recordings of them in my film and that they understand the use of the footage. These documents are all very important to making sure that the production will run smoothly and that the actors do their jobs and come prepared and on time.

Since I did write an individual blog about both the shot list and the script, in which you can find screenshots of both, I won’t be including screenshots of these documents in this blog, instead just the call sheets and copies of the contributor release forms once filled in and completed.

Below is a screen shot of the call sheets for both filming dates, 24th and 25th, with all the actors needed for each shoot on the forms. I did not need to send these call sheets to anyone but the actors as nor I, or my main actress, Ella, were missing any college time for the filming, therefor it had no impact on any of our classes. My only concern with the accuracy of these call sheets is the ‘props’ list section of the call sheet for scene 3 (seconds screenshot). The reason for this being is that when coming up with ideas for the set design I have gathered a few props I feel will work but I know the barn next door to the one I will be using has a lot of junk in there that I am told I am allowed to use if I want. I may end up using some of this stuff but am not sure what I will be using yet, the only two props I remember seeing from my initial visit are some old doors and a rusted metal trunk of sorts, but other than that I don’t know what I may end up being inspired by therefor cannot plan for it.

Below are some pictures of the contributor release forms all filled in and signed, although I was working with family and friends who, I would hope, wouldn’t want to let me down, I still think it proves a level or professionalism to get these documents signed in and for my actors to understand what their contribution actually is.

All my actors had their own copy of the script, shot list and call sheets stapled together so that they were completely aware of all the timings and shoots and so everything would run smoothly. I also had my own directors pack with the sam documents attatched to it but also with the contributor release forms attatched as well as all the location permissions, one was a sheet I filled out for location permission and the other is an email sent on behalf of the owner of my other location. Here is some pictures of my pack: