Seventh week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week has been the most demanding so far, but also the most fun. We have been shooting our short films, the ones we hade prepared so much during the preceding weeks.

Everyone had to deliver a whole package of paperwork to receive "greenlight".

The package included script, visual and technical storyboards, budget, legal forms, call sheets, shot lists... and at the same time we had to find locations and actors for our films.

Finally we were all greenlit and I shot my film... so fun! I had a crew of three persons working with me, doing camera, sound and lighting.

It all went well, in spite of a rather high time pressure. I had 74 shots to make in two days, and practically all of them required retakes. And we used both dolly and smoke machine (see picture).

I also was camera operator on two of my classmates' films, and sound operator in one. It was all great fun. Filmmaking is something you learn by doing.

My own short film was about a single father who wants to talk to her teen daughter so much that he locks her in to his apartment (see picture).

Next week we will be editing, and I am both scared and eager to see the result of my filming.

Today there was a national memorial day, and we were all free. A bunch of us went hiking to a waterfall on the other side of the island. It was an incredible experience. We swam in a natural pool and looked up to an about 100 m high, 90 degree steep, waterfall coming down right upon us.
A good ending of a challenging week!

Sixth week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week has been very busy. The themes have been editing and production administration, and we have also begun on our short film projects.

Is this an intense school? You bet. I feel like we have covered knowledge equal to one year of study - in six weeks!

We have gone through the whole process of paperwork with a film production - budgeting, scheduling, legal documents, script breakdown and more. Every student now has to prepare their film including all the paperwork, and the whole project has to be "greenlit" before shooting can start. And this while we all do our best to find actors and locations!

We have now split into groups where everyone gets to direct their own short film, with a crew of trained people (fellow students). During nine days our group will shoot four films. On the first one I was DP (Director of Photography, basically equal to cameraman in this setting). It was fun.

I won't be long this week - I think the picture here pretty much says how it is right now - film work all around the clock. But if you love what you do, you can do it a lot!

Thanks for your support!

Urban

Fifth Week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week began with a day with David Cunningham, a Christian film director who directed a couple of Hollywood features and TV series: To End all Wars, Expelled, Path to 9/11 and Little House on the Prairie.

David gave us a picture of his way into Hollywood, and it was very interesting to hear it directly from him and to be able to ask questions.

We also have made more assignments. In one of them I was cameraman in the other director. The first one was a "noir" piece that we shot during night, making it black and white (see photo). It came out really well, and I hope to publish it on YouTube soon.

The other one was a scene from a real film, with a pre-written, weird dialogue. As location we chose an autoshop (where vehicles are being repaired) and we shot also this one during night, to have complete control over the lighting.

This week we also discussed the different departments and positions in a professional film crew. There are countless of tasks: producer, director, assistant director, director of photography, script supervisor, gaffer, cameraman, production designer etc etc.

Meanwhile we continue to work on our short film scripts. Each student will make a 5 min short, where we will have our own crew, consisting of other students. I have been struggling with the script, because believe me, it's easier to write a longer film than 5 minutes if you want to tell something. On the other hand it is important to learn how to tell things concisely.

Today (Sunday) I got the opportunity to see a beach called Mile 88. This beach is really small but it's a little pearl. Who doesn't like turqoise water?

I wish you an awesome week wherever you are. Thanks for reading this!

Urban

Fourth week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week we have dived more into practical filmmaking, learning lighting and going further into sound and visual storytelling.

Simultanously we have been developing our short film scripts, with supervision from the school staff and according to scriptwriting theory.

We have been doing more and more group assignments, where we split into teams of about five people, where each has a specific role like director, audio mixer, boom grip, cameraman etc.

I got to be the director once (that's the role I most want to pursue), and it was really fun.

It's a little taste of what it is having a professional crew to cowork with, where each person is skilled and trained in his or her specific role.

Me and some classmates are going to a little church on Sundays, and I keep being suprised how good the sermons are. They are really instructive and applicable. This Sunday the theme was how to see what Jesus sees, in a very practical way. Jesus saw people who other people ignored, and he paid attention to them, just like God pays attention to every detail in our lives.*

With the help from God we can also start paying real attention to people around us, to listen to them and care about them.

*Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (A deliberate understatement!)

I wish you a really good week wherever you are.



...and, yes I got permission from the guys to publish photos!