George Wing Television Blog

Overall I have found this unit to being really beneficial and a great refresh on job roles. With the busyness of studio production and our commission pieces, working in a smaller group project and focusing on specific roles has been insightful. From doing this unit I have been inspired for things to come for my third year project i.e. learning new effects. This will be a shot evaluation of what I have learned form this project, what worked, what didn't work and what I would do differently had I the chance to do it again. When we first started this unit I was very worried about finding what job role I wanted to take on. I was stuck between Director or DoP. In the end I decided to undergo the role of director which turned out to being a good choice and was a role I truly enjoyed doing. Whilst this was my main role, I also shared other roles with the team that we weren't specializing in (i.e.Producing). Overall we didn't have very long to complete this project, and thoug...

For this unit one of the submission requirements was to create a website where our final cut and key development research and journey is showcased. Wanting our website to represent the TV show The Wrong Mans and the final cut as closely as possible I have created a website on Wix.com that I believe relates and represents the TV show as much as possible. Instead of signing up to my own Wix account Jack already had an account with Wix.com, so using Jacks account which he sent me the details over I started to created our website. But before designing the layout I  wanted to research into The Wrong Mans and the key graphical elements they use so I can get a better understanding on how I can make our website represent the show as much as possible, for example a key element I noticed in both the show and posters is the colour grey. The colour grey is used through the TV show and promotional advertisement such as their poster as this represents that both Phil and Sam have dull boring job...

"Yes, a movie teaser is used to promote a movie trailer. ... Its is the most important feature of a movie. It's the main design element that captures a persons' interest. The challenge is to design a poster that has the right balance, which conveys the movie's theme" -Tiffany Unscripted In preparation for third year, I decided to have a go at making the posters to advertise the film. I used stills from the recording and edited them in Photoshop to make a couple of film posters. Researching into both film and television posters I gathered the key elements and key information together that an advertising poster needs, for example the title, actors names and credits. When editing I want the poster to have a tense atmosphere of confusion, mystery and suspense which I think the still I have selected to use does that, but to create a tense atmosphere even more I used a grey hue over the top of the still. Using both a grey hue and stills that doesn't give ...

As a result of Connor not being able to collect his hard-drive in time or our rough cut viewing I felt I hd to make an executive decision and edit the rough cut for our production. My edit was fairly basic just for the rough cut and now Connor has the drive and an idea of how I intended it to look as director, we should be well on our way. Also, it means myself and Connor will have worked very closely on the edit: " Sometimes the editor and director work together, discussing every nuance." (Grove and Grove, 2018). We also had feedback from Simon and will work according to that. Feedback From Simon:  Don't be afraid to keep shots held longer to seem less rushed Audio needs fixing Add music Intro could have more of an establishing shot so we are more aware of the environment Because we are intentionally breaking the 180 degree rule we need to be sure to hold the breaking shots linger otherwise it looks like a mistake. I sat through with Connor at the end of the ...

We intentionally break the 180 degree rule to make it seem as though Sam and Phil are being watched. In the show the FBI uses them and doesn't care for they own welfare (there is always this greater power keeping track of them). Unlike the original direction of Jeff, I wanted Sam and Phil to have shown visibly through camera movement and breaking this filming rule that they are being watched. Ever since learning about this rule in Simons workshop in my first year on Television Production, I have always wanted an excuse to break the rule and this unit has given me that exact opportunity. In previous work I've made, I had no reason to break the rule, and it isn't something typically done in documentary either. (See Workshop:  Story Telling Unit-Camera Workshop 3: 180 degree rule ) Research Before testing this rule in our own production, I needed to see how other directors had done it and wether or not it is effective. If ineffective, it could ruin the entire proj...

My first inspiration actually comes from a music video, and example video I showed to Simon in my first transitions one on one tutorial, where I was originally going to make a music video given it was something I hadn't previously attempted. However, the idea has evolved since then, but some inspiration has stayed in my mind still nevertheless. Cinicom.net has been a go to source  of inspiration for me, and is something I watch in my free time to pick up ideas. Now this 3D camera track is very complex and didn't really fit the basis of our adaptation for 'The Wrong Mans' and is a time consuming process; and takes a lot to learn in the edit. However, it is from doing this unit that I have been inspired to research into some cool effects to make my third year project even better, and by looking early I can test and plan ideas. Whilst the tutorial below doesn't resemble the effect in the music video 'River' exactly, it has the overall concept. the two have bee...

Todays shoot was very interesting and a great learning curve for us all I believe. Because we came across so many problems today, we had very little time to overcome them. This is very common in production and something we need to get use to in industry, but the purpose of university is to learn. I feel after the events of today I can deal with most things, and its always good to be prepared for something to go wrong. The day started out when our main actor playing Stevens dropped out. I was concerned that I hadn't had a response to one of my latest emails so I decided to phone him to confirm everything just in case and he had booked himself in for another job role, and therefore can no longer do our shoot. This was very stressful to hear, but in trying to behave as professionally as I could I told him not to worry, and that I would phone him back should I not be able to find a replacement today and consider rescheduling to another shoot day. Rescheduling really wasn't someth...

The first shoot day was a success overall, and although the hotel room location we organised wasn’t as big or luxurious as we originally intended for the scene, we were still able to use it for free and the manager was very nice and accommodating towards us. Me, Jack and Connor arrived early to set the equipment up and drop everything off as there wasn’t enough room in the car for all the equipment and to pick Andy up from the station. We picked Andy up and took him to the hotel just in time for Alex to arrive. We introduced the tow and did a quick line block. This was a good way for them to practice lines and also get to bounce each-other. Trying to set the white balance  We had some small technical issues at the beginning; the hotel room lighting wasn’t very good to work with; the shots looked very orangey. We tried adjusting the white balance which didn’t really help that much as it looked too blue. We resorted to adjusting the color Kelvin which helped but overall we...

A common misconception when filming with a small crew is that you won't need a call sheet. However, misunderstandings and mistakes about who is bringing what equipment and what time they were needed on set are all common errors and can lead to delays or even the loss of a day’s filming.  "Whether you are working on a Hollywood blockbuster or student documentary, you need to make sure that everyone involved in the production knows what they are doing, where they are doing it and when they are doing it — or else you will run into problems." (Videomaker.com, 2018) And when filming our shot list came in handy as did our risk assessment. We knew we had an outdoor shoot and wanted to use the ROTA Light with its battery rather than plug in for our hotel scene. However, the battery would last that long so we would need to take into uni in-between the shoots to charge back up. Also when shooting at a highly regarded hotel and professional studio environment it is much more profess...

As Director, I really wanted to incorporate the use of POV (Point of View) in my shots to make the audience feel immersed into the piece and to make them empathise for Sam and Phil being put in this intimidating, life threatening situation. This was inspired by the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 16 'Last Day on Earth', where Daryl wares one. This was used throughout most of the episode, which came across as very effective and I feel for our own piece its something we could incorporate. It may even add to the humour of the piece. In research I came across this scene and it was similar in many respects. It wasn't a blindfolded scene, but they were POV shots from inside the back of the van, which had the agh beaming through these small bullet holes. Director of this episode Greg Nicotero, who has also worked on Sin City (something very stylistic, especially in its color grade), would've intended this POV for the audience to feel intimidated by Negan, especially wit...

Director Farren Blackburn who came in to give us a masterclass said he doesn’t use shot-lists or storyboards unless it's something big, visual effect.  "I know my blocking and I know my action. I know what I want when I go on the floor and work with the actors, but I'm also flexible if they have any inputs. The reason why I don't do shot list and storyboards is to avoid being locked to a set up.”  This is very unique for a director, as storyboarding can be key. However, I wanted to have a shot list on shoot with me not as something to be locked down to but as a guide if we got stuck and to keep things moving. There were still a few ideas that were improvised on the day like the projector for the 90's, something that happened to be there and made the shoot way more effective. Having a shot list gave me some structure to follow which was important for the limited amount of time we had in the studio. 

In this transitions unit, my assigned roles is as director. Something thats really inspired my directing was a masterclass I had last year where British award-winning director for film and TV is screenwriter Farren Blackburn came in and discussed his professional career in directing. I felt very inspired by what he had to say and it influenced my 'Directions Unit' Project at the time. When having meetings to discuss new projects, Blackburn often uses mood boards to show how he wants things to look like and refers to different movies, but he never uses stills from movies to say exactly how he'll do it. I too for my project designed a storyboard for how I wanted my promotional video to go, as it would help me visualise how I wanted my piece to look. Farren Blackburn However, he doesn't use shot-lists or storyboards unless it's something big, visual effect. "I know my blocking and I know my action. I know what I want when I go on the floor and work with the ...

Casting for this prosecution was always going to be a bit of a challenge given I wanted the cast to look as similars as possible to the original to see how differently I could make it if I was directing the original piece. Sam Pinkett  Sam Pinkett is originally played by Matt Baynton. Sam is a lowly office worker, whose laziness and lack of ambition have caused him to stagnate in his job as a Town Planning and Noise Guidance Advisor at Berkshire County Council. It doesn't help that ex-girlfriend Lizzie is now his boss, or that he is prone to panic attacks. Life is boring and painful, but things get a whole lot more interesting, as our unlikely hero becomes embroiled in a life-or-death conspiracy. Someone who actually reminded me of Sam when I watched the series was my course mate Alex Hargood. His character and appearance is uncanny and so I spoke to Alex and asked if he has ever acted before and if he would be up for the part. He said he would be and asked me for the details an...

Costumes for this production were fairly straight forward; most character would ware fairly straight forward closing, give Sam and Phil are 'ordinary' people and therefore would dress in 'ordinary' clothing. Our actor for Stevens, Alex came in, in the specified outfit (suit and long brown coat if he has one). He fit the outfit perfectly ad did Alex (Hargood) and Andy, who I showed costumes to for each of the scenes. For the Hotel scene, Conor picked up a towel and white bath robe for the costume of Phillip Bourne and I feel this was an effective outcome and resembled something very similar to the really thing. Alex had his own clothes for this scene too. Had he not we would've got him something similar just for the authenticity. He had a black v-neck top similar to the one worn by Mathew Baynton in the original scene, where he finds one which is too small for him and isn't his top.  The other costume was for Stevens: I feel the costum...

Something I really wanted to test in this unit was an eye zoom effect, which I knew if I was to use, I would need to shoot for it; it wasn't something that could just be done in the edit. To see this idea would not only work but also flow well with our re-make of The Wrong Mans, I would need to give it a test shoot to test the idea out with the style, music and theme of the overall piece. I decided to use Alex for this as he would be playing the part of Sam Pinkett for our final version. Having the same actor would also allow me to see how he works on camera and if he is definitely right for the part.  The outcome of this test shoot is shown above and it was successful overall. Although Connor is the editor for our final project, I was genuinely interested in this idea I had researched and wanted to see if I could do it myself, then teach Connor. This is a good way of learning and being able to bounce ideas well off of each other. The process is as follows: Import two ...

'Where's my money? Script' Scripting the piece was fairly straight forward as we didn't need to change or want to change any of the dialogue. Changing dialogue could risk losing the shows tone and humour if it isn't done right and it's not a skillset either of us particularly wanted to practice. The stages to this process were fairly straight forward; we would have the same dialogue but change the scene directions around accordingly. However, there was no copy of the script online so myself and Jack listened to the scene over and wrote one scene each. This meant the process was more lengthy, but did mean I know every single detail of the script, which is good to know when directing. I wanted my scenes to flow well together so the whole sequence doesn't look scattered. However, the best way we found of doing this was to put the scene out of their chronological order which sounds buzzer. However, the scenes are a couple of episodes apart so having the hotel ...

For this unit, when directing I have learned that I work well with mood boards and they really help with my creativity. I usually follow a pallet of colours to inspire a piece, and those images can bring that color and help to inspire the tone of the shots. As previously mentioned lighting is very important to a piece to improve its overall aesthetic.

Lighting will be key to this scene.The scene will open to darkness and the two characters dialogue will begin with the sounds playing on the outside. I wanted to experiment with lighting a bit more in this scene, but after testing the different light sources on a test shoot we found it didn't come out as accurately as planned. The red and blue lighting would be inconsistent to the rest of the shoot and would be difficult to recreate with every shot for continuity. Also, the scene would need to have a natural light source in order for it to make complete sense but there would be nowhere that the colours red and blue would naturally come from.  “This arrangement of key, fill, and backlight provides even illumination of the scene and, as a result, is the most commonly used lighting scheme in typical narrative cinema.” (College film and Media Studies, 2016). This is especially important with a multi camera setup. “If lighting isn’t done properly, a video production can go from top qua...

Scene 1- Surf Shack  Organising locations was tricky, but I think we have now found the perfect places to shoot. We knew we didn’t want a standard Travelodge for our first scene as it wouldn’t have worked well in coordination with the dialogue “We passed a Travelodge” “We also passed some bins outside Sam and we’re not sleeping in those have some self respect”. This needed to be a posh hotel and where better location than Bridgewood Manor  Jack knows the are better than myself and he knew of this hotel and suggested filming there. He phoned them up and spoke to the manager and he willingly agreed to help us out and let us film there. Because the room may be rented out to paying guests on the day filming we needed to call back a week later closer to the time of filming to double check its availability which is fair enough considering we have been kindly given this location for free. In addition to this, we kept a backup plan in mind for an alternative for this scene. The...