'Thousand Words' Day 2 Interior "Apartment" Shoot

  

Photography by Christopher Lee

Apologies about the extremely late continuation of this series covering 'Thousand Words'. It's been an incredibly busy few months and along with external shoots as well as university film projects, it's been crazy and I've found it so difficult to keep up with all the workload. Anyway...

Here we continue our adventures of filmmaking on set of Chris Gill's 'Thousand Words' Music Video! Today, I am discussing the progress of our second day of shooting. Despite there being no battles with the cold weather, hobos or risk of being arrested for filming in Central London, there were still plenty of interesting ups and downs, so keep on reading!

Unfortunately, being unable to do a location recce before the actual shooting day we had to deal with the space issues and improv set dressing on the actual day. Though it took some time to get everything set up  we used our time wisely! While Chris was in hair and make up with Becky, our on set Hair & Make Up Artist, we moved the furniture, unpacked and set up all our equipment and started set dressing with the things we had in the actual apartment. 

All the spaces that were available to us (i.e. Open Living/Kitchen Area & Bedroom) were far smaller than we first anticipated. It was difficult to fit the entire cast and crew in there (despite it being a skeleton crew) and setting up the shots we wanted. However, we managed and did exceptionally well, getting enough coverage of both Chris singing solo as well as Chris and Chantal together as a couple. We played night as day and even got some more coverage of what we referred to as the "phantom singing shots", where Chris was singing to Chantal but she was unaware of his presence. 

It was a very long day in the end and after Seun, our Production Runner got lost attempting to purchase more DV tapes for the camera and Chris, our Production Photographer falling asleep several times during the shoot (no joke!), we sent most of the crew home and got some interviews for the Behind the Scenes featurette. Will, our BTS Camera Operator interviewed Chris, Chantal and myself. We talked about the project and how we've all come together to create it. Hopefully, you guys will get to see some of this, along with more BTS very soon!

Next post talks about the most important footage coverage day, our day at the warehouse studio where cinematography became the most important factor as well as set dressing. However, we had a little more control over the environment so despite there being a lot to do, we felt more comfortable and creative being able to do it in an open space. Our studio was kindly offered to us by friends Karl Roberts and Toot. Many thanks to them for all their generosity and contribution, we really couldn't have done it without their help and tremendous patience! 

'Thousand Words' Day 1 External Shoot

Photography by Christopher Lee

Finally blogging about the actual shoots on the 'Thousand Words' MV production! The cast and crew were battling the elements on our first shoot day, but despite the bitter cold of the classic British weather and lack of daylight, everyone did exceptionally well and we actually got a lot completed! The best news of all? We were not arrested or moved on by the police, despite shooting on location in Central London!

Bit of a slow start in Soho Square, getting to grips with the location, equipment and lighting (as well as Chris G being late! Tut tut!) but despite it all we got some really lovely shots of Chris and Chantal together and some solo shots of Chris, including our very first singing (or rather lip-syncing shots)! After some moving around, a brief scare with a Community Support Officer walking past, a LOT of church chimes, a very large tourist group that were standing in the background for an uncomfortable length of time, a convoy of roller-bladers with loud music and a few hobos coming over to talk about their own "productions", lack of hats/socks and then asking for money, we moved on to some different locations around the area to get more shots and coverage.

We moved on to film some couple walking scenes and were cheating when it came to the close ups of the holding hands, where we made the actors walk at a fraction of their normal pace to get the right movement. To get some scenes of Chris walking alone, we ventured around the corner and dealt with some issues of having to move the equipment set up because of cars and letting some members of the public know they were about to be filmed, but all in all, we managed to get some lovely footage and even managed to fit in some time for close ups. Then we moved to Meard Street to get some shots of Chris as the "isolated protagonist" where we ran around him many a time to get the right effect and while he was trying his best not to burst into a fit of giggles, the rest of us had a hard time to keep up with Luc, our wonderful Cinematographer and his extremely long legs! Further up the street is where we set up for our very first set of singing shots and we were all very pleasantly surprised to find out how good Chris was at lip-syncing! Alas, we also dealt with our first rude and uncooperative member of the public here, when some grumpy old man walked right into shot despite crew being on traffic control! Some people eh? The joys of shooting in public spaces!

After breaking for lunch we resumed filming back at Soho Square where it was important to utilize the daylight while we still had some. Therefore, the 'time lapse' shots had to filmed at this point. Poor Chris had to sit out in the cold for half an hour, trying his hardest not to move and when he did have to perform some sort of movement (including blinking!), he had to slow it right down and do so at a fraction of his normal speed. An incredible challenge for him, sitting so still for a long period of time is hard enough but in the painful cold was some feat! Good job we cut it all short in the end, as we were originally planning to leave it running for an hour (yikes!) to get the best movement when sped up in post! After some warming up with some hot drinks, we moved on to film more singing shots in a different location, mainly looking for an aged brick wall. Surprisingly enough, we didn't deal with too many complications with people and vehicle traffic here, but rather the fact that Chris and Chantal neglected to follow the rest of the crew and ended up getting lost while we were on the move! Our final couple shot followed these singing set ups, with our on-screen couple window shopping together. By this time, the daylight was rapidly fading and there was not much more we could have completed externally, but we managed to get - in my opinion - more than enough footage for the edit, so a wrap for the first shoot day was called! After a cast and crew group photo was taken (minus Ellie, our Runner), courtesy of our Production & Commercial Photographer Chris Lee, we were all happy to make our way back to the warmth of our own homes!

Next shoot day: Interior 'Apartment' - our most important and cram-packed day! Check back for more in-depth details about it!

It's A Wrap!

I have officially called wrap on the 'Thousand Words' music video production today! We've done it! An incredible amount of work has gone into just these three short days worth of shooting and I can only hope that we have more than enough coverage and footage for an amazing and smooth edit! Despite all the ups and downs with issues with lack of space, public liability, props and most of all lighting (!) we have managed to pull it all off and I am so incredibly proud of the progress of this project, from start to finish.

It all couldn't have been possible without an amazing team behind me! Many thanks to everyone that helped on this production, I am truly humbled and honoured to work with such a wonderful cast and crew that have gone above and beyond to make this production as successful as it has been. It has been such a pleasure working with such a talented and dedicated group of creatives that have so kindly put in all their time and effort into making this music video possible. These words simply do not express my gratitude and I can only hope that you have all gained some valuable experience from this, as well as had lots of fun in the meantime, despite the stupidly long hours and hard graft that comes with the job!

More details and pictures to come of the shoots themselves! Watch this space people, some exciting stuff coming this way very soon! In the meantime, a shout out to my fantastic cast and crew on 'Thousand Words': Luc Sung, Seun James, Tom Fuller, Will Oakley, Chris Lee, Becky Hall, Chantal Chevailler, Ellie Rees and most of all, Chris Gill, my wonderful adopted older brother who worked himself like crazy to get this production to where it is today. And special thanks to Karl Roberts and Raj Toot, whom were incredibly gracious and not only let us borrow all their lighting equipment, but were generous (or foolish depending on how you think of it haha!) enough to let us turn their rehearsal/living space into a film studio! Thank you everyone, "a thousand words are never enough"!

'Thousand Words' Final Pre-Production Meeting

 

Photography by Christopher Lee

The final 'Thousand Words' crew meeting for Pre-Production took place on Sunday 13th February. It's been a while since I've had the chance to post this entry, hence the gap in between the event and this post. You'll be glad to hear that everything went very smoothly though, it was a wonderful opportunity to get everyone involved together for one last meeting before the shoots began. 

Amongst the hundreds of handouts I had to give out on the day (literally, no joke!), the crew seemed to connect well with each other. Everyone was keen to start production on 'Thousand Words' and it was great to have so many talented and dedicated individuals working with Chris and myself on this project. There have been a lot of ups and downs already, mainly dealing with location, the final remastering of the music track and getting our hands on some decent equipment were the issues that worried me the most, but after finalising these details, everything just seemed to slot nicely into place. 

There was (and still is!) a ton of paperwork to complete on this project for health and safety and insurance reasons, as well as something as simple as keeping everyone updated on every aspect of the production. Being a Producer is certainly not an easy job, but when you're partially managing the Recording Artist as well as Directing and Editing the entire production, things do get crazy, especially if you're juggling an MA alongside! But at the end of the day, I'm having a really fun time doing it all and despite the late nights and short sleeps, I've never been happier working! I know all this hard work is going to pay off in the end and it's not just me that's working incredibly hard! I couldn't have asked for a better cast and crew, everyone is so hands on and willing to help I feel so grateful to be surrounded so many supportive members. It has definitely helped the process along, even if I have preferred to deal with the majority of it myself, it's reassuring to know there are many ready to help. 

I want to thank my entire cast and crew for all their hard work so far in this production. I am truly humbled to work with such wonderful people and I'm confident that this amazing energy will transfer to every corner of this project and the end result will be (hopefully!) everything we hoped for in the early stages. A special shout out to Luc Sung, our wonderful Cinematographer, whom is so incredibly hard working and dedicated that even though he was super ill, still came out to sit with us for 2 hours to have this meeting, you never cease to amaze me "darling"!

Still to come...a sneak preview of Behind the Scenes photos (courtesy of our talented Production & Commercial Photographer Chris Lee!) on our first shoot that took place on Sunday 20th Feb in Central London! Blog post to come very soon! And of course, our final shooting weekend this coming Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th February! Very exciting stuff! Keep checking this space!

'Thousand Words' MV Green Light

After some serious issues with crew members, schedules and even more so, location we have finally sorted out 90% of everything we need to give the "Thousand Words" Music Video the green light for production. With a general shooting schedule confirmed, locations decided and booked, we are putting together final details in order to commence shooting from the 20th February onwards!

Many thanks to those who expressed their interest and applied to work with us on this project. We had lots of applications but have chosen some talented and enthusiastic people for the job and I'm confident that it's going to go really well! (Fingers crossed this is not famous last words!) And an even bigger thank you to those that have offered to help in other departments such as location, equipment etc. You have no idea how much of a help you've been and contributed to the green light being called on this production!

Wish us luck everyone! Let's make cinema magic! More information to come on this project as and when things are happening! So, watch this space!

Road to the BAFTAs

Usually my Wednesday nights are spent at home with the housemates. We're all usually either working, playing games or glued to the computers doing whatever we normally do. We have dinner together, chat at the table, clean up and then return to whatever we were doing before dinner. As boring and repetitive as that sounds it's actually comforting to me and I'm really happy. It reminds me of being at home and stops me from getting overly homesick at times. This Wednesday was very different though.

This Wednesday 26th January, 2011 was spent at the BAFTA building in the heart of London. For those that don't know - but really should know, especially with the picture above! - BAFTA stands for the British Academy of Film & Television Arts. Now, don't too excited, I didn't attend the Award Ceremony, as much as I wish I did! That is marked up on the calendar for the 13th February...alas to be watched at home and not live at the Royal Opera House! Instead, I was at the BAFTAs to see the first official screening of the four final project films of the MA Filmmaking students from last year.

Each film had it's individual character and unique attributes and were exceptionally well executed. In fact, you could not at all, for a single minute tell that they were student-made short films! Of course, nothing is ever perfect. So, there were certain things that were noticeable that could have been a bit better or tweaked slightly. But overall, a wonderful showcase of hard work and passion.

I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at the BAFTA building. I learnt a lot of things and met a sensational group of people that gave me an insight of the year ahead of me. I'm nervous about the standard of work we have been set with last year's students' films, but I'm also extremely excited about rising to the challenge and hopefully exceeding these high standards! In a year's time I will be back at the BAFTA building, but this time it will be my coursemates and myself that are in the limelight. We will be screening our films and that will be our time to shine...I can't wait!

ChrisG: Artist, Lyricist, Singer

Chris and I have been friends for over a year and half now, but somehow it feels like we've know each other forever. I met Chris when I went to work for Madame Tussaud's in London during the summer break between my second and third year at university. Out of all the wonderful people I met there, Chris is the one person I still keep in regular touch with. We have a lot things in common, like our love for Hong Kong, interest in Chinese TV dramas, immature humour at times and now more than ever, our ambition to succeed in what we love doing the most. Chris is like my older brother and over the years I've accumulated quite a few people into this dis-functional, adopted family of mine, but like my real family, I will always try my damn well hardest to help them get to where they dream to be.

This post is the first of many to come about ChrisG, and no doubt not just from me either. We're hoping to get Chris better known in the music industry by promoting his stuff, giving everything a great, big musical revamp and - this is where I come in - creating his first professional music video for his beautiful song "Thousand Words", complete with a behind-the-scenes featurette as well.

We've just had our first pre-production meeting and the ball is definitely rolling, with plans on story boarding, filming locations and production crew already under way. Shooting is planned to commence very soon and a remastering of the song itself is about to enter production already! These times are extremely exciting and despite everyone being so busy with other commitments, I personally am delighted to be spending my spare time on this amazing project.

Despite the wait for the MV, you can have a sneak preview by listening to "Thousand Words" now along with all his other current stuff here. Help Chris move up the charts by becoming a fan and spreading the word!

We are also always looking for help on the production of this project as well! Tell us what you can do on set, in our design department or if you have a great location for us to shoot, props for us to use, sponsorship to fund the project or even distribution contacts, we want to hear from you! Email me using the link on my profile or simply leave your contact details on a comment on this post and we'll get in touch! Thank you everyone for your support, we won't let you down!