Cut Out Diary (New One)

Diary Before Production


Tuesday 6th July - Sent out the email to see who could be cast in my film on the website www.castingnetwork.co.uk.


Wednesday 7th July- Heard back from Adele and Shana, it seems promising but neither female confirmed yes yet, they both want to have more information on the project.


Friday 9th July - Both females confirm they would like to be in the film and give me the details of their availability.


Sunday 11th July - The females each assign themselves roles, choosing the character that they believe they can relate to, the role they feel most comfortable with.


Thursday 15th July - Another female I contacted from the website www.castingnetwork.co.uk and makes me aware of why she can not be in the film but wishes me luck and to keep her in mind for the future.


Tuesday 20th July/ Wednesday 21st July - Shana makes up some ridiculous excuses about having to find somewhere else to live so not being able to commit to anything at the moment.
I speak to Adele over the phone about the problem that has arose and a possible resolution, she is going to contact actresses she knows and see if anyone is free to be in the film and that she knows to be reliable as she has either worked with them before or someone that she went to university with.


Friday 23rd July - Send out a new email trying to recruit a new female actress to play the role of Grace. Hear back from Josephine and Verity, I talk to both of them via email and Josephine seems like a good match for the role Grace as Verity keeps asking for some sort of payment after I've already stated in the email and on the website that it is a non-profit film, Verity contacts me yet again asking if I will be covering travel expenses instead. To which I had to inform her for the second time that it is a non-profit film and that I will not be able to cover pay or expenses. 


Monday 26th July - Pollyanna contacts me for more details as she is willing and keen to be in the film if it doesn't clash with her prior plans.


Thursday 27th July/ Friday 28th July - Further conversations with Josephine where she confirms she can be in the film as the role of Grace the only issue is she can not do the prior dates stated but can do the next weekend and that she can only start after one o'clock on Saturday 7th August but can start bright and early Sunday 8th August, so it's not really an issue. She sees their is a possible problem but is willing to try fix it by doing it a couple days later and is going to work around her prior plans so that it doesn't not have a major impact on the final product as in it's not rushed.


Diary During Production


Saturday 7th August/Sunday 8th August


Josephine and Adele previously know one another from working together at 'London Dungeon's' so they were bouncing off of one another when it came to acting together. There were a few bloopers but nothing to serious or that was time-consuming as in constantly laughing over something silly, they acted in a professional manner and were quick to want to start over if either or both made a mistake during a take.


Josephine made the character Grace some what comical at times not to the extent where it changed the short film into a comedy but to the extent that she made it seem as though her character dealt with things through laughing it off rather than letting her get it down a somewhat happy go lucky person.


Adele made the character Carmen into a rather loving and excitable character. However you soon knew when she had been crossed and she wasn't impressed as her whole demeanour changed and she would let you know exactly what was on her mind, whether you agreed with her or not.


With a few scenes I left Adele and Josephine to improvise their own actions and interactions with one another, otherwise I feared it would look completely staged, and may come across as uncomfortable. Since I was not 100% sure how comfortable they were with one another. For instance the kiss within the first scene could have merely have been a peck on the cheek but they went straight in for the kill and delivered a realistic and comfortable kiss on the lips and embraced one another. Which looks great and set the correct atmosphere at the beginning of the short film, they brought true essence to the characters as if that was really their lives they lead and not just roles. They used their real life chemistry and brought it to the roles to make it seem realistic and lifelike.


During filming Adele really got into the moment when doing the confrontation scene in which Grace finally tells Carmen that there is more to the promotion than she has previously let on. She went bright red in the face from shouting at Josephine, these scenes had to be re-shot a couple times, due to both Adele almost losing her voice when shouting and Josephine forgetting her lines a couple times and interrupting Adele by accident.


The initial collision scene in the beginning of the film has now gone as the beginning of the film was some what changed from  Carmen doing some house chores it has instead been changed to Carmen is merely relaxing at home watching television as Grace comes in. They still meet at the doorway of the lounge but instead it's as if Carmen is going to the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom whilst Grace is coming into the lounge to relax after her day at work. 


Also I changed the close up I was initially going to do in the first scene to a medium shot as when i first filmed it as a close up it created a somewhat small issue as after Grace and Carmen had greeted one another they instinctively moved away from one another as their was no reason for them to continuously hold on to one another and it wasn't exactly realistic.


There are a few minor changes but nothing that has a huge impact on the final product. Some of the lines have been reworded when they are said but not to the extent where it changes the meaning of the sentence or the main point they are trying to get across. The armchair is now a large sofa but that was rather a minor change that didn't really effect the essence of the film. 


There is no sign of tears during the film but the viewing audience is still able to feel/see the genuine emotion presented on both sides. The viewing audience are still presented with the range of emotions the two women go through in the film. Sadness on Carmen's behalf when she hears of Ashley's ultimatum as well as irritation/frustration and getting somewhat agitated. Happiness/excitement from both due to Grace proposing and at that one moment in time all their worries/problems appear to fade away as if nothing and no-one else is relevant at that one moment in time. Anger from Carmen when Grace drops the bombshell of Ashley ultimatum and Grace just seems to be calm, cool and collected about it rather than having a good rant about as Carmen is, she instead seems slightly happy go lucky about it as if it doesn't phase her at that moment in time. However the lack of tears didn't change the scene whatsoever crying wasn't definitely necessary for the scene, they adapted the scene to how they would each react if the same scenario was happening in their actual everyday life.