Durham Miners Hall

After speaking to someone at the Durham Miners Hall, they said they would get back to me, however I didn't hear anything.

This morning I went down to the Durham Miners Hall and I spoke to the person who is in charge of the association. He said that they would be more than happy to help me with the location and they're going to get back to me this week with the time and date.

We have provisionally booked for this weekend, however it'll be confirmed by the end of the week.

I am extremely excited about filming here as it is exactly what I was looking for!

UPDATE

I have just contacted the Miners Hall in Durham, asking whether it'd be possible to use one of their offices for around about an hour to film my briefing scene.

The man seemed extremely keen and is going to check the times and dates and get back to me. I think this would be great in terms of fitting in well with the rest of my film and hopefully it'll be what I was looking for.

In terms of the ES, I am hoping to get the outside of the Miners Hall, however I will have to see which office I can use first so that the outside of the building and the inside fit together. If the office turns out to be modern, there is a place near Stockton at:

Urlay Nook Road
Eaglescliffe
Stockton-On-Tees
Cleveland
TS16 0QG

This is a very futuristic building, therefore i'd need a modern office if I was to use this as my ES.

 

If the Miners Hall doesn't go ahead, I will continue to look into the fire service office and I will upload the picture as soon as I recieve it.

Then if this fails, I will look into the University office.

I have still not recieved a reply from the hotels, so I guess that wasn't meant to be!

I'll let you know how I get on.

Office

I have been doing some research into different venues for my ES and also the briefing scene.

I contacted the hotels in Durham, however they haven't got back to me - typical!

In terms of the briefing scene, I know someone who works in Spennymoor Fire Station and they said I could use their office, which is meant to quite modern, however they are hopefully going to send me a picture of the office today so that I can see if it would work.

Another option would be one of the University offices in Durham where one of my neighbours works, which she said I could use.

After looking at the Durham Miners Hall for my ES, I am going to contact them to see they maybe have an office that I could use, therefore fitting in with the surroundings, as it would look better to have an old building and then a vintage style office, rather than an old building and then a modern office, however I will have to contact them.

I have found some contact details:
Miners Hall Red Hill, City Of Durham Labour Party Constituency Office, Durham, County Durham DH1 4BD
0191 384 3515

This looks like an MI6 building and I think it would work particularly well within my film. I will contact
them now to see if it is possible to use an office within the building.

Update On Briefing Scene

Today I went into the Royal Country Hotel and also the Three Tons Hotel in Durham and asked whether it'd be possible to use one of their rooms for filming.

Both hotels gave me people to contact via email, which I have done so, and I am now waiting for a reply.

If these venues are unable to help, I will try council buildings and office blocks, so I am not totally stuck.

Hope they can help!

Opening Title Sequence Song

I'VE WRITTEN MY SONG!

I have sent my rough recording to my producer Paul Soler and he has already started the track.

It's coming along extremely well and I hoping to get my vocals recorded in Whitewolf Recording Studio.

I absolutely love it. 

You'll get a preview soon enough!

UPDATE ON ES AND BRIEFING SCENE

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get into Durham today to sort out the room for the briefing scene, however I will hopefully do that tomorrow.

I will again, let you know :)

ES and Briefing Scene

From my feedback, I have decided to film my briefing scene again and also an ES.

After location scouting and conversations with friends and family, I have decided to go and look at an old building in Durham for my ES. It is behind the old bus station and sounds perfect for the part. I am going to take some pictures tomorrow when I take a further look at it and hopefully you'll approve!

For my briefing scene, I am going to talk to either the Royal County Hotel in Durham, or the Three Tons hotel about using one of their conference rooms, or a space room with a desk. Hopefully I will be successful with this, however if not, I will keep on looking.

I am hoping to do all this tomorrow, so I will update you on my progress once I know more.

Update

Well...

After receiving my feedback on my rough edit, I decided to look for a better place to film the briefing scene. Last night, I checked out the committee room in Coxhoe Club, however although it had the long desk, like MI6, the surroundings inside where too old and wouldn't look right in the 'modern' film. 

So, now I am having to think of another location to film my briefing scene in, however I am sure I will come up with somewhere. I was hoping to get the glass desk effect and have the environment modern, very much like Casino Royale, however I will have to find a place first!

If you have any ideas, please let me know and I will check some places out!

Title Sequence Song Research

As I have chosen to go down the 'Bond' route, I have been looking at the title sequence songs before I write mine and I have been particularly interested in Casino Royale's, Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall.

Skyfall: Adele - Skyfall
This is my favourite, as there is a distinct link between the film and the song. As the film involves Bond's encounter with Skyfall, the song fits in perfectly.

Quantum Of Solace: Jack White & Alicia Keys - Another Way to Die
This song refers to Bond as a whole, rather than the narrative of the film, which is nice spin. 

Casino Royale: Chris Cornell - You Know My Name
This song also refers to the tagline "The names Bond, James Bond", as the song is about knowing his name

I have decided to do the same with my song and make mine fit into the narrative, however I just need to write it now!

Log Sheet

LOG SHEET

Production: Missing

Producer: Kathryn Dowson

No.	Length	Good Features	Bad Features
4306	00:22	Nice pan	No talking whilst pouring drink
4307	00:16	Nice pan	Actor unsure on lines
4311	00:08	Nice CU	Lighting not good
4313	00:14		Lighting flickers and actor moves
4314	00:25	Clear Speech	Camera moves – unsteady
4315	00:23		Too close, lighting not good, unsteady camera
4316	00:29	Better lighting	Framing – actors head cut off
4324	00:06		Bad lighting – dull
4329	00:22	Good surroundings	Unsteady camera
4332	00:14	Good frame	Not long enough
4334	00:15	Nice frame	Unsteady
4341	00:22	Steady camera	Too long opening door
4349	00:12	Good frame	CU – out of focus
0066	00:36	Good lighting	Sound of urinals – slightly good with effect, however noisy
0082	00:15	Good framing and zoom	Echo of gun dropping on the floor
0088	00:08	Good SRS	Actors smiles
4258	00:10	Lighting is good	Actor looks at the camera
4266	00:07	Steady movement from actor
4269	00:06	CU – in focus
4274	00:14	Steady camera, nice shadow of hand
4275	00:10		Light is too light, head out of shot
0003	00:15	Good movement	Lighting
0011	00:18		Light too light, head out of shot
0017	00:07	Steady camera, good CU	Lighting, actor moves too fast
0020	00:11	High angle, CU, ECU	Light slight problem
0021	00:09	Upward pan – captures emotion	Slanty, unsteady camera
4825	00:14	Grass, unsteady – captures setting	Unsteady pan  - still works well
4832	00:10	CU, sound of smashing glass	Slightly unsteady camera, however works well
4834	00:07	CU, actors face
4289	00:29	High angle
4293	00:10	Good acting	Unsteady camera – still works though
4295	00:18	POV shot	Reflection of camera man
4301	00:08	LS, steady movement	Footage too short
0037	00:35	Steady, good acting	Footage too long
0048	00:15	Good lighting – builds suspense	Door’s not shut on the van
0051	00:17	“

Credits

-       Kathryn Dowson’s    (MIDDLE)

Ted Productions LTD

Presents

-       Luke Brocklesby    (MIDDLE)

-       as Laurene  (MIDDLE)

-       MISSING    (MIDDLE)

-       Staring DAVID DOWSON     (MIDDLE)

-       PAUL SOLER    (MIDDLE)

-       JOHN LINDSAY   (LEFT SIDE)

-       LIZ SOLER
J  JESSICA HAY                (RIGHT SIDE)
    PATRICIA O’BRIEN

-       LOUISE SMITH

Freerunning stunts by PAUL SMITH       (RIGHT SIDE)

-       with GAIL MAC      (LEFT SIDE)

-       and
    JOANNE DOWSON       (MIDDLE)
    as JO

-       Associate Producer       (MIDDLE)

ANDREW CAIRNS

-       Camera Operator  KATTY BROCK

Script Supervisor  ELENOR BEACHWOOD           (LEFT SIDE)

Publicity and Marketing  MELISSA BRAMFITT

Promotions  RITA WAY

-       Sound Recordist  PAUL BICKMAN

Stills Photographer  LEANNE OWENS

Makeup Supervisor  BETHANY JONES          (LEFT SIDE)

Hairdressing Supervisor  HAYLEY LAMBTON

Wardrobe Supervisor  JESSICA HUNT

-       Visual and Special Effects Supervisor  JAMES CORKER  

Construction Manager  ROLAND CUBELLO             (RIGHT SIDE)

Post-Production Supervisor  SHIRLEY DOWSON

-       First Assistant Director      (RIGHT SIDE)

SUE HUMPHREYS

-       Casting

BARBARA ASQUITH      (MIDDLE)

-       Main Title Design By      (LEFT SIDE)

AMY TRATARIS

-       Editor

KATHRYN DOWSON      (LEFT SIDE)

-       Production Designer     (LEFT SIDE)

RACHEL ATKINSON

-       Music By                        (MIDDLE/LEFT SIDE)

KATHRYN DOWSON

-       TITLE OF THE SONG

Performed By KATHRYN DOWSON        (BOTTOM MIDDLE)

Written and Produced By KATHRYN DOWSON and PAUL SOLER

-       Screenplay By      (LEFT SIDE)

OWEN BANK

-       Produced and Directed By      (BOTTOM MIDDLE)

KATHRYN DOWSON and LUKE BROCKLESBY

I am going to sent these to James Corker to allow him to continue with my opening title sequence.

Missing - Rough Edit

WOW. My rough edit is finally finished...what a relief!

I am so pleased with how it has turned out in the end and I am looking forward to starting the final piece. 

Some of the features in my rough edit, are going to be completely different in my final piece, however I wanted to give you a rough idea of what was going to happen. For example, the opening title sequence will be all animated by James Corker and I will involve envelopes and packages flying around a black background with red writing, however the position of the text and also the font will be different, as they will be done in after effects, rather than iMovie. 

I was unable to place some of the titles where I wanted to in the rough edit, as iMovie only has set templates for the text, however this will be all ok when it is done in the final piece. The reason I placed them where I did for my rough edit, is because Casino Royale has them in roughly the same place and I wanted replicate my research within my film. 

After re-watching my rough edit, the sound needs to be worked on, however I didn't make it perfect for the rough edit, as the footage may change. The effects all need to be improved as some "stingers" adding the suspence start in slightly the wrong place etc, however I wanted to give you an idea of how it'll sound. Also, different bits of footage have the sound louder or quieter, however that will all be sorted during the final piece edit.

Also, for the opening title sequence, I had to change some of the names for the rough edit, as the font and size that I wanted wouldn't allow me to have some of the names all on one line, however this won't be the case during the final piece. 

After watching Casino Royale, the whole opening sequence is done in black and white and as some of my footage is grainy, due to the light, I may decide to change my opening to all black and white for the final thing.

For the sound effects, I found a great 'slamming metal lid' sound effect in iMovie, to use for the gun dropping on the floor. I have also found a great website that had some sound effects on and that was - http://soundbible.com/1789-Loud-Bang.html - This is where I got the gun shot from and I think it works extremely well. 

The short titles last for 3 seconds and the titles with more than one name last for 4 seconds, allowing the audience to read the titles and take them in.

There are a few continuity errors, however they will be sorted.

NOW...all I need to do is write my opening sequence song and get it recorded with Paul Soler. I have included 'Diamonds' by Rihanna for my song in the rough edit, as I am hoping to achieve the same tone for the my opening song. 

The opening title sequence lasts for 1:29, so I will let James know and we can work on our opening title sequence from their.

I hope you like my rough edit and I'd really appreciate feedback - thanks!