Sophie Emmerson TV Production Blog

"LOVE ACTUALLY" SCENE RECREATION DIRECTED BY SOPHIE EMMERSON- EVALUATION The Early Stages: Looking at Directors: What was successful? When researching different directors something that I really enjoyed was looking at a television show or film that I had enjoyed and finding out who had directed it, but then looking at what else they had directed and finding out they had directed something else that I had really enjoyed. For example I always knew that Richard Curtis was famous for his Rom Coms but when researching his work I discovered that he had a link so to all the famous British Romantic Comedies from the 1990's onwards, whether it was directing, producing or screenwriting; so since researching him I now like to think of him as the Auteur of British Rom Coms. So looking through different directors was definitely something I found successful as I learned so much more about people that work in film and Tv than what I knew before and I really enjoyed analysing wh...

What did I do: The first thing the I did during development was work out what sections I was selecting from the script. "Love Actually" is a film with multiple narratives therefore I had to go through the script and select the sections that I needed from the scene that I chose. As you can see in the images below I highlighted the sections that I had chose in pink and scribbled out the irrelevant sections. This enabled me to focus on what was important for my scenes and nothing else. I then re typed out the script to Final Draft and printed it. At this stage I read through the script multiple times and I follow Steve Finn's advice on breaking down a script. I focussed on the characters and the setting, I began to make rough notes and drew a very rough floor plan because at this point I knew my location. I highlighted the areas of the property in the floor plan that we would be using for each scene which enabled me to know what set space was available. Then I created bub...

Steve Finn - Directing Workshop What we did: Steve Finn is a famous Director that has been working in the Television industry for many years. He is most famous for directing soaps such as 'Eastenders' and 'Coronation street' and came to give us a masterclass about all his directing tips. The first thing that he taught us was 'Directors MUST have communication with actors'.  Steve said that it is key to always get lots of coverage as this can add pace in the editing stage. He outline many different shots and the effects that they can create, for example hand held shots help to emphasise a sense of urgency and rawness. We then looked at blocking and Steve told us to always block in triangles as this ensures that we can get many angles of the action. He also told us that we should always try to keep actors moving and  give them a purpose to move. For example put their props around the set to keep them moving and therefore keep the scene appearing fre...

Digital Single Lens Reflex What we did: During the DSLR workshop we looked at how the DSLR's work and how we can record sound and optimise the DSLR's features.  I own a DSLR which I use very often however I did not know even half of the features that Ferg taught us existed.  There are many benefits of using a DSLR: -You can change the lens. -You can use the image stabiliser switch. -You can get cinematic lenses that give you more control; for example being able to control the aperture. -They are brilliant for documentaries as they are small and light.  Furthermore I learned something very important about the DSLR, and that's that when recording sound it has to be recorded using a separate audio device, such as a TASCAM DR-70D.  I always assumed that the audio could just be recorded on the DSLR but due to not being able to view the audio levels it is much easier to use the TASCAM box. This is placed in the bag that the sound person can hold and is...

Location Recce: What I did: During the stages of pre production the first task I completed was filling out a location recce. Once I had decided on the location I arranged to go there one evening; this is because I was shooting at evening so I wanted to see how it would look at this time. I went around the property and took photographs of all the spaces I was going to be using. I then assessed whether it was suitable according to the recce sheet ad decided that it would be perfect to use for my location. Once I had the images of the rooms I could then start to make floor plans and plan the scenes and shoot in more depth. I could also start thinking about what shots I will need. What Was Successful? Finding the location was something that was very successful because I wanted quite an intricate layout; I wanted to have the bedroom next to the living room so that she can walk out of the living and into the bedroom but still hear the noise of her children talking next door. I was ve...