Tag Archives: Council of Europe

The storm… after the calm.

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The day starts early for us, but the excitement charges our batteries more than the first coffee of the morning. The Director, 1st AD and Producer Assistant all meet in the office. We pick up the props and head off to North London.

Surprisingly, we get to the location too early. Its miraculous, London transport has for once worked perfectly. We meet the 2nd AD and the director of photography and go to knock Karim’s door. He’s the landlord of the location and wants to give us some instructions: where the actors are allowed to smoke, where we can put all the furniture, the safety measures that we have to keep in mind…

The actors wait upstaris having a chat

The actors wait upstaris having a chat

Some of the actors arrive really early too. They were also concerned about the usual transport surprises and prefer to arrive too early than not arrive at all.  They make themselves comfortable upstairs and get to know each other.  It will be a long wait. The beginning of the shoot is hard to get right. It is the key moment when most of the lighting has to be set up in the proper place.

The actors come downstairs. We start shooting all the “above the glass” shots. Mark Saunders, the director, give some directions and Claire Sharples, the 2nd AD, tell the actors where their initial position is. We still need more time.  We crowd all together around the monitor to see how the shot will look. The overexposed effect is great, but we find several dark “stains”: the edge of one small bulb in the ceiling, one of the rubber tops of the tripod’s leg… we cover all the defects with white tape and eventually we see the clapperboard in front of the camera: Roll 1    Scene 1    Take 1

All together around the monitor, checking the framing

All together around the monitor, checking the framing

Some feelings characterize the first hours of the shoot, perfectionism and optimism. This is not bad, but it can entail some problems: we can easily run out of time.  We all need to focus. The lunch break keeps being put off and people start getting nervous. Finally, we take the break and everybody seems satisfied with the job done so far.

First directions of the day

First directions of the day

The moment arrives to shoot the takes that made us to come to this location: the ones around the glass ceiling. The extras exchange contact numbers and leave the space.

Shots from “under the glass ceiling” work perfectly. Nevertheless, we are using some extra time that we haven’t contracted with the landlord, so we call him asking for one more hour. Costs start to rise, but we can’t let the pressure to drive us to take hasty decisions that will lead to problems in editing.

We move upstairs to shoot from “above the glass ceiling”. Lights are ready, camera in position, actors prepared… and suddenly, without prior warning, the camera switches off. We are already using a second extra hour. Karim, the landlord, arrives to the location. “We are having some technical problems”, how many times has he heard that excuse? Fortunately, the camera starts working again and we are able to take the last shot of the day.

Have we got everything we need? We think so. We tidy up, clean everything, put the furniture in place again… and leave the location. We talk about the day on our way back home. We are tired and a bit worried about having used two extra hours, but this is a normal issue in film production.
The next shooting day will be at Brunel University. We will use their green screen. It will be a quieter day and every take will be more planned because every shot has to be from specific distances and angles. There is no room for improvisation. On the plus side we don’t have time limit to use these premises so there is more time to get things right. It seems that it will be a journey without mishaps, but we won’t count our chickens before they are hatched.

If you want to see the pictures of the shooting, click here to visit flickr.

If you want to see the first samples of the video, click here.

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.



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Editing the Glass Ceiling

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Deja tus opiniones en español aquí.

Editing has started and we need to know your opinion.

If you want to see the progress, you can see the first, second, third and forth edit in the project web site.

Any suggestion, opinion, criticism will be welcomed.

Y tras la calma, llegó la tempestad…

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To read this blog in English please click here

Sí, el día comienza temprano para nosotros, tal vez demasiado, pero la emoción de estar a punto de ver el resultado de tanta planificación nos carga las pilas más que el café con el que iniciamos la jornada. Director, primer asistente de dirección y asistente de producción nos encontramos en la oficina. Recogemos todos los accesorios que preparamos el día anterior y nos dirigimos hacia North London.

Sorprendentemente, llegamos a la localización antes de tiempo. La sorpresa no es que nosotros seamos puntuales, sino que los medios de transporte de esta ciudad no nos la jueguen. Así que allí esperamos a que la segunda asistente de dirección y el director de fotografía lleguen. Llamamos a la puerta de Karim, el dueño de la localización, que nos quiere dar algunas instrucciones antes de que iniciemos el rodaje: dónde pueden fumar los actores, dónde podemos colocar los muebles que tengamos que mover para preparar el set, las precauciones que debemos tomar a nivel de seguridad personal…

Algunos de los actores llegan realmente pronto. Ellos también temen las sorpresas que las obras en el metro puedan darles, y prefieren llegar antes en lugar de no llegar nunca. Se van acomodando en la planta de arriba, donde les servimos algunos refrescos y galletas. La espera será larga. El comienzo del rodaje se hace de rogar, este es el momento clave en el que prácticamente todas las luces que nos harán falta a lo largo del día se ubicarán en el lugar apropiado. Claire y Pilar tienen problemas pegando el papel translúcido al cristal. Mientras todo este movimiento de muebles, cables, luces, trípodes, cámaras y actores se sucede, tenemos la oportunidad de conocer al resto de miembros del equipo que hasta el momento habían permanecido “ocultos” tras un número de teléfono o dirección de correo electrónico.

Los actores van conociéndose mientras esperan el comienzo del rodaje

Los actores van conociéndose mientras esperan el comienzo del rodaje

Los actores bajan. Empezaremos grabando todos los planos que se corresponden con el “mundo sobre el cristal”. Mark Saunders, el director, da algunas instrucciones, y Claire Sharples, la segunda asistente de dirección, coloca a los actores en su posición de partida para hacer las tomas de las multitudes caminando.

Primeras tomas del dia

Todavía necesitamos algo más de tiempo. Todos nos amontonamos alrededor del monitor donde vemos el resultado final del encuadre. El gran angular es excepcional. El efecto sobreexpuesto nos gusta a todos, aunque encontramos pequeñas “manchas” negras por doquier: el borde de un halónego en el techo, el tope de goma de la pata de un trípode… cubrimos estas pequeñas imperfecciones con cinta adhesiva blanca y por fin podemos ver la claqueta delante de la cámara: Roll 1 Scene 1 Take 1.

Buscando los "8 errores" alrededor del monitor

Buscando los "8 errores" alrededor del monitor

Si algo caracteriza las primeras horas de un rodaje es el perfeccionismo y el optmismo, lo que no es malo, pero puede conllevar algo bastante peligroso: que se nos acabe el tiempo y no hayamos grabado todos los planos requeridos. Además, todos necesitamos centrarnos en qué estamos buscando y meternos en el papel. Así es como la hora de comer se va posponiendo, y algunos miembros del equipo empiezan a ponerse nerviosos. La pausa llega y todos parecen satisfechos con lo que se ha grabado hasta el momento.

Llega la hora de realizar las tomas por las que hemos seleccionado esta localización: aquellas escenas que tienen lugar entorno al techo de cristal. Los extras marchan, no sin haber intercambiado antes sus contactos.

Los planos desde el “mundo bajo el cristal” marchan bien. Sin embargo, ya estamos utilizando algún tiempo extra que no habíamos contratado con el dueño de la localización, al que llamamos para pedirle una hora más. Los costes empiezan a incrementarse exponencialmente, pero no podemos permitir que la tensión nos empuje a tomar decisiones apresuradas que tal vez conlleven problemas más tarde a la hora de la edición.

Nos trasladamos rápidamente al piso superior para rodar los planos del cristal desde el “mundo sobre el cristal“. Las luces están a punto, la cámara preparada, los actores listos… y de repente, la cámara se apaga sin previo aviso. Estamos usando nuestra segunda hora extra sobre el tiempo contratado. Para que todo resulte todavía más “excitante”, Karim, el propietario del espacio, llega. “Estamos teniendo algunos problemas técnicos..” ¿cuántas veces habrá oído ya la misma excusa? Afortunadamente, conseguimos que la cámara vuelva a la vida y grabamos el último plano programado para este primer día de rodaje.

¿Tenemos todo lo que necesitamos? Parece que sí. Recogemos, limpiamos, recolocamos muebles bajo la atenta mirada de Karim… y abandonamos la localización. Intercambiamos algunas impresiones respecto al primer día de rodaje en el trayecto de vuelta a la oficina. Estamos cansados y algo preocupados por haber necesitado sobrepasar tanto el límite horario, pero en el mundo audiovisual este tipo de situaciones se dan a menudo.

El próximo día el rodaje será en el estudio de Brunel University. Usaremos su estudio verde para poder rodar los planos que requieren chroma key. Parece que será un día más tranquilo y que tas tomas serán muy matemáticas, ya que deberán ser desde unas distancias y ángulos muy determinados. No habrá espacio para la improvisación, y por otra parte no tenemos límite horario en cuanto al uso de las instalaciones. Parece que será una jornada sin complicaciones, pero no cantemos victoria antes de tiempo.

Si quieres ver las fotos del rodaje, pincha aquí para acceder a flickr.

Si quieres ver las primeras imágenes del rodaje, pincha aquí.

Para obtener más información acerca del proyecto “Speak out against discrimination”, pincha aquí.

Para obtener más información acerca de Spectacle, pincha aquí.

Giving shape to the project

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So what’s the conclusion from the director of photography after having visited the location with the glass floor? Does the CGI expert agree with this space? We now depend on these people to take the next steps. Once again we’re at a standstill and, considering that we’re running out of time, being unable to do anything is really stressful. The worst of all is to know that maybe the conclusion will be that we have to go back to our previous plan, forget about the location with the glass floor and order the perspex. This would mean that we’ve been wasting time that we don’t have just to end up going back to the starting point.
The day after the meeting, we receive these pictures from Mark Carey, the director of photography:

It seems to fit our requirements, but the CGI experts, Dave Barnard and Alan Marques, have the final say. Fortunately, after a few days, we receive some videos that make everything much clearer. They are the pre-visualization of the shooting in the location and in the studio. Alan has made 3D simulations of the shooting that are really useful. All the creative decisions now become technical decisions and the pre-visualizations wipe out the charm of the uncertainty, but I think we’ve had enough uncertainty so far, so we’re really pleased with these videos.

If you want to share in our happiness, download the videos from here:

Previs on location 1

Previs on location 2

Previs on studio 1

Previs on studio 2

Or watch them in our web site.

Thanks to this, we now know which lenses we need, the distance and angle of the shots… we even know how tall our actors have to be!

Finally, we can happily say that this is REALLY up and running.

Now we can go ahead and we all know that everything will speed up, but this doesn’t have to finish up in tragedy if we all know what we have to do and if we’re organized. We know which camera we need: the Red One; which lenses and lighting we have to order; which other props we have to get, like a black and a green cloth, a green rope, a window frosting film…

On the other side, the moment has arrived to speak with the owner of the location, and that’s something that we’re a bit concerned about. We’re really enthusiastic with the idea of shooting the video in that place, but… what if he is not as keen on it as we are? What if he doesn’t like more than 20 people wandering around his house, with a lot of cameras and lighting and food? (yes, it’ll be a long working day and we all need to eat at some point).

We visit the location wearing our best smiles and promising to behave. We take the measure of the glass, try different lenses and angles… and speak with the landlord. It’s a tricky issue because this location is his house, and he’s had bad past experiences with big production crews, so he prefers small photographic projects. He’s concerned about the implications for the neighbourhood. We get to an agreement and he even gives us some advice regarding the catering. Things are looking better… or are they?

Mark Carey (director of photography), Mark Saunders (producer), Dave Barnard (CGI expert) and Karim (landlord) working

Mark Carey (director of photography), Mark Saunders (producer), Dave Barnard (CGI expert) and Karim (landlord) working

Dave Barnard relaxing for a while and then discussing some points with Mark Carey

Dave Barnard relaxing for a while and discussing some points with Mark Carey below the "Glass Ceiling"

Suddenly a dark cloud sets over our heads. The focus puller calls saying that he’s been offered a 3 day job in Italy. We’re just offering him a 2 day job in Clapton. Mark, the Director of Photography, asks us to sort it out, even to put off the shooting day. No, that’s not possible. We’ve already contacted the actors, the Council of Europe, the other studio… Mark trusts in this focus puller and thinks he’s a key factor in this project. We’ll use state-of-the-art technologies and he only feels sure working with this guy. Few people know how to work with these equipments. Once again we see how many important people there are behind a film, while all we’ve dealt with so far is a few actors.

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.



In a nutshell

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Everything seems to be on the right track: we’ve found a studio and we’ve decided to get the perspex structure. The studio also offers some extra services that will save us time researching camera and lighting equipment. Perspex has also some advantages compared to the glass: it’s easier to get it and we just need to order it a couple of days in advance (whereas we would need to order the glass with at least 15 days in advance). Summing up: we are all really pleased and “relaxed”. It’s a good time to start working hard on the shoot schedule.

We get hold of the breakdown, we group the shots depending on the actors and on the technical requirements in each of them. It would be perfect if we could work just one day with all the extras and another day with the main characters. Then we could save some money as we wouldn’t need eight extras working during two days when their role of strolling in front of the camera, even if it’s crucial, can be done in one morning. By  “technical requirements” I meant the shots will need the perspex structure. Fortunately, both of the factors are compatible: the shots where we need the extras don’t need the perspex structure.

So we get to the next “ideal” shooting plan (when I say “ideal” I mean “very optimistic”):

  • First day. Morning:

8 extras + main character + 3 background characters (let’s say B, C, D)

Green screen shooting.

  • First day. Afternoon:

Main character + 3 background characters (let’s say B, C, D)

Green screen shooting.

  • Second day:

Main actor + 2 background characters (let’s say E, F)

Green screen shooting and perspex structure.

We are already so familiar with the project that everything seems obvious, but it’s hard to explain with words each shot, so there’s no point in trying to do it. It’s much easier and intuitive to download the shooting plan so you can get a literal view, with color, design, and all that stuff that makes things more user friendly. A picture speaks a thousand words. So if you want to see the first draft of our shooting plan you just have to click here.

If these plans go ahead it will also mean that we would be saving circa £1000 in our casting. But this doesn’t mean that the company would profit; it just means that the money is moving from one point of the budget to another. In short, it’s not bad news, but it’s not excellent either.

Good, good, it looks like the project is up and running. Now we “only” need to book the studio, get the actors there on time, order the perspex and start hiring technical staff. That’s nothing!

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.


Looking for studio for 13 people. Click here to reply to this ad

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When you are working on an audiovisual project there are a lot of overlapping issues, interdependent decisions to take, and this makes things difficult. While we are looking for actors, we are also looking for a studio to shoot the video. This is not easy. We have to remember we will need a green background, for the chroma keys, or an infinity cove, to get that white non-discernable atmosphere. We must also decide how many days we will need, where the studios are, which further services they offer, any possible discounts we may get…

Let’s take it step by step and just grab the telephone- a producer’s best friend. We have to be down-to-earth: our English can be a handicap, and our lack of experience doesn’t help. The best thing to do is to know what information we need to get:

  • Hiring price
  • Dimensions
  • Is it possible to paint it green? How much will they charge for this?
  • Is it available in the shooting days?
  • How many days in advance do we need to book it? Do we have to pay a deposit?
  • Discounts

Eventually we have a list of studios scattered all over the city. As we have a very tight budget we have to focus on to the most affordables ones. Once again we are working with words, suggestions, ideas… everything is too abstract. We need to go and see the studio and decide if it fits our requirements (if we really know which our requirements are!).

Oyster Card is popped in the pocket and we set off to Norh London. There we meet the CGI specialist. Coffees, decisions progressing, decisions going back, redesign of some shots… “We should shoot this with a chroma key. No, this one is better with a white background”. Scribbles, deletions, drafts… This video is constantly changing and sometimes it is one step forward and fifty steps back.

It is midday and we head off to the first studio hoping to find the answer to all our questions.

Its too small! Sometimes it seems that we will never shoot this project and all that we are doing is wasting our time, but we cannot get demoralized.

Hopeful, we go to another nearby studio.  We haven’t made an appointment, but the studio are professional and friendly and answer our questions.

Things pick up, it seems that we have a place to shoot our video. On our way home we write down which shots will need chroma key and which won’t, so we can make the shooting schedule and give them a time and date. We must take the right decisions in order to optimize time and money. We don’t want 13 actors strolling in the studio for 2 days when most of them can do their role in one single morning.

So, what else do we need? Yeah, right, the glass of course…

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.


Shoulders to the wheel!

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So now that we all know what we are doing, we need to know how to do it, and that can be a whole other kettle of fish.

Talking is easy, but putting it all together and making it work on the screen is completely different. We all understand what we’ve been talking about, but we’re interpreting the visual concept in a different way. If we want to work as a team we need to visualise the project, so we all know what we need and what is our aim. Some storyboarding would be useful…

Ok, so we need a lot of people (mental note: have an audition!), and we need a studio (start making phone calls), AND we need a big glass ceiling (Do we need a greenhouse?). This starts to look difficult, but we love challenges, don’t we?

The storyboard has been an important step forward for the project. We’ve realised how important the CGI (Computer Generated Images) will be and our meetings with the specialist in computer graphics have revolved around the storyboard. Meetings… this reminds me that evening in March when the director said: “Welcome to the night shift!” Long evenings in the office and early coffees in Camden around a table plenty of drafts… The best thing about this is that no one loses their optimism, there’s always someone able to put a smile in your face even when everything goes wrong.

Eventually, we’ve realised that we need to make some changes. How can something that we created to help us turn against us? We’ve been too obsessed with reproducing an accurate version of the storyboard, and that’s the problem. We can adapt the storyboard to our necessities, so let’s try to start with the creative thinking and redefine the shoots.

First of all, we still have some problems visualising the proposed video. We’re used to moving pictures, and a piece of paper doesn’t help too much.

Lets move it!

Making this has helped us notice that we’re missing some really important stuff, the sound!

Now it’s time for some decision making. First of all our actors. But that’s a different problem…

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.


“Speak out against discrimination” Council of Europe Campaign

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Our interest in this campaign started some time ago. We still remember our first meeting that first week of February. London was covered by snow and transport was at a stand still. Even that didn’t stop us having a meeting to discuss our different ideas.

The Project comes from  the Council of Europe and is aimed at highlighting the problem of discrimination in society. In order to meet this objective, we are going to produce a public information video against discrimination which will be shown in different countries around Europe. It should serve as a call to action to “Speak out against discrimination”.

Under this premise, we worked out an idea and we decided to write a treatment…

The  treatment is called “The Glass Ceiling”. There are two levels split by a glass floor/ceiling. The people on the top level are walking fast. Oblivious, self involved, anonymous. They do not interact with each other and they do not look around them.

The people below the glass are the same as the people above, but they cannot get through the barrier. They bang on the glass, they shout, they push.

The people above do not hear, see or acknowledge the people below.

An event occurs to reveal the existence of the other reality:

An individual from above falls and finds themself under the glass floor. Suddenly, more people from the upper level appear below the glass. They are all taken aback.

People  trapped beneath the glass start banging, everybody above joins in until they break through.

“SPEAK OUT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION”

The call to action cuts across the scene.

Everybody is now together, interacting, laughing, enjoying their coexistence.

After hearing all different points of view, we chose the idea of the Glass Ceiling because it matches best with the concept we are trying to portray.

We started working in the script and started building the visual concept for the project to send it to the Council of Europe and waited for their approval.

After a few weeks, we had some good news from the Council of Europe, we got a positive answer from them. We are all excited about starting this new project. Next step: the story board!

If you want to get more information about the project “Speak out against discrimination”, click here.

For more information about Spectacle, click here.


“Di no a la discriminación”. Campaña del Consejo de Europa.

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If you want to read the English version, click here.

Hace ya tiempo que andamos dándole vueltas a este proyecto, ilusionados por lo que significa para nosotros y por lo que podemos aprender y aportar al mismo. Digo hace ya tiempo porque aunque el Consejo de Europa nos ha dado la buena noticia de que nos concede el proyecto esta semana, nosotros llevamos mucho tiempo trabajando en él. En cualquier caso, parece difícil olvidar esa primera semana de febrero en Londres. Primera semana en todos los sentidos porque además empezábamos a trabajar en Spectacle. Y todo gracias al proyecto Argo, promovido por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación dentro del Programa Europeo de Movilidad Leonardo da Vinci, que nos había concendido una beca para realizar prácticas profesionales en el extranjero.

De esa semana de febrero recuerdo también la nieve colapsando todos los medios de transporte de la ciudad, la comunicación volviéndose imposible en una de las capitales más importantes de Europa. La gente en las calles, lanzándose bolas de nieve…Y a pesar de la nieve y del frío, de la dificultad de coger el metro, el autobús o el tren, de lo complicado que se hacía incluso caminar por la calle sin riesgo a resbalarte, a pesar de todo, el equipo de Spectacle se reunía en Lavender Hill, cada uno con ideas que aportar para el guión de lo que será un anuncio de 30 segundos contra la discriminación y que forma parte de la Campaña llamada “Di no a la discriminación” lanzada por el Consejo de Europa.

Se barajaron muchas ideas, muchas se descartaron y otras fueron evolucionando hasta que nació la “IDEA”.  “The Glass Ceiling” o “El techo de cristal” es el concepto alrededor del que gira todo el guión. El cristal es el elemento que separa dos mundos. Un mundo escondido bajo un cristal sobre el que muchas personas caminan sin ser o querer ser conscientes de él. Gente de distintas nacionalidades moviéndose en un ambiente sobreexpuesto y tenso. El mundo de abajo se nos revela cuando uno de los personajes que camina, al tropezarse, se cae y atraviesa la barrera de cristal, quedando atrapado bajo el mismo y descubriendo que no es el único en la misma situación. De repente, indistintamente, gente del mundo de arriba aparece en el de abajo. Todos comienzan a sentirse angustiados y empiezan a golpear el cristal. La gente de arriba se detiene sorprendida al escuchar golpes que no saben de donde provienen. El mundo de abajo se les revela de repente y todos juntos golpean el cristal hasta conseguir romperlo y liberar a la gente que estaba atrapada.

Queríamos dar un toque de esperanza a través de esta campaña, un toque de unidad también. Y es lo que intentamos imprimir en el proyecto que presentamos al Consejo de Europa. Redactamos el tratamiento y el guión, pensamos en la estética y el concepto visual del video, terminamos el presupuesto y…enviamos todos los documentos a la espera de una respuesta.

Y finalmente…la espera mereció la pena. El Consejo de Europa se puso en contacto con nosotros para darnos la buena noticia de que aprobaban nuestro proyecto y que podíamos empezar a hacerlo realidad.

Para obtener más información acerca del proyecto “Speak out against discrimination”, pincha aquí.

Para obtener más información acerca de Spectacle, pincha aquí.