moni’s film talks

Oh :(

That's a wrap! I won't lie, I'm extremely happy with how this shoot has gone, which is why is so sad to say goodbye to it! This crew is mainly formed by my closest friends, so it feels weird thinking this might be one of the last times we all work together! I couldn't help but shed some tears when we called the wrap... Apologies!

It is very beautiful to see all these people come together to create. Me and Ella, the director, have now been working in the same roles for three years in a row, so it definitely feels like the end of an era... Even though I know new ones will come along with her!

I only have words of love towards everyone that has worked on this film, even with issues and setbacks, everyone has made sure we only got the best product out of it, and I can't wait to see it come to life in post!

Here are some pictures from today and pictures of me crying... Hehe

One more day to go... This is getting sad maybe probably?

Today was a great day, I'm so proud of my crew for handling all the stress with the extras so well! There was a lot of people on set but everyone was having fun and working super well, the director and DOP are really happy with everything!

I'm super happy with the organisation of everyone's transport and the catering! Everyone was well fed which was my biggest worry, I didn't want anyone on an empty stomach. Special thanks to my 3rd AD Shan-shan who handled all the extras so well! She has also been my PA, so I really couldn't do this without her...

Tomorrow is the last day and I don't really know how to feel about it! It really is surreal this is all ending! Excited nonetheless... And wrap party right after!

Here are some pictures from today taken by our lovely BTS photographer, Jed Bury!

DAY THREE DOWN! Two more days to go which means we are more than halfway done!! What!!

It feels surreal that one of my grad films is almost over, realistically my last producing role in uni as well! It's all been going very smoothly so I'm really grateful this is the way I end my work!

Today went super smooth! Another night shoot though we moved a lot more than yesterday, people were so communicative and I'm glad to see we got over our issues from yesterday! Ended ahead of schedule as well which is always great! We ended the day with some pizza :)

There are still two days to go, our toughest days as well! Tomorrow we shoot for the first time at the Wee Red Bar, our "gig" location. They have been super sweet lending us the space for free and accommodating us so well!

We also have our extras scene.............. I am very scared, but all catering and transport has been organised, and I know any issues will be fixed! I'm very excited for tomorrow!!

Day two down !! Three more to go !

Today was a half day, so very very smooth! We shot in the evening for our night scenes, and had more of a skeleton crew as we were shooting exteriors as well.

Today we encountered some time issues as well as communication issues, these are very normal and we all had a chat about them once the shoot ended, it was very nice to communicate them through! We are having a meeting tomorrow before we start shooting to make sure we all feel understood and to make sure we work a lot better! Everyone has been on their A game so I know this won't be an issue.

Shooting evening and exterior scenes is something that I always dread since as a producer I just kind of stand around in the cold, but today I was able to do some coffee runs and help the lighting team, and it was so nice! God bless a budget so I can give out some warm drinks....

Another half day tomorrow so will make sure I get some rest! Here are some pictures of today:

First day completed !!!!!!

I was very nervous this past week, but honestly it has all worked out so well! Movement orders were seamless, schedule was followed and no one got hurt (yay!)

It feels surreal that we are actually shooting our final film. When it comes to producing, I'm able to sit back and watch everything happen and everyone work on their departments, which is quite rewarding! We had a lot of fun today and I'm glad all the production I've worked on is coming through correctly now!

We have a later start tomorrow, so I can get a bit of a lie in... :)

Here are some pictures from day one! Ready for tomorrow!

We shoot next week!! Eeek!!

This is very exciting but also quite daunting! I'm really hoping it all goes smoothly, all locations are confirmed, cast are scheduled in and we are just missing some extras for one of the days...

Producing with a budget has been so different from past years, I'm really focusing our budget on making sure the crew has everything they need to keep focused and energised throughout the days. Some of our movement orders are quite complicated and we are taking equipment across different locations, which again, can be complicated, but I'm super confident the movement orders me and Saif, my 1st AD have made will work seamlessly!

I'm making sure I have all my paperwork ready as well, doesn't seem important now but can be quite annoying when it gets to post and you need to chase everything up... so better be prepared!

Dissertation is past us and Christmas has also flown by, it's time to get our films up and running and make sure pre-production goes smoothly so that there are no issues in production!

Intrusive is actually way closer than I though, shooting first will be very beneficial for post but it does also mean we have a lot to get through in the next two weeks...

Our final pitch was today! We were in the time frame, which I was a bit scared about, and like the past pitch, the HoDs all defended the idea with a lot of confidence, which I love to see!

We are aiming to film late January, which means that I can't really put this to the side... But I do need to focus on the dissertation, so I will have to make it less of a priority for the next month!

Meanwhile, here is my HoD statement as a producer for this film :)

And here is our final test shoot for Intrusive! Super happy with how it turned out and of all my crew, can't wait to keep on developing it.

We had our final pitch for this documentary today! It was great to share our test shoot with the lectures and be able to answer their queries about the development! I think we've had a lovely run up til now and I'm super happy with our process, I hope the lectures feel the same way about it.

Finally, before I put this project a bit to the side to make sure I finish my dissertation, here is my HoD statement!

Here is the link for our test shoot, as I've already said, I'm over the moon with it!

I want to give my crew a big thank you, I know we have a whole production process and actual shoot ahead of us, but I still can't really believe they're helping me do this and bring this story to life. It means the world to me! They are an amazing group of people and amazing at their craft!

Here is the link for the film :)

Test shoots are due in tomorrow... Scary!

Abuela,

Nah, it's been such a lovely post process, Judy came back to me last Monday with just an absolutely amazing cut for Abuela,. As I've said before, I was scared what we filmed didn't translate well to the audience, but she's made sure everything is there, the documentary feel, the explanation for the audience, the emotional tone... just everything!

For me this was also a test of how our crew works together and communication with them as I don't have that much experience in directing, but everyone and especially Judy has made it so so nice and just made me want to shoot this movie now!

Louie did some amazing work with the sound and just tied everything together, it's crazy how he got the "Spanish" feel to it without me saying anything, it's genuinely like he read my mind...

Joe also did some great work with the colour grade but I had no doubt with that, he's talented in everything he does so! The final look is super dreamy without taking away the "real" feel of the documentary.

They're all amazing at their craft and so talented, I'm super happy with how it turned out! Tomorrow we will be adding subtitles and doing layback, yippee!!

I also get to show my dad tomorrow....... I am a little bit nervous, but I think it will all be good <3

INTRUSIVE

For Intrusive I know things are going well and Sam has made a lovely edit, especially with how complex our "gig" sequence was when we first gave it to him. However, since we shot much later we have gotten an extension to turn it in next Monday, which I'm happy with! I know Fred and Lola will do a lovely sound design and colour grade to get a proper submission in that shows how confident we are in this idea!

I've been locked in for a bit to work as a gaffer in Queen of the May! I'm so buzzed to be on this project, super excited to work with this crew and finally work with Tom Mikulin as a DOP and not as an AC (which is how we always work together) I'm also super happy to be working with Ethan again as I always have a fantastic time with him, and it's always a pleasure! Will be working with some new people as well which I always love :))

Here are some pictures from a very rainy test shoot! Not much lightning things to do but got to help out camera a bit :)

I had never heard of a stress free shoot... that was until yesterday, of course.

What an amazing time with the Intrusive crew! We got everything we wanted on time, without having any kit, location, or cast trouble... When I tell you this has never ever happened to me...

We got to The Ventoux at 9:30am to give a brief to all the secondary crew about health & safety, meanwhile the rest of the HoDs picked up the kit and brought it to set for us to start filming at 10am!

We needed to leave The Ventoux for 13:00, so it's true that we were tight on time, but all departments where on their feet and working amazingly well, it made production run so smoothly and we left the location at 12:30 !! What !!

With an extra half an hour for lunch, we all headed to Craiglockhart and got lucky with one of the rooms we wanted, as we were able to shoot there even though we thought we wouldn't be able to! The rest of the day went smoothly and we were able to wrap half an hour ahead of time !! What !!

The cast was fantastic and we've locked them in for the actual shoot, the locations were lovely and the crew worked together incredibly well, this is great to see as they will be part of the actual shoot, which means we'll get a vibey and fun set!

This was a great experience and I loved producing up until now, I can't wait to continue developing it!!

Here are some BTS of the day :D

We are wrapped!

It has been a great experience shooting the past two days. Coming into a documentary is so different from what I'm used to, which is producing fiction.

I definitely had a bit of a hard time and I apologise to my crew for constantly just answering "I don't really know" when they asked me what I wanted in the shot...

We got a feel of how our crew work together and what we liked on camera or which things we can take and do on the actual shoot.

As I've said before, we were missing two major things: Madrid and my dad, this limited us. We tried to use these limitations in our favour, and Joe, the cinematographer, made some amazing and creative shots by lowering the fps and shutter speed of the camera, we all left the shoot knowing that it wasn't what we wanted to do for our actual film.

However, we worked great and it was super fun to do, and I know we'll take that energy to Spain as well! I can't get to get into post and see what Judy and Louie create! I must say I'm a bit scared we have shot something that's too experimental and distances itself from documentary a bit too much... but hopefully this helps with our future development of the doc!

Here are some pictures from the test shoot! Taken by Judy and Louie and edited by Joe (did I even do something in this shoot except for pointing and pondering...?)

Test shoot pre-production is up and running! Both films have very different settings so it's been quite hectic the past few weeks, but equipment is now booked and we just need confirmation on our room bookings and risk assessment approvals!

Intrusive

For Intrusive, Ella is wanting the bathroom scene to link with the gig scene. Before she mentioned how she wanted the location to look I proposed The Ventoux's bathroom for it and she said I had read her mind, so I went over there to ask for filming permission and they were super nice about it! We need to confirm final times with them but it looks like we're all set to have a morning shoot there on the 10th of this month. After that we will move to Craiglockhart to shoot the second half of the test shoot. As I've said, I still room confirmations but I know with Lola as the DOP and Tom, Alix and Joe in the camera team we can make it work!

In terms of cast we have launched a casting call and we are in multiple talks with different people to see who fits Ella's idea best!

I'm super excited for this shoot and it all seems to be going well... (maybe too well, should I be worried?) I'll try and keep it up!

Abuela,

For the documentary, things are running quite smooth, but we are having to move through a lot of different talks and discussions as to what we want in the test shoot. We are missing a very big part of our film: Madrid. We also don't have my dad with us as we would in the actual shoot so that just places some limitations on us. We are trying our best to not see them as limitations but as ways of rethinking our focus and ideas of both the test shoot and the actual film. However for now our meetings look something like this:

(I promise it makes sense in our head)

I think Joe has a very clear mindset of what to do and he's been great at receiving the nonsense I say and actually transforming it into an idea or explaining exactly what I want but making sense while doing so... Louie and Judy have also been amazing at giving their input and not only understanding the story and brainstorming ways of doing it but helping me understand it even more by discussing it!

What a day... My flight back to Edinburgh was massively delayed which meant I couldn't be back in uni for the feedback sessions... Luckily both my teams called me during their session for me to hear that we are fully greenlit!!!

I guess worrying for the past weeks was unnecessary... but hey you gotta cope somehow.

I'm so so happy, not only one but both movies are going forward and we get the chance to develop them further and make them into an actual film !! What !!

Both projects have become super close to me and I can't wait to bring them to life in the best way possible!

I don't have any pictures of us celebrating but here is a gif that I think depicts it really well