Set Building and Dressing Session

In this session we carried on with the set, the main frame of it had been finished last week so this week it was a case of finishing off the walls with any more paint they needed which wasn't much though as we decided they didn't all need painting as the curtains and bed and other dressings would cover any unpapered/painted bits. This meant that most of the lesson we could concentrate on dressing it.

The curtains got put up first around the fireplace as they were a big feature and would be covering lot of unfinished wall. Everyone had different tasks to do during the lesson, we had people in the back making the fake hand, I was helping out with putting weird pictures into frames and me and Alli went to the library to print out some pictures that we liked and thought looked uncanny as they were animals with human bodies, I particularly wanted to use the shark as there was something quite striking about it. There were also people working on dressing the set with props we already had like the stuffed animals and other bric a brac that was weird or unusual.





We made use of the materials as well using them to dress the walls to help give this cluttered and sort of old fashioned feel which went well with all the old looking pictures and frames on the wall. We also used them to make a small part of the bed as only the top part where the pillow will be is going to be in the shot just so we can get a feel for what is going on and see the top part of the body floating up and going over to the little man they've just spotted on the fireplace.

 By the time we got towards the end of the session I started to see how effective all the details of dressing the set are because once all the pictures and materials were up and all the furniture like the fireplace and corner shelves it looked so much better and different. You couldn't notice how messy the walls were behind and I think it had a real cluttered and something not quite right feel to it because of the strange pictures and stuffed animals and animal heads that were everywhere. Despite that only a small part of the group had turned up I think we did well and really made a lot of headway with the set. There's only one part of the set me and Luke weren't sure about and that was the horses head that had been wrapped up in white material and our reason was because it looked to white and pristine against the backdrop of the rest of the set so I suggested we need to paint it a more murky yellowy colour and Alice suggested using tea to stain it which I thought would be a good way of doing it.

Next week we are filming on the set for 6 hours and the cinematographers are going to be in there with us for the first 3 hours to help us film it. I thought it would've perhaps been better if they were there for the second part as that would have given us time to get the set finished and get ourselves all prepared so they could come in and film it but I guess that is when they must be timetabled for their lesson perhaps. Due to this I think it is necessary that whoever of the group is free should try and meet up beforehand to finish the last bits of the set and all discuss how it's going to pan out so we can be as prepared as can be for when the others are there otherwise I think it might get a bit hectic. Me, Luke and now Paul are mainly in charge of the bedroom scene with the floating character and book squashing the little man and then the door so we need to think about the shots for that (about 4 I think has been discussed). I am directing, Luke is Art director and Paul producer but I think we will all be helping each other out anyway but it's good to give people roles as it gives everyone something to concentrate on and stops it being a free for all on the day. I am looking forward to next week and hoping that it goes well as it will be interesting to watch it back after it's been filmed to see if it looks anything how we've all envisioned.