08.03.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

PARTY

Today we managed to get a lot of filming done.  We spent almost all day filming, as we filmed the party scenes which take up about half of the episode.  We needed the Year 12's to be some of the characters in the show and only had them available for a limited amount of time, so we needed to be efficient.  All of the characters are required in these scenes, so we had many different directors and videographers throughout the day.  The hardest scene to film was the one where Ken and Steve have a fight.  This was because we were all in it and needed to direct every person in shot, which included all of the extras.  I took the lead for a majority of the day because I wanted to get the filming done quickly, whilst also making it effective.  

PREPARING FOR PARTY

We also filmed the scene before the party, as our characters would be setting the place up, so the mise-en-scene and costumes would be the same.  Although we were all tired after filming the party scenes, we thought it would be best to push through with this scene, as it would mean that we wouldn't have to do it on another day.  Louis, James, Amelie and I were acting in this scene so Tristan and Silvana directed and filmed it. 

KEN'S STUDY

Due to the same reason as before, we decided to film Ken's study which involved James and Olivia (playing Zoe), as they'd be in the same outfit.  Louis filmed and directed with help from Tristan.  

TERRACE

Yet again, Olivia, Alessandro, Louis and Tristan would be in the same outfits from the party so we decided to film this scene on the same day too.  In the original show, this is set in the garage, but we decided to film it on the terrace as it was accessible unlike the garage.  Louis, Tristan, Olivia and Alessandro were in this scene and James directed and filmed it.  

04.03.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

 STEVE AND CONNIE'S HOUSE

After school, Tristan, Silvana, James and I went to Silvana's house to film the scene in Connie and Steve's house.  Although we wanted someone to direct and someone to film the scene, we decided to just have one person in order to keep numbers low due to the coronavirus.  As I live quite close to Silvana's house, I went to film and direct the scene.  Earlier in the day, I watched the scene & wrote on the script which shot types and angles I'd need.  We also rehearsed the scene and I directed the actors.  Having the shot types written down helped me a lot in organising the shoot.  I think the actors had good energy and the scene turned out really well. 

01.03.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

KEN'S WORK

Today was our first day of filming.  We decided to film in our teacher's office to replicate Ken's place of work.  We moved things around to make the mise-en-scene create verisimilitude and tried to not make it look like a school.  The actors in this scene were Louis and James.  Louis played Dylan and James played Ken.  Tristan and I directed and filmed this scene.  Tristan filmed and directed the first half of the scene and I filmed and directed the second half.  Although when filming and directing, one person has complete creative control, we've discovered that it's tough to do both the filming and directing.  In future scenes, we will have a videographer and a director.  We made sure to have different angles, so that we have scope to play around with how it looks.  This was a short and simple scene to film so it was a good one to start with.  I think it turned out to be pretty good but we spent too much time on it and will need to be more efficient in the future.  

22.02.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

 GETTING ORGANISED

This week, we got everything organised for our filming, which starts next week.  In order to get everything together, these are things we completed:

• Rehearsal schedule
• Filming schedule
• Rehearsals
• Props list & who will bring in what
• Costumes for each character
• Assigned videographer and director for each scene

This was the schedule:

15.02.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

SERIES RESEARCH

Cuckoo is a British sitcom which first aired in 2012.  It is set in Lichfield, Staffordshire (North of Birmingham).  The Thompson family consist of Ken (Greg Davies), Lorna (Helen Baxendale), Rachel (Tamla Kari) and Dylan (Tyger Drew-Honey).  Rachel was a very smart, well-behaving child and decides to go to Thailand on her gap year.  She comes back with a husband, Cuckoo (Andy Samberg).  Cuckoo is an American hippie with different values to the Thompson family, yet he moves in with them.  Ken isn't happy with Cuckoo invading his household, but Cuckoo is oblivious and naïve to it.  

Outline to Series 1, Episode 2; Family Meeting

Ken is annoyed at Cuckoo being naked in the house, so he tells Cuckoo to wear clothes, with the exception of when he is in the bathroom or in his and Rachel's bedroom.

At Rachel's coming home party, Ken's best friend Steve is horrified to see photos of his 16-year-old daughter, Zoe, on Ken's digital camera. Ken explains that Dylan - who is attracted to her - took them.

08.02.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

SCRIPT READ-THROUGH

As the episode we wanted to create didn't have a script, I had to watch the episode and write it out.  This took a very long time.  When we were in the lesson today, we did a read-through (without the year 12's initially & then another one with them).  It was quite static and didn't have much flow, which is expected for the first time.  As time goes on, I expect us to get smoother and get better comedic timing as the rehearsals progress.  It was a lot of fun, though, and we are all very happy with the show and episode we have chosen.

01.02.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

We had a meeting today to discuss our pre-production roles.  These are things we have to get done before we start filming in order to be prepared for filming.  The tasks we need to get done are:

• Production manager
• Storyboard
• Costume, props, set, hair and makeup
• Script writing

James was assigned as the production manager which means that he is going to be in charge of the pre-production and will organise and plan meetings, rehearsals and will lead discussions and sessions.

Amelie and Tristan are both creating the storyboard.  Storyboarding is a long task to do, so they've split it in half.  Amelie will do the first half of the episode and Tristan will do the last half of the episode.

Hugo and Silvana are taking care of the costume, props, set, hair and makeup.  They will organise which set and props we will need for each scene.  They will also let us know which hair, costume and makeup we should have.

I am going to be writing the script.  The episode we chose doesn't have a script available online, so I will be writing it so we can rehearse and learn the lines.