Sonia's Television Blog

Project Evaluation At the beginning on this unit i was very excited to get going because i love to direct. I finally took it into my own hands to practice hiring actors and asking other for locations. It wasn't an easy job but it prepared me for bigger projects that are about to arise. What i wanted to focus on mostly in this project was the Lighting and colour grading due to that being David Fincher's key style. When i looked into his work i know that one things i had to live up to was Fincher's colour tints. I really think i worked very hard on this project, i really wanted it to come out perfectly and the way in envisioned it. Of course there is a lot of room for improvement but in contrast to my first project it is a huge difference and a massive step up. When i was preparing for this project i felt ready, i really felt like i knew what i wanted to do and that made it much easier for me, unlike the first unit i was not as prepared and that is why i feel lik...

Sonia Zelenicka Directs David Fincher When we first got the introduction to the Directions unit i was so excited, one of my favourite things is to Direct. During my first project i realised that screenwriting wasn't my thing but i still had to give it a go and try, when i then went on to film and direct my own project i loved every minute of it. This project taught me so much of how to be a brilliant director. First thing i realised is that i had to always treat my crew and team nicely, provide them with help and always be positive. If your crew feels like you appreciate their work they will work well with you and make sure that your project ends up perfectly. I absolutely loved to work with my crew and i hope to have them on my other projects. Another thing i really focused on this project was key lighting, we had a few workshops about lighting and now it became one of my favourite things to play around with while filming and also in post-production. It is crazy that lightin...

Editing Earlier this week all the students showed their rough cut to Mike and Simon. With Simons and Mikes help i am able to improve my project well. Simon mentioned that i should add more close ups of Tyler Durden and Mike said that i should add more sound effects to increase the atmospheric feel. Simon said he would love to see Tyler Durdens face in the Hotel room, but because i did not have enough time on the shooting day i couldn't get those extra close ups. I also had issues with the hotel room being very small so i was limited to what i could do.  Since showing the rough cut and fine cut i've been working on my sound effects and audio, i really understood why Mike wanted me to add more sound effects because it really places you in the location that your character is in. I also tried to work hard on what Simon told me where he would like to see close ups of Tyler Durden, but i am struggling with this due to not having these shots. I might have to cut the scene o...

Clint Eastwood When choosing my directors i knew i wanted to write about the all mighty Clint Eastwood. I have chosen Clint Eastwood as my main focus for the project, Clint's key works and his fantastic directorial styles are one of my inspirations for my own work. One of the most interesting things that Clint Eastwood does it that he always chooses his first/second take, and that is something i really want to do within my work and really understand why Clint Eastwood chooses his first/seconds takes rather than his 10th or 20th.  Clint was born in California on May 31st 1930, he is an Actor, Producer and most importantly an amazing Director. Clint rose to international fame with his role as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of westerns during the 1960s.  Clint's work in the western film 'Unforgiven' (1992) and the sports drama 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004) he won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, as well ...

Shooting Day We were shooting all day on the 15th of February, the start time was 10:00am and all of my actors came dressed and ready with enthusiasm which was a great start to the day. We started the shoot at 10:00am and finished around 4:00pm, i treated all my actors to pizza and some snacks after the entire shoot because they all helped and worked so hard. Everyone co-operated so well together. When we were filming in the hotel room we had to use 900kwh lighting and all my actors were sweating so much but they kept acting and did not give up on me at all, it was boiling and they didn't stop. The sound man and camera man worked very well with me, since we are all friends they were available for me and also made sure that everything came out correctly. All of my actors came from around London and even further places, i paid for their travels and also their refreshments. They were very happy with my gestures and said that they would love to work with me again which mad...

Script Development This is was one of the hardest things that i had to do for this project, in my previous post's i have mentioned that this was never my best area because i find it hard to screen write, but with this project it did not have to come from my own mind. I could take my features film script and change it to the way i would like it to lay out, this made it easier for me. I still found it hard to change it and edit it because i thought i was making it worse but really i was changing it to the way i would direct it. I spent a long time editing the script but it was still hard for me to change it so i started to focus on other production plans. When i started to hire my actors and find my locations the script suddenly became easy to edit because i adjusted it to my actors and the locations i finally found. I knew that i couldn't keep the script the way it was originally in the film because that is just copying, i did not want to do that at all. When i started ...

Brad Silberling Brad Silberling is also one of my favourite directors but for TV series. He is also known for directing major films like 'Series of Unfortunate Events' and 'Casper'. But he is majorly known for directing major TV series such as 'Reign', 'Jane the Virgin' and also 'No Tomorrow'. One of my favourite tv series that he has directed is 'Reign' from the first episode i fell in love with Brad's directorial styles within this TV series, it is absolutely brilliant and the techniques he uses are fantastic. Brad was born on September the 8th 1963 in Washington D.C he is known for being a Director, Producer, Screenwriter and also an actor. Silberling began his career before completing his studies. In 1986 he became a production assistant for a popular children's program. He then began slowely directing television and film. Silberlling's big break was when he was approached by warner bros to direct Harry Potter and t...

Directing I have researched so much into directing that i made sure to take all the key points into mind and apply it into my own work. Directing is one of my passions, as well as editing i want to research as much as i can about it. I borrowed some books from the library that i've read through to get a clear understanding of directing. I found some brilliant books and found them so useful! Google is very helpful also where you can find tips on how to direct but it was not as helpful as the books. One of the books is 'Directing for Dummies' as funny as it sounds it have brilliant tips and tricks from creating your idea to editing. The entire process is covered in this book and it is brilliant. As well as our workshops this was the cherry on the top. We didn't have many workshops this unit where we researched the key to directing so we had to research it ourselves and it helped a lot because it made me get out and find resources for it. A director is a very im...

A Series Of Unfortunate Events I have recently been loving quite a lot of Netflix original series. I have realised now that in this century awe can pretty much watch absolutely everything on the go, Netflix is one of the most popular online platform where people can watch brilliant TV series and historical films where ever they are and on any device. Which makes Netflix even more profitable to create amazing series such as 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. This TV series was inspired by the popular 2004 film directed by Brad Silberling, and also the most popular best selling book series written by Lemony Snicket's.  The books began in 1999 followed by the major blockbuster film release in 2004, this really made audiences want more since nothing was made after the film, until now 2017 where we have been given a brilliant Netflix original tv series. The series took a different turn compared to the film, of course this could be mostly due to having a bigger bu...

Orphan Black I've recently been loving Orphan Black, when i saw the trailer for this popular Netflix drama series i was instantly hooked. I love how the show portrays normal urban life in comparison to scientific DNA.  The directors and especially the editors took time to create the 'Orphan Black' introduction. It is very scientific which creates the authentic for the show.  The technicolor opening titles are what begins as an apparent journey through the cosmos. Completing this with an alien encounter, as soon it becomes an abstract journey through inner space. What we don't know as an audience is that John Fawcett wanted to introduce the plot through the opening titles. The genetic material that grows and divides in the opening is revealing the biological making of Sarah and all her clones. I love how the opening titles are edited together and how Sarah is divided into so many clones in that one opening scene, we as an audience don't realise that unt...