Vlog Day 2 - Smoking Scene

ACTORS

• Kato Maki - Francois Francisco

SCENES

• Blowing smoke into the camera

PROPS

• One cigarette

LOCATION

• Main street across school 

Today we deicide to shot the smoking scene which featured are actor Francois who was playing the role of the Father of our main protagonist. Here the  cinematographer for today was Chandler and Celina was the location scouter. Whilst mine and James' role was acting as barriers from the wind as it was quite windy, therefore due to this in  we weren't satisfied with the first couple of shots as there was a faintness of the smoke as he blow out as a result of the wind was affecting it. 

   

Footage Feed Back

Vlog 5 - China Town Montage

SCENES: 

• Various clips of lanterns
• People walking in China Town
• Location shots on Gerrard Street
• Behind the shoulder shot of James walking 

ACTORS:

• James - Gangster roaming the streets 

 During half-term we organised a day out during Chinese New Year in China Town to film the iconography for our trailer. Although this may not be culturally authentic, the location and mise-en-scene fits in with the overall oriental theme of our film.

For todays montage both me and James were cinematographers capturing the scenes of china town. We capture a lot of nice scenery such a the lanterns as well as some tracking shots of James and chandler. Earlier on in the day we found this extravagant Chinese restaurant that had a koi fish pond as well as bridge walk way as you entered and we thought it was perfect for us to capture.

ACTORS:

• Child version of Kaya Maki - Venice Anonuevo 
• Child version of Kazuo Maki - Tyresse Anonuevo 
• Young Kazuo's Karate teacher - Raymond Pham
• Tattoo artist - Ranch Clemeno
• Kaya Maki (protagonist) - Chantelle Anonuevo
• Kazuo Maki - Marcus Francisco
• Kato Maki aka Head of the gang and Father - Francois Francisco  
• Kaya's bodyguard/henchman - Chandler Idos 
• Kazuo's bodyguard/henchman - James Tuano

SCENES: 

• Childhood flashback scene of Kaya Maki tending to the bonsai tree
• Childhood flashback of Kazuo (Kaya's older brother)
• Present day Kaya tending to the bonsai tree
• Tense dinner scene
• Bowing to head of yakuza scene
• Tattoo scene

PROPS:

• Bonsai tree
• Plates
• Cutlery
• Glasses
• Marker pens

Two weeks before filming the flash back scene we wanted to plan ahead therefore we arranged to film a the chosen locations as well as discuss the mise-en-scene which was Venices' Costume. Where we had to come to a group decision on which out of the three below and we all ended up deciding the middle dress was most suitable.

 

The first location was at our friends Nina's house were she was kind enough to also lend us her Bonsai tree. For the flash back scene I was head cinematographer as well as co-director along side head director Celina. We worked together to capture various shots of this scene in order to have a variety of shots that we could editing together.

 

My favourite scene I shot this day was were Venice was running out of the conservatory as the camera caught this beautiful ray of light that just made that whole shot for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After that we travelled to our next location which was the main family house were Celina filmed the bowing scene , James filmed the tattoo scene and chandler filmed the karate flash back scene.

 

The last scene of the day was the dinner scene which was shot and directed by me. Again I wanted a variety of shots but also to build up tension so there were a lot of close up shots I took of props such as the glass banging on the table or the gun Marcus shot to build up that tension. As well as close up of facial expression to establish the tension also between the siblings.

The Bonsai Tree Vlog 3 - Chase Scene

ACTORS

• Kaya Maki - Chantelle Anonuevo
• Enemy 1 - Daniel Windele

SCENES

• Chantelle raising a gun to the camera
• Chantelle running from Daniel and kicking him down

SHOT LIST:

• Low angle shot
• Perspective shot 
• Tracking shot (running)

LOCATIONS

• Our school grounds

Before shooting we all had to prep things up for the following scene, Celina was on make up duty whilst I was on prop duty colouring in the toy gun as there were still hints of blue whilst James and Candler were preparing the filming equipment .

So at the beginning of today I was the cinematographer shooting the scene of Chantelle pointing the gun straight ahead at the camera as Marcus had previously acted out. As we wanted a kind of graphic match scene with the main protagonist and her brother. Unfortunately we had problems with the lighting and took this scene outside where we decided to swap roles, this time James was the cinematographer and I was the director in helping Chantelle get into the righting framing. Also assisting James in experimenting with the Depth of Focus as I was familiar with the setting due to this being filmed on my DSLR camera.  


 We then decided to film another scene but it wasn't originally a part of the story board. Neither the less we decided to go along with filming. James was still the cinematographer and I was the co-director along side Celina .  

The Bonsai Tree Vlog 1 - Gangster Walking Scene

SCENES

• Gangster squad walking
• Marcus shooting someone
• Mirror scene 
• James being threatened

SHOT LIST

• Long shot
• Group shot
• Perspective shot (low angle)
• Establishing shot
• Tilting
• Tracking

PROPS

• Gun

LOCATION 

• School Grounds 

Today for filming we primarily wanted to focus on filming the gangster walking scene which consisted of 5 characters with the main actor Marcus among them who is essential to our trailer as he plays the spiteful brother in our story line.

For today my role was the cinematographer and co-director along side Celina who was also the director , James who was a part of the five actors in this scene as well as Chandler who was in charge of vlogging the whole process of today. As you can see from the vlog I suggested we practised the walking scene so that we could figure out the best formation for them as a group to be walking in. In which we decided that Marcus be placed at the front on the group and the other actors behind him in a 'V' formation in order to establish his dominant status. But this was also a chance for me to experiment with the best type of shot and angle in which was fitting to this scene.

Status was future stated through the mise en scene where Marcus was wearing completely different allowing him to stand out attire ,yet still formal, in comparison to his ' gang members ' behind him who were wearing essentially wearing the same type of clothing not making them distinctive or over baring Marcus. Primarily for this scene I wanted to capture the full essence of their presence and so I felt a Pan Shot was best in which I took from both the front a back of them for a variation of views. Through out the takes as a group we were constantly checking the footage and I was given feedback on what was good and if there were problems.

We also filmed little scenes such as the grand mirror scene in which I had many compilations with as the lighting was so bad that the camera wasn't picking us his face, no matter how much I changed the setting on the camera. As well as the Stair Case scene where I shot Marcus pushing James up against the wall with a spy shot where I placed the camera in between the stair cases ram. And last of all a low angle shot of Marcus holding a gun facing the victim ( audience ) which took many shots as I wasn't happy with how shaky it was to shoot due to how low the angle was the tripod couldn't support how low we wanted the angle.      

Teaser Poster Process - The Bonsai Tree

(Draft 3) Final Teaser Poster - Thee Bonsai Tree