We discussed all our problems with...

We looked into how our casting call might have been too formal and might be a reason for dancers not applying. We did it like this to appear professional, as we wanted to attract serious and reliable dancers. It was mentioned in the post about smoke machines and possibility of water, which Rosie and Owen thought would be intimidating. I agree with this and that we should maybe try and speak to our own generation - however in our heads it made sense to do it like this. Rachel advised us to put specific details in and to give the dancers quite a bit of detail so they knew what they were applying for. It seemed better to write about smoke machines and water etc in the post, to ensure the dancer that applied would be comfortable with this from the outset, instead of finding out on the day of auditions nobody was comfortable with any of those things after travelling down to speak to us. However I understand about being intimidating, as I feel intimidated quite a bit by things being a relatively shy person I can relate quite a bit. It's just knowing the boarder between being professional and being more open and warmer, between realising when to stop adding detail and not adding enough. But this is definitely a learning experience! 

It was suggested that we might have to manipulate our idea to fit the location, as so far requiring a black room has been near impossible. The general consensus was that sometimes having a change in your idea / for your film can result in an even better final outcome unexpectedly, so not to be downhearted about this. It might be better for us to loosen our vision a bit so we can make adjustments to fit what is available to us. However this would mean loosing the underwater aspect of the film. 

Reflections

I'm a bit disheartened with the news of maybe having to change our idea to fit into a location. However I do realise that this could be for the best and could possibly have a better outcome, as sometimes things that seem to be going wrong can turn out to be unexpectedly right. From this point of view, changing the idea a bit seems kind of exciting to see what the result would be. Saying that the underwater aspect is a huge part of the idea and it feels like maybe removing it would change the idea too much? I know when it was mentioned in the tutorial I could feel my heart sink slightly...I think it was just seeing how hard we've all worked to make it happen and experiencing the effort we've made so far for both myself and the other members. After all the tests we'd done I was personally very excited to see where we could take the look and style with simulating underwater and the thought of maybe never achieving this kind of makes me feel a bit sad. However I only want to do what's best for the project in the end and be proud of what we produce, especially for the sake of my fellow group members! It would be a sad day to see them very disappointed with the outcome as well! It's funny how such a thing as location can make such a tremendous difference! I would have thought somewhere could have provided us with a black room...

Straight after the tutorial I was looking at ways to film in the SU, asking the other group members about a local nightclub venue and figuring out whether G28 could be a possibility if approached correctly. We're going to continue looking for venues elsewhere as well. I'm currently looking into maybe getting black sugar paper to cover all the walls with and discussing the options with the rest of the group.

I'm kind of appreciative of all the struggles we've been having though. I'm looking at it as a huge part of the learning process and hopefully we'll all develop as film makers in beneficial ways from it. It also makes me appreciate when things go smoothly as I feel like barely anything has for this project! Through all the stress I'm having a lot of fun though. It's good to be kept on your toes at times! 

Note to self : Stay positive, keep going and work hard!