SHAZZA MEDIA
CROOKED - PRODUCTION DIARY
A Crooked Production
The production of Crooked is set to span nearly 9 months! This is a lightweight diary of the film
POST TEST SCREENING
30/4/17
The test screening went successfully! The audience were laughing and the feedback was nearly all positive. Suspicions were confirmed about some problems with audio and so one scene's audio will be rerecorded, as well as audio being made clearer for Bambi in a few other scenes.
The final scene has also been fully edited today and so all that remains now is sound for half the scenes and putting all the scenes together.
TEST SCREENING PREPARATION
18/4/17
The first set of visual editing on Crooked has been completed. Whilst it is inevitable that more will have to be done to refine it further, that chapter can be considered done and completed, just not quite done and dusted yet. Moving onto sound editing is the next step. Rather than just working through, scene by scene, for the sound, something more important looms and changes the order – the test screening on the 27th.
For the test screening we have to bring 10 minutes worth of film to show. Crooked is currently going to be coming closer to 20 minutes (more than 10 minutes shorter than initially planned after the shortening of a number of scenes and a faster pacing). As a result I’ve selected a few scenes to show at the test screening and as a result, those are the ones that are going to be taking priority in terms of editing for sound.
EDITING UNDERWAY
11/4/17
With just over 1/3 of the films visual editing complete, it is safe to say that editing is well underway. Ofcourse there are moments where you notice something missing but not much can be done about it now and a good job of editing can cover up these silly mistakes
SHOOT - DAY 9 - FINAL
24/3/17
After a cold day shooting on the grounds of the Microsoft offices in Reading, it means the shooting for  Crooked has been completed. Now begins the long tedious process of the visual and audio editing - where the film is really made.
SHOOT - DAY 8
23/3/17
How come Otter gets TWO flashback scenes?!?! Because she does. That's why.
The scene was shortened slightly from it's original but nothing that would negatively affect the story.
The wind however, was on a warpath. This meant on set sound recording was practically impossible. ADR sound is a lot easier to sort through anyway
SHOOT - DAY 7
22/3/17
AND THATS A WRAP.... On Bambi. Thankyou very much Eva Trifoni for giving an amazing performance as Bambi.
Whilst that is the final scene of Crooked filmed, there's still a couple left to jump back to. So now whilst Bambi can rest, there's still work for the rest of us
SHOOT - DAY 6
20/3/17
Being slightly ahead of schedule on Friday allowed us to begin scene 11 on Friday and get half of it done. This meant that today we could finish off scene 11 as well as 13. It turned into a long day, but it was worth it
SHOOT - DAY 4
16/3/17
After a week of amazing weather, the one day we were going to shoot outside during the first week of course had to be cold and grey. Regardless, with some very cold actors and very nice pizza, we managed to power through and finish the shooting of scene 1!
SHOOT - DAY 3
15/3/17
The 15th saw us shooting scenes 2 and 4. Both being shorter scenes allowed for a slightly more relaxed day as well as more time to be spent going into each individual shot. This means that less boring or average shots and more dynamic and interesting shots.
SHOOT - DAY 1
13/3/17
Monday the 13th saw the first day of 'the shoot'. No actual filming took place but instead several rehearsals and character building exercises took place. Other games were played too to get the cast all familiar with each other. Tomorrow the first actual day of shooting starts.
WEEK BEFORE SHOOT
12/3/17
The final week before shooting begins. The majority of it was spent first cleaning the green room (that is going to be used as the main set where the majority of the film will be shot) and then dressing it. A decent amount of time also, ofcourse went into the minor pieces that add character to the room.
Unfortunately, storyboards still need to be done! The weekend has been spent on nothing but those, but too many to all get done. They will have to also be done during the shoot weeks.
AUDITIONS... AGAIN?!
4/3/17
Unfortunately, it came to be that the originally chosen actor for Fox dropped out. This meant that a second audition process for Fox had to take place. With this day, the final one of these auditions took place. Tomorrow the new Fox will be confirmed and an updated script and shoot schedule will be sent out to all actors.
FIRST POST!
Start of Production to 25/1/17
So ofcourse, Crooked had to start somewhere. Our story begins all the way back in August 2016.
First off, it had to be different. A lot of student films are dark and attempt to be deep and meaningful - forget that; this film is going to be a comedy! Now, what does hollywood always get wrong... The villain. The villain is usually underdeveloped and used as a tool for the protagonist as opposed to them being an interesting character in their own right, especially recently.
So a comedy film where the antagonist is more developed than the protagonist... Why even bother having a protagonist? Just have all the characters be criminals - and thus, Crooked is born!
Crooked's visual style comes, from comic books. Comics are just slight variations of story boards, which are made for every film, so why not take that to the extreme and imagine the whole film as just a moving comic book. Now the story and visual style is set.
After getting the go ahead from a panel, about making Crooked, the next step was finding actors.
After several auditions and unsuccesful attempts, 4 of the 6 actors were found
Kat, Dog, Otter and Dude.
At this point however, there wasn't much time left for the pilot to be completed and so 2 scenes were picked that used only these characters for the pilot - both flashback scenes.
The weather and traffic was against us but a fairly successful day of shooting was achieved.
After the pilot was completed, the hunt has been on to find the final two characters - Fox and Bambi