To reflect upon this project is hard because so much has evolved during the project both as a group and individually. This task of making a feature film has been a valuable lesson in filmmaking; I have changed the way I work and my standards of production and the rate at which I work, producing high quality content is my ultimate goal, I want nothing less and I will not be involved in a bad piece of work, I have found a voice within this project not just verbally but in terms of camerawork.
Personally my skills as a Cinematographer have doubled or even tripled, I cannot express how much change there has been in the content and quality of my work. I work in a completely different way and an extremely professional manner. I am on a higher level looking into every aspect of the composition, the meaning behind individual shots, finding a focal point within a scene. I have a way of finding beautiful shots and developing them, understanding what is needed to achieve a particular scene. Keeping it simple at times or more complicated when needed, I am producinga high calibre range of developing, dynamic shots and a higher production value than before. Since completing all of the relevant research, building skills throughout test shoots and trial and error, I have brought something new to the table; this project gradually rose in terms of quality. During and after completing the 15 day shoot it was apparent that my eye for cinematography had improved, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, but I was told about my improvement as a cinematographer technically and as a team member. It has now come to the point were I will be checking the composition and focal point on one camera, coming back to my own and mirroring the process and following every intricate detail and offering the editor enormities of options and quality.
The project itself started out with huge amounts of enthusiasm, it was a slow start and then suddenly it started to transform as the team came together, roles were determined and it was time to knuckle down. At this point Rich, Mick and me took the lead of the feature team alongside Pete the director, we began interviewing a selection of actors – we had narrowed it down to 12 possible and had 1 day to decide. We also discussed the options regarding the script, equipment, location and journey planning. The other team members took the lead on their project, which was the making of Latitude the movie, and locations. It all started to come together, once we got going we didn’t stop. There honestly was a point I didn’t think this project would pull through, scripts were not finished, actors had demanded the script, hotels and planswere not fixed to dates, and it all became a bit much. We pulled through, the locations team sorted their sectors out and helped on the pre production stages, the feature team had selected the best actors and locations, with call sheets and schedule finalised we were set and ready to go! This turning point made a big difference to the team; we became even tighter, decisions and working relationships developed in order to produce the level of professionalism we lacked in the slow month.
This project became a great part of our lives, every day would be spent in the Latitude office space, working on routes, money, funding, spreading the word and generally making the film happen. The decisions and contact we have made within this film have been huge, people in such high places giving us wonderful emails stating the inspiration we have given them, a very inspiring thought!
There are of course parts of the process I would change, the slow start, the issue of money constantly and the way we compacted so much into such a little time. But again this is the nature of the product, I am proud of the way we achieved it. We could of changed team members roles and brought more people on board, I feel it would of made life easier on set, but again its catch 22 would having more people aid us or hinder the process. Having the core team really helped in meetings and decision making times and the ability to turn around problems quickly without having to refer up or down the chain.
This project has been by far the most challenging and rewarding project than any one of us had ever been a part of before. The quality, style and distribution factors really have blown anything else out of the water. Individually and collectively we really made this happen, the use of contacts in the US and the UK enabled us to branch out more and exceed our expectations. I wonder if anybody else on the course has made contact with a producer from Disney and a locations scout on the west coast? It’s a proud feeling to know what the team and myself personally have achieved through doing this project. The time and scale we have achieved this in is fantastic. A feature should be created over two or three years but in this case we decided to take on this formidable task, fit it into our deadlines and make a first rate feature film.
Hiring professional actors, outstanding locations, high quality camera work and equipment, every aspect of this project shows how hard we have tried and how much we achieved with a small amount to hand in. In physical terms I would of loved to hand in a full feature, instead we have been able to hand in segments, scenes and a trailer, all of which provide evidence of the full film being shot, and the blog showing the effort required in the whole production. I can’t wait for the feature to be completely finished and perhaps have a premier with the red carpet treatment. I want the world to know how much we have gone through the moments that where low, highand the success and achievements we have made along this journey. The film takes the two characters along a journey but the actually project was a journey within itself, we lived this movie, we had no Hollywood trailer to go back to or someone to bring us food, equipment and transport. We lived in the film, we took the road trip, we built the sets within locations, and we made the props by hand and fed every aspect of the project along the way. The effort seen within is reflected in the journey we all took creating this film. The film is a very personal piece for each and every one of us involved and will be the start of our life journey in Media.
An eye opener to the real world, an experiment on how to make a feature film with no real budget, the fund raising and our back pockets funded this film. It puts us in a different category of Inde film making, similar to the film ‘Being Sold’. Hollywood would have the luxury of time and money to achieve the same result! Noticeably the film industry is currently flooded with short films, making it very competitive and so much harder to be noticed, where as there are only around 100 feature films per year made, so the feature film route will improve our chances of success.
As students of Coventry University we hope to offer inspiration to future students as well as a fantastic opportunity for Coventry to shine in the feature film category as a result of our ‘Lattitude’ Movie.
Lastly the personal achievement and process I went through to obtain this level quality has been difficult, interesting and a pleasure.
This project is something I’m proud to put on my CV, as a cinematographer, a perfectionist I’m proud of what I’ve achieved through latitude, it has left me with an even bigger challenge to be let loose from the grounds of university and take on the industry itself. The process and development of this project has filled me with pride and joy, to have made a feature at the age of 21 is something I would never have dreamed of. I have come a very long way since the first few days of university, as a media producer, cinematographer, and a person. Throughout my time on this project it has taught me the groundwork for building the blocks, it has been a wonderful learning experience that has made me who I am today and given me the ability to carry on with my journey experiment and create future projects.
Jake Humbles 