#mrballoonheadmanproducer

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Mr Balloonhead Man - shoot day 1

14/03/2024

Call time for today was 08:30, with a plan to start shooting for 10:00. 08:30 seems a little early, however in my experience, there needs to be a little bit of time for people running late and also greetings with actors/crew who have never met each other before being on set. I knew that we would run a little over for the first shot as that usually happens when people are getting used to the environment on set etc. As soon as crew started arriving, I made everyone coffee's and also got started on making sandwiches for lunch as I knew we were planning on using the kitchen for the shoot later. I also put out any snacks for people to have throughout the day.

It was so so lovely to get to see David, our voice actor, again since I worked with him last semester and it was nice meeting Lev for the first time properly. We wanted David on set so that he could record dialogue on set - so that he could coordinate the lines with the movement.

As expected, our first set up and shot ran overtime by quite a bit but as soon as we got that shot it was pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the day. My main job on set was ensuring health and safety regulations are followed and to make sure that there are no problems (including welfare checks :))

The only time I was worried about Lev in the suit was when we were doing the take where Mr Balloonhead Man was walking from the living room to the kitchen. Because this was a front on shot, Lev's face had to be almost completely covered, meaning she could not see where she was walking. We did a few rehearsals with her and she was able to do the blocking by counting her steps. However when it got to doing a take she would often walk a bit too far - into the wall. Luckily she had a helmet on and she was walking very slowly so was not hurt in any way, but for every take I was on stand by in the kitchen to spot her if she was going to walk into the wall.

Throughout the day we managed to catch up on time and we ended up finishing early!! The last thing we had to do was record lines of dialogue in the space and then everyone could go home and rest for the next day.

I had an appointment just after we wrapped so I went off to that but came back as soon as I was finished to have a debrief with Duncan and Gus and go over any glaring issues - which luckily we didn't have. We went over what was happening for tomorrow's shoot and discussed etiquette when shooting in a shop - something that Gus and I are experienced in based on our last project. I finished up the call sheet and sent it out to the cast and crew, and Duncan, Gus and I did final testing of the Glide gear before packing up and heading home.

testing the glide

I sent out the call sheet for the next day and prepared for the shoot.

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Mr Balloonhead Man - Final Film

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Mr Balloonhead Man - Post-Production (Grade)

For the grade, Duncan, Gus and I had conversations about how we wanted to create a sense of place using colour. For the flat, we wanted to have the space be warm and welcoming, while the exteriors were all a cold, blue colour.

Gus graded this project, which was so useful as him and Duncan were able to have conversations about the grade in pre-production which helped them plan lighting for the shoot itself. Gus suggested to us that he could make it look like the film was shot on 35mm film, which I liked, however I brought up the fact that we needed motivation for this - a reason why. The 35mm film look took away from the documentary feel that the Sony FX6 gave, a look that none of us really wanted, however due to equipment issues, we had to put up with. There were a few times where I noticed the saturation was way too different in the exterior and interior scenes so I sat with Gus to help him tweak it a bit.

I wrote up a cast and crew list for Gus, putting the credits in the right order for him to add at the end, and found the Film Cult logo for him to use as we used their kit too.

Gus did an amazing job on the grade and I think we successfully managed to create a sense of place alongside camera movements and sound.

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Mr Balloonhead Man - Post-production (edit)

The edit for Mr Balloonhead Man was a little difficult to schedule as our editor, Molly, was editing two films this semester despite not being on the module. I am so grateful that she was able to take time to help us out as I have worked with her previously and really admire her work.

Our rough schedule for the edit was to be from the 18th of March to the 4th April, however I knew that this was going to be difficult to achieve because both Molly and I have work placements for a different module. I was 1st AD for Necropolis Munro from the 18th to 20th of March, so I came in to see the first draft on the 23rd, and gave some of my notes. Duncan and I have been in constant communication, so I let him know my thoughts and we had a call to discuss next steps. I also discussed with Molly the dates that both of us would be on placement and also the dates that I would be on set for The Man Who Fell in Love with the Sky, and tried to organise a rough estimate for when I could come in next.

We ended up picture locking on Thursday the 11th, a bit later than I'd hoped, but that is ok because I had scheduled a week of wiggle room for sound so I am not worried about time. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the final film until close to picture lock as when I came into SAS, Molly was not available, however Duncan, Molly and I sat together on the day of picture lock and Molly worked on it until we were all satisfied. Due to scheduling conflicts, we weren't able to get any feedback from lecturers until after picture lock, and we found that after Zoë watched it, there was one shot that we wanted to change. Due to Molly not being on the module and having other commitments, I did not want to go over her head and change anything without her permission, so we came to a compromise which we were all satisfied with and I feel worked out in the end. Even though I want the best outcome for our film, I want to respect the work of my crew and I never want to overstep and change anything without permission. In hindsight, I would have liked to have had more contact hours with the edit, however due to everyone's differing schedules, I understand that we did the best we could. In the future, I would like to improve communication with my team and I will definitely work on this for future projects.

Overall, Molly and Duncan did an incredible job with the edit - specifically the montage scene which I think edited together fantastically! I am really excited to see what Alex has in store for sound :)

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Mr Balloonhead Man - Final Shoot day!

17/03/2024

Today started off a bit rough as it was St Patrick's Day and Edinburgh was very busy! Again, this was something I should have taken more into consideration but I will remember this for next time. We started the day off at Duncan's flat and I had planned for a skeleton crew to get some snorri cam footage on the way to meet the actors at the Royal Commonwealth Pool. Duncan drove up with the kit and India met the actors at the pool. Unfortunately, our team arrived a little later than I'd hoped due to foot traffic, however our wonderful actors were great sports and bonded while they waited for us to arrive.

We all took some equipment and walked up to the bench on Queen's Drive. We had the bench from 2pm-6pm and I noticed the rangers from Historic Environment Scotland driving around, so ensured that everyone in the crew wore their hi-vis vests to indicate that we were the crew that had permission to be there. I had the permission letter on hand, and gave a spare to Lachlan just in case the rangers asked.

While we got set up, we realised that we did not have the CO2 box, so India and I found that we could wrap up the matte box outer-box to look like a parcel. This was not ideal, however I think it made sense in the film and it was not a distraction at all. Lev seemed a bit tired of being in the suit today so I ensured that India was on stand-by to take the helmet off whenever we weren't shooting.

The main obstacle we had today was the clouds constantly changing and covering the sun, but we knew that this was going to happen as a result of our decision to film outside. We stick with it and it was a very smooth running shoot day. I spent a lot of the day with our voice actor David, who was posted a little further away from the frame as we needed him in the same location to record lines. I wanted to keep him company as I know it can get quite boring standing around and waiting for set ups. Overall, I think everyone had a good time and we finished with time to spare so Gus could get a lovely shot of Liam and Lev chatting with the sunset in the background. Duncan walked Liam to his bus stop while we packed up the kit and he met us at the bottom with his car to load the equipment in. We ended the day saying our final goodbyes to Mr Balloonhead Man and popped him :(

Overall, the entire shoot was incredibly positive! I was really proud of our team and even though it was a tough couple of days of running around with a camera and sound equipment, the moral was so high and I hope everyone had a wonderful time because I know I did! I am so so excited to get into post-production :)

I am so so grateful for our wonderful cast and crew for coming together to make Fionntán's beautiful script come to life :)

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Mr Balloonhead Man - Shoot day 3

16/03/2024

This day was the most difficult day to plan as we had quite a lot of locations with not the most amount of time. I realised when we were doing a rough schedule that this was a big day for the rugby and in hindsight I should have kept this in mind when planning which days we were going to shoot. This meant that we had to be extra careful with safety as when it gets later in the day, the streets will be much busier and on top of that, we need to be careful not to get faces of members of the public in the film as that requires extra permission. This day was mainly for the montage scene of Mr Balloonhead Man walking around the city, so we needed to be as efficient as possible to get the shots we needed.

We started the day off pretty early as I wanted to get some shots when the streets would be as empty as possible. We met at unit base with our skeleton crew - Duncan, Gus, Lachlan, Jack, Gaby, India and our actor Lev. We had planned to have a few extras for this shoot, so for our first shot of the day, we called Alex, our head of post-production sound to be our man on the bike. We did a few takes of this and managed to finally get a shot we were happy with. This shot took longer than we'd hoped due to members of the public walking by quite a lot.

Next we moved on to the shot of the Bam. For this we were initially going to cast Fionntán, however Duncan and I noticed that Fionntán had already been in shots in the house as he was the 'father', so Lachlan, our 1st AD, stepped in to help and he was absolutely brilliant.

Our next shot required two extras who I had cast quite early on into the project. Two regulars from my old work, Ronnie and Michael, had expressed interest in being in our film, so I cast them as the men judging Mr Balloonhead Man as he walked down the street. I left set to collect them from The Scotsman's Lounge, about 15 minutes away. During this time, the crew reshot the scene where Mr Balloonhead Man leaves the flat as we realised that continuity wise, the weather was different from the day we shot it. Despite Ronnie and Michael not being professional actors, they absolutely smashed it and it looked really authentic, I am really excited to show them how it turned out.

Our sound team getting 'ambience noise'

Lev was scheduled to leave set early as they had an audition later in the day, so while Duncan and the rest of the crew did some traffic shots by a tunnel facing the royal mile, India, Lev and I took a few photos of Lev in costume before letting releasing Lev for the day.

The last two shots we needed was Mr Balloonhead Man on the bus, and the shots of the balloon flying in the sky. For this we needed to cut the amount of crew down even more as getting on a bus with a big film crew was bound to attract too much attention. Here, I split the team into two, one to get footage of the bus, and one to collect a helium balloon from Ali's Cave on Lothian Road. Duncan, Jack and I went to Ali's Cave, while the rest hopped on a bus and got the footage we needed. I kept in constant contact with Lachlan to ensure everything was alright and it all went well!

After this shot was done, everyone headed to a hill while India met me back at the flat to start packing the equipment we didn't need up. I finished up the call sheet and ensured to check all the equipment was there before packing it all up and organising what we needed for tomorrow's shoot.

When everyone arrived back, I did a little debrief and welfare check to make sure everyone was alright and not too tired and sent everyone on their way for the day to rest for tomorrow's shoot. Overall, today was fantastic and I am so proud of everyone for being so professional and working really well to get the hard day done!

To end the day, Duncan, Gus, Lachlan and I met Fionntán to watch the big rugby game together :)

[saskiamcc]

Mr Balloonhead Man - Shoot Day 2

15/03/2024

This day was incredibly important as we had a pretty strict time limit for the scene we wanted to shoot based on location. We had the hardware store secured from 11am until 4pm, where we have to navigate filming a full scene around paying customers and staff trying to do their jobs. Luckily I have done something like this last semester and so has my DP, Gus, so I am confident that this will go smoothly.

When we arrived at unit base, I had a chat with the whole crew to discuss etiquette on set in a shop and ensured that we need to be as efficient and polite as possible, emphasising that this is still a running business so we need to be quiet and flexible as well.

Our unit base was Gus' flat, two doors down from the hardware store so this is a space I allocated for our actors to stay before they arrive on set. We have our other actor, Liam, on set today, so I wanted to ensure that there was a space that was comfortable for him to be when he wasn't on set. We were also lucky enough to have Alfie as an addition to our camera department, which also meant today went smoother.

Whilst Gus, the camera team and Lachlan (1st Ad) were sorting out equipment, Duncan and I went down to the store to talk to the manager, Anne. She gave us access to a store room where we could store our equipment, and where anyone who wasn't needed on set during set ups could sit to be out of the way. After chats with Lachlan, I allocated who should be where and when, so assigned the production design team to stay with the actors and check on costume up at the flat while the camera team did some movement tests. Because our actor Lev, was upstairs, I put the suit on to help out with camera movement checks.

Filming today went pretty smoothly and although we had the general public coming in and out of the shop, it did not really interfere with our schedule and we managed to wrap about half an hour early. Lev, our actor had reported to me that they had a little bit of neck pain from the costume, so I went to the shops to ensure I had deep heat on hand to ease the pain, and also talked to the PD team an instructed that the costume was to be taken off Lev anytime the camera was not rolling to ensure their safety.

The main issue we had was with the MixPre10. The power adaptor that was noted to be faulty yesterday stopped working and the MixPre could only work if it was plugged into the wall. The sound team reported this to me and I went across the road to a place with wifi to email the film store about this. As it was almost 2pm when I reported it, so I organised for Duncan, Gaby and I to go to the film store once we finished shooting at 4:30pm to get it checked out. It was incredibly important that we got this sorted for the next couple of days as we are shooting outside and cannot have the MixPre plugged into a wall. Unfortunately the store did not have any MixPre10s left so we had to use the Sound Device 744 instead.

Overall, today was a great success and I am very grateful for the lovely people at Houseproud of Morningside for accommodating us and being so helpful in making our film possible :)

We ended the day by moving all equipment back to Duncan's flat and I finished the call sheet for tomorrow and sent it out :) I am excited to see how tomorrow will turn out as I have never done a run and gun shoot before.

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Critical reflection - Mr Balloonhead Man

Proposal of intentions

As a producer, I want to be able to tell stories that often go overlooked through unique visuals and writing. On the surface, this story seems to have a comedic tone, with the protagonist being a man with a balloon head. However once we delve deeper, we see the vulnerability and honesty about anxiety and isolation from society. The combination of comedy and tragedy makes the moments of vulnerability even more impactful. I was drawn to this project because of how raw, yet touching, the character is. Everyone has at some point in their lives felt isolated or dierent and I love the idea of authentically representing this through a unique character. I am really excited to take on such an ambitious project which will really push my skills as a producer.

Casting is an interesting factor here as I am casting both a voice actor and a puppeteer to play one character. For voice acting, I am looking for an actor who can portray vulnerability and anxiety through tone and vocal techniques such as shaking, or generally being able to translate clear emotion through just their voice. For the puppeteer, I need to find someone who is experienced in puppeteering, for health and safety reasons, but also someone who can express emotion through mobility - their walk, or hand movements.

Location is an incredibly important aspect to this film in order to establish a ‘sense of place’ for our character. It’s essential that we are able to create a clear juxtaposition between the comfort of Mr Balloonhead Man’s home, and the scariness of the outside world. Even within his home, we want to show that this world has not been built for him, and that he has to balloon-proof his home. Therefore, my main focus for locations are his home, and the street. Additionally, I would like for our sound designer to be able to utilise the locations that we have and to be able to have a broad range of sounds to play with to create the sense of fear in the exterior scenes. Hence, another focus for me here is to book out sound equipment which will allow our sound recordists to experiment. For example, I would like to book out a MixPre10 - which will require extra training by our sound recordists. This will allow our recordists to have access to more than one boom mic alongside more than one radio mic.

Health and safety is a key factor to consider here, with the actor playing Mr Balloonhead Man being in a suit. I want to ensure that the actor we cast is experienced and feels comfortable. In order to keep the actor safe, we will have people spotting them as they walk, and we will shoot in ways which means that they can see when moving (e.g. close-ups, so their face is exposed, OTS, etc.). Additionally, during all test shoots and early costume tests, I will be trying the suit out myself and moving around in it so that I know the potential risks first hand.

Critique of process

Overall, this project had its challenges, however it was rewarding once complete. I am an advocate for taking on ambitious projects as a producer because I am always looking to push myself, and Mr Balloonhead Man was not an exception. Choosing a film whose protagonist was an inanimate object was going to be dicult, however I wanted to show that it is possible to cover quite vulnerable topics using something that may be seen initially as quite humorous. My main goal throughout, was to ensure that communication between the crew was as consistent as possible. In my experience, the projects that are the most successful are the ones where all heads of department are as engaged as possible and communicate eectively. Occasionally, I struggled to organise meetings with HODs, and I also struggled maintaining good communication, so this is definitely something that I am looking to improve on in future projects.

A big challenge for me was finding locations that fit the tone of what we were looking to convey. For exterior scenes, I aimed to find locations that fit the scene but also needed to be safe enough for our crew to film in. My director and DP asked if it was possible for us to film on a specific bench on Queen’s Drive (going up to Arthur’s Seat). Despite knowing that getting permission to film near or on Arthur’s Seat would be a challenge, I wanted to make this happen for my crew as they gave convincing arguments as to why this would be a great location for the final scene. Initially, I assumed that there would be a hefty fee to film on Queen’s Drive as it is on the base of a heritage site, however after extensive research I found that for students with limited crew, there is no fee to film. I contacted Historic Environment Scotland and provided them with the paperwork to be able to secure the location.

A location that I wish I had put more time into finding was the interior flat. We had used our production designer’s flat for the test and I was so happy with it due to the warm colours and the size of it. However this location fell through close to the time of filming and as a result we resorted to our director’s flat. Despite this being a good space for our crew, I feel I could have found a place that provided us with better natural lighting as this flat was on the ground floor, with the window being covered by a bush.

I do however believe that I was able to run a very smooth set, which made a huge difference to the final project. I ensured that throughout the filming period, everyone had everything they needed and were not overworked. We had a few issues with the sound equipment during filming - specifically the MixPre10 - however I managed to get that sorted before the next day of shooting.

Critique of Final Film

The final film was a great success! I am so proud that we were able to create a film which fulfilled most of our intentions of covering a vulnerable topic through the eyes of a usually humorous inanimate object. I think that the tone was well translated from the script and we managed to consistently present Mr Balloonhead Man’s anxiety through the use of camera movements, environment, sound and lighting.

The first montage and the final scene in my opinion are the strongest aspects of the film. The montage starts slow, showing Mr Balloonhead Man interacting with people and bikes on small side roads, speeding up significantly when he is exposed to main roads with cars, buses and dogs. The sound design and the camera movements really compliment each other during the montage scene, with the sounds on the street and the visuals of cars and pedestrians increasing in pace and volume as the montage progresses. This scene ends with Mr Balloonhead Man entering the hardware store with a bell sound, separating the chaos of the exterior from the expected calm of the interior. Despite Mr Balloonhead Man expecting to be met with the safety of more CO2, he finds there is none left and is confronted by a rude store owner. The sharp contrast between the exterior and the beginning of the interior scene leaves us with a false sense of security, which I feel was a very successful aspect of the film. Despite the fact that we made great use of the exterior locations, I wish we made more use of the location of the hardware store. To make this scene more impactful, I could have cast extras to be bothering Gary - the shop owner - making him more overwhelmed so that his outburst at Mr Balloonhead Man would be more justified. Despite this, Liam’s performance as Gary in this scene was particularly impressive and I think that his versatility between this scene and the last scene helps to convey the message that everyone has anxiety and gets overwhelmed and sometimes people are just having a bad day.

The final scene was what gave the film so much heart and depth. The final shot of Gary and Mr Balloonhead Man sitting on the bench getting to know each other wraps the film up really well and the final line, “I’m Gary by the way”, makes Gary seem more human and brings a sense of relief to both Mr Balloonhead Man and the audience after the stressful montage that preceded it. The location of the film I feel really added to this sense of place. After the confrontation with Gary and the stressful experience of walking around a bustling city where he does not feel welcome, Mr Balloonhead Man goes to a quiet bench to look out at the landscape. The final conversation with Gary is a welcome gesture for Mr Balloonhead Man to feel like he could become part of society.

The opening scene in the flat, however, I feel could have had a bit more focus. I like that the reveal of Mr Balloonhead Man’s face is delayed until he opens the fridge as it brings a bit of lightheartedness to the film, which helps to gradually build up tension when he leaves the flat. However, the blocking in the living room was a bit stagnant and I think it could have been a lot smoother to show that he has made his environment more comfortable for him to live in.

I think the costume design was really successful and fit seamlessly into the film, with the practicalities not being too distracting. The way that a sense of place was created within the flat was subtle yet eective, with little sponges covering the spikes on the plants or sharp corners of the fireplace. A few more obvious pieces of production design alongside these subtleties, such as pool noodles along the fireplace or door could have made the sense that this flat is not built for Mr Balloonhead Man a bit more clear and I think would have elevated the juxtaposition between the interior and exterior scenes.

Despite it being very ambitious and tough work to use a balloon as part of the main costume, I believe that we successfully made a film about a vulnerable topic that is accessible to everyone. There are times when I feel we could have translated the panic Mr Balloonhead Man feels better and in a way that is more animated. For example, when he realises he does not have any more CO2 left, I feel that with more exaggerated movements and more focus on the production design (the empty CO2 box), the motivation for him leaving his flat would be more clear and we would understand his anxiety more clearly.

The film is about anxiety and in a way, how we at times miss out on the joys of life due to these fears and worries. Additionally, the film highlights themes of societal isolation and not being accepted by the world and societal norms. By telling this story from the perspective of a man with a balloon for a head, it becomes accessible to a wide range of audiences and provides audiences with both a bit of laughter and also deeper reflection of ourselves and our own anxieties. The aim for this film is to show that it is ok to be anxious and vulnerable but also to remember not to miss the beautiful aspects of life from a bigger perspective. Through the use of eective costume design - specifically the monotonous facial expression that remains consistent throughout the film - and the use of sound design - for example the little balloon squeaky sounds - we were able to make the audience sympathise with an inanimate object, which I think makes the message a little more special. This also shows the eort and skill involved with all departments that worked on this film - from the wonderful writing and directing to camera and production design, to sound and editing - I don’t believe the film could have conveyed the message in the way that it did without the collaboration of all departments.

[saskiamcc]

Prep day !!

13/03/2024

My first priority for prep for the shoot is to finish the call sheets and printing out the equipment checklist, schedules and shot lists. I also made sure to print out the shooting scripts for Duncan (director), Gus (DoP), Lachlan (1st AD), Fionntán (script supervisor) and the actors.

call sheet for day 1

shot list

Kit pick up was at 3pm today so a group of us met at Craiglockhart to help out. We packed up Duncan's car and Duncan, Gus, Jack and I went to unit base to do an equipment check. Earlier in the day Duncan had gone to Film Cult to pick up the Glide gear that we had hired, so in particular, I wanted Gus to be able to try it out and make sure he was comfortable with it.

Lili met us at Duncan's flat with the props to set up the flat. Whilst Duncan and Gus sorted out equipment and Lili dressed the set, I finished up the basic information on the call sheets for the rest of the shooting days so I did not have to worry about this later. I am planning on filling in the rest of the information if anything changes on set tomorrow.

I had Jack (boom op) check the sound equipment since Gaby (on-set sound HOD) was on a different set today. I booked out the MixPre10 for our sound team as we needed two shotgun mics and two lavs, so Jack wanted an opportunity to check it out. He reported that there was a cable that was slightly bent, however he said it wasn't too bad and was still usable, so I made a note to report it to the store when we gave it back.

Gus didn't report any issues with the camera equipment apart from the fact that the Glide kit from the Film Cult were missing a few screws and that the weights weren't the strongest to stabilise the weight of the camera. Duncan, Gus and I played around with sandbags and other weights to see if we could fix this and some things worked but not as much as we'd like. We agreed that Gus would take the glide and see if he had anything he could use to fix this problem at his.

camera prep and dressing the set

Later, I was made aware that some of the crew had been on set later than expected today so I pushed their call times back so they could get as much rest as possible.

I am both incredibly excited and slightly nervous for the shoot as this is such an ambitious project. I know that the team will make something really really great, and most of all I want us to have a positive experience on set! :)

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Hardware store recce

Duncan and I met up to visit the hardware store that we managed to secure last week. Luckily Gus lives so close that he has been in multiple times and already knows what he wants in terms of lighting and using the space.

We had contacted Anne beforehand so that we could also get her to sign the location agreement. When we got there, we introduced ourselves to her and spoke to her about how the shooting day was going to go. Anne was incredibly welcoming and she offered to block off a section of the shop for us to use. She said that we could move whatever we wanted and she is happy to accommodate to us as much as we need which was so appreciated!

Duncan and I already knew which room we wanted to use for the scene, so we walked through some blocking and what sorts of things we wanted in shot. Duncan pointed out a few potential shots that he liked and we took some photos for Gus for reference.

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Securing locations

Houseproud of Morningside Ltd - Home Hardware

I took a little pitch document to the hardware store in Morningside to see if they would consider letting us use the shop for a day of filming. I was told that the manager would contact me when she got in, and I got a call the day of the pitch to say that she was very happy for us to use the store.

We organised for us to film on Friday the 15th March from 11am-4pm. This meant that we have to be incredibly efficient when it came to set ups. Even though we have Duncan's flat as the established unit base, I've asked Gus if we can use his flat as unit base since he lives about 2 doors down. I stopped by and had Anne sign a location agreement and we are good to go.

Queen's Drive bench

After emailing back and forth with Historic Environment Scotland and filling out multiple forms, I managed to secure us permission to film on the bench. For this I agreed to using a skeleton crew and to only film for 4 hours from 2pm-6pm.

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Creative exercise 2 - Balloonhead Baby

22/02/2024

We arrived at Duncan's flat at about 1:30 to start setting up for the shoot. For this, I had to take over the role of production designer as our HOD for production design was ill.

The first shot we wanted to focus on was the birthday scene as we knew this was going to take the longest to set up. I had bought a pack of 50 balloons so I got started blowing them all up and placing them around the room while the others cleared the table and set it up with toys, cards, comics and cupcakes.

We chose a yellow balloon to be balloonhead child himself and spent some time trying to figure out how we could make a body without an actor being in it. I put it in a hoodie, with some plastic bottles to form the arms and placed it on a bean bag. We then threw the rest of the balloons haphazardly onto the bean bag along with some toys and gift bags. As we wanted to hide the face of balloonhead child, we tied the hoodie tight and ensured that while shooting we framed it in a way which wasn't obvious. We filmed this on one of Gus' camcorder and then recorded the playback onto Gus' phone so we could upload it onto youtube.

set up for the birthday scene

The next scene we set up was the dad cradling balloonhead baby in his arms. This was quite a simple set up - just Fionntán with the balloon in his arms on the sofa. I also had the task of taking some photos on a digital camera that we will use in the final film. I ensured to get the balloon face in these photos though because we want to put them in frames around the house in the final films.

Fionntán with balloonhead child

Next, we set up the scene with Balloonhead child's dad reading him a bedtime story. We closed the blinds and had a practical lamp in the corner of the room and had Fionntán read a section of Treasure Island. We had a lot of fun with this, even using Gus' voice as the voice of Balloonhead child, and Duncan as the voice of Balloonhead child's other dad.

Fionntán reading to Balloonhead child

Our final dad-cam' footage of the day was Balloonhead child dressed up as a ghost, trick or treating. We needed a body for this - so I stepped up. I kneeled on the ground with shoes at my knees with a white sheet over my head. We cut holes for eyes and had Fionntán holding my hand.

I had to leave for an appointment so while I did that, the guys set up the lighting and the tv for the last scene we were going to shoot that day.

I had to be the body of Balloonhead Man for the last shot as we couldn't find anyone short enough to fit in the suit. This exercise showed me that we really needed to work on the contraption for the suit because after a while my neck started to hurt and I didn't want that to be a problem for our actor on set.

I was really happy with how this exercise turned out, I feel like we really were able to resolve some of the concerns we had before the shoot. I wrote a list of things to consider for the final shoot such as lighting for the final shoot, movement difficulties in the suit and the costume itself. This shoot also meant that we were able to bond a little which was a lot of fun!!

Final creative exercise!!

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Casting Calls and Choosing actors

17/02/2024

After sending India the information for the casting calls, they sent them back to me with the template. I am really happy with how they turned out and I'm excited to send them out.

I am a member of the Scottish Film Maker and Actors group on facebook so I posted these on there and also posted them to my film instagram account to spread the word.

We had very positive responses for all three characters which was great! We got 5 responses for the role of Mr Balloonhead Man, 3 for Gary, and 2 for Sarah. After receiving these responses, Duncan, Fionntán and I went through and chose sections of the script to send for an audition.

For both Mr Balloonhead Man and Sarah, we chose the phone call conversation at the beginning. We chose this for Mr Balloonhead Man we chose this because it is an opportunity for us to be able to hear the anxiety in the actor's voice, which is a key feature for the character.

Mr Balloonhead Man and Sarah audition scene

For Gary, we chose the hardware store scene as it was really important for us that the frustration and anger was done right.

Gary audition scene

Reviewing Auditions

05/04/2025

Duncan and I had a meeting to review the auditions that we had received. We got some wonderful responses back which made me even more excited than I was already for this project. Unfortunately, none of the actors who had reached out for the role of Sarah sent in any tapes, however this was not the end of the world as we didn't need an actor for Sarah until after the shoot.

We started by going through the audition tapes for Mr Balloonhead Man, and while we thought all of them were good, we had also asked David Clarkson for an audio audition and we decided we wanted to cast him as he had the perfect level of anxiety in his voice.

Gary was the character who was probably the most difficult to cast. We needed someone who looked welcoming and warm, but could also pull off aggression and frustration. After extensive discussion, we decided to go with Liam Hughes, who we thought fit the role perfectly. He had wonderful facial expressions, whilst also nailing the tone in his voice. Additionally, he even added in a little voice for Mr Balloonhead Man's part which we thought was a lovely touch to his audition and showed his commitment very well.

I am really really excited to work with Lev, David and Liam as they are all incredibly talented :)))

[saskiamcc]

Producer's script breakdown and locations meeting

15/02/2024

I wanted to fully break down the latest script that we had for myself as I knew there was a lot of locations and characters that I had to consider for this film.

Firstly, I went through all scenes and determined the locations that we need. It looked as if we needed a total of 7/8 locations:

Flat interior

Hardware store

Bench overlooking Edinburgh

Edinburgh streets x2/3

Bus

Next I went through and highlighted all the characters we needed. This came to 2 main characters:

Mr Balloonhead Man

Gary, the hardware store owner

And 5/6 extras:

the voice of Sarah, Mr Balloonhead Man's boss

the bams in the street x2

the person on the bike

the people glaring at him on the street x2

I had a zoom meeting with Duncan to discuss the locations and what we can do where.

Locations

Interior flat

Initially, for the interior location, we wanted to use Lili's flat since it had red walls and interesting shapes, however due to availability, we cannot use it. As an alternative, we have decided to use Duncan's flat, which is also beneficial because he has a living room which is quite close to the kitchen so set ups won't be too difficult. Additionally, Duncan knows the space really well and it helps that he can block and plan in his own time. We also have this space planned to use for the creative exercise, meaning that we can practice movement and lighting before the shoot.

Duncan and I discussed that while the space doesn't have the coloured walls we were looking for to make the space look visually interesting, it's great for accessibility and planning. We're hoping that we can make up for this through production design.

Hardware store

For the hardware store, we have already scouted a few around Edinburgh, including one in Marchmont, and one in Morningside. I particularly like the one in Morningside because it is a big space with walls filled with products. This is so important for the script as we want to make this space as intimidating as possible and as an added benefit, we have two potential unit bases less than 10 minutes away for actors to use as a green room.

Duncan and I have already been to the store in Marchmont, so in this meeting we discussed doing a recce to the Morningside shop in the next few days. There are some limitations here to consider however. The shop is on a main road, meaning that there could be quite a lot of foot traffic, however after last semester when I filmed in a corner shop, I am confident that this will not be a problem since I am experienced working around the general public.

Exterior bench

For the final scene on the bench, Duncan, Gus and I discussed using a particular bench on Queen's Drive, just on the base of Arthur's seat. I knew that this is quite an ambitious location as Arthur's seat is a key landmark in Edinburgh, so I emailed around to some lecturers to see if this would be a good idea. The general response I received was maybe to try somewhere else as getting this location may require a hefty fee, however I am really determined to get this location due to the beautiful view. On my call with Duncan, I did extensive research and found the website Historic Environment Scotland, which provided me with information about filming at historical sites.

I was pleased to see that for student films, the fees don't apply, so I applied for a permission on the website, detailing the requirements for the shoot, the crew and cast numbers. Duncan and I agreed that we could do this scene with a skeleton crew if needed. After our call, Duncan walked over to the bench since he lives quite close, to scout out if it was appropriate to film on and sent me the coordinates and any possible issues. The only possible issues that he found was the sound may be an issue due to the fact it is quite a busy road. However he did go at around 6pm and after doing some research, I found that Historic Environment Scotland actually close the road from 08:15 to 15:45, which is perfect for us.

Run and Gun locations

After extensive discussion about the street scenes, we decided that we were going to do some run and gun filming to capture the stress that Balloonhead Man feels in the outside world. We agreed that there were quite a few nice quiet streets around Duncan's flat just off the Royal Mile, which could work quite nicely, as it is a mix of new and old buildings. This means that we could film in locations quite close together while making it seem like its all around the city. We agreed that Duncan was going to decide which places he wanted to film in for each shot and get back to me so we could scout them out.

Casting choices

Mr Balloonhead Man

Our next discussion in this meeting was who we were going to cast. For the body of Mr Balloonhead Man, I messaged an actor on the MA acting course who some of our course mates have worked with before. Lev has done puppeteering in the fringe before, and I have been told that she is incredibly skilled in movement acting, so I knew that she was someone I wanted to consider. She agreed to taking the role almost immediately, so I went ahead and started organising a meeting with her and Duncan so they could discuss the project further.

For the voice, I already had someone in mind since I have worked with them before, however Duncan and I also thought it would be a good idea to send out casting calls and broaden our options. I contacted David Clarkson, who I worked with on A Tight Spot last semester and he immediately showed interest, so I was pretty certain that we were going to cast him, as I know that he is brilliant at conveying anxiety through his voice.

Having two different actors playing different parts of one character can be extremely difficult, but I am confident that this will work. I know that Lev and David have worked together before, which means that they know eachothers' style of acting well and I think this could be really helpful in getting the mannerisms of Mr Balloonhead Man just right.

Gary

For Gary, we needed an older actor, so I wrote up casting calls to send to India to format them onto the template design. The key information we needed to put across is:

Male presenting actor

Any ethnicity

Aged 45-65

Must be available 14th-17th March

I asked Fionntán and Duncan to send me some character inspiration for Gary and they sent me three options:

Jackie Elliot (Billy Elliot)

Begbie (Trainspotting 2)

Malcom Tucker (The Thick of It)

Sarah (the boss)

For Sarah, we needed a voice actor who was available after the shoot. I wrote up some information to put on a casting call to send out:

Any ethnicity

Aged 25-40

Must be avaliable in late March/April for voice recording (dates TBC)

Duncan and I felt so much more confident about the shoot after this meeting, it is really starting to come together. My next tasks are sending out the casting calls, securing locations and figuring out which days we should shoot which locations.

[saskiamcc]

Planning day for creative exercise 2 and pitch meeting

12/02/2024

I organised a meeting to discuss the second creative exercise and also the pitch, which is on the 20th. My group decided that we wanted to use the creative exercise as a way to test out the costume and also the logistics for camera and lighting when our main subject is a balloon.

Creative exercise

Firstly, we discussed the criteria for this exercise and how we could achieve this. The criteria for this exercise is:

2 minute film

single protagonist in one location

only allowed to reveal the protagonist in the last shot

We came up with the idea of doing 'dad-cam' footage, home video of Mr Balloonhead Man as a child. Our protagonist here is Mr Balloonhead Man, however throughout the 'dad-cam' footage, the character on screen will be his human father. We thought it would be interesting to show a sort of background to the character, which could also help our writer, Fionntán, fully understand the character. For this, we have cast Fionntán as the on screen father, and our director, Duncan as the off-screen father's voice recording the footage. We also wanted to take this opportunity to take some photos which we could use in the final film.

In this meeting, I wrote up a rough plan, with the locations we could use for the home video sections. The majority of this is in Duncan's flat which will give us flexibility for time and also planning as it is a possible location for our final film. I also wrote up a kit list for both sound and camera, and a rough schedule. I am not expecting to stick to the schedule 100%, however it is good to have one on hand so that the crew know what we are doing. Gus has a few camcorders which he is going to bring for us to take a pick.

In our original plan, we were thinking of filming a quick 'dad-cam' shot of them outside Edinburgh castle, however after extensive discussion, we weighed up the importance and decided we would rather focus on more simple set ups, especially as we don't have the most amount of time to film this exercise - so in the end we decided to scrap this scene.

We narrowed it down to 5 scenes:

dad holding balloonhead baby

dad reading a book to balloonhead baby

halloween ghost costume

swing set

birthday party

We also did some prototypes for 'baby balloonhead' and played around with how we could film it without a body - i.e. wrapping it in blankets etc.

Pitch meeting

I moved the meeting onto the pitch. After the first meeting, everyone knew what they were going to write, but I because it was a while ago, I wanted to ensure that everyone was clear with it, and also answer any questions that anyone had. Something else I wanted to cover was the design itself. I asked India, our art department, if they could design the pitch deck template, and they were very happy to do so. I also asked them if we could use the template for the casting calls that I have been planning too - so that they match.

Final Pitch meeting

18/02/2024

I organised another meeting two days before so that we could go over everything before the pitch. There was not as much focus on the pitch as I'd hoped as we had to discuss the tone of the film and go over what I planned to be the final script, however after this we decided that we needed another draft.

[saskiamcc]

Location recce and costume tests!!

06/02/2024

One location we've been discussing is the place that Mr Balloonhead Man gets his CO2 canisters, as we want to show a place which is visually interesting yet also makes sense for the story. I have been brainstorming with Duncan (director), Fionntan (writer) and Lili (production designer) and a few that we have come up with are a corner shop, a hardware store, and even a cafe/shop. Lili suggested we take a look at a record cafe near her flat in Marchmont as the owner is an artist who allows creatives to perform etc. Additionally, she mentioned that the opening hours are quite flexible, which could work in our favour. Due to the fact we only need this location for one short scene, it might be easier to secure a place, however I also would like to make an effort to make it visually interesting and add to the claustrophobia and fear that Mr Balloonhead Man feels in the outside world.

After class, Duncan, Gus, Fionntán, Lili and I headed over to Spoon Records to have a meeting about visuals and also to take a look at the space. At first glance I think we all agreed that the cafe was much too small to accommodate a film crew, but also it didn't really fit the tone of the film. It was far too welcoming and cozy, compared to the feeling of isolation we are trying to convey in the film. We had some good coffee and good chats about the film though :)

spoon records

After our meeting, we headed across the road to Lili's flat where we wanted to have a recce for the first scene and also test out some costume ideas. Lili's flat had such interesting colours which we thought would be really interesting to play with. The walls of the living room are red, which matched the colour palette that Duncan and Gus agreed upon.

lili's flat

For the costume test, we blew up some balloons and compared them to the colour of the walls to see which would work best. We agreed that blue worked the best to convey the character's anxiety, while also contrasting really well against the red walls. Because I am closest in height to the actor we want to cast, I had to be a stand in for the tests. This was actually quite fun, and it also meant that I could assess what would pose as potential risks for the actor when it came to the contraption for the balloon.

testing out colours and faces

We tried attaching a balloon to a coat hanger and resting it on my shoulders, covered and secured by a big coat. We used a scarf to cover the face and while that worked visually, I noted that it was quite risky in terms of health and safety and decided that we need to find some piece of clothing that allowed the actor to see during the shoot.

testing out the costume

My next steps from this meeting is to secure an actor for the body - specifically one who is experienced in puppeteering. I already have an idea for the voice of Mr Balloonhead Man, and after talks with Duncan and Fionntan, I think we all agree that that is who we would like to go with.