Preparation For Filming

Below is are the storyboards I created illustrating
 the opening sequence. In this sequence we see someone rolling and smoking a cigarette, and someone making a cup of tea. The idea is that the audience automatically assume it was the Homeless Man smoking and the Support Worker making the tea, however, I plan on filming each sequence twice with each actor doing each role. The shots are extreme close ups so it will be hard to tell which actor is doing which action, I'm hoping to be able to experiment with this sequence in post production potentially adjusting the opacity of each shot so the two characters literally merge into one.

I also drew a rough sketch showing the costume I have in mind for my Homeless Man character. The clothes are based on the images shown in my early blog posts and my own experience.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity

Goffman, E (1968) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity Penguin Group: London

I read the opening chapter of 'Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity' by Erving Goffman to get a bit more inspiration for my film shoot this weekend. I found the information particularly interesting and despite being quite an old source, very relevant to the subjects I am exploring in my film - stereotypes, identity, and so on.

Goffman begins the chapter by discussing how in Ancient Greece, any social deviant was marked so society could see that they were different - this was called a stigma. A stigma can take three main forms; physical stigma which relates to deformities or visible disabilities for example, stigma relating to a flawed, weak or undesirable character traits, and finally 'tribal' stigma which refers to the race, religion, personal history and so on of the individual in question (Goffman, E: 1968) Goffman believes that we have been culturally trained to react in certain ways to people carrying with them the various stigma described above. He talks mainly about the stigma that are immediately recognisable upon meeting or encountering an individual, and expresses the view that we automatically, subconsciously, categorise an individuals social identity/status within the first few moments of meeting them. (Goffman, E: 1968)

Goffman also believes that we are able to anticipate the certain interactions we will have with stigmatised individuals and have again been culturally trained how to react and interact in such situations,
"The routines of social intercourse in established settings allows us to deal with anticipated others without special attention or thought" (Goffman, E: 1968: 12)

How this relates to my project?

This is all relevant to my film as according to Goffman, homelessness is a stigma. We have been brought up with a stereotypical view of how a homeless person dresses and behaves, where they typically 'hang out' and so on. We have also been culturally conditioned with how to interact with a homeless individual, for example, putting a few coins into their hat if they are begging, or simply ignoring them.

The character of the support worker in my film has been brought up with a slightly different set of rules for dealing with interactions with homeless people due to the nature of his job, however, he still has a set of expectations for such encounters. My film breaks these anticipated set ups involving homeless people through the role reversal of the two characters. The homeless man behaves in a way that neither the audience or the support worker has anticipated thus forcing them to question what it was that immediately made them assume he would behave that way in the first place. The character of the support worker embodies the confusion of the audience, and in his line "Have you answered these questions?" he emphasises the idea, here suggested by Goffman, that stigmatised, in this case homeless, individuals are slightly 'less than human'. (Goffman: 1968)

Shot Lists for Saturday and Sunday

Below are the shot lists for each different location - I will print out a copy and tick off each shot as I capture it. Having already carried out both a practice shoot and a script read through with my actors, I have a good idea as to which shots work and which don't. I also have a few ideas I would like to experiment with.

Shot List

Saturday 17^th March 2012

9.30am – 12.30pm

PH86, St Matts

Actors: Homeless Man (HM) played by Mike Evans & Support Worker (SW) played by Lewis Marks

• ·      Medium shot with both actors on screen
• ·      CU of HM from the side
• ·      CU of SW from the side
• ·      CU of HM from front
• ·      CU of SW from front
• ·      Over the shoulder of HM
• ·      Over the shoulder of SW
• ·      Shot of HM shadow
• ·      Shot of SW shadow
• ·      ECU of HM hand filling out form
• ·      ECU of SW hands holding cup of tea
• ·      ECU of SW drinking tea
• ·      Shot of HM and SW in each others costumes
• ·      ECU of HM mouth talking
• ·      ECU of SW mouth talking
• ·      ECU of HM hand/pen tapping on desk
• ·      Low angle of HM
• ·      High angle of SW

2.30pm – 4.30pm

Towry Offices, Bristol City Centre

Actors: Estate Agent (EA) played by Sally Bartram & Support Worker (SW) played by Lewis Marks

• ·      Medium shot with both actors on screen
• ·      CU of EA from the side
• ·      CU of SW from the side
• ·      CU of EA from front
• ·      CU of SW from front
• ·      Over the shoulder of EA
• ·      Over the shoulder of SW
• ·      Shot of EA shadow
• ·      Shot of SW shadow
• ·      ECU of EA hand filling out form
• ·      ECU of SW hands holding cup of tea
• ·      ECU of SW drinking tea
• ·      Shot of EA and SW in each others costumes
• ·      ECU of EA mouth talking
• ·      ECU of SW mouth talking
• ·      ECU of EA hand/pen tapping on desk
• ·      Low angle of EA
• ·      High angle of SW

Sunday 18^th March 2012

6.00pm – 7.00pm

Bristol Methodist Centre, Midland Road

Actors: Homeless Man (HM) played by Mike Evans & Support Worker (SW) played by Lewis Marks

• ·      ECU of hands tearing green card
• ·      ECU of hands pulling out rizla
• ·      ECU of hands putting tobacco into rizla
• ·      ECU of hands rolling
• ·      ECU of tongue licking rizla
• ·      ECU of thumb sparking lighter
• ·      (ECU of hand striking match) – possible alternative
• ·      ECU of cigarette ember glowing
• ·      ECU of mouth blowing out smoke
• ·      ECU of hand flicking cigarette
• ·      ECU of foot stubbing out cigarette
• ·      ECU of hand grabbing cup
• ·      ECU of turning kettle on
• ·      ECU of sugar going into cup
• ·      ECU of tea bag going into cup
• ·      ECU of kettle steaming
• ·      ECU of kettle switching off
• ·      ECU of water being poured
• ·      ECU of tea bag being squeezed
• ·      ECU of milk being poured in
• ·      ECU of tea being stirred

(I want shots of both HM & SW doing each action)

Preparation for Film Shoot: 17th - 18th March 2012

This weekend is my official production weekend. I am hoping to capture all of my footage this over Saturday and Sunday which is a very short space of time meaning everything needs to be planned very precisely. I am filming in 3 different locations over the whole weekend and am using 3 different actors. I have decided to add in another interview sequence in which the Support Worker is meeting with an Estate Agent to collect the keys for his new house, when collecting the keys, the Estate Agent asks to run through some routine questions and then proceeds to go through the same interview questions as in the previous interview sequence. This is still currently a work in process - I am re-working the current script to make it relevant for this sequence and am editing the questionnaires slightly so they are more relevant for the Estate Agent sequence.

Below is the 'To Do List' I have conducted to ensure I am on track with organizing everything for this weekend.

To Do List

General

• ·      Hire equipment
• ·      Complete risk assessment and get it signed
• ·      Pick up equipment
• ·      Format SD cards
• ·      Charge my camera battery

Interview Sequence in PH86

• ·      Get permission from CSOs to have PH86 opened on Saturday
• ·      Clear excess clutter from PH86
• ·      Work out costumes for actors
• ·      Write shot list
• ·      Meet with actors to run through script and brief

Interview Sequence in Office

• ·      Create slightly different questionnaire
• ·      Write script
• ·      Work out costumes for actors
• ·      Write shot list
• ·      Meet with actors to run through script and brief

Stereotype shots at Bristol Methodist Centre

• ·      Complete storyboards
• ·      Collect keys from Ian Webb (centre manager)
• ·      Write shot list
• ·      Meet with cast and crew to brief

Performativity and Affect in the Homeless City

Cloke, P et. al (2008) Performativity and Affect in the Homeless City. In: Society and Space vol 26 pp 241-263.

In this journal article, Paul Cloke et al explore the different performances homeless people engage in across the city as a means of manipulating the space they are occupying to their advantage. They split the 'homeless city' into places to sleep, eat, earn and hang out and explore the different performances put on in each different space.

The description of the performance and behaviours that take place within the homeless day centres and night shelters were of particular interest to myself with regards to my current project - although lots of the information seemed to only emphasise what I have already learnt from my experience working in such places.

'Places to Sleep' (Cloke et al: 2008) and the influences this has had on my project

Cloke et al discuss life within a hostel being extremely regulated,
"Hostel life is highly regulated both by the formal rules restricting entry and residence (no alcohol or drugs, no families, couples, or visitors) and by informal codes of practise established amongst residents themselves..." (Cloke et al: 2008: 247-248)
The strict rules and regulations mentioned here back up my own experience working in the night shelter and are echoed in the 'Homeless Forms' I created as a prop for the film.

One quote that I found particularly interesting and relevant for my project is as follows:
"...hostel life was characterised by many emotions as moving around often envoked acute feelings of despair anger, frustration, and fear. More specifically, far from hostel life providing for the feelings of safety, comfort, and control more usually associated with a sense of 'home', for many it meant engaging in constant and careful impression management in order to both gain access to the facility, to supervision, and to staff, and more simply to make it safely through the day." (Cloke et al: 2008: 248)
The emotions being described here are expressed in my film through the character of the Support Worker. Despite him not actually being homeless, his frustration and confusion with the altered reality he is experiencing cause him to submit to the behaviour expected of a homeless person in this situation - the 'impression management' discussed in the above quote.

Although lots of the information discussed in this journal article echoes my existing understanding, it has been really interesting to have someone else back up my own thoughts. Reading this article has emphasised how the rules in place in the various homeless services I have worked in are transferable and recognisable across many other such spaces. This is very useful to know as it means that anyone watching my film, coming from a background of support work or experience working with the homeless will hopefully also pick this up immediately.

Ideas Development Workshop : 29th February 2012

In our workshop today, we were asked to re-pitch our ideas to the rest of the group. This gave us the chance to articulate our ideas, and other group members the opportunity to ask us questions about our projects. This was really useful in developing our ideas as some of the questions asked were things we hadn't necessarily thought of.

When pitching our ideas, our tutor Rod asked us to think about the following:
What form is the project taking?
How are you questioning this?

My project is a short film with a fictional narrative questioning the stereotypes of homelessness.

The importance of this session was to realise that my film isn't a film ABOUT homelessness, it is a film in which the stereotypes of homelessness are explored in a manner that leaves the audience questioning their use of such stereotypes and the impact this has on their knowledge and understanding of the homeless subculture.

Homeless Questionnaire Sheets

Below are the questionnaire sheets I have created to be filled out by the homeless man/support worker throughout my interview sequence. They are based on the questions asked at the Night Shelter where I used to work and I have tried to make them look as real as possible. The questions form the fundamental elements of my script for this scene and thrrough the use of the questionnaire, my actors can taylor their lines if they need to. Mike, the actor playing the 'Homeless Man', has already made a few suggestions as to how he could rephrase certain lines to make them seem slightly more natural which I am very open to. Having the questionnaires in front of the actors as a prop in this scene also gives them both a guideline if they forget a line.
I might ask both actors to go through the scene without using their scripted lines, just imagining they are actually in that scenario filling out the questionnaire. I feel this would be beneficial to both myself as director and my two actors.