mama’s boy directors statement

ThreadHouse Production Directors Statement

UCA Broadcast Media, Maidstone TV Studios, Kent, ME14 5NZ

Mama’s Boy

Directors Statement

By Zohaib Ali

Mama’s Boy ThreadHouse Productions

My Vision:

Mama’s Boy is a gritty urban drama, the story and script involves a lot of

emotion, drama and suspense. My aim as director is to bring the best

performance out of the cast while portraying the story the writer has written. It is

my job to creatively translate the story to screen while acting as the link

between, production, crew and cast. Being from an urban west London area I

have found my self to relate to the story and really envision it whilst reading the

script. I find myself to really understand this genre and take inspiration from

things around me to be as creative as possible. As a passionate photographer

and someone quite technical I believe it gives me a added advantage as I am

always thinking of new and original way of storytelling.

Cinematography:

For this project I together with our production crew have decided to film on a full

frame canon dslr. The canon 5D Mark iii is a full frame 35mm sensor as

supposed to other crop framed sensors. This gives us the same format as the

35mm film format and most importantly the quality and dynamic range is much

more better then other cameras. Another benefit for which we decided this was

the great quality in the ISO range. Shooting many scenes at night was a clear

issue for this project and being able to film on the 5D mark iii has given us much

better flexibility and control as it allows us to shoot at night and use the high iso

ranges to film with as little noise/grain as possible.

A example of the ISO range


Along with the full frame camera I aim to film on a array of various prime, zoom and telephoto lenses. I am very lucky to have access to various canon L lenses that are of very high quality and price. The main four lenses I aim to film on are the following

• Canon 24-70mm 2.8

• Canon 70-200mm 2.8

• Canon 50mm 1.4

• Canon 18-135mm 3.5

These lenses will give me a good choice on the visual style of storytelling and

the cinematography I aim for with shallow depth of field. With the array of

equipment I can be creative and original with my approach and try out new and

different angles to tell the story. I hope that this will add production quality and

value and result in a creatively produced and filmed program.

The Program will be shot at 24fps at 1080p HD resolution and I have spoken to

our senior camera operator to look into the added option of shooting certain

scenes at 50/60fps to give us the option of smooth slow motion in the edit.

My visual style of story telling will be told in a cinematic way by using creative

techniques such as full steady cam jackets and operators along with tracking

devices, Jibs and other techniques that will push the creative boundaries of

filming. I believe that as this is a gritty urban drama the only way to have the

viewer enjoy and feel part of the program is by getting them as close to the

action and drama as possible hence using techniques such as tight cropped

shots, steady cam shots whilst following actors, hand held shots that bring you

into the action. This will not only portray the story better but give us some really

creative and cinematic shots whilst blurring out background and focusing on the

drama, action and emotion.


Lighting:

As I mentioned earlier the writer of tis drama is telling a story of a young man in

the midst of a life of crime and violence, he is seeking a family as his is in tatters

and at the same time trying to escape the gang life and protect those close to

him. A lot of the drama is based in the streets of south London and much of it at

night. Other parts of the drama are in a flat, various shops and daytime on

various locations.

The lighting I am to use for the different scenarios will be different depending on

time and location but mostly daytime I aim to use natural light with certain shots

using reflectors if I require them.

Scenes in the flat and location will also mainly be practical light that is present

from lamps, ceiling lights and windows but I will have mobile LED lights that can

add as a extra light with diffusers is need be - depending on the situation.

I aim to maintain a natural feel to the project and refrain from heavy-duty

lighting. As a photographer and keen cinematographer I understand that light is

very important in the feel and tone of a image and I aim to portray that on

screen using various lighting techniques. One of the reasons for choosing the

equipment we are using is because of the light constraints we may face and also

help in situations where there may not be enough light available.

The shots I aim to film at night on the streets of south London I will probably use

the natural light available such as cars, street lamps and shops but I am pretty

sure that I will require addition lights for certain shots. For those situations I will

be using a mobile led kit as well as PAG lights from UCA that can give that a little

extra when filming.


Tone & Mood:

The tone of the piece was pretty much set with the story and the emotion and

drama within Mama’s Boy. The program takes you on a journey with this main

character and gives you a insight into what it feels like to be this man. His daily

problems become your problems and your always asking yourself what would I

do if I were him. The violence and emotion portrays a very grey, dark and cold

tone and mood to the program hence I will be keeping with that and insuring I

can creatively produce that on screen. For this the lighting, performance from

cast and direction will be key and I hope the rest will be able to be altered and

retouched in post production with the creative techniques available such as color

correcting and grading.

Performance:

Performance for me as a director is probably the most important thing in a story

such as this. Because it is heavy on emotion and dialogue it will depend heavily

on professional and talented actors to give great performances that are true to

the character being portrayed. A sense of realism to the role will be paramount

because the more natural and real the acting and performance the more viewers

will believe the story and feel emotion towards characters.

My aim as director will be to guide and motivate the cast as much as possible.

Real them in if I feel we are heading astray from the story at any point but also

give them the direction and confidence to give a performance to the best of their

ability if not better.

Sound:

From previous experience with sound issues and problems I have realized how

important the sound design is to a moving image, especially for something like

Mama’s Boy that is very emotion and drama based. I aim to cover all the various

elements with a experienced sound designer and recordist and also in post with

a good detailed soundtrack and design from location sound, foley and a quality

score that brings the program together.


Inspirations:


Filming Style Inspirations:

mama’s boy directors statement

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