AI

Parking

/ jonesxxx / Leave a comment

More editing last week. On Monday, I sat and watched the second rough cut all the way through on the TV. I wanted to see what needed work. The rest of the week was spent tightening cuts and cleaning up audio, and by Friday, I was about 35% through the third draft. By the end of this, I am hoping the film will be technically sound. After that, I’ll need to turn my attention more fully to the narrative flow, which may mean cutting or moving scenes, or possibly shooting something new to bridge any gaps.

I’ve also been speaking with an intern about social media promotion, and we’re beginning to sketch out how that might look. I’m meeting a musician next week to talk about the score.

Automatic is about bureaucracy, and I find myself increasingly sensitive to episodes of dehumanisation. One occurred on Friday in the form of an automatically generated letter from a parking company demanding £100 for overstaying by two minutes in a car park in Chichester during the recent film event.

It’s worth noting that the parking company has access to my GDPR-protected personal information at DVLA – a privilege granted by the British government so that they can pursue people who break their rules. Fair enough, perhaps, in an age where efficiency is worshipped as some kind of God. But in return for that privilege, we might expect a measure of proportionality and respect. The parking fee was paid via an app; it would have been to charge me for the extra two minutes rather than demand a bullying, automated demand for £100.

In any case, I drafted a letter outlining their failings: poor signage, no mobile signal, limited payment options, a lack of meaningful support. Out of curiosity, I uploaded my letter to Google’s Gemini AI. It informed me that this particular car park is apparently notorious, then rewrote my letter removing the waffle and inserting reference to the relevant regulations where the operators appear to have fallen short.

This is interesting. One of my long-standing grievances about modern life is the way that a machine can, out of the blue, become judge, jury and executioner. Many people are not in a position to argue back coherently, and even if they are, busy lives make it tempting simply to pay up and move on.

Now, freely available AI puts the boot on the other foot. We can answer their computer-generated bullshit with computer-generated letters of our own that include all relevant regulations. A weird world where two computer systems fight over the fate of humanity.

Paper-Based Project Management

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I was feeling a bit knackered last week after the previous week’s three-day shoot, which started on 26 September. I spent most of last Monday paying the pile of invoices that had built up. I’d damaged an illuminated sign during the cafe shoot on Friday, so that also needed sorting.

The week before, Julie had interviewed Keaton and Lamb, so I edited a short version of this based on the film’s theme last week. I think it’s worked quite well.

We’ve realised that the scenes need breaking up a bit, so I spent a day walking around Brighton gathering various B-roll shots. I also worked on posters and a press release. Tom focused on the design for the visuals, whilst Julie polished the text. Hopefully, we’ll send something out this week, then we can get the film onto IMDb.

I’ve also spent some time going through all my notes – which may be of interest. In the past I’ve managed all my projects using spreadsheets, with separate worksheets for different aspects. When I started working on Automatic months (years?) ago, I had worksheets for actors, finance and locations. Over time I spun some of these off into separate sheets and placed them in folders dedicated to their topic – one for actors’ info, one for props etc, but I’ve developed a new paper-based system that seems to be an improvement.

I group scenes into “shoot days” based on location – so all the cafe scenes get one sheet, all the boardroom scenes get another and so on. I keep an A4 pad on my desk and tear off pages to create one sheet per shoot day or subject, such as Cafe, Media or Promotion. I note props, clothing, transport requirements and anything else relevant to that day or subject on these sheets.

I also keep a separate A4 sheet of “To Do” items. Recently I needed a bit more focus, so I added a “Today” page where I write down things that must get done today. Admittedly, I don’t always quite manage it and end up reusing yesterday’s “Today” sheet, but it generally helps me stay on track. I progress by crossing things off and periodically creating new “To Do” sheets or new shoot day sheets, as needed.

This system seems to be working fairly well. At the moment my “To Do” sheet includes:

  • Setup more social media
  • Film the final truck scene
  • Music
  • Create final video presentation with voice-over
  • Press release
  • Interviews
  • Schedule remaining scenes
  • Film transition scenes & B-roll
  • Media release forms

And on my “Today” sheet:

  • Write a blog post
  • Press release
  • Schedule
  • Talk to Angela
  • Pay invoices

Actually, that’s a lie, I’m writing this update in a hurry and haven’t created today’s sheet yet!

Welcome Martin Portlock As Morgan

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The biggest news from last week is that we’ve cast our new CEO character. I’m delighted to announce that Martin Portlock will be taking on the role of Morgan.

Martin Portlock is a dynamic English actor whose captivating performances have won over audiences worldwide. His breakthrough came in 2022 with his chilling portrayal of ‘The Witch’ on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent. Martin won ‘Best Actor’ at the National Film Awards 2025.

Last week, I also started uploading some of the footage we’ve shot so far. I’m editing in DaVinci Resolve and trying to remember everything I learned from editing my last film a few years back. As I reviewed the footage, I spotted a few issues with the sound and picture quality, but fingers crossed, nothing that can’t be sorted. This made me realise I need to start reviewing the footage much sooner after each shoot.

We had another day filming at our house in Seaford on Friday, which went very well. Most of the time was spent on an outdoor scene with Angela Elise Munnoch and David Burton. The scene carried a substantial emotional weight component, so the actors’ performances were absolutely key. Both Angela and David delivered nuanced and convincing performances.

A takeaway lesson for me was when Angela pointed out that my reply of “Yep” to her question, “Was that alright?” wasn’t particularly helpful. Ah! I tend to be a bit rushed on set, but maybe it’s time I did a bit of work on my interpersonal skills.

We shot a handful of shorter transition scenes before wrapping up with a scene at a local bus stop. It was a productive day, and we finished around 4pm. I was very grateful to have Arun Varghese assist Alistair on sound.

Next week, we’ll be rehearsing for three quite intense shoot days scheduled for the week beginning 18th August. I also need to focus on the schedule again.

Automatic – Main location found

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I thought I’d write a script. How hard can it be? How long can it take? It turns out very hard and a very long time. It’s been over a year and something of a learning curve. I recommend Screenwriting by Syd Field and the fantastic YouTube podcast of Glen Gers.

The result is “Automatic”. A tech-fiction story challenging the depersonalisation and disempowerment of post-industrial culture. Not in some Science Fiction dystopian future, but in the lives of so many people in the here and now – Bloody hell!

I’m still tweaking the script but as one friend said, “a script is never finished”, so now I’ve started work on pre-production, looking for locations and actors. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve carried out online auditions and found some excellent actors. I’m learning all the time and one thing I’ve learned about casting is that the question is not just: Is he or she right for the part? It’s more are they the best fit? But also, would they fit another part better? It’s a question of shuffling actors and parts to get the right balance. I’m lining up a few more auditions and hope to have some major parts cast by the end of January.

Locations have proved more difficult. I’ve had offers of flats and these are much appreciated but the main location is an office and this was a problem. A friend suggested an open plan office that he knows and it looked good but only fitted one location. However, yesterday myself and Bill Mittman, the camera guy, went to check it out and it’s perfect. Not just for the open plan office scenes but also for meeting rooms and the board room scenes. – Eureka! That’s one very large problem dealth with.

I am still after a truck though I have a few leads. Ideally I want a container truck but and a container yard/port but I may have to settle for what I can get. Fallback plans are in the works in case the truck falls through.

Other locations I’m still looking for include: A tatty old living room, 2 flats ideally overlooking blocks of flats, a messy painter’s studio. If you want to get involved then please contact me via the contact page. You can see more about the film here.

Automatic