Shooting on location - Day 1

Production has now begun so the next following posts will be an evaluation of each day of shooting and photos to show the progress throughout the day.

29/11/2014

Location: Stepping Stones
Actors Required: David Twohey, Ruth Kearsey, Tina Vidmar
Crew Members: Daniel Vidmar, Robbie Gale, Tilly Whitehouse
Time: 9am - 3pm
Scene: 7
Storyboard: Shot 40
Props: N/A


Review of the Day

9:00am - All of the crew members and actors arrived on set and begun to set up the equipment for the first shot. While Daniel and Robbie did this, Tilly prepared the actors on what they have to do in each shot. This was vital as most of our film will have no dialougue so we are heavily relied on the actor's facial expressions as this will create more of a emotive experience for our target audience.

9:30am - We begun to film the first shot of the day. This includes a tilt shot of David Twohey (Hermit) sitting on the bench. While this shot wasn't very difficult to perform, we needed to make sure that the camera wouldn't shake while tilting the camera. Each member took turns on creating this shot and once we got a shot that we all agreed was the best one, we did this same shot a few more times so when it comes to editing, we can see which shot is the best.

10:30am - The next shot involves a tracking shot of Tina (the citizen) walking while talking on the phone in an aggressive tone. This took a lot of preparation as this part was unscripted therefore a lot of improvisaltion had to be done in order to get the effect that we want. While filming this shot, we had to stop the shot a few times as either the actress forgot some of her lines or there were citizens walking by during filming as this location is a public park. Eventually we got the shot that we wanted and like the first shot, we filmed a lot more shots after to ensure the right shot is made for editing.

11:30am - Afterwards, we performed the shot with David reacting to Tina walking while on the phone. This shot was simple to perform as we didn't need to move the camera and it was just David's reaction to Tina walking therefore it only took around 30 minutes to shoot.

12:30pm - The next shot was the pan shot of Tina with Ruth Kearsey (angry emotion) following her while David watches them. This shot was quite difficult to perfect as either the actresses was too fast when walking or we were too slow when trying to follow them. Eventually we perfected this shot and repeated this shot a few more times to ensure the right shot was made.

1:30pm - We finally was ready to shoot the last shot however this was the crane shot and as we had previous experience with the crane shot during AS levels, we knew this was going to be a difficult shot to create. It took 30 minutes to set up the crane kit as we hadn't set up the crane kit since AS level. It was only a slight delay as we expected the set up to take this long.

2:00pm - We begun to shoot the crane shot but before this, we informed the actors of what to do. While David sits on the bench, Tina and Ruth must walk away as the camera lifts to show its the end of the film. At first it was quite difficult to achieve this shot as every time we lifted the crane, the camera shook which means it would ruin the narrative effect of a short film. Eventually we perfected this shot by starting to lift the crane prior to when we want it to therefore we perfect this shot by editing the first part out. Just like all the shots before, we repeated this processes a few more times so when it comes to editing, the right shot will be there.

3:00pm - Now that the crane shot was complete, we have finished shooting on location day 1.

Here is an overall review of the shots that we filmed on this day:


Overall Evaluation of Filming

As this was the first day of filming, we overall expected each shot to be difficult as we haven't filmed since the documentary task therefore we decided to take our times with each shot to ensure that they are made at the best of our ability. We also wanted to make sure that these shots were perfected as we don't want to reshoot this scene as it was outside and incredibly cold. All the actors participated well as they followed all of the directions that were given to them. As one of the actresses, Ruth, was wearing a red vest top, we knew how cold she was going to be so every time we finished filming, one of the crew members quickly ran to her with a coat so she can be warmed up because it was essential that we keep all of our actors/actresses and crew members safe from any risks. Overall we believed that this was a good day to film as no real issues were made however looking back at some of the shots, we believe that the lighting in some parts are too bright but we know we can colour correct those shots when it comes to editing.