Laurence had to stay at his place, to get it tidy for our arrival, so Me, Kieran and Bryony met up at 9:50AM to collect the equipment booked out. Our first setback occurred, when the Canon 60D was unavailable. Though it would only have been used for behind the scenes footage and production stills, it was still a slight blow, as it would have been useful to have the second camera just in case. We collected the rest of the equipment required, and were given a trolley to take down to the train station to meet the actors. Marcus text me asking where the meeting point was, which was slightly irritating, as I did say the time in our final production meeting, the time and destination, however I hid this fact and let him know to meet outside the train station. I proceeded to deliver the trolley back to stores, and whilst walking back I realised we had forgotten to take into account the fact we would need to record dialogue, which meant we needed a boom pole. I met the rest of the team, and grabbed the dolly off them and informed them not to record dialogue until I arrived, as I was going back to stores to book out the boom pole. I let Kieran know that the storyboard was in my red duffel bag, and to get recording as soon as possible but not to record dialogue. With that I left them and ran to stores.
I reached the location around 11AM, dead on time for the scheduled start. Sadly, nobody had thought to go through the equipment, so around twenty minutes was spent checking the camera settings, ensuring the appropriate frame rate and resolution were set. Marcus, Laurence and Kieran were in the living room set designing for the main interior pieces, so me and Bryony went to direct the exterior sequences. I had storyboarded the entire scene the previous night, so I had a clear vision of the scene. At first I was both directing the exteriors as well as doing the sound, however the team had finished setting up after about five takes and I passed the sound duties to Kieran, so I could focus more on my DOP role.
Unfortunately the production hit another snag. Though I would have liked to have got a couple more shots outside for variety. Kieran reported a high pitched sound coming from the zoom, which meant that our dialogue sequences were now redundant. We tried to figure out the problem, and came to the conclusion that the cables were to blame. However once we had finished filming we came to the conclusion that the battery in the audio technica had gone dead, which would explain why the sound faltered so suddenly. This over sight has left us now needing to ADR the majority of the dialogue, which had only been a possibility previously. This revelation, and the time it took to set up the lights in the living room, only lead to giving me a slight headache.
The lighting, I was in charge of deciding how to light it. I chose a autumn kind of feel, as we wanted the piece to be moody, but not as dark as we had used previously. The intention was to use the contrast of colour. Originally, I had put only two orange filters in each of the three Dedo lights to create this harsh autumn like sense. However, it was to bright, so as with the two minute piece, I added a black filter to darken the colour. This worked beautifully, adding a negativity to the usually bright and positive colour. Me and Kieran dimmed down the lights to try and reduce the shadows. Ideally, it would have been an idea to use the diva light as a backlight for the doorway, however the space was to tight, and the presence of lighting would have been clear. We had set the lights, and when it came to observing the lighting on the DSLR, with a subject in shot, the mood came a cross perfectly. It gave shadows across these characters and a darkened feel to the shot. We had not blocked out the windows with tinfoil this time around, and in hindsight it would have been a good idea to block the window above the door, as the light is clearly different to the lighting set up, and you can see the said lighting in a successive shot. This may lead to a reshoot of those shots, however I beleive that clever colour correction can succeed in hiding this.
The scene where Duncan is almost puking, has been shot differently to how I storyboarded it. This was due to the fact Laurence visualised it differently, and a directors decision came into play. I personally don't like the lack of coverage on the only dialogue part of the scene, however I trust Laurence's judgement and look forward to seeing it during editing. This change in shooting plan meant that I had to move a shot I was passionate about when drawing it. The shot is Abe's feet walking into frame, laying down his suitcase, and opening it. I had intended it to show him getting Duncan's uniform, however it has been decided that he will have left the uniform in the car or Abe would have given it to him in the kitchen beforehand. The shot now has transformed into a pull focus, as Abe walks in after sending Duncan away. This works well as it signifies that Abe is now in his comfort zone and is ready to work. We managed to get a few montage shots done before 3PM, at which time our actor Phillip has had to leave.
Overall, the day could have taken a turn for the worst, after the sound failed up. But the team managed to hold it together, and the filming has been rescheduled for next Wednesday immediately after the diner sequence, with possible ADRing on Tuesday afternoon. Id rather get the ADRing done before wends day, to take less of the pressure off Bryony. I have now made some producers decisions to take into next week.
Most important, the original 9Am-12PM call time has been extended to a possible 4PM wrap time. This will mean a longer day, and I don't feel it fair to keep the actors for to long, though they have agreed to the extension. Therefore, due to the fact that we filmed pretty much all of the dialogue in the house, I believe it would be a good idea to shoot in two units. Considering we may not need the two in the same shot again for that scene apart from the ending, and no dialogue required, it would be the most tactical idea for both getting the entire scene finished that day, and not keeping the actors for longer than necessary. If one unit does the Abraham montage sequence, and someone does the Duncan sequence, it will speed the time and coverage of the scenes. This will mean extra equipment, but with a week to go after the shoot before its schedule completion, it has now reached a matter or urgency.
We will also need to ensure that, all props are available, we don't spend time messing around, we cover the window to match the lighting in shot, and above all, ensure everyones happy.
I have only one photo taken of us on set, as our actor Phillip, spent time to take stills of us a work with his own camera, that we have requested be sent to our emails.
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| Bryony on set |
Bryony has already imported the footage, and has been putting what we have into a sequence, which she is showing me today.
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