In this post I am going to be showing pictures from one of the days which we did some filming on location and explaining what is going on in each photograph but before this I am going to discuss what happened on each day we filmed and then I will be evaluating the successfulness of the shoots.
We decided between us as a production team that we should do each different location on a different day. This helped us improve our organisation and our time management as we could tell the actors which scenes they are in and what location we are filming at so they know whether they are needed or not.
Day 1 (14/01/2013) - This day was dedicated to doing all of the filming in the The first two locations at the house (bedroom and kitchen). This was a long day of filming as we started at around 11 and didn't finish until 6. This day of filming ran very smoothly as we had all the props and costumes ready, the actor had a storyboard to look at to gain an idea of what compositions we were after and I gave her a little briefing of the charachters personality. Before we started filming all the shots in the bedroom we did a run-through to make sure she knew exactly what she had to do in the shots. There were some shots which took a few takes but the majority of them were successful first time. One problem which we experienced was that the larger Sony camera was too big to fit in smaller spaces to get the shots we were after to resolve this we decided to shoot the film using the Canon 600d DSLR camera so that we could do all the shots in the bedroom. The kitchen sequence was shot with ease with the smashing glass shot being successful on the first take. Our actor was very successful at remembering her lines so we could therefore focus more on other things like lighting, composition and continuity. All in all I would say that this day was very successful and we managed to get all of the footage needed from our first location.
Day 2 (16/01/2014) - We shot outside on this day as we were filming at the train station. Both actors showed up in their formal wear as instructed on time and the weather wasn't too much of an issue as the sun was out and there wasn't any overcast this meant that the lighting would stay much more consistent between shots. Actors lines again were very well remembered and we managed to do all of this filming within 30 minutes as actors co-operated well with one another and knew exactly what was expected from them well before the shoot. In conclusion this was an extremely successful shoot as the actors were aware of what was going on, shots were com positioned rather quickly and we didn't have many interruptions and the train platform was clear as we chose to arrive just after the train had left the station.
Day 3 (21/01/2014) - This was the final location which we needed to shoot at. we decided to do this shoot after school as the location was in a corridor in the school. We decided to document this day of shooting as all the production team were present and here are some of the photos.
In this picture you can see our lead male (Bradley Fletcher) practising and having a run through of his lines, you can also see our camera operator (Myself) setting up the camera preparing the focus, white balance, camera angles,etc. therefore this is us preparing the scene and our script writer James referencing and cueing lines.
In this picture you will see myself taking a close up shot of one of our main props, the pen, that our lead female (Sophie Moriaty) drops so that our lead male, Brad, can pick it up. This is the shot which allows the plot to move forward as if the pen wasn't dropped the two wouldn't meet in the film.
In this picture you can see our lead male, Brad, taking an interest in the filming of the scenes reviewing what has been done so far and seeing what improvements he can make.
This scheduled filming was successful and went on without many problems as both actors received storyboards and scripts before hand and fully understood what was expected from them. We managed to shoot this scene in around an hour's time with some of the shots having more than one take.
Day 4 (23/01/2014) - The final day of shooting was for the photograph sequence at the end of the film, i told both actors what to bring with them as they would need to change costume during the shoot. I prepared the photographs before hand by gather props and setting up scenes for example I set up the little bar scene by getting some bar stools and a high table for both actors to sit at and supplied them with drinks to act out their 'first date' as the lead male had previously asked the lead female out for a drink. these photos were successful as i told the actors that i wanted them to act natural and actually got them to have a casual conversation while i took photos of them as they were looking engaged. the other photo which required a bit more preparation one where they are both getting a 'baby' out the car and infant related stuff. for this i found a lot of blue things and toys to show the audience that in the story the couple have had a baby together. the final shots were rein-acting a wedding scenario so i borrowed a white dress from a friend to use as a wedding dress and our actor (Bradley Fletcher) already had a suit which he wore for these photos and again i asked them both to act engaged and natural. These photos turned out very successful. I used continuous shooting so that i had plenty of choice to choose from in each setup.
Overall the whole shooting on location process was very successful with all the shoots running smoothly thanks to actors learning lines and being fully aware of what they are doing.
This scheduled filming was successful and went on without many problems as both actors received storyboards and scripts before hand and fully understood what was expected from them. We managed to shoot this scene in around an hour's time with some of the shots having more than one take.
Day 4 (23/01/2014) - The final day of shooting was for the photograph sequence at the end of the film, i told both actors what to bring with them as they would need to change costume during the shoot. I prepared the photographs before hand by gather props and setting up scenes for example I set up the little bar scene by getting some bar stools and a high table for both actors to sit at and supplied them with drinks to act out their 'first date' as the lead male had previously asked the lead female out for a drink. these photos were successful as i told the actors that i wanted them to act natural and actually got them to have a casual conversation while i took photos of them as they were looking engaged. the other photo which required a bit more preparation one where they are both getting a 'baby' out the car and infant related stuff. for this i found a lot of blue things and toys to show the audience that in the story the couple have had a baby together. the final shots were rein-acting a wedding scenario so i borrowed a white dress from a friend to use as a wedding dress and our actor (Bradley Fletcher) already had a suit which he wore for these photos and again i asked them both to act engaged and natural. These photos turned out very successful. I used continuous shooting so that i had plenty of choice to choose from in each setup.
Overall the whole shooting on location process was very successful with all the shoots running smoothly thanks to actors learning lines and being fully aware of what they are doing.
The next thing which I am going to post is going to be explaining what happened during the editing stages of the production process this is both editing the footage and the soundtrack for the rough cut.
