Shoot Day #1 (7th December '13):

Filming in the University Library proved to be difficult in terms of lighting. At first we wished to achieve a look of sunlight beaming through the corridor windows to help represent day time and set the contrast of sun against the unsettling conversations and events that happen within the film. However due to complications of windows and wanting the light to come in from outside I had to hunt for power points, of which were at least 50m metres away from the location of the scene. Regardless to this fact I had to run the cables out and around the building for three 650W lights outside the corridor windows. This entailed running 85+ metres of extension cables around the building and we were lucky enough that they just reached enough to extend the lights for each of the three windows.

Then disaster struck when two of the three lights blew and once we thought we figured out which extension lead it was we re-arranged the lighting cables, with the assistance of security, to get in to one of way of the building that was locked off. It allowed us to drop one extension cable and we had one light working and were lucky enough that the fuses or bulb didn't blow…..for all of 3minutes! It then rendered all of my running around, time with security and constant back-and-forth trips of equipment pointless. I was massively disappointed and devastated that the only lights we had were all now useless and 45minutes were wasted, therefore setting us back according to the schedule.

 

On account of having no lighting I was placed on the role of sound recordist for the rest of the day, and not only did the lights not like me but the Marantz PMD661 sound mixer was not a fan either with it constantly giving a feedback of what I can only describe as a crackling sound. As a producer I will always book/have back-ups of equipment such as a set of three 300W or 650W or Lapel microphones and separate XLR cables with another Sennheiser 416 rifle mic, just incase! Unfortunately Mr Warren isn't like me and just booked out the necessities and as a result of this, when we discovered the Marantz settings for the external microphones were not working we had no plan B and had to end up using the internal microphone. This caused big issues because it wasn't directional and the library is an old 1869 (don't quote me on that exact year) building with tall ceilings causing the location to be very echoey. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got on to recording and actors were preped, rehreased and ready we did a selection of takes. It didn't take long for Eira, as DOP, to step in and suggest some lovely looking shots and gave a good input to the visual style of the film. Admitidely we could have done shots a lot quicker as we were without lighting, boom and microphones, as well as no tripod as Matt wanted the style to be very personal and decded to go with the whole film done on a Canon C100 on a shoulder rig. Saying that, now having watched a rough edit of the film I would have to agree with Matt that the style of no static shots worked with the hectic passing of the film, the evolving events, characters personalities and converations.

 

 

Shoot Day #2 & 3 (13th and 14th January '14):

Due to the directing wanted a few last minute shots he arranged a location, actress (Sophie Elsby from Breathe... and 2Sides*), a make-up artist and me as his camera operator. Kudos to Matt for getting it sorted so quickly and preparing for it!

We shot in the local sixth form college for an hour getting the scenes with Sophie and with the GSW (Gun Shot Wound) and fall. We had Rose on set doing Sophie's GSW and she did it so well and so quickly, was seriously impressed with her talent and speed with the work. She allowed us to use a rather large amount of her fake blood, which we tested on the floor to make sure it didn't stain, to act as Sophie's blood from the wound.

Having worked and being friends with Sophie it was rather comical to shoot and see her reaction when we cut to the amount of blood and the feel of it against her head! 

 

The day after was a few simple shots of the mysterious male for the film. This included one specific shot that worked well with the available light in a certain corridor, it probably could have been better with a steadicam but I feel it still worked well without and am proud of how smooth it turned out. Fortunately there were no issues on either small shoots and Matt was very happy with them so all was good and well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A criticism, or three, I would give Matt and advise him to arrange for his next project would be to get a bigger crew to cover each role, therefore not leaving people to be back-ups and do roles they aren't comfortable on or particularly specialised with the responsibility. On the subject of roles and responsibilities I would strongly advise, and this goes for everyone out there, to double check all their equipment works before going on set and be prepared to take extra kit for back-ups if Plan A fails or any accidents occur. Same goes for backing-up and transferring your footage! Have it on 2 or more hard drives and/or film on two separate memory cards/production recorders. The last bit of guidance I will give to Mr Warren would be to always ensure he has everything planned and not to leave it to last minute as I felt this film may have been damaged a little bit from the lack or organisation which then ended up leaving him in the lurch a little bit and lacking crew members, hence me on two roles and lack of equipment because of the lack of hands. 

On the up side, with the numerous locations used for this film and amount of cast assisted through Nina, who plays the role of Alex, and her acting class was impressive and I applaud Matt for his efforts with that side of planning. His editing seems to be going very well of what I've seen and am impressed with the way it's cut together and shots.  

 

*Breathe... was produced, directed and edited by myself. 2Sides was directed by David Kazadi and sound recorded by myself.