Major Production - Location Recce

Today, myself, Callum and Will met up to carry out some location recces for the final production. We first went to the open field and then the pub. I hadn't been to either of the locations yet so I knew this was a chance for me to get to grips with the surrounding locations and what i'd be dealing with come the day of shooting. So with that in mind, I took my camera and captured some still shots, which will help me consider the framing & lighting that we will use/construct for these specific scenes. We as a group are still in ongoing discussions with how the narrative will form in the field sequence, so it's hard to approach it from a cinematography point as of yet. But this will come eventually, so i'm not worried about this slight pickle at the moment.

(Location recce)

 

Field
The field was vast, open and flat. It was made up of mostly grass and wild flowers, slightly bumpy & rough in its texture, but what I liked about it was it's openness & sense of freedom it had. I'll be able to manipulate this when it comes to the shoot dates, as with reflectors and our own lighting kit, i'll either be able to add more light, (with the external lighting kit) or dim it down slightly, (with the ND filter). I'm most looking forward to the field sequence as it's large surface area allows us to be as creative as possible with the space that we have. There will be no restrictions on certain shots, and camera movements will be captured more effectively & efficiently which is always a bonus. I've obviously got to be the mindful of the weather, and the direction of the sun light whilst recording this scene, as if I want it to be as authentic as possible, i'll have to know this information days before, to map out where would be the most appropriate place to set the sequence, and where the light isn't shifting from, so it doesn't affect our continuity & overall aesthetic.

Pub
The pub was also quite spacious inside, however it has three different levels, which I feel may be quite hazardous. The light coming into the pub from the windows is as well quite challenging as it has two large front windows and small side windows dotted around. It'll be trying to find the right balance of light for this scene that will be the hardest. I'll have to think carefully about what table we choose, as we haven't chosen one yet. Callum has got one in mind but we go back again next week to see which one would be best appropriate, this is though if we can get access to it of course. It was good though to just get a gauge of the environment that we'd be filming in and the challenges that will be present on the day of filming. Hopefully there won't be any external issues like other random people in the pub at the time that we go, so we avoid any rude interruptions with the public etc. Mainly though it's got me thinking about how creative I should be about the lighting of this specific scene, (4) and how far I can go with it, without making it too bizarre. We stayed at the pub for about half an hour, looking around all the tables, unfortunately not deciding then and there what one we would pick for the occasion. I knew though that the camera would be ideal for this lighting scenario as it's low light capabilities and the fact we're shooting in log format would make it an nice location to shoot.