EQUIPMENT LIST
LED Light x1
Panasonic DVX 200
Tripod
Tascam and Boom pole/mic
The Field
What
Our aims were basically to establish how the day was going to go and what would be possible to achieve with our equipment and the surroundings. I picked a spot within the field that I felt gave us a great distance from the houses and bushes, so there was a shallow depth of field between our subject matter and the background, giving a nice blurred effect whilst recording. We set up and looked at our shot list & storyboard and got Andrew into position as well as digging into the ground our toy sunflowers. There was a bit of an issue as Will wanted the sunflowers to be further apart, where as I wanted them closer as in the camera lens the further apart they were, the wider I had to go, and therefore the less shallow depth of field captured. We knew that this day would test our patience in terms of the fragility of the weather and if we were caught in a rain shower, but it definitely gave us an insight and clear focus on how to avoid these things.
Myself and Will had made a triangle shape for the characters positions, so Andrew started at the top of the triangle, and the other two plants at the other angles. Once we had them all set I positioned my camera to get the first shot of the scene, which is the master shot, that includes all 3 of the characters from behind the two plants at the bottom of the triangle. Once I captured this shot, I then moved onto the OTSS (Over the shoulder shot), from each character, being aware of the 180 degree and avoiding breaking it. After this I made sure to retrieve all of the close ups, extreme close ups of the flowers and Andrew, then eventually capturing singles and establishing shots/coverage shots of the characters surroundings. The LED light was used for the close up shots of the singles to each character, lifting any shadows that were there.
(Field test shoot sequence - Raw/pre-grade)
Why
We knew that going into this test shoot it would give us such a clearer understanding of how things would pan out. I wanted to test out how the camera would perform outdoors with the v-log format filming. This was a fantastic opportunity to test out this recording format, as I'd never really shot anything before on this format, but had done tonnes of research on the benefits of shooting with it. Obviously this footage raw looks flat and bland, which is a result of shooting in log, however with an applied lut, which i've already tested in my colour grade blog, you can see the difference it makes to the highlights and shadows, adding way more depth to it than it would have in a generic recording format. As well as making sure the recording format would be achievable and appropriate for the piece, this tester was essential for seeing if it was an actual viable sequence. I say this because when I initially read the script I really didn't understand how Will wanted to achieve this sequence, admittedly I was pretty apprehensive about this one as I did not have a clue about how to piece this thing together. So when we came to the field, it really brought it alive in my mind about how it would look and obviously the general tone we were going for. We wanted Andrew to be dressed in the sunflower outfit to test out how it would look on the camera, as well as seeing how the outfit would look on a human, as we knew Liam is fairly big, we didn't need to worry about the fit for him after seeing Andrew in it.
In terms of the camera preparation though, it was very useful for me to see how I'd be utilising the LED lights in this test shoot, as it's majorly lit by the natural light, there wasn't major use of it until I came to the close ups and extreme close ups. I wanted to make sure that the close ups were crystal clear and sharp, as the long shots were, so I was seeking to achieve a consistent level of good quality footage. The lighting for the close ups were also pivotal as when I brought the camera close, you lost some of that natural light to shadows and shallow depth of field surrounding it, so I wanted to have it contrasting from the subject matters background to make it pop from the LED lighting.
What I learnt
There were many things that gave me food for thought, mainly how risky it was to be in the raw elements with all of the equipment lay bear to it. However in terms of seeing through the lens, I think I need to keep a few weeks ahead of the weather forecast, keeping track of it to know how best to approach the day of when it comes to filming. I was happy with the overall look of the piece, so the camera is right and the log recording format worked out how the research had stated it would. It made me realise that sound recording would be quite difficult as we'd be capturing it through the tascam, Andrew would have to be out of shot, but close enough to hear our actor speak. We managed to get sound recording from our camera having a plugged in mic but the quality wasn't fantastic. The angles that were captured reassured us that we were on the right track and that we could stick to it once it came to the actual shoot day. It reminded me also how important team work is, as there was four of us on this location set, however at times it did feel like we were a man short. I did feel like I was doing most of the orchestrating, rigging and blocking for this field sequence, I don't know why or how it ended up like this, not that I had an issue with it, but the workload for myself felt unfairly weighted on my shoulders more so than others there. It made me slightly anxious towards our actual shoot days and how the team would approach them, as I didn't want to be doing the same for those days. We all have individual roles, and for our piece to excel I think we need to commit to our roles fully individually to succeed at this.
Potential issues
- Getting thermals for the actor - Wind effecting the sound on shoot/interfering with the dialogue - Flower head piece for protagonist is quite weak against the wind and blows down, will need to pin - We'll need to dig in the flowers deep into the ground with sticks to stop them from being blown down
- Everyone within the cast and crew will have to wear appropriate clothing and footwear and the terrain is quite treacherous
- We'll have to bring a large picnic blanket to keep all of the equipment on for protection of the wet surface and to keep things from getting lost. It will depend heavily on what the weather is like, so monitoring the weather will be key.
- Hot water bottles will be brought for the cold temperatures to keep cast and crew warm whilst breaks and set changes occur
- Blankets to keep the equipment on, potentially buy a gazebo to keep it protected from the elements
The House
What
After the field scene we came back to our main location and blocked out the scenes with myself and Will. We started with the bedroom sequence as we knew this needed to be nailed as it'd be the first sequence we'd be filming. This would be the foundations to our project so we all knew the significance of this sequence being filmed correctly, so that's why this test shoot was pivotal to the project. Will and I established where the actors would be sitting, what way they would be facing and where they'd all be moving. After knowing this I was then able to put together in my head and on the location where the tripod would be placed and what angle would be appropriate. We had our storyboard and shotlist on set for this test shoot so it was just bringing this to life and seeing if it was all viable/achievable. The lighting was straight forward for this bedroom sequence, I used two LED lights, placed at the back of the room, tilted up to face the ceiling which would fill the room with the level of light I wanted. I used handheld throughout the majority of this sequence, only to use the tripod once on this scene as the master shot. Furthermore I made sure the recording settings were set to what would be the recording settings for the actual shoot day, so I could really imagine how it's going to be come the shoot day.
Why
It was pivotal to have this test scene shot in the house as it ironed out any possible issues it would have when it came to the real thing. We were able to block out the scenes with Will which allowed us all to see how it will be pieced together come the final shoot days. When it came to setting up the lights, we realised that it'd be best to have the lights facing up at the ceiling because it was the best way of giving the room an authentic feel without making it look overexposed on the characters. We had Andrew and Aimee sit in on our shootings for the bedroom scene to see if the lights were effective or not. This method helped a lot towards our construction of the lighting and how to utilise them, as we were able to see where they were best placed and to what strength would work for this scene. All of the handheld for this test shoot went well, so it left me feeling confident once I came to the final project, however we did have an issue with the master shot that was on the tripod. I felt that the master shot was slightly tight, and didn't give loads of room to move for the actors, and because of the angle it felt ever so slightly jarring. I'll have to reconsider using this master and maybe switching it up and lowering its angle as it's currently at a high one, possibly bringing it down to be at a medium shot level. I wanted to record in the log-format because as stated before, I wanted to see if the results were worth the effort and strain of recording in it. I feel as if it was worth the effort because I know with the colour grade we'll be able to create even more depth and craziness with it that'll support the overriding themes of our project. I enjoyed using all of the camera settings, it made me realise how important each of them are individually, and gave me more time to get used to them and and how to use them correctly. The rule of thirds and macro image was the main one that impressed me the most, and I wanted to use these on the test shoot because I wanted the test shoot to be as professional as possible. The rule of thirds I felt gave me more consistency and allowed my framing to be way more tighter than without it. Also why the macro image was so useful and why I decided to use it on the test shoot was because of the extreme close ups we'd be tackling, so I knew the camera's built in macro image would deal with these more appropriately.
What I learnt
I'd say that this bedroom scene was the most challenging, as it brought to life the potential issues we'd have in terms of the space of the room and if actors are moving within it. In terms of the lighting of the room I was pretty happy with it, as for log recording format you usually shoot a couple of stops over the exposure so that the shadows and highlights are registered by the cameras codec reader (camera digesting the footage). The test shoot for this scene also made me realise the significance of team work and communication, as we were trialing the clapper for this shoot, meaning that we all needed to be ready at the same time which was pretty time consuming, hopefully when it comes to the shoot days we will of mastered the art of it.
My Concerns
-There were a few issues that had arisen from this test shoot, which I guess is a positive as this is what the purpose of a test shoot is, to see if there are issues with bringing this project to life.
-There were some shots that I felt didn't really work, i.e the tripod master shot for the bedroom, so i'll converse with Will and see if there's any wiggle room and try to avoid using it, providing I offer viable alternative.
- Communication was slightly frustrating, we weren't on the same wave lengths and concepts were being thrown around in regards blocking the sequences out that I felt didn't work from a camera perspective, so again i'll speak to Will about this.
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