Major Production - Shooting a Short Project - DOP EXP

As I was still in Manchester before my major production began, I was asked by my Mum to create a short piece for one of her friends retiring at her work. She was a teacher, who had actually taught me when I was in year 4/5/6. The project was only a little fair well gift so that she could have something to keep after she left. The concept was to film the teachers playing on musical instruments that they had no idea of how to play, but having music dubbed over the top, (Music recording from actual students playing the instruments first, correctly) to make it look as if the teachers had learnt to play these instruments, as the retiring teacher had supposedly always wanted the teachers to play the steel pans for her as a farewell present.

WHAT
Teachers pretending to play the steel pans, with music dubbed over the top of the visuals, recorded from the students playing.

(Mrs.Wilde's Avoir)  

EQUIPMENT LIST
Sony A7S
Sony FE f/1.8 50mm
Rode Mic
Mini Manfrotto Tripod



METHODOLOGY
So I listened to what the teachers wanted to have within the video, they thought it would be best to have two separate scenes recorded, of teachers from key stage one and key stage two posing as if they were playing the songs. So before this, I had to record the sound from the kids playing first, so I set up my camera and mic and placed it on a table in front of the steel pan group. I had a pair of headphones with me to check the levels were right, but as my lens was a fixed 50mm, it was hard to get everyone in without being at quite a lengthy distance to the sound, so the sound was negatively effected by this. Once I gathered the sound from the kids recording, I then got the key stage one teachers into the hall. I started with a static long shot of the teachers (camera placed on the mini-tripod), this would be the master shot which I'd always cut back to, holding the piece together. I recorded them attempting to play the song from the long shot for about 2 minutes, as I felt that would be enough coverage from that specific angle to last throughout the edit. After this, I knew all that was needed now were a combination of mid shots, mid-close ups, close ups and extreme close ups. I started with the mid shots and worked myself through the shots until I felt I had enough. I had my camera on manual focus, as it gave the camera movement and the real-action music acting more of an authentic feel, hopefully leaving the teacher not questioning the validity of the other teachers actually playing. All of the medium shots/medium-close ups/close ups and other angles were handheld, as since working on Jools Holland, watching live performances through the handheld angle gives the audience more of an engagement to the piece that you wouldn't get with any other angle, it allows for more of a authentic and engrossing experience. Coming towards the end of recording the key stage one teachers, I now felt less anxious about what I needed to shoot for the next group of teachers, so for the oncoming key stage two teachers, the process of filming was much more efficient and composed. I literally copied my process of filming onto key stage one to the key stage two teachers and I was done. I took all the footage back about an hour after filming and began the editing process. I was stuck however when it came to the ending, as there wasn't really a way to close this project without it being slightly jarring, so I spoke to one of the teachers who organised this and came up with an idea that she'd do a little piece to camera, before the steel pans commence and at the end of the sequence, to tie up the loose ends. I went in and recorded it the next day, and then got a quick snap of outside the building and of the flag waving, to give us myself for coverage to edit and give it more of a professional tone. 


WHAT I LEARNT - HOW IT EFFECTED MY APPROACH TO THE PROJECT
So I did this piece after my brother's wedding which was beneficial as I felt slightly more pressure with capturing this piece more so than my brother's wedding (for some strange unexplainable reason). This gave me way more confidence than I had before, and left me feeling pretty comfortable going into this situation in terms of what footage I would need to record for this project and how to do it i.e what angles would be ideal for this piece. However there were obviously a lot of things that went wrong and when coming back to the edit the realisation of missing certain shots and not being able to record again, being left powerless, an to try and come up with a way of finishing it with the footage that you have. In many ways after completing this piece it allowed me to focus clearly on my final project, in the sense that I knew the things that I needed to avoid, but also it brought to the forefront of my mind what I need to do to produce a piece of work that's cinematically engaging. One clear error is the focusing issue I had with creating this piece, as it was handheld and constantly moving I had to concentrate on the focus ring, which is quite an irritating piece of machinery on the Sony's as it's very temperamental. This issue has really made me question using handheld, and if I do decide to use this movement technique i'll have to be extremely diligent and focused when utilising. I'd probably use auto-focus as well if I were to go handheld, this would simply be for the fact that it'd be less complicated to manage recording a sequence with less things to focus on whilst filming. In addition, this experience made me think a lot about the sound of a project and how pivotal it is, as my rode mic was placed on top of the camera it picked up a lot of movement sound and significant banging noises produced from the objects hitting one another. This has lead me to believe that when it comes to the actual filming of our piece, it'd be best if we had the sound and the camera separate, so that we would make this potential error obsolete.

Another issue with this short project is that I didn't have any external lights, so I had to make best with the natural lighting and interior lights that the school had. Fortunately the colour grade wasn't a mega issue as I had auto-white balance selected for the shoot, and with Sony's built in codec's their AWB is really exceptional. However I still wasn't happy with the overall blue/browny tones coming through, I know that the environment that I filmed in definitely had an impact for that but I felt with proper lighting equipment with me i'd of been able to create my own aesthetic suited for this piece. This definitely had an effect on my mindset towards the lighting of our final project, in terms of approaching the set up and the floor space i'd have to fill the location we'd be filming in. It focused my approach by making me realise that their are so many external things out of my control that i'll have to take into consideration. It made me appreciate all of the other roles of my team, the sound man, director and editor, as I took on all of these tasks, I was able to see from their perspective how this major project is going to be completed through their eyes.  Overall this experience like the wedding shoot gave me a lot more confidence in terms of my ability, attention to detail and focus on set, so going into my final project I feel much more rounded that I did before. I know what mindset to have, to not rush things, to be patient and use my initiative if I feel we could do a scene better, have to speak up and communicate with Will and Andrew that I want to reshoot this particular scene because of x, y and z.    

Major Production - Shooting My Brother's Wedding - DOP EXP

Over the dates of the 9th and 14th Feb, I was in Manchester for my Brothers wedding. I was asked to film some of the introductory moments, as well as capturing the speech and first dance. I knew that there would be no second chances with this event, as i'm capturing natural, live action footage, there had to be no room for error. Furthermore as it was my Brother's wedding I felt there was even more pressure to impress. 


WHAT
Filming the speeches of the best man and parents of bride and groom. Then going onto capturing a lot of coverage, and the first dance. Shooting on a Sony A7S with rode mic attached.  

(Brother's Wedding 09/02/2019)

EQUIPMENT LIST 
Rode Mic
Sony A7S
Sony FE f/1.8 50mm
Mini Manfrotto tripod 


METHODOLOGY
I had no experience of shooting weddings, so went into this absolutely blind as to how it was going to pan out. We got to the venue at around 9am, and I started immediately taking photos, as I knew the speech wouldn't be taking place until 2pm. When it got to 2pm, I began to feel the pressure, as we started to be seated for our meals and the speeches, I set up my camera on one of the front tables, facing the bride and groom. I wanted to try and fit in everyone of that table, but because of my fixed 50mm lens, it was pretty difficult. So the speeches were under way, and about 10 minutes into the speech of the brides father, was when I sadly realised that I hadn't turned the flipping mic on! I was fuming, extremely embarrassed and ready to chuck my camera across the room but I turned it on and left it. I'd also noticed that the mini tripod legs started to slack which resulted in the camera facing downwards, cutting off the heads of the speakers. So to try and correct this I was constantly monitoring and holding the tripod legs, which made the camera tremor and shake, giving the footage a really weird look which obviously was not wanted. The speech went properly tits up. I didn't tell my brother that though, eek. I wanted everyone in focus too, so my aperture was set to around f/8, quite closed and to make sure everything that was in sight was in focus. I did think about putting it on auto-focus but my lens doesn't have it built in, so there is a slight lag when trying to find the new point of focus, so I didn't want to risk it. The white balance was on auto, as i've done a lot of research on the Sony's AF system, and it's one of the best in the industry. I didn't want to be stressing about manually correcting the white balance, as I already had a lot to manage, so I felt it was the right decision. My ISO was quite low, as there was already a lot of light at the location, so I didn't need to add more light into the composition within the camera.   

So then it got to the evening where I had more freedom to shoot what I wanted, to float around and get coverage of everyone at the ceremony and on the dance floor. The lights had dimmed so I changed my settings appropriately, fortunately my camera is great for low light environments. I had a bit of time before the first dance to capture little moments with friends and family, I wanted to get a mixture of close ups and long shots, as I knew when it came to the edit there would be a fresh variety of shots, not over using any particular compositions. All of the footage shot after the speech was shot handheld, with the mini tripod attached to the camera and the camera strap acting as a counteractive weight to create a smooth handheld motion. I had opened the aperture up quite wide, to about f/2.4 as the lights had really dimmed and I wanted quite a shallow depth of field to create that real sense of intimacy of the dance. 

I only had a day to really edit this piece so I rushed some parts, and definitely missed some footage on the day but I had to make the most out of the footage I had. I felt that the transition dissolve effects worked nicely throughout most of it, and then some hard cuts were fine when appropriate. I didn't colour correct any of the footage as I felt it looked very natural as it was. I got the same text font that was one the cake to use as my text for the titles of each new moment. I felt it was a nice touch, linking both and adds more of a thoughtful layer.  




WHAT I LEARNT - HOW IT EFFECTED MY APPROACH TO THE PROJECT
There were lot of things that went horribly wrong with this event, I know that I was there to enjoy it but for the most part I was stressing out about capturing the right footage. Looking back, after showing my family and brother/his partner the finished product, they all seemed really happy with it which I can't ask anymore for. But they can't see all the errors and minor mishaps that make me cringe inside, because they don't know what goes on/how it works behind the camera. This experience really effected me and my approach to this unit, it had me think long and hard about how I approach things in the future, how I should thoroughly prep, try and think visually how it will look in the edit. One area of this piece that really bugged me was the constant moving of the camera in the speech, this immediately had me thinking about how I should make sure the set up of the camera is correct, way before the filming is meant to begin. It also made me realise to stop messing around with the camera once filming, as the tiny movements on the camera make the visuals so unattractive and very hard to watch. Furthermore this lead me to think once I come to film my major project, I'll make sure everything is set, so all I have to do is literally press the record button and stand still. Making sure things were in focus was quite an issue, as my small LCD screen on the camera is too small to make out what's in focus or not, so it made me realise that what would be a smart idea when it came to our shoot days, would be to have a separate monitor, to see whether our subject matter is in focus or not. I didn't feel proud of this work, and that's definitely going to motivate myself to create a piece of work within this final project that I can actually say i'm happy with. So I have to learn from these small projects, which I am doing, that there is so much to contemplate and do to have a great piece. It made me realise the importance of auto-focus, and that i'll potentially use it for our project, as for moving subjects it's extremely difficult to keep them in focus if you've got quite a wide open aperture. That's the good thing about the Panasonic DVX 200's is that they have a very good auto-focus system, so i'm fortunate in that sense. As I did not have to worry much about the lighting for this project, it made me think more about how to create certain moods with the power of using just a few light sources in the shot. Camera movement as well, particularly when I was using handheld, has to be to a decent standard as you can really see the difference between someone who knows what they're doing and don't. The first minute or so I was getting to grips with the handheld of the camera on the mini-tripod, and if that was on a job I was being paid for it wouldn't of been good enough. I should have known how the camera was going to feel and how I needed to hold it. So this definitely gave me food for thought approaching the oncoming filming of our project, and if any handheld recording did come into play, i'd want to play out the scene from the top as a rough guide as to how I would hold and move with the camera. 

Overall this experience was very timely, leaving myself with lots to focus on and improve just before I start filming my major production. Its made me more aware of what my weaknesses our, and if I can avoid them and improve of some of them during the production that'd be a success. I've learnt a lot from this that will be applied to future projects. 

Major Production - Test shoot two and three

So these two test shoots fell on the Friday before our shoot week and on Tuesday of the shoot week, which we used to our advantage and made the most out of by running through lots of the hallucinations and other scenes later on within the production. I felt that it was vital to do as many test shoots as we could to better prepare ourselves for the real thing. I'm a big believer in the failure to prepare is to prepare to fail. I wanted Will to block out the scenes, and I'd watch from a distance with the camera and record from spaces at where I thought would be best to position myself. I also thought it'd be a good idea to watch some youtube videos of how to get the best lighting set up for relatively small spaces, heres a video that I watched. I learnt a significant amount from it and i'll definitely be applying it to our own production come to shoot week.




Test Shoot Two 

(Shot of rig set up)

Today myself, Will, Callum and Andrew ran through Monday's scenes, to get to grips with them so when it eventually came to Monday, it would run efficiently. So these were all of the starter scenes, running from 1 to 7, and we were going to dabble with some of the other seemingly tricky scenes that need significant blocking, but we thought we see how far we get with these scenes first. Even though we did block out the bedroom scene in our first test shoot, we all felt we should block it out again just to nail it before the big day came.

We started in the bedroom, for that's where the first 4 scenes are held, and we had two of us pretend to be the characters, and I set up the lighting and camera for the scene. Andrew was getting to grips with the tascam as he'd never used it before, and as this would be our main sound recording tool, we thought it'd be best if he got to grips with it as quick as possible. I rigged up the lights and camera, and we shot again how we did in the first test shoot. It was after about an hour or so of that we felt pretty comfortable with that scene and decided to move our attention to the dining room scenes, so from scene 8 onwards. The set up of these scenes were going to be key, so we thought of the best way to set up the table in the dining room where we could get a nice depth of field between the characters and the background. So with that in mind we moved the table as close to the wall as possible, bearing in mind the camera is in front of it, with two LEDs placed either side, it was a tight squeeze for me. But it really helped with the aesthetic of our piece, making that distance between the actors and background created more depth to the image. We needed to figure out where the best place for the lights would be, and after long deliberation with Will, we thought it'd be right to have the in front of the table along side the camera, so that the camera and light's were pointing in the same direction.

(Test shoot footage day two)

Test Shoot Three
This test shoot after fell in between our shoot days one and two. This was an ideal day to block out some of the more sophisticated scenes like the hallucinations and the penguin scene. Myself, Will and Callum did so for a few hours, before mapping out where I should stage myself for the optimal spot for each of these specific scenes.  We didn't get any footage from this test shoot, as it was mainly for blocking out the scenes and I just took notes for each of them. I feel like the notes will help me a lot come to the penguin scene, as it's the most complex one out of the lot of them. We've blocked out that scene now several times, the camera is going to be handheld for most of it, to really add to the mad experience/trip that the boys are living through. I hope that we'll be able to capture the essence of it and through the edit really bring it to life. As this test shoot fell in between the shoot days, I made sure all the camera batteries and light batteries were on charge, so that they were ready to go the next day. We also stuck down tape to map out where each character would walk for the penguin scene, as some got up and needed markets, so this was quite useful to do and i'm sure later on in the shoot week we'll appreciate doing this for ourselves. 
We also did some extra sound tests for the dining room, as we were trying to decrease the echoey noise being produced by the location, in the end Andrew found a solution which was great.

 (Shot of test shoot)

HOW DID IT HELP MY APPROACH TO THE SHOOT WEEK -
- The second test shoot really helped, as we mapped out the majority of our first few scenes in the dining room, and put to ease all of the anxiety I had for those first scenes.
- The dining room I was struggling with most to light it effectively without making it look too artificial, so I was able to master it before we got the cast in.
- We did have concerns about the sound in the dining room as it was quite echoey but Andrew figured out a way to nullify these sounds, by holding it at a certain angle and playing around with the sound levels within the tascam.
-

(Self-vlog of before major production commences filming)

This is my first vlog that I did before shoot day one, I tried to do one after every shoot day as I felt it'd be easier to put into words how each day went, and what the pros/cons were to each day. I found it immensely cringe to do but I did feel like I was able to articulate certain issues more appropriately like this. 

Major Production - Monitoring sun movement

So today I set out to monitor the change of the sun's direction and sunset times, to see and keep up with the progression of it up until the production shoots. I'll be taking a photo of the sun from the same camera position every day for the next month until the shooting days. I'll also


From the 15th January up until the 7th February, I tracked the sun by taking photos of it from the same position and around the same time every day for the stated period. This was so that I could keep a track on where the sun would be and how much longer we have with the light for our filming dates. This will come in handy when we begin are shooting for the hallucination scene, as knowing when the sun is at its highest and how long it remains in the sky for will be pivotal for the filming day.

f/OPEN 
ISO - 100
Shutter Speed - 1/4000
White Balance - 3200K
ND Filter

f/OPEN 
ISO - 80
Shutter Speed - 1/3200 
White Balance - 3200K
ND Filter

f/OPEN 
ISO - 60
Shutter Speed - 1/3200 
White Balance - 5000K

f/3.2 

ISO - 60

Shutter Speed - 1/2800 

White Balance - 3200K

I took these pictures on my Sony A7S, trying to capture the photo's from the same position to really emphasise my point. It was difficult to place markers on my window ledge in where I had started taking the initial photos, so I gave up halfway through that method and just started to take photos at the same time to really put my point across.

I think you can gradually tell about halfway through these images that there is a slight change, (which is to be expected) in that the sun is at a higher position than the images towards the beginning. I was also aware of the increase in light is each day, from the start date to my end date of capturing images. Each day the sunset would last an extra 2 minutes. Meaning that once we'd actually start filming, we'd have an extra hour of light from when I first started monitoring the sun. This did leave me feeling quite happy, not that it's just a sign of summer approaching but also that we'd have more time out on the field and on our main location without the darkness interfering with our project.

f/2 
ISO - 60
Shutter Speed - 1/3200 
White Balance - 3200K

f/2.2 
ISO - 60
Shutter Speed - 1/2800
White Balance - 3200K

f/3.8 
ISO - 400
Shutter Speed - 1/2400 
White Balance - 3300K

f/3.8 
ISO - 400
Shutter Speed - 1/1600 
White Balance - 3200K

f/OPEN 
ISO - 20
Shutter Speed - 1/3600 
White Balance - 3200K

f/4.1 
ISO - 80
Shutter Speed - 1/1200 
White Balance - 3200K

f/2.3 
ISO - 60
Shutter Speed - 1/1600 
White Balance - 3200K

f/OPEN 

ISO - 20

Shutter Speed - 1/3600 

White Balance - 3200K

WHY

I felt pretty adamant about tracking the movement of the sun as it'd be extremely useful for the field location we'd be using for our hallucination scene and generally speaking due to light leaking into one of our other main locations. The tracking of the sun is a fundamental part of film making and as a DOP you need to be aware of it's movements and the light it gives off each day. As each day can be different and the power of the sun varying significantly, it can be extremely difficult to try and replicate a scene that was shot on one day, to a shot that was recording on another. So taking this into account from several test shoots we did, I knew this would be quite an issue with continuity if we weren't able to finish a scene in our outside location. It made me realise that if we were to shoot outside, it would have to be in the morning, as it would give us the best light and we'd have the longest amount of time with the sun to reach it's highest peak around 1/1:30pm. 

As well as this, I knew that for the field scene we'd be using predominately natural light so we needed to choose a day that would be pretty sunny, not just for the light but it would also fit our aesthetic.  So keeping track on the sun for this purpose was also another valid reason to follow through with it as it allowed us to be ahead of the game. As the shoot week is in roughly less than two weeks, i'm able to see on BBC weather the forecast for those weeks, and it's looking quite sunny throughout, cold obviously as it's in February but relatively clear and sunny which is ideal. Ultimately I thought it would be a good idea to follow this as research had lead me to believe that a DOP should be considering all of this information before she/he is about to film on location. After researching this and tracking the sun, i've found fantastic phone apps like Sun Seeker and Dark Sky that can actually monitor the sun for you every minute of the day. These apps can also assist you in what angle you should be using and what way your camera should be facing to get the best out of the natural light that the sun is providing. You're able to learn quickly what the path of the sun will be so this is extremely advantageous when shooting on location. 

 'Keeping track of the sun is a very important factor in outdoor filmmaking, but you’ll also need to be conscious of what might get in between you and the sun at any moment — i.e.: clouds. While there’s not much you can do about the weather, you can note down any trees or buildings that might cast shadows at any given time (ideally when you do your first location scout).'

Ultimately I thought it would be a good idea to follow this as research had lead me to believe that a DOP should be considering all of this information before she/he is about to film on location. 

References -

https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/10-cinematography-tricks-for-working-with-only-natural-lighting/

Major Production - Equipment List

As i'm the D.O.P, i need to know what equipment for the shoots will be required & why. So over the winter break, collectively, we came up with a list of props & technical equipment we would need to carry out the production. I stated all the elements & parts we would need to shoot it, and other members stated what we would require for costume/set/props. Here is a list of the components so far.

REQUIRED EQUIPMENT FOR PRODUCTION THAT RELATE TO CINEMATOGRAPHY:

- Reflector x1
- Coloured gels (Red/Brown/Orange/Blue/Green)
- Panasonic DVX200 x1
- Sony A7S
- GOPRO Hero 3/4  x2
- LED Kit x1
- Tungsten Lighting x1
- Tascam x1
- Soft filter x1
- Boom Pole & Boom Mic


What usage will each component have & what is the significance of each one?
Each piece of equipment has it's sole purpose for one scene or multiple, and that's why the more equipment, the better.

REFLECTOR
The reflector will be used when natural light is being utilised in our external scene in the field. I would want this to light our subject matter instead of artificial light as I feel use of artificial light would create a tone that would not suit the aesthetic we would be trying to capture.

COLOURED GELS
Throughout the whole of the project, i'll be wanting to cast certain colours onto the screen to evoke some kind of relevant emotional response from the audience dependant on the scene, obviously. The reasoning behind the specific colours is down to some of the hallucination scenes within the script, as some will be needing to portray the emotions of anger, anguish & pain, and others, specifically in the field scene, shall be wanting to reinforce that sense of nature & beauty, with the greenery.

PANASONIC DVX 200
This camera is pivotal to the production as its unique V-Log setting will be the significant factor in conveying the aesthetic this production requires. I want the overall visual style, to be consistent throughout, so that's why with this camera and the setting stated above, i'll be able to provide & facilitate this requirement. With the V-Log setting, you are instantly heightening your dynamic range, what I mean by this, simply, is that the peaking & shadow tones within each shot will now have much more colour & depth to them, (this is after colour correction) meaning you are not restricting at all by too dark or overly lit scenes. The different recording aspect also allows you to be even more creative with your footage, more so than your typical record setting as it gives you, metaphorically speaking, a blank slate, to colour it the way you feel suits the certain scene the best/most appropriate. To conclude on this point, the aesthetic we would want to convey would be achieved much more effectively if we were to use this setting.

SONY A7S
As i'll be shooting in FHD (Full High Definition), this camera can be used for handheld action, and getting shots that require a shallow depth of field as the lens i'll be using for it has a fixed focal length. There wouldn't be any issue with getting the image from this camera and the Panasonic DVX 200 to match up as they both can record in Log format, so all I would have to do is apply the same LUT to the footage and it should come out looking very similar. The camera will also be used for taking photo's behind the scenes. It has great ISO and low light capabilities, so for our low light scene with Graham, it will be ideal.     

GOPRO Hero 3/4  x2
These GoPro's will be utilised throughout our project, acting as point of views of our characters and offering nuanced angles for certain sequences. A great example of when we'll use them to full effect will be the raid scene, 22. For this we'll attach GoPro's to two of the dressed actors, one attached to the gun, so we get to see from that perspective, and the other attached to the chest of the man, giving us a more direct point of view. This will add more of a dynamic feel to the scenes, as i'm thinking when it gets to the edit, it'll be fast paced, chopping between it all, making it feel chaotic. It will also add to the authenticity of the project, because of the wide angle lens' they have, you'll see all of the characters surroundings, making them feel more natural.   

LED Kit x1
For our project the LED lights will primarily be our key lights throughout, as I feel they give off a more natural light than the tungsten, but also they're more efficient to use, in the sense that they're not as much of a struggle to use, and don't need a main power source to function. Additionally the lights will act as the room lights, so filters will be used to try and make the light look as authentic as possible. Their functionality is also a major reason as to why they've been chosen, as they're light and easily manoeuvrable, making them great pieces of equipment to work with.  

Tungsten Lighting x1
For the tungsten light set ups, these lights will act as back drops, either being shone through windows or from a great distance, acting as daylight. Even though the kelvin levels are set for inside a studio, with filters and using them from a great distance, you can't really tell what kelvin level they're at, other than it just looking like natural light. Throughout many of the scenes within the kitchen/dining room, the tungsten will be shone through the back door, acting as the sun/natural light. This will obviously add to the authenticity of the project, giving it more of a real fleshy tone. 

Tascam x1
In my mind the tascam was going to be one of the most important tools of equipment our project had. I wanted the sound to be clear and be able to manipulate it whilst recording on set, to give us more control when it came to the edit. A tascam is great for controlling sound levels on set, so I know we'll have more of an advantage whilst using this, rather than using a boom pole and mic plugged into the camera. It will also be advantageous to use over the boom pole & mic recording into the camera for logistical reasons, as we won't need to have cables plugged into the camera, meaning that myself and the sound guy can achieve both of our goals choosing separate locations to base themselves whilst the filming commences. There were just a lot more pro's that outweighed the cons for this choice, and I feel it would enhance our project immensely to use it. 

Soft filter x1
Another key piece of equipment will be the soft filter for our LED lights, as sometimes within spaces that have limited natural light sources, the light that's emitted from the LED's can be quite harsh on the skin, so we would require the filter to neutralise that minor error. It will present a natural light, with balance that will reinforce the authentic look that we will be trying to capture.

Boom Pole & Boom Mic
As stated prior, the boom pole will be used for the tascam, with the boom mic to be able to manoeuvre freely without the hindrance of being attached to the camera, allowing for greater sound quality by getting closer to the action. This is a pivotal part of our equipment as we wouldn't be able to capture sound without it. 

Major Production - Test shoot one

Today as a collective group we went to our main locations and began blocking and filming the majority of our scenes. We had the majority of our kit that we intend to use for the actual shoot however some minor pieces were missing, this did not have an impact however on the outcome of the test shoot. We first went to the field location in which would entail shooting one of the hallucination scenes for a character, where he speaks to two plants, whilst being a plant himself. The weather was pretty dull and cold, which wasn't ideal but gave us a lot of much needed insight into our actual shoot day and for that we're grateful. It raised questions about what to bring for the crew and cast in terms of keeping warm on location and how to deal with the harsh elements.

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. 

Major Production - Luke Bryant - D.O.P Research

So for this unit, as my role within it is being the cinematographer, I need to get a better understanding of shooting bigger projects as this one will be the largest yet in terms of everything. I thought there wasn't really a better way for me to grasp what it takes and what i'll need to consider before I shoot, than to make contact with professional D.O.P's already out there, that're currently working on similar content to what i'll be shooting.

Luke Bryant was a cinematographer I wanted to research and contact due to his work having similar themes and comical value demonstrated within it -

RESEARCH WORK & DETAILED ANALYSIS OF IT -
Below are two screenshots of the series Drifters that Luke DP's for. I've chosen these as I feel they highlight certain aspects of his work that i've taken inspiration from in terms of the consistent colour grade and the angles. This sitcom is more naturalistic than the other two DOP's work that i've analysed an contacted. I wanted to get in touch with Luke as I wanted to know how it is shooting a particular piece like this and get some insight into cinematography from his perspective behind the lens. The show's themes and topics covered throughout are quite one level, they're post-uni students who're having existential issues about their love lives and job prospects. 

Once again I'd like to highlight in both of these screen shots the consistent colour palette presented in both. See these colours are more naturalistic than my other DOPs work I analysed. This is due to the narrative of this project, as it is a story about real life issues i.e character having existential crisis about what to do post uni, so this particular colour palette makes the piece more relatable to its audience. The relatable is key for this series to work, as the script and characters portray topical issues within our society, so keeping the colour tones life like creates more of a connection between the audience and the series, allowing it to be a more enjoyable experience. The way each sequence in this series is shot is also another reminder that it's a down to earth, realist yet comical series through it's deployment of using techniques such as the over the shoulder shot for conversations, singles for character confirmation and reaction shots. The show often operates with handheld to allow the audience to engage with the characters conversations and feel as if we are then in the living room with them.

The lighting throughout this episode is always as natural as possible, following suit an adhering to the concepts realist themes it is tackling. So that's why when you look at the skin tones and the characters surroundings, everything looks very generic, as this is the aesthetic they require, to convey and support the narratives overriding tones about real life women in today's society who are struggling with what comes after university. As these are issues that anyone can relate to, it makes sense for the lighting to be as authentic/natural for the audience as possible as it makes it more palatable and believable for the viewer. The show highlights these issues in comical ways, but at the same time keeps the aesthetic natural, to serve as a reminder that these issues are humorous but also real and that we the audience are going through these similar struggles in one way or another. The shot types are never too tight or too wide, they're always relatively a medium shot if we single out a character, or a medium long shot if we are to include other characters within the shot. This again supporting the series issues it raises, making it more naturalistic to add to the comedy value of the piece. The fact that it's not shot cinematically, also strengthens its appeal to the general public, as it's once again more relatable to them, and the characters presented are not shown in any particular light other than a natural one, so the audience therefore attach themselves to the narrative in a nuanced way in comparison to the previous shows spoken about.

What cameras were used for the filming of Drifters, and what format was it recorded on? 

So we shot series 4 of Drifters on the Alexa, in 2k resolution using Cooke 5i lenses. We used the Cookes because they're fast (F/1.4) and they're slightly more beautiful than similarly fast lenses such as the Master Primes. I used a black frost diffusion filter in front of the lens at all times so the image was slightly softened and the highlights slightly flared. We shot in Log C but monitored in Rec 709.

How closely did you work with the director to capture the right aesthetic & tone for the piece?

We did about 1 days grade per episode and the aim was to keep everything as naturalistic as possible. When we were shooting in the studio I tried to keep everything as window motivated as possible - if we were facing towards the window I would try to bounce back the light coming in so we never had any hard light in the faces (I've attached an example below so you can see what we're getting at.) I spent a few days before the shoot going through the lighting approach so the director was totally on board.

What I have learnt from this dialogue -

I didn't get loads of feedback from Luke, however I got enough in regards to how I should piece my project together and what I should be thinking about. It made me think more about preparation and how long I should be spending on setting up the lights and camera. I've took from this conversation that I should be more experimental with my lighting set up, so when it comes to the shoot day I'll think more creatively about how I can approach it. I'll have to converse with Will also about how he wants the lighting set up, as from this conversation with Luke states, the director and DOP have to be singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of the lighting and what we want it to be.