Experimental Film - Shoot Days

Shoot 1 (09/03/16):

For this first shoot we were in the studio first rather than location as this was the only times we were allowed access to the studio for our memory scenes. As I was most prepared out of my group with a completed shot list and plan I volunteered to go first filming my shoe memories. Before the shoot began I had to go to town to buy my props I needed. I managed to buy both pairs of plain black heeled shoes very cheaply from charity shops. One pair for studio and one for location. I also then brought things like plastic cups and juice/coke (alcohol looking) along with other props on my list from the local shops for a little as possible. I gave my receipts to Katherine our producer so she could work out what everyone owed or was owed back budget wise in our group. We then began setting up in the studio. We took all the equipment with us as we were using the Cannon 305 and Boom pole Microphone for this shoot. We also had a three point lighting set with us as well consisting of 3 650 watt lights. We began by clearing an appropriate area in there and pulling down the plane white backdrop. We decided white because it would make the shoes stand out better and it was more dream/memory like. We then moved a table in front of the background and placed plane white dust sheets over it as protection. For the messier scenes involving liquids we also placed a layer of cling film down to protect the studio space. We then had Mary as the Gaffer set up the lighting which we decided as a group should be bright as possible. We stumble across a problem with our lights though because we weren't given enough stands and therefore had to go get another one. This slowed us down but whilst this was being rectified we began setting up the camera and the sound equipment. There was a problem with the camera battery being the wrong type for the camera however so we then also had to go back to the equipment store and rectify this It slowed us down even further. I began getting my props ready and informing everyone of what we were going to do while Mary finished setting up the lighting. We then began filming. I had Umor on the camera, Katherine on sound and I was directing the process especially my actress on how to do what I wanted. I tried to set up each shot as quick as possible as we took so long get going that I was afraid of running out of time. However I feel like it was a very successful shoot and we got a lot of very good shots which I am happy with. The crew all took direction very well and this really helped. We did encounter a lot of problems with our equipment however we managed to rectify them all and carry on. Once finished we made sure to leave enough time to be able to clear up all the mess and put it back to the way it was ready for the next shoot.

Shoot 2 (10/03/16):

This was our second time slot in the studio in which Katherine decided she was ready to film her shoe story memories. The others group member's unfortunately weren't ready even though one of them was meant to film today so we had to move the last two to the third studio shoot. We set up the studio again in exactly the same way but this time it was a lot quicker to do as we didn't face any equipment problems and we had now had practice. Mary got the lighting the same which was good because we didn't want it to be a visible difference. Umor then framed it the same on the camera comparing to footage from shoot 1. When we were all happy it matched up and looked the same Katherine set up her shoe memories and we began filming. This time I was on Sound so that Katherine could focus on setting up her shots the way she wanted to. I was again very happy with how well this shoot went as we got a lot of good footage and today we encountered no problems and therefore got it done a lot faster. We had plenty of time to tidy up the studio and pack up again ready for the next and final studio shoot.

Shoot 3 (11/03/16):

This was our third and final slot of studio time and we were much more rushed due to the fact we had to film both Mary and Umor's shoe story memories. We also got delayed due to someone who had booked the studio time before us running over and not getting out there on time. This meant as soon as we were in there we set out straight away to set up as quickly as possible and again in the same way as before. Again Mary got the lighting right for us matching up and Umor framed the camera up again. I again volunteered to record the sound. Once we were all ready Mary set up her shots she had planned and I then made sure to also help by keeping the whole process moving as efficiently as possible as Director. We worked our way very quickly and successfully through Mary's shot list so we then moved on to Umor's. As Umor still wanted to be behind the Camera I had him direct me and Katherine on what shots he wanted to film and we were setting them up for him and also suggesting more as we weren't sure he had enough. I was also still recording the sound in and amongst setting the shots. We again worked our way through all Umor's shots and it went rather successfully. We had left ourself enough time to clean up the studio after ourselves again and we packed up.

Shoot 4 (14/03/16):

This was our first shoot on location and because it was meant to be good weather we decided that we should film Umor's story as it was about a skate border so we needed dry weather to be able to film him skating. We arranged to meet at 10am on campus that morning as we needed to get to the skate park early enough so that it wouldn't be too busy. Umor had arranged for his actor/skate boarder to meet us on campus at 11 which would give us enough time to collect all the equipment and go through his shot list and storyboard so we knew exactly what we needed to do. We did this but unfortunately the actor failed to show at 11. We waited around for another hour desperately trying to contact the actor to see where he was without any luck. We then went on to plan B and tried to get hold of other actors/skaters who had also originally offered to help us out. Unfortunately it was really hard to find any that were free right there and then however we did get hold of one of the back ups who was willing to film later on that afternoon at 2. Myself, Umor and Mary waited around for him whilst Katherine had other commitments to attend. We met with him and briefed him on the film piece and got his permission signed. We then made our way to the skate park and nearby filming locations and worked our way through as much of the shot list as possible however it was hard because the skate park was so busy. We got as much done as we could but our actor/skate boarder had a very limited time frame because he also had other commitments later on that day. I tried to keep the group motivated despite the various set backs that day and was suggesting additional shots to try whilst Umor was the main Cinematographer. We got as much done as we could before the actor left but we knew we hadn't done enough so we arranged with him to meet the following day as we had no other shoot planned then. This day was full of setbacks but I think we managed to pull it together and make the most of a bad situation. We have also learnt that preparation is key.

Shoot 5 (15/03/16):

This was our second day on location again filming Umor's skate boarding story to make up for lost time the day before. It was myself, Mary and Umor who were available to shoot this day so we all met up again at 10 to prepare ourselves for meeting our actor at 11. Again the actor was late but Umor managed to get hold of him and he met us half an hour behind schedule. Umor set off alone at the beginning to shoot some shoots in his campus accommodation. We left him and the actor to it because the space was physically too small for all of us to be in there. We congregated afterwards about 20 minuets later and then all headed back to the skate park. We were more focused today because we knew exactly what shots were left to do and also the skate park was less busy so it made filming some of it a lot easier. Whilst Mary and Umor set off filming round the skate park I set up the Go Pro which we had planned to stick onto the skate board. Once I had it all set up and the mount ready I went and talked the actor through what we needed him to do and we also figured out with him the best place to put it on his board so that it wouldn't get damaged or get in his way. We had a protective case on it however so if it fell it would be okay to a certain extent. We had a few issues with the Go Pro coming loose and falling off the board however we had managed to get a few decent shots in before this happened so we came up with another alternative which was to have him hold it in his hand pointing down while he skated. This worked a lot better because he felt a lot more comfortable as well not having it on his skate board. We then finished up filming our last couple of shots with him and packed up and called it a day. I feel like we had a lot of struggles on this shoot but I tried my best to resolve any and help the team keep working as much as we could. I feel like it went successfully when the actors were finally available.

Shoot 6 (16/03/16) Afternoon:

This was our third day shooting on location but this afternoon we had planned to film Katherines shoe story because she had managed to get her actors for today and also she had booked an office styled space for us to use for this afternoon. Katherine had a plan to use the Go Pro to film some car scenes of the journey but because it was a very small car she decided she wanted to do these alone with her actor. This meant whilst she was off doing this me, Mary and Umor met up at 12 that afternoon so that we could go and prepare the office styled space we had booked at uni. We were expecting Katherine and her actors to arrive at 1 so we wanted to have everything ready to go by then. We went and found the office space and I led the team to clear the space to make it seem like a genuine office. We had to move lots of unneeded items out of shot and we decided which desk would be best to film at because of the lighting coming through the windows. Once Katherine had arrived with her actor she was really happy with the office set up we had made and we could begin shooting. Mary took control of cinematography today whilst Umor assisted her especially in things like tracking backwards. Katherine knew some of the shots she wanted so I let her get on and direct them but then I started suggesting more for her to do and other more interesting angles we could take. This gave us a lot more footage which I felt we needed and even though we had to do a lot of takes to get some of the shots right it was eventually successful. I kept the group motivated and helped each of them as and when they needed it. Once we had done we all helped put the office back how we found it and packed up equipment.

Shoot 7 (16/03/16) Evening:

My story needed to take place of an evening/night so after talking to my team the week before and talking to all my actors and locations Wednesday evening was the best option when everyone was available. Unfortunately Katherine wasn't able to attend as she lived too far away from the location in Farnham and it was taking place too late for her to get home. The rest of my group agreed to be there however. I met my actress early on and took her back to location 1 which was my student house. I briefed her on exactly what we would be doing that evening in terms of story and shots etc. I then got her dressed into costume and ready for shooting which began at 7pm. I had Mary meet me at my student house at that time because she was going to be Cinematographer for me. I wasn't able to have Umor in my house as well because my room is so small it would have been too crowded. He agreed to meet us at location 2 later on to help. We began filming slightly late however because my actress was taking slightly longer than I anticipated to get her self ready. As soon as she was ready we began filming at 7:30ish. I directed all the shots making sure Mary and my actress knew what they were doing. We were having a few issues with it being slightly too dark so I had to improvise and use a desk lamp which I held in place to light the shots in a much better way. We between us managed to get it all finished rather quickly and successfully. I had arranged to meet all my actors/actresses and extras at location 2 (Party House) at 8pm but because we started filming late we didn't arrive till 8:30. This was a slight set back but I knew everyone so they were all very understanding. When I arrived I got a message from Umor saying he couldn't really attend but this wasn't too bad because I was more than happy to just work with one Cinematographer (Mary) anyway because it was a very small space with lots of people so this would actually make it easier. I found out when I got there that only 4 out of my 6 actors/extras had arrived. The last two were due at 9 so I used this spare half an hour to set up the party room with props and lighting the way I wanted it to be. As soon as the last two arrived I quickly briefed everyone and we got straight on with filming. I used my shot list to help me a lot to remember all the shots I wanted. I directed them all but did struggle at times to have my voice heard over all the noise of the background music and the extras/actors talking. It slowed me down slightly but it was manageable. Mary then ran in to a lot of technical issues with her camera such as she had forgotten to charge it so it was running out of power fast and also she filled up her memory card and brought the wrong spare. These were very bad problems and all stuff I expected not to happen but I just had to come up with solutions anyway otherwise my shoot wouldn't get done. I had to borrow another camera and memory card off a friend who lived in that house but the annoying thing about this  was it was of a lot lower quality. I had to continue anyway so we moved on. We continued working through all the shots but the only ones we couldn't do were the outside shots because the camera wasn't good enough to pick up enough light. I had to reinterpret the shots to work indoors instead which again slowed us down but we got there. We eventually finished after filming an two hours. I wasn't expecting it to take this long but after all the problems I encountered I am glad we at least got it all done. The only thing I am sad about is the amount of problems my Cinematographer had which were out of my control and set me back a lot. My shoot would have gone better and looked better if this hadn't happened however I found a way to carry on at least. We packed up after the shoot and helped tidy up and we were done.

Shoot 8 (17/03/16):

We knew we wanted to create a Sound Scape for our piece so we booked ourselves into the Sound studio this morning for 4 hours. We all had spoken prior to this session about the kind of sounds we wanted so that everyone could bring props and brainstorm what sounds they would record. We had another issue when we got there of one of my members Mary being ill and not showing up. This meant we weren't able to get any sound effects for her because she knew what she wanted and she had the props. She instead promised she would go record some at a later date when she was feeling better. we continued with out her then and started by recording Katherine's folly's. Umor was working the recording equipment whilst I directed Katherine in the sound booth through the microphone. We worked well as a team on this and even though it took us a while to figure out exactly how  to do it once we knew we were able to get on with it very quickly. I then went second recording my sound with all my props, some were hard to do because they were so quiet but we did our best by turning the levels way up. Umor was again recording my sounds whilst Katherine directed through the microphone. Finally Umor went into the booth to record his sounds so Katherine worked the recording equipment and I directed again though the microphone but I was helping when needed on the equipment too. I enjoyed this sound session a lot because despite it being new equipment for us we managed to work with it really successfully. We packed up and left once we were happy with all the sound effects.

Shoot 9 (18/03/16):

This was our final shoot out on location and was planned for Mary's story. It was left to the last minute because she had only just found locations and got permission the day before. This meant that Katherine was unable to attend because it was too last minuet however me and Umor were going to be there. It was taking place in Cafe Nero and we were told by Mary to get there at 1. I was there with her on time and both her actors were there already. Mary briefed everyone on her shot list whilst we waited for Umor. Umor then messaged us saying he couldn't make it just yet so we decided to begin with out him. Mary did her own cinematography and I helped by suggesting more shots she could do and a variety of angles she could take. We had to be very careful however because it was a busy cafe so we couldn't obstruct any walk ways or cause any issues like that. The shoot was done very quickly in about half an hour because Mary only had a short story she wanted to tell. Once done we packed away and thank Cafe Nero for letting us film and left. I felt like this shoot went well however I feel like not enough footage was filmed in comparison to the rest of the stories but because of time constraints we just did what we could.

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Overall the filming days went well however I felt like our group did keep having issues especially with certain group members having little availability and others having poor timing skills. I felt as the Director I did  everything with in my power that I could because I was there every day for every single shoot always trying to help. I am relived that we got everything that we had planned to do as I know we had a very busy and very tight schedule to keep to.