Separation Shoot Days!

Leading up to my shoot days I made sure I had all the relevant paperwork completed, most importantly Call Sheets, Shot List and Risk Assessments. I also made sure I had all the correct equipment booked that we know knew from pre-light we needed. Lastly I brought and sourced all the props needed and snacks to have on set for cast and crew. These are the rough outlines of how the shoot days then turned out:

Separation Shoot Day One  - Tuesday 20th February

On Tuesday morning before the shoot began I left my house very early to go pick up the real sunflowers from the flourish and the snacks for the crew. I then arranged to meet the DOP Sugini and the Runner/Gaffer Tash at the equipment hire department at 11am. We then began taking out the equipment and checking all of it over before transporting it to the studio we were working across today and tomorrow. Due to the three of us doing this and the large amount of equipment this did take a lot of time. I then laid out the studio to have two tables at the end of the space. One to have props easily and accessibly laid out and one to have equipment easily and accessibly laid out. We then kept all our personal items out the way underneath the tables and there was chairs available for everyone here as well so on quick breaks the crew were able to rest. We then moved the infinity table into the centre of the space as this was most easily accessible then and safest. We then moved all the overhead photography lights out the way to the opposite end of the space. Now the basics of the space were clean and set up we began to complete the lighting setup now with an hour before the rest of the crew arrived. We began by trying the lighting setup that was suggested to us which we had been working on from last time. This was to have 4 LED panels on small stands under the infinity table with lots of diffusion material on them to disperse the strong light across the whole table. We would still then have our one arri tungsten light with a blue filter on it pointing across the table to light the objects in a contrasted way. This lighting setup didn't work very successfully because the 4 panels still weren't quiet strong enough to light the entire table fully and the stand didn't lower down enough so when they were under the table no matter how much diffusion we added they still spotlighted through the table in 4 areas. We experimented with moving them around but we knew that ideally we needed these lights much lower to the floor however we couldn't put them on the floor due to the cables in the back of them. As we were running out of time we went to seek help from the technician David who we had already had conversations with about the lighting set up and he had given us the ideas for this set up. He came to help and supplied us with very low small microphone stands which worked perfectly for putting the LED lights on to have them low enough and he then supplied us with an extra panel so we ended up working with 5 lights. Having them much lower down on these stands he supplied really helped and we then managed to get the lighting set up exactly how we needed it using two LED tilted to light the back of the table then three underneath on small stands to keep the light even across the table with thick diffusion covers on them all. We then put out feature light in place pointing across the table with a blue gel on it and we were good to go. Here is how our lighting set up ended up looking:

When the rest of the crew arrived at 1:00pm we were still finishing off the lighting set up as due to the complications we were running slightly behind. While we finished this they unpacked and set up all the camera equipment ready for the first shot and chloe prepared the props for the first shots. We then began shooting once we were ready and even though we began behind schedule we soon made up time as we had been over as lot of these type of shots before in pre-light and pre-vis so we were able to work very efficiently. We worked it as I was directing everyone and also time keeping while Chloe was also helping me by calling out the time when asked. She was also clapper as well as runner. Tash was then the had actress in shots so that I was able to stay behind the camera this time to keep on top of how everything was working and looking to achieve what I wanted. Tash was also running between shots to prepare the props etc for the next and she was also Gaffer so was moving the feature light around when needed although all of us also helped with this to keep things moving efficiently. The camera team ere then mainly led by Sugini who would tell them how to set up for the next shot and what they were doing for each shot however I would also step in to make slight changes and preferences when necessary so we could achieve the best shots possible.

As a crew we worked really well together and kept everything moving by all helping with whatever was needed as well as filling our own roles successfully. We only had a few issues arise during this day and that was the camera card stopped working correctly and that the slime prop never arrived. We tackled this quickly though by running the camera card back to stores to swap it for another one and then changing the schedules around so that we filled real sunflowers today as we had them with us and then slime tomorrow as that was guarded to arrive by then.

We conquered problems quickly and this allowed us to film everything we needed and have a really good time while doing so. Here are the schedules with my notes across them which show how everything ended up flowing. Sugini was making detailed notes about shots for me on her cop of the shot list so that when it comes to editing I can use my notes and hers to edit a lot easier.:

We made sure to be backing up the camera card regularly through out the day especially because we were working with such large Ultra HD files in high frame rates that would fill the card very quickly. We then  backed everything up once more at the end of the day so that we had it on two hard drives labelled correctly. After the first day because we were back in here tomorrow we were able to leave our lighting set up and props etc how they were and simply just pack down and take all the camera equipment with us. I was given the key so I was able to lock the door to stop anyone being able to enter till we were shooting again tomorrow at 9am. I made sure to charge the camera batteries over night so we were prepared ready to start very quickly again tomorrow.


Separation Shoot Day Two - Wednesday 21st February

We began the second day of shooting by all meeting at the cars to unload the camera equipment back into our studio at by 9:15am. We then set all the camera equipment back up ready to begin and turned all the lights back on and got props ready. We worked within the same roles again as this worked successfully yesterday and made us have a very good flow. Today we had to mark a safety line on the floor round the table as we had the tank of water in the studio today for all the water shots.

We had to keep the camera a certain distance away from the tank to ensure its safety and our own safety. We again had done a lot of these water shots previously in pre-vis and pre-light so we knew how to execute them safely, efficiently and effectively. We started slightly behind schedule today because we were taking our safety precautions but this was worth the time and also we knew we had contingency time if we needed it. We then began and again as we worked so well we were able to catch back up on time with the schedule. Everyone was a lot more confident in themselves it being no longer the first day so this allowed us to really push ourselves with the quality of shots we were getting. We had to begin with the slime shots as we had moved these from yesterday and switched them with some of the sunflower shots as we didn't have slime yesterday. The slime did arrive fro today thankfully! When we then moved onto water shots we had to be careful with certain objects due to not wanting the water to dirty too much however when I was scheduling I took this into account and scheduled in tank water cleans and changes after object I knew would mess up the look of the water. The main setback we had today was that the water did get a lot dirtier after some objects we didn't expect it to get dirty from like the dress. This meant we had to change the water more frequently but this also gave us time to back up the camera card often again due to the large files. We also knew because I had allowed contingency time that we were able to change the water to achieve a high quality look that we wanted.

Today with the water tank lighting was slightly more difficult to get perfect but this just meant we had to move the feature light round a lot more to light the tank and each object that went into it a lot more effectively. The object we found most difficult to film today was the ink because we were limited in how much ink we had and also the ink was so dark that it caused reflections on the tank front no matter how much we moved the lighting and the tank around on the table. We persevered and managed to get a shot we were happy with but this took a bit longer however we still managed to get out the studio by 4:30pm which was the latest we were allowed to be in there today. We packed up everything this time as we were finished in this studio and loaded it into my car and left the studio clean and tidy. I again made sure all the footage was backed up twice at the end of the day and that the camera batteries were all charged over night ready for tomorrow. Today we pulled together really well and all helped overcome problems that arise. This day felt a lot more intense then the first day because we had harder shots and more challenges arise but I felt inspire of this it still went very successfully and we all fulfilled our roles well. Here s the call sheet for this day with all my notes on it of how the day flowed etc:

Separation Shoot Day Three - Thursday 22nd February 

We knew before hand that this last day of shooting would be our most intense as it was the longest day out of the three because we had all the body movement shots to film and also because we had the dancer with us today. Again we had a very similarly structured call sheet to work from to keep us on track however due to having the dancer with us I made sure to have more breaks for her benefit today.  We got to university at 9:00am to unload equipment into the studio for today and set up. We were in B32 which is the same studio we had our rehearsal and pre-light in so we already knew how we were going to lay it out. We split in into 3 sections, one at the front by the doors where we kept our personal items and anything uneasy for our shoot. We had the curtains pulled across to keep this space where people could walk in unable to see the shooting space because our dancer would be partially nude. We then had a shooting space we were actually conducting the shoot and then a third space were all the props and spare equipment were kept safely on tables ready to be used at any moment. This layout worked well because it allowed us space to move around efficiently and safely.We then set up our equipment, we went with the same lighting set up we achieved in pre-light which was very dramatic but very simple. We used one large arri tungsten light with a Full ND filter over it pointing diagonally across the dancer to cast really beautifully interesting shapes. We also had her far away from the background so to avoid casting any disrupting shadows on the background. While this was being sorted the camera team was setting up the camera ready for the first shot and the dancer was warming up and preparing herself. We kept very similar roles today with the same crew as again we knew this work effectively. I was directing but my focus wasn't only on the camera today but also heavily on the dancer getting her to achieve the best moments possible for each shot. I was also time keeping myself with Chloe's help as she called time when asked. Chloe was also a runner and Clapper again today. Tash was again runner but also Gaffer and was mainly moved around our light to get the best look for different shots. Then Sugini was instructing the cameraa crew on what to do but again I would be overseeing this and adding to her instructions when needed to try and achieve the best shot we could. Molly our dancer really threw herself into today and this made it such a nice to set to be on because everyone was focused but also we were able to have fun together while filming. We didn't have any major problems today and it ran very smoothly. We also had contingency time today so were able to take our time on shots we wanted to explore more as we all came up with ideas while filming as well which helped us achieve some really nice footage.

We finished on time and managed to get everything packed away and all footage again back up so that we were able to leave the studio with all our equipment in plenty of time. I really enjoyed today a lot as it was lovely working with Molly the dancer again and she worked so hard as did all the crew yet we were able to really enjoy ourselves too. Here again is my call sheet of the notes I made during the day to show how it flowed:

I have had a lot of fun shooting my grad film this week and it has gone very successfully despite the problems that have arisen. I have had a great time with my crew and I feel like we all worked really well together as well as with the dancer too. I cant wait to start editing my footage together now.