Shooting on location Day 1

Date: 10th December
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of day: Evening 4:30pm - 7:30pm

Crew Present: Dan, Deanna, Cameron, Charlotte.

Cast Present: Rebecca Chapman, Ryan Witton, Millie Russel

Equipment: 
DSLR Camera + Tripod
Tracking Dolly
Sound Recording Kit
Large & Small Reflectors
LED Light

Transport

The equipment was transported via car for safety and the fact it was too bulky to carry, myself and my team including cast met at school and walked down to our filming location as conveniently its only 15 minutes down the road. 

Summary of the day 

Deanna applying make up to the actress

FOCUS PRACTICE

Today started awkwardly with small talk but eventually the ice broke and we could get down to business with ease, today was very much an eye opener for how the rest of filming will go! and it looks like we're going to be travelling a very bumpy road for a while but we shall manage with a little blood, sweet and tears. 

We started off the night with getting our set's ready, this means setting up the "romantic meal' dining table and taking pictures of where the props were as this would stop continuity errors later. The actresses and actor went upstairs to get changed ready for filming while we did this to save time. 

We experienced some technical issues with lighting and location size, we quickly realised at this point that our storyboard wouldn't match our finished product for shot type so we shall have to change our story board later on once we have established which shots will need changing.

We decided to film scene 2 today as this is the bulkiest of all our scenes and the argument/death scene making it the most crucial to film and get correct. By kicking off with this scene we will be setting the expectation of work effort for the rest of our filming. We quickly realised we wouldnt be able to use Ryan as our main male actor as he wasn't ready to commit the effort meaning a lot of reshoots would be needed to perfect shots.

We started filming with Rebecca first at the dining table (shot 22 - 24) Rebecca was perfect and receptive to our needs she had no protests with re-shoots either, which was good considering shot 22 took 3 takes because of disliked camera positioning and lighting and shot 24 took 5 takes because we needed real emotion from Rebecca as this is the shot where 'Richard' makes his entrance from being extremely late home from 'work'.

Crew roles for our first day

Deanna

Deanna was the butter on the bread today, telling us which shots we would be doing and deciding how the girls make-up would best suit their personalities, she helped me when i needed help with the lighting as well and helped direct Cameron for the best cinematic angle on certain shots.

Daniel

Dan was in charge of sound recording ensuring we have clear sound that we can use and diagetic sound that we will need, for example the door slamming. He was also our group nominated PA (private joke) but considering we were in Dan's house we felt it best for him to make the cups of tea and food. 

Cameron

Cameron was in charge of the cinematography and shot types as his past experience in AS is more developed than the rest of us, Cameron also managed to master the focus and focus pulls on the new 600D DSLR camera so he was rightfully in charge of most of the camera work.

Myself
As for myself I was in charge of the lighting conditions of the set so it wouldn't affect the camera quality, I also dabbled in filming and advice in directing shot types or actors performance on set to minimise the need for shot retakes.

Overall today while we started off well we have come to the realisation that the storyboard and script will have to be changed if we are to continue filming in our present location.

Preparing for the Shoot!

Right so it's time to start shooting our film! we're starting slightly later than our other peers due to the unfortunate events that our actors dropped out at the last minute and finding replacements was tediously hard when most of the 6th formers are bogged down with stress and coursework and are very reluctant to give up their free time. We have had to aim lower in the age range for our actors than we wanted to go but desperate times call for desperate measures! after auditioning these younger actors we decided they were fairly well rounded to work with (Thank God).

The Equipment 

We start filming next week so in preparation the equipment we shall need has been booked, this includes the Cannon 600D DSLR camera, Tripod, Tracking Dolly, Reflectors, External Monitoring kit and Location Recording Kit. So we are well prepared for the shots we are to shoot next week and any shots we may want to change or try a different way.

Transportation

Transportation is still unsure because our location we are filming at is close to the school within walking distance, some of the equipment will be transported to the house of course because there is so much and it is quite bulky to carry, other odd pieces we shall carry. This is just for the first day of transportation to the location there are 2 people who may have to have to get lifts to the location regularly because they do not live local enough to walk, this shouldn't be a problem because they both have modes of transportation to and from location.

Documentation printing

All documents including scripts and actors release forms have been handed out by Deanna to the actors already in preparation for next week. Hopefully the actors will learn their lines so when we film for our first day we won't have to keep reciting lines to them. 

Crew Roles

There are precisely 4 people in our crew all have roles but all can interplay and take up other roles if they so wish. 

I myself shall interplay between roles of Lighting, Directing, Cinematography and set Setup. My other 3 members have specific crew roles and I help where I am needed or where I feel help is needed this is because in AS I bounced between crew roles then and tried to help to my fullest in all roles of filming, this gave me a broadenned knowledge of all areas in which I can help contribute in A2. 

Daniel's Crew Role

Dan is in charge of sound recording he was in charge of sound last year at AS and has an exceptional understanding of the equipment, he is also responsible for making the actors and actresses happy and comfortable because he has an effortless conversational side which should make them feel more relaxed and happy. 

Deanna's Crew Role

Deanna has the role of Director because she has the leadership of directing Cameron and Daniel like last year along with their actors. 

Cameron's Crew Role

Cameron handled the filming last year at AS so he has been appointed Cinematography again as he is experienced with shot types and the best view/angle to go about certain shots. He was experienced in using last years camera's but this year we are using a more complex camera so we shall see how quick cameron develops his skills on the Cannon 600D DSLR.

Practice Shots

Essentially focusing will be our downfall so we have been practicing with focus pulls and focusing on different depths of field this should eliminate or at least minimise our chances of messing up the focus while filming and have to re-film things. We may need to practice with the crane shots again, but we are unsure as to wether we shall be using the crane, our storyboard works better without the crane shot so it will more than likely be left out.