Thursday, 8 November 2012

Reflections on PG02 Cycle 2 - Filming (08 Nov 2012)


Reflections on PG02 Cycle 2 – Filming Project – TBSOG

Individual contributions:
- Interactive concepts
- Storyboard
- Shooting Schedule
- Sound recording
- Voice over

Group contributions:
- Martin – Direction
- Lola - Script
- Peter – Lighting/Art Direction
- Kieron - Logging
- Tori - Props
- Bara - Makeup

- Julia – Mother - Actress
- Jarone – Mark - Actor
- Nick – Criminal - Actor
- Andrew – DC1 - Actor
- Neil – DC2 - Actor

Objective:
Shoot a 10 minute film

Challenges

Different angles
Different emotions
Different endings

from last week – from Monday 5th Nov

On the first Monday we all met to go through the initial script with the actors, and I presented them with the storyboards. The storyboards that I put together followed the dialogue from the script and were perhaps over-detailed however Peter liked that the storyboard shots had been detailed out. Martin, the director’s view was that the storyboard did not have to be precise and actually in being more abstract allowed for flexibility in the actual days of shooting. The preparation of the storyboards helped in deciding and defining the camera angles, initial scene framing shots, identify where the camera would be pointing, and the size of the camera zoom to define whether it would be a wide angle shot, mid-close up, close up shot or a cutaway shot.

From the storyboard and in discussion with Peter on the art direction, we were able to put together a Shooting Schedule that consisted of Scene number (taken from the script), Shot number (based on the storyboard), and Setup number (based on the number of times that the camera would be re-positioned.) Within the actual filming the setup numbers would mostly match the shot numbers. Although the storyboard was useful in helping to visualise the script and dialogue, the actual locations proved to be different to the storyboards interpretation. For example the bedroom did not have a desk and the lighting source was weaker than the antipicated lighting that was visualised. However the floor lights that were brought along could to some extent simulate lighting such as daylight, side light, uplighting and reflected light from a mirror that was placed below the actors.

The meeting on the Thursday with the team from Bank fraud investigation, and the Met Police fraud team, presented very useful insight into the things that both employees and criminals might be likely to do. However it was pointed out that the flow and sense of story, feel of dramatic emotion was more important than being too concerned with absolute accuracy or rigidly detail-obsessed performances.

The script went through about seven versions to perfect the wording.

The order of the scenes were re-arranged to follow in the sequence of the shooting schedule. These were Scene 2 and Scene 4: At The House on Monday, Scene 1, Scene 6 and Scene 9 at the Police Station on Wednesday, and Scene 3 on the High Street on the Thursday of the week of filming.

On the week of filming on the Monday, we arrived at the House to film Scene 2: At the Doorway with the Mother and Scene 4: Mark in the Bedroom. The outside sunlight and temporary cloud cover provided us with a short moment in which to shoot the doorway and the mother opening the door. I stood to the side and held the boom above the doorway. In other scenes I held the boom below the actors pointing in the direction of their voices. The filming in the bedroom proved to be awkward for the movement of crew and actors, all being in one room. The lighting and especially the pamper lighting could easily be knocked over and wires tripped on. The wide angle shot of the bedroom was forgotten in the busy action of the actors and first day of filming. As the focus was mainly on the actor, a shot list might have been useful in reminding the crew of any shots that remained to be explored. The over-exposed laptop shot was a good idea, as this allowed for a later zoomed in shot to be filmed with the on-screen text in focus.    

The filming at the Police Station on the Wednesday, was quite different to the house. The security measures of staying in set areas, constrained the movement of crew and actors and sound travelled along the walls. The positioning of the camera and microphone was solved by trying out different positions and wiring arrangements. For the filming of Mark in the cell, we tried both positioning the camera within the cell looking at Marks face, from his back looking at the door which provided a sense of isolation. With the microphone within the cell this proved to be perplexing, when the camera was positioned outside the cell, however this was solved, as the wiring for the microphone could run underneath the doorway. Wiring and positioning alignments of crew by walls, doorways and reflective surfaces were important to get right.

On the Thursday we filmed the cuffing and placing of the main character into an unmarked car. The reflective surface of the car paint showed the mirror reflection of the crew, however Martin who was taking the camera zoomed in as the door was closed to hide the view of the crew in the shot. We later filmed in Scene 2: In the High Street. We thought and debated over the best location for the High Street and settled on my decision for the team to film in Greenwich High Street. The sound levels of traffic such as lorries, cars and pedestrians was too loud for the recording, and our solution was to film the actor crossing the road, and then film the encounter between him and the approaching person on a quieter side street. Random events such as wandering cats, talking people and prams were unexpected extra parts of the takes. The cold temperature and windy breeze of Autumnal weather had an effect on both the crew in working with camera tripod, and especially with the actors and use and effectiveness of props such as lighters. Environmental effects can be better taken into account with an on-site reccie before filming has commenced, however the bringing of spare materials such as paper, tape, boards and pens can work around some of the visual, lighting and sound issues.

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