Construction post 3: Production Days 4-6

In the second half of our production week, we had the following scenes scheduled in to film:

• Laser backdrop (Angela's individual shots with and without her actor)
• Red silhouette (group poses)
• Industrial set up (my shot with my male actor, Thakshana's individual shots with and without her actor, chorus and dance routine, beauty shots)
• Graffiti scene (industrial set up+graffiti cans, individual shots)
• Red lighting  (dancing and poses)
• Dinner scene (chorus/dance routine)
• Club scene (re-took my individual shots)

A take of my individual shot for our graffiti scene

We were pleased with shots such as he one above that we did not get to do in the test shoot, partly because of the preparation that was required in making the backdrop and booking in equipment such as the ladder and scaffolding. Out of all the whole group backdrops. this one was probably my favourite so our hard work paid off. It ties in with our street theme really well. 

Myself and Will - my actor on set 

 We had definitely improved in giving our actors direction since the test shoot. I was amazed by how quickly I got my shots with my actor in the industrial set up done. It was because I was clear on what I wanted and how Angela needed to film the shots. It was great fun working with Will (as can be seen from us pulling faces at the camera in the image above), he's a good friend and so this probably contributed to the smooth process.

The group poses shot in red lighting

We found shots like these very easy to do as they took very little time. It was good because this was the last day -  Saturday and so it meant we could spend more time on the dinner scene which took a while to get ready for, set up and film.

Angela in her laser set up: lighting before

Angela in her laser set up: lighting after 

While setting up the set for Angela's shots, I got some technical advice as to how to improve the lighting. Originally the floor lamp was directly in front of the camera and so shadows were created which did look cool, in a way. But after trying the suggestion (which involved placing a floor lamp at the side, raising it and directing it onto Angela). the lighting looked much better and professional. Experimenting was key to mastering this shot.

A take of the dinner scene

This was also much better than the test shoot. We planned how we could improve it in advance and so this is probably why the outcome was so much better. The main areas in which we improved were: the lighting, the variety of camera movement/angles and acting. The main thing we agreed that could have made the scene better was to have had more accessories on the table to make it look more interesting.

Reflections
I was very happy with how the second part of our shoot week went but as expected there were a few issues that we faced, which can be seen below:

The second part of the week was even better than the first part as each day we became more experienced both technically and performance wise. By the end of the week, we were effectively professionals! I was  pleased by how everyone in the group had learned from particularly the test shoot; we were much more efficient with time which was reflected by the smooth running of the process. Additionally, the filming itself didn't take long at all, as we were much clearer on what we needed to do. This was a result of detailed planning. Considering we had to re-shoot some footage, we still managed to fit everything in, hence why we did not need to use any more days after Saturday. Overall, despite the shoot being stressful at times, it has been a fun experience and incredible learning curve for me and I am sure the rest of my group agrees.

My Contributions
I did a range of things including: filming angela's shots, setting up the different backdrops and sets such as the graffiti and the dinner table scene. I also performed and brought in props for the dinner table scene (lemonade and apple juice). Finally, I helped to pack up.

We could improve by having organised ourselves better earlier on in the week as it meant that we had to re-shoot some shots in the second part of the week. That said, we did not overrun.