We put a lot of thought into this decision to shoot at twilight as we knew if it became too dark that we would not be able to light it and we'd have no opportunity to shoot on another day. I was concerned as when we were roughly blocking the scene it was clear that the corridor he would emerge from would be very dark, and the only available source of light on the street came from a street-lamp behind us, which would either not be strong enough or would cast a shadow of the crew over the scene.
However, when it came to shooting, we ran the scene before sunset, giving us the low-key indication of the time of day but without being too problematic in terms of available light. We kept this scene as simple as possible, using a single take as Laurence walks out the house and down the road. We placed a Dedo light on full-beam at the top of the stairs when Laurence exits the house to boost the light in the dark hallway. We also placed a mark for Lewis to walk to and had him move into the camera's focus, followed by a 90 degree pan and pull focus to show the city as he walks away.
Having blocked out the movement of the actor and the camera the night before, the scene was executed very smoothly, but on the reviewing the footage some of the later takes were unusable due to the rate at which we were losing light.
After this we filmed the montage scene in which Laurence does a number of drawings and designs at his desk. Having completed a much more detailed and thorough shot list, this time we were much more efficient in our coverage and setups, combined multiple shots into one and having other group members on lighting and assembling other equipment such as the slider. Overall our approach was more methodical and logical, getting shots chronologically as the character builds up the set around him on the desk. We also took the time to get some slider shots which will provide some useful movement and dynamism during the montage.
At the end of the day we re-shot the basement scene from our first day of production. After reviewing the footage I talked through the issues with the group and we changed our approach to be less complex and more efficient. Initially we had a two-stage lighting change, first with the light behind the villain and then with the lights in the room.
However, this time we had decided to shoot for the edit, omitting the shot where we see the villain stand up and walk upstairs. This had been the main cause for the issues we were having as co-ordinating the two lighting changes required a number of takes. By combining the lighting change into one and carefully choosing our shots to make best use of our time, we solved many of the over-complexities from the first shoot that caused continuity errors in the footage.
Also, last time we shot, the OTS looking at the villain from Laurence's perspective was very poorly framed, making him appear much smaller and less intimidating. This time we made sure that he was the correct size in the frame, using rule of thirds. However, I did not agree with the choice to have the villain slightly larger than the frame, cropping his hood at the top. I was assured that this would give the illusion of size, and thus power (which seems logical), although coming to review the shot it looks as though it has been mis-framed, rather, and will not be usable.
Another issue which we rectified was the lighting setup both behind the villain and facing Laurence. On the first shoot we had used a Dedo directly behind me as a rim light, but this restricted movement and was clearly visible at times. This time we lowered the light and angled it over my right shoulder, using the barn doors to make it much more directional and less visible as I moved - but keeping the same effect
The light on Laurence's face in the first shoot was too wide and illuminated the backdrop and the set, which was very difficult to grade. This time we spotted the light and blocked it so that the light and shadow fell behind Laurence in the corner, rather than the side wall. Due to the bounce from the table and the walls it was impossible to get rid of the spill completely, however this time it was greatly improved and should be easily corrected in the edit by increasing contrast.
We also added CTB filters to both of the lights to create a colder, harsher quality of light more suitable for the scene, and to avoid bounce from the desk-lamp on to the villain's front we turned the light off completely, as flagging it off with black wrap did not work the first time.
Coming in to the scene, we used all the same shots as the first shoot: OTS of both Laurence and the villain, POV of the villain, CU of Laurence, ECU of Laurence as the mask is removed and inserts of all the items on the table (this time adequately lit). Our biggest pitfall last time was not having the coverage to end the scene after the lighting change, so we made sure this was a priority. We were certain that the shot we will see the lighting change on is when the villain puts his mask down on the table, and so we did not change our setup after that. After the static low-angle from the table, I used the shoulder rig to follow Lewis around the room, as this was much more responsive than tracking him with a pan.
After this, I then shot two MCUs as he walks around the room, one where we see him inspect the interrogator's conspiracy board and another where he picks up a toy UFO. The colourful elements of set design around the room were important for us to include, and so these tighter angles were important. Finally, we ended the scene with a low-angle shot of Laurence grabbing the cassette tape from the table, walking out of frame to cut easily into the next scene.
Having wrapped shooting with our actors, we now have one final scene to shoot before starting post-production.
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