Production: Shooting - Day 2

Today was the second day of production, where we have been shooting a number of scenes in the house.

We arrived early in the morning to dress the set, talk through the day's schedule and set up lighting and camera positions for the first shot. With the camera shooting the characters flat against the wall, we wanted to use the lighting to provide some depth to the scene - utilising also the light coming in through the window.

Referencing our lighting plan we created during pre-production, we set up two Kinos with CTB; one as a key on the characters and another to bounce off the ceiling for a general fill. To fill in some of the shadows on Laurence's face we also used a reflector placed to his right.

For reference we looked to a similar scene from 'Shaun of the Dead' which appears to use largely ambient light with perhaps some negative fill to create contrast. In hindsight we probably could have done more to create a similar contrast and create a darker, dingier atmosphere as seen below.

With today's shoot we were much more aware of getting sufficient coverage for the scene and also approaching it in a more methodical way; shooting all angles from one setup before moving lights, and shooting wide and then working our way into singles, two-shots and other inserts. 

As we will be having the characters watching TV, I used the HDMI cable and my tablet to put a green backdrop on the screen. We made sure to have nothing obstructing the screen in case we had to overlay the video instead, and used matte objects to surround it that didn't reflect the green light. 

On the whole, this worked well, and each shot was marked and logged in a camera report, although the trade-off was that we fell very behind schedule for the day's shoot, and had to rush to get some montage shots upstairs towards the end of the night. Also, there was a lack of direction from Alex and poor communication between him and the cinematographer, as again neither had looked at the shot list. 

Throughout the shoot I was being asked by Alex about which shot or part of scene we were shooting next, as he didn't have a plan prepared. At several points I was also having to direct the actors as he wasn't clear on the script or how some scenes fit together, which should have been raised in pre-production. 

For the next shoot, now after Easter, we will address these issues and also try to find a better balance between time efficiency and a thorough production workflow, ensuring that all members have studied the pre-production materials and are clear on the script.