Final Exercise - Reflections
Recreation (above) - Original (Below)
Scene Recreation - Baby Driver (2017)
Happy with the framing, lenses, production design and performances, however, the colouring is nothing like the original and the camera movements are occasionally shaky.
Crew: Jack Birrell - Director, Bonnie Sanderson - Editor/Producer, Alex Caldow - DOP/ Producer, James Fox - Sound, Samuel Tabotta - Sound/ Camera operator.
Starring: James Fox - Bats, Bonnie Sanderson - Doc, Jack Birrell - Baby/Eddie, Alex Caldow - JD.
Pre-production
We chose this scene as we wanted to challenge ourselves when it came to editing and coverage while still being able to achieve a truthful recreation. The lighting is quite simple and we felt we could recreate the location pretty well (more on that later). As Cal was heading home early, we were already one crew member down so we had to call up James Fox, who did an excellent job, to fill in as an actor. Jack, Bonnie and I went round some charity shops looking for costumes, doing a pretty spot on job with the suit for Doc and the shirt for Eddie. The others were a little harder. For Bats’ costume, we bought a red jumper then taped on bits of paper for the details and for JD’s vest, we had to compromise with a yellow t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The rest of the production design was handled by Bonnie and Jack who created the heist planning board (pretty spot on!) and got the newspaper and toy cars, they did a great job dressing the set and I think it works quite well in the finished scene. The only draw backs come from the location. While the studio did offer a wide space and tables and chairs, the bright white walls hindered us when it came to creating contrast in the lighting and getting more colour into the shots. We should have thought ahead and made some props for the background with some colour in them, perhaps some fake pillars. We planned out the lighting, lenses, framing and shooting schedule all before the shoot - here’s our master doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iKBeYIbA3CZMcQUt0Q6a2EaaEuKo9VwPZ71b34jAyw0/edit?usp=sharing
Production
On the day of the shoot, Sophie, our camera operator had to pull out due to Covid fears. This put us in a bit of a tight spot as one key shot required all of us to be in shot. We quickly reached out to others on the course and Samuel, always keen to lend a hand, came to our rescue. We set up the lighting with two Sachtler lamps pointed at a bounce board to create the soft daylight feel and a small LED as fill in some shots. The flag I had booked was comically small (I hadn’t checked the dimensions) so wasn’t much use in the medium and wide shots, we were only able to use this on the extreme close-ups for negative fill which did create some nice contrast. Another set back was that the sound equipment was broken and for too long we worried that we just weren’t using it right, eventually we asked Ben for help and he got us another sound recorder. This set off our schedule as we cracked on with the shots that didn’t require sound so our order was muddled up. Once we did get the sound working, the shoot went a lot smoother. For the sliding shots, we used two methods - either we placed the tripod on top of a jacket and pulled it across the table or we used a skateboard with the camera on top. These methods *kinda* worked; there were some issues. The shots required a pan as well as a track which meant we needed two camera operators and this added to the shakiness of the shots. The jacket was a little shaky and the skateboard had an irregularity in one wheel which meant that when moving it slowly as required, the movement seems to stop then start again - this can be seen in the final film. The long push-in also required Bonnie to help me out with the focus. We did a huge number of takes but even then the final shot still has some focus and movement issues. We did manage to get it all shot in the time given on set which was a relief.
Post-Production
We edited together, with Bonnie taking the lead and having final cut. I think we managed to get the pace and rhythm of the scene down. This was helped by the music used in the first half as this let us stick to the beat. Editing to music was very fun and then when the monologue begins, we edited to that, matching the cuts based on where they were in the monologue. In the end, our edit was only 2 seconds longer than the original. I enjoyed messing around with the audio at the start of the scene and I think we get the idea across well. We also added in a sound effect used in the scene - a pen clicking - which I think adds a little something. The colour grading was the main challenge in the edit. Due to the bright white location, it was hard to get the necessary darkness in the background while keeping the characters visible. The final grade is flat and dark and while some shots have the necessary contrast, most don’t due to the white that is EVERYWHERE in the shots. Another oversite was the aspect ratio, something I’m only realising now while writing this. The original is a lot wider than ours which takes us even further away from an accurate recreation.
Comparisons
In this one, we got the contrast pretty close although the head position and skin tone is off. The background is also too white.
This one is just too dark, but any chance of brightening it up resulted in the white wall being too in your face. The set issues are most notable in these shots. Lighting could also be wrapped around a little more. Performance is excellent.
Again, brightness and saturation is an issue, however the framing and lighting, I am pretty happy with. This shot really shows off the production design as well (apart from the location).
The lighting and framing I’m pretty happy with although more light is needed on the board. This one is all in the tones, the lack of saturation and the whiteness in the face detract from it.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this, while it’s flawed and scrappy, I think it sticks to the tone well and is a pretty faithful recreation despite the colouring and location. Doing the comparison has cheered me up a little as well as it’s a lot closer than I thought it was.












