KEEPER - Test Shoot Preparation and Reflection
We had decided relatively early on that for the test shoot, we would need to be doing the free-kick sequence of the script as it is the part of the film we are all least experienced in making. For production, Lucy had to find a great location, organise a large kit pick-up and wrangle a large amount of SAs. For the edit, Jake had to handle multiple eye-lines and a large amount of action occurring over a short time-frame. For sound, Rosie had to be capturing the rising tension and emotion as well as all the movement of the characters. James had to dress a bunch of extras as well as the main cast as well as doing makeup and Ben had to direct extras and main cast during an intense scene. While we knew it would be a lot of work, we wanted to be sure that we could pull off this film before we went into the full shoot.
For me, I knew this would be the hardest scene of the film to shoot. I needed to be moving with the camera constantly to be mimicking Will's perspective as well as trying to cover a lot of action in a short shooting day. I was wanting to test the changing lenses, frame sizes and shutter-angles so had to design a shot list that allowed for all of these changes without bloating the schedule. Again, I had lots of conversations with Ben about what we had to see, where we had to be. Every shot we then wrote down was something I had already tested in my lens tests, which helped us to figure out how they would work together. We added in shot 6 for safety but we never shot it. It was only there to define the geography in case the POV approach left the audience confused. Here's the final shot list:
In order to get the changing frame sizes without having express push-ins, I planned to change them within the movement. Will's blocking in this scene had him walk out several steps and then return to his goal line. We would track along with him but on each mark we would be slightly closer - on the way out moving slightly slower than him and on the way back, moving slightly faster.
Then, to accommodate the shutter angle changes, I split each shot into a and b. They were the same set-up but just with a shutter-angle change. I wanted a push in on the ball and on the whistle to emphasise Will's focus. We had a location recce the Monday before the shoot which allowed me to take pre-vis shots which I could disperse amongst the crew to ensure everyone was on the same page going into the shoot.
One thing that would definitely be different for the main shoot is the shooting time. We knew there were a lot of moving parts and not a lot of time to organise them so decided that a day-shoot would let us get everything else we wanted (cast, location, crew, equipment, transport). This meant I had to try and wrangle the natural light. Foolishly, I thought it would be a piece of cake. In the days leading up to the shoot, it was clouded over, softening out the light for me. On the kit pick-up I even left the trace frame with diffusion, boldly saying "we won't need that" (in my defence it didn't fit in the car, but still).
I had planned to just use a lot of negative fill, with some blackout material stretched out to the left of the camera. I have a ridiculous amount of blackout from filming the dark space shots from The Girl and the Game in second year so this works well when trying to block out a large amount of light bounce across a long distance. But then, on the day, we had three distinct weather types appearing at random times throughout the day. Most of the day was still cloudy, creating the nice soft light I wanted, but then we had two twenty-minute stints of bright, hard, direct sunlight which totally ruined all my plans and then in the afternoon, it started to rain, making it even darker. As a result my exposure was all over the place and none of the shots matched. A lesson for another project, as I won't need to bother with this kind of thing with the main shoot as it will all be at night, no light but my light.
an example of the incorrect weather and some negative fill that is definitely doing nothing here
If we were going to pull this off, we were going to need a crack team of PAs, ADs, SAs, ACs and just general help. For my department I got Naimh Gilhooly as Gaffer who I'd met during the summer on a shoot and immediately got on with. This was a big help having someone who is not only ex student who has been in my position before but is also a lot more experienced than me with lighting. For this test shoot there wasn't a massive amount of lighting work so Naimh came in rigged up the blackout and then worked as Grip, pushing and pulling the dolly all day and being a steady hand in the camera department.
Then for 1st AC I had to have my boy Kushal Dhingra from third year who has filled that role for me on every project I've shot. Again, a great job as focus puller, especially given that I didn't get him marks for a lot of the shots as Ben wanted the actors to have the freedom to move wherever they wanted to. Kushal then had to get vague marks and react to what he was seeing on his monitor. This is something we've realised does not work during sequences like this. We are sacrificing the whole image for only a small gain on the performance side of things. However, for the more emotional moments in the script, this approach could still work.
My 2nd AC was Sam Craigie, a second year, who had approached me at Shortscape Film Festival to ask if he could be involved in my next project. His enthusiasm carried on throughout the whole shoot and he sent his camera notes in within a couple hours of wrapping.
Everyone did a great job and I think I managed to be clear in my communication within my department. I do still have a bit of a worry that I rely a bit too much on my team, especially because they're all so good at what they do. I definitely should've given Kushal more support with the focus and maybe had a meeting with Naimh before the shoot so she could give her insight into the lighting instead of having her unable to improvise anything that would be better than the lighting plan I had. Everyone from the test shoot will be coming back for the main shoot with the addition of Nela Khalifieva, another person I met during the summer who is more experienced as a 1st AC and can help lend a steady hand to proceedings. Yeah, I think I worked well with my team and look forward to having everyone back to do an even better job for the main shoot.
an example of the incorrect weather and an excellent team (Jack is the PA we didn't deserve, but desperately needed)
Overall, the shoot ran pretty smoothly. I arrived half an hour early to build the camera and help with the first kit-run. Throughout the day, my camera team was fast and efficient, often being set-up quicker than was scheduled. We even managed to add a shot at the end of the day as we had the time. Aside from the lighting and focus issues, I was pretty happy. That was until I saw the rushes that evening...
far more focus issues than I previously thought
The solutions for next time:
USE MORE DRAG ON THE FLUID HEAD
JUST BLOODY KNOW THE 180 RULE, YOU'RE IN YOUR FOURTH YEAR FOR CHRIST'S SAKE
I am frustrated, because all of these things are things I know. I should know them, I do know them and then when it comes to crunch time, they fall out my head like candy from a baby's mouth. And babies like candy.
I thought I had to be nimble so had tilt and pan drag set to near 0, but most of the action is at the same height so I could've had a far higher tilt drag which would've eliminated the camera judders.
I should've asked Rosie (1st AD) for more takes and been a little more vocal about the issues with the shots. If I'd done a couple more takes I would have found the best framing for each moment and been able to hit it better. This is mainly with shot 3, which was designed to react to the movement of the supporting actors the blocking of whom was unable to be nailed down before the shoot.
During lunch, I had sat and watched some of the clips, but I think the lack of an on-board monitor (there were none available when we were booking) meant I was unable to see just how juddery the shots were. This is something I definitely will need for the main shoot as an on board monitor would also have meant I wasn't in the way of my own camera moves.
While I had planned the shots to stay on one side of the line between Graham and Will, when we came to filming the scene, we moved Graham in close for Will's singles so that Will was more intimidated and most importantly so he could see his coach as there was the blackout in the way. But then, I forgot to keep him on the right of the camera. So, both Will and Graham are looking off camera-left.
While there were a lot of good moments in these takes, not many of them were technically perfect. The main problem with all this is that Jake is handed footage where he has to hide the bits that don't work, instead of simply using the edit to tell the story.
One thing I should've thought about that I will definitely need to factor into the final shoot is the fact that aside from the movement, we don't need to be on the dolly. What I mean is that, we could have shot the start and end of the scene at the two focal lengths and had something clean we could cut into before shooting the movement. But with these shots, Jake only had a fleeting few seconds of an extreme close up to use even though it was on the shot list, because it took a second for us to hit our marks and get our focus before the ball came in and Will had to dive. Again, this was something I should've asked for on set, just a small delay on the ball coming in so that we had enough coverage in that frame size.
Anyways, there was a lot I learned through shooting this, most all of it stuff I will carry into the final film shoot. I will reflect on the colour grade and the final outcome of this test in another post.
