Diary of Filming
I thought it would be a good idea to track what happened on our filming days so that we could look back and reflect on what went well and what potentially gave us difficulties. I did this by making a quick summary of notes on each day after we filmed and below is what I recorded:
Thursday 19th January:
On Thursday, we headed down to Jordan’s house to film the final scene after school with David and the Astra. We discovered quickly that it was going to be tough to transport the trolley we had from school because it was very heavy, James (our Astra driver) didn’t want it in his car and the Aygo that Jordan has would struggle to get it in and still have room for us to get in. We decided that we’d just go with David in the Astra and Luke & I would keep hold of the trolley in the back of the Aygo which was an interesting experience. Once we got to Creekmoor, we quickly found out Luke had forgotten his shot list so we had to then improvise shots. We planned out what we would do and then got down to it. We made use of the trolley to follow the car as James drove in (we had to make sure we didn’t catch his face in the windshield as not to ruin the illusion of David driving). Sometimes it’s easy to forget how important a tripod is for making a film, we certainly were glad our school were generous enough to lend us one for our filming on this day particularly. If we didn’t have that tripod, we would have really struggled to get half of our good quality shots. In honesty, we really weren’t there that long on Thursday because the final scene is quite short but one shot kept us there longer than most. There was a shot we wanted of David throwing the bag over the fence and landing on the ground beyond. Originally we tried doing it all at once, tracking the bag as he throws it and then the camera landing down at the same time as the bag. It was pretty evident after trying 3 or 4 times that this was going to be nigh-on impossible so we gave up with that and went with the simpler approach of filming David throwing the bag and then filming the bag landing separately. This was still difficult though because we had an idea of the bag landing centrally into the cameras view but it was very hard to set the camera up at the right angle and correct placement for this to actually happen. Eventually we got it right though and then another shot ended up taking a long time shortly afterwards!
The very last shot we have in our film from within the bag looking up at David as he opens it and smiles is inspired by one of my personal favourite films, Reservoir Dogs from Tarantino. It took us a long time to get right because we had to leave the camera in the bag for it and it kept on moving around. We ended up with about 5 different attempts at this, at least 3 of them were just black screens the whole time from where David had moved the bag slightly whilst opening it and shook the camera onto its side. There were also issues with the focus because it would obviously change within the bag but there were no real quick fixes for this. To solve the problem of the camera falling every time, we used sticks to stabilise it within the bag and told David to open it by just the zip as opposed to holding the entire bag and pulling it open which worked far better. Overall, this was probably the shortest day for filming and the easiest bar the one bag landing shot.
Friday 20th January:
On Friday after school, we got hold of the green screen equipment and headed to my Grandad’s house. He opened up the garage and we got to work setting everything up. Here we found out that James (our Astra driver) wasn’t actually available any longer so we had to think of a quick fix so that we wouldn’t waste the day. Luckily I remembered that my mother drives a blue Astra and we could still use the interior of that to keep the continuity going with the steering wheel logo and the shape of the interior console. I rang my mum up and she came by with the car so we started filming with that instead. It was a really tight squeeze by we didn’t necessarily need to shoot anything on the exterior so it didn’t matter too much; it was just a little tricky at times to get in and out of the car! Today really wasn’t a difficult shoot at all in truth, it was one of the shorter filming days we had overall. We got the shots we wanted inside and we experimented with some other shots, some that worked and others that didn’t. Perhaps the one shot that we did struggle with initially was the one of David throwing the phone out of the car. Because he needed to make it look convincing, we had to make him throw the phone fairly hard but then there would be the problem of the green screen getting hit and shaking (making the later editing far harder). We solved this by having Luke lay down under the green screen and pulling it taut whilst David threw the phone which actually solved the issue completely. Unfortunately Luke got very dirty as a result though! The setting up and filming only took around 2 hours in total which is fairly good in comparison to some of our other shooting days so this was overall a success.
Saturday 21st January:
On Saturday, we started the day very early (by my standards at least!). We awoke at 8am in order to get out and start filming our car chase by 9am but complications meant we didn’t get the cars until 10am. Unfortunately this restricted our schedule for the day and meant we had to work quickly to get the car chase done. We got to the area around Lytchett where the chase was taking place, got out of the cars and set up the GoPro cameras. We used adhesive sticky paper in order to keep them in place on the cars, putting them on the bonnets and rear bumpers. In order to make sure the shots wouldn’t catch the GoPros on each car, we did multiple run throughs where one car each time wouldn’t have the cameras on. At one point we also set ourselves up on the side of the road and filmed the cars driving by for an alternate angle. Luke had the idea that we should also try and get a straight on shot of one of the cars driving toward us so we set up the camera & tripod in the middle of the road and had one of the cars reverse away from us (if we end up using this shot, we will speed it up and play the clip backwards so it looks as though the car is speeding toward us). We knew this would be the hardest part of the filming process because of the risks it posed us as well as the time restrictions we had but it ended up being the most fun scene to film too as you can probably imagine! We had some really funny moments during this. For example, at one point James (our Astra driver) put his indicators on during the chase – he’d only recently passed at this point so he was a cautious driver anyway – which really killed the sequence and meant we had to re-run the chase an extra time! Despite this, these funny moments didn’t ruin our filming or do anything counter-intuitive. Every shot will be sped up from this morning though because we had to make sure we weren’t speeding too often (the zone was a 30mph); the fastest one of the cars went at any time was approximately 50mph but we were very careful to ensure there were no general public around at the times of filming and if we could see cars coming we would put a temporary halt to filming.
Once it got to 12pm we lost the Audi so we thought there’d be no point in filming the green screen scenes with the cars yet because we’d have rather done both on the same day. As a result, we sent away the Astra too and got on with the on foot stuff. We still had Jordan’s car though and so we decided we’d quickly drive through the Lytchett chase area again so that we could film from inside the car out the windows and catch the scenery that would later become our green screen background. We had to do this a few times to make sure we could get consistent lighting and to make sure that we could stabilise any shots that faltered when our arms got tired. The hardest part about this was making sure the car was going slow enough for us to catch good footage and to make sure the footage was roughly going to match with the scenery that was actually in the car chase.
After this we headed back to Luke’s for some lunch and to recharge the cameras. Once we’d finished, we headed back out for more filming but this time to the area around David’s. Here we shot some scenes on the Sea View stairs and in the alleyway by David’s house. This didn’t take much time at all really; the scenes were very simple and we didn’t encounter any real issues but, upon reflection, the lamppost on the stairs has probably interrupted some of the shots and we’ll probably need to either reshoot or get rid of them. The Sea View alley shots went perfectly though, there weren’t any complications at all so we were able to get in and out easily. This marked the end of this day of filming. Overall it was very enjoyable but probably the hardest day of filming we’d done and would do.
Sunday 22nd January:
On the Sunday, we left to go to our location at around midday as we wanted this scene of our film to have bright, sunny weather conditions. Jordan picked myself and Luke up and drove to David’s house where we unloaded the car and walked down to the sloped hill location. We re-inspected the area to decide whether we should begin to film here. During a discussion between us all about this location, Luke brought up the fact that if we wanted to use tracking shots then garages and houses in the background would be in shot which would lose the urban setting that we wanted to achieve so decided to head off to Bournemouth town centre where we knew of other alleyways we could use. Before doing this, we drove to Sea View Point again, due to us already being in the location. It was at this point when we realised that we needed to include more to the beginning of our film so that the audience were provided with some background knowledge and to extend the duration of our production. At first, we had come up with an idea that would include Luke sitting on a bench at this location with the bag by his side. His phone would then go off and he would stand up to answer the call. David would then enter the screen and steal the bag from Luke which would lead into the chase. However we felt that this scene idea was bordering on cliché and unrealistic as well as only adding around 30 seconds of screen time. Alternatively, we came up with a poker scene idea in which David’s character would steal the bag full of money which for us was a much better idea than the bench scene and went for this idea. After deciding to implement this new scene we realised that the foot chase scene didn’t need to be as lengthy for the sake of filling up time, and instead decided to search for alternative local settings for us to film this.
Jordan and Luke knew of an area in Oakdale (Trigon Road, which was a long alleyway that ran parallel to Dorset Way) so we ventured off to this location. When we arrived with all the equipment in my car, we were immediately drawn to the area. There was a footbridge at the end of the path which could be included into the location and as a result creating more tension. After choosing to film here, we grabbed DSLR camera, Tripod, Backpack and Trolley and the costumes for the protagonist and antagonist to get changed into. We walked up to the top of the footbridge where we began to film the chase with David running away from Luke. We ensured that we were taking shots from all angles (low, high, from the back, front and both sides) just so we had a variation of clips to add when editing this scene. Also, because of our genre being an action, we needed to include quick fast cuts meaning that even if one angle wasn’t perfect, it could technically flash up for a second just to provide another dimension to the film. One clip that Jordan suggested and particularly stands out, in my opinion, was shot that focused on the movement of the characters feet. This was achieved by placing the camera on the floor of the footbridge with a stick wedged under the lens, to prevent the camera from picking up too much of the floor in the shot as well as ensuring the camera doesn’t get damaged or become dirty. As we gradually got to the bottom of the bridge, filming several shots, we wanted to include a close up shot as supposed to mid shots and long shots that we had previously been capturing. There was a split in the path where the public could either head left down another road, or right in which the alleyway continued. Consequently, we wanted to include a close up shot where the camera would rotate around David to show his facial expression as he looks left to right before making up his decision to go right. Recording this shot took several attempts as we had to make sure that David paused for a split second on a specific spot to allow us to steadily, yet quickly film 270o around him. We had to result to handheld filming for this shot to make sure that we could capture his reaction without hesitations in the camerawork, which the tripod didn’t achieve. After filming this, all we had left to do was a final sprint down the alleyway. With there being more room for the tripod on the side of the pathway, we were able to capture the chase with a smooth tracking shot which fit nicely into a film. After an uncertain beginning to the day with what location to film at, we managed to capture a good amount of shots for this scene.
Monday 23rd January:
On Monday after school, we decided we’d go and get the second green screen filming done. We headed over to Luke’s house where the equipment was and we set up outside his house (there are plenty of sockets for lighting and there’s a lot of space on flat land there). We didn’t have too long to work with before it got dark so we knew we had to be fairly quick. Unfortunately there was another delay before we got the Audi because Luke’s step dad wasn’t home from work yet. We had the set up ready for around an hour before he turned up but, once he had, we got straight to it.
There were no shots that gave us any real difficulty but we had a few problems with the green screen waving about it the wind, even when fastened with the clips. As a result, it would fall over every now and then. We ended up having to use various bricks and basically any other heavy item lying around to try and anchor the stands down whilst using extra coat hanger clips to keep the green screen taut/fastened. For the most part, though, it wasn’t too much of a problem. Eventually it did get dark and we hadn’t finished yet so we resolved to come back at a later date.
Tuesday 24th January:
On Tuesday, we decided we’d film our poker scene that we’d theorised about earlier. We needed a dark room that could be dimly lit and that would fit the setting of a suspicious location. Although my Grandad’s garage is small, it still fits the bill and would give us the lighting and atmosphere we needed. Character wise, we wanted someone to be smoking and then we wanted a gun in the room too which is where initial difficulties came! The area around my Grandad’s house is sort of a place where senior citizens go to retire so we had to be careful with where our gun was when we didn’t have the garage door shut. Likewise, my Grandad hates smoking/smokers so we had to bring an air freshener with us and hide the ashtray/cigarettes when we knew he was around. It didn’t really hamper our filming but we just had to be aware of it at all times.
When we got to actually setting up, it got a little tricky too. We had the table and chairs with the poker set which we made look very good in terms for how we wanted it but we couldn’t nail the lighting. When the garage door was shut, it was basically pitch black which was undoubtedly good because it hid the walls and general clutter at the back of the garage. The problem came when we tried out different methods of lighting. For example, we tried an iPhone hanging from the ceiling but it was too dim from a certain height so we adjusted it but then it was far too bright and we couldn’t find a medium point. So we tried a floodlight from higher up and obstructed the beam a little bit but it still didn’t work. We tried with the iPhone again and tried to record but we found that the filming didn’t pick anything up because it was still too dark so we decided we’d just use 3 iPhone lights from different angles and that worked pretty well. One was set up high above the table and then we had the other two at different angles slightly above the table looking across at eachother. This brought the lighting to the standard we wanted it.
In terms of shots, the only one that gave us a real struggle was one where I had to walk around the table and get an almost panorama-like shot of all our actors sitting at the poker table. I struggled to keep my hand steady and I kept tripping over the chair legs (there wasn’t much room around the edge of the table). I settled on doing it in two halves so I walked around one half of the table and stopped recording and then did the other separately (to be edited together later). The only other shot we tried that gave me some trouble was one where Jordan deals the cards and we swap focus from some cards on the table to his hands as he sets down the deck. I couldn’t get the focus right at first without prodding the camera or obstructing the shot but that was really just a case of getting used to the camera and I got that right eventually. It was harder to get the positioning right so that the cards didn’t obstruct the whole view. Overall, though, the day of filming went fairly smoothly in terms of actual shooting and my Grandad didn’t catch us with either the cigarettes or gun!
Wednesday 25th January:
Wednesday was the day we decided to go back and re-shoot our green screen at Luke’s house with the Audi (also our last day of filming). Jordan was unfortunately unavailable for that day due to work commitments so it was just myself and Luke. I headed over to Luke’s house after school and help him set up the green screen and the lighting. It was particularly windy which made it incredibly difficult to keep the green screen nailed down so we ended up having to reuse our coat hanger and brick method in order to keep the green screen in place. Luckily, the Audi was there on time this occasion which meant we could get straight into it and get recording before it got too dark.
As there was only me to film, I had to make sure I kept a steady hand the whole time and come up with enough shots to keep the interior shots interesting. It was sometimes difficult to get the lighting right on the green screen because Luke’s step dad had his work van at home which didn’t leave too much space for our floodlights. We had to place some of the lights on the top of the car with towels so the lighting wouldn’t burn the car metal.
The day went essentially the same as it went previously except this time we had more time to work with and we managed to get more shots out of it. Overall the day went easily as expected and marked the last day of filming. Finally!