Inheritance- Shoot Day 3

Perhaps the shortest of the shoot days so far and yet potentially the most complex of them, these were the two Dex scenes. In these scenes we had Allan and James as The Bodyguard and Dex respectively. As well as Sophie this was the first time any substantial dialogue had to be recorded and also I had to focus on three performances at once in parts.

We started by shooting the shots with Allan in as he had to leave first, these were mainly Sophie's approach to the stall where Dex sells his goods. We had some camera issues with the steady cam not being set up or used properly but these were resolved and dealt with so that eventually we got the desired shots of her approach. Allan himself got really into the character at points despite it being a very small role, he did a few things I liked while idle such as looking down the barrel of the shotgun to check for ammunition and also looking Sophie up and down as she walked past. These all added to a good performance from what is basically an extra role.

After this coverage we shot the dialogue of the scenes in a basic three shot coverage as well as some more artistic shots to add a bit of flair, these were the close ups and a wide for coverage then while we still had Allan I shot a version with him stood listening on the right hand third. With regards to my performance as director on this shoot I feel that James was a dream to work with and got into character with no trouble but I did at times struggle to get the performance I wanted from Karenza (Sophie) whether it was my perfectionist coming through or I wasn't communicating properly what I was looking for, this was certainly something I struggled with.

On the whole the shoot went well, once we got into the flow the actors began to play off of each other a little and in the later takes the performances improved and I feel we got some good shots too.

Alice- Shoot 6: Dark Room 2, End and Penshaw

By far the busiest day of shooting was the day when the crew did 5 scenes, I was present for 3 as I had other commitments and also didn't want to over crowd the bathroom scenes as it was a very small room and also as it was relatively sensitive to shoot so minimum people seemed necessary. 

The first scene we shot was the second dark room section which was nothing short of madness, we had 10 minutes to shoot it, luckily it was only a couple of shots that consisted of a wide and then a closer in shot of Alice frantically clearing out her dark room. This went really well despite the lack of time, it was a rush, there is no denying that, and perhaps we could have really nailed the shots given more time, however, without someone having prior knowledge, there is no way at all that the shots seem rushed or poorly planned. Although, if they did seem rushed then this would only add to the scene anyway as she is in a mad rush to clear the evidence so it would help more than hinder.

The second segment we shot on that day was the final scene, which I will not spoil for you but I will say that we used a road just down from Penshaw monument which was mostly abandoned, although when we did recce's it seemed like it would be completely isolated but when it came to the actual shoot, some men parked behind Alice's car and left to do whatever it is they were doing. This was annoying as it somewhat takes from the isolated feel and the idea of the road being abandoned. The scene still works and I am a big fan of it, I just think that perhaps it would have been better had the second car not been there. With regards to the shots themselves, they were following shots behind or in front of Alice as she walked down the road, they took multiple attempts as any shot of that nature would take, but on the whole they are by no means bad and towards the end we were making some great shots.

The final shoot that I was involved with was at the top of Penshaw monument (well, not the very top, but the top of the hill) where we got some amazing, beautiful shots of Alice' dream. The sky was completely perfect for this, a blue sky with just a spatter of clouds looks very idillic and dream like which is spectacular for the scene. There was also a degree of freedom given to Liam on camera to be fluid and this is really great when we look back as the fluid camera movements really contrast the rest of the film as it feels peaceful and we can really feel that she is in a safe dream where everything is calm and tranquil. I really think that we hit the nail on the head with these shots and we were incredibly lucky with the setting. With regards to the other shoots from what I can tell they also went extremely well and they look fantastic when looking back.

Alice- Shoot 5: Street

The 5th shoot for Alice was a small section that took a couple of hours whereby we shot some scenes in the car whereby the antagonists are discussing what they should do with Alice and how long it should take to deal with her. This was a relatively simple shoot as it predominately involved Andrew driving his car around with the actors and the camera and sound operators squashed in so that we could get coverage of all three characters as they were driving around, this was fairly simple as it was very basic shooting and there were few lines so it was essentially a case of just doing the basics for everyone involved, the only real issue perhaps was keeping the camera steady as the car drove around.

The other thing we did on this shoot was get a shot of the front of Andrew's car with the three men in as it was driving around, we did this by opening Liam's boot and filming out of the back of the car. This was not an easy task to do safely but as I was in charge of health and safety I ensured that the camera was secured in the car and that everything was conducted properly, this meant that once this was ensured we could get a very nicely done shot that really adds to the scene. Personally I feel the framing could have been tighter but this is a preference thing and realistically it isn't such a huge deal and the shot is completely fine as is.

We also shot the post-party section whereby Ryan and Nathan come out of the party, drunk and drive off followed by Alice, this section should have been easy as it was just two men walking across a road and getting into a car, however, due to various issue, predominately sound from the wind we had to do around 10 takes, however this isn't a criticism, it couldn't be avoided and better to be perfectionist than have a 'this will do' attitude so while it was a little frustrating that we couldn't get the shot straight away, it was worth it realistically. All in all this shoot was very small and while it was short it did take longer than expected, but this is by no means an issue, we shot some quality stuff and it was worth the time spent.

Inheritance- Shoot Day 2

This is a post for the second inheritance shoot and I must say this was definitely the better of the two, although it started in precisely the same way as the first, although this time it wasn't the slider head it was the stand. So once again the opening shot was put on hold, it will get done, even if it kills me. So failing this shot and feeling a little deflated as a result we came home and began scouting a location for the fishing flashback, we had two in mind it was a case of picking one, so first we went to flats lane country park to find the pond to be nothing more than a big stagnant puddle. We then decided on our second choice, Albert park, a beautiful idilic pond that really sells the peaceful pre apocalypse life I am trying to convey, so we got our actors here and shot the first flashback from multiple angles, all of which were great, the only issue we faced was the public getting in shot or on the audio. Next we went back to my house to get the sewing flashback, this was great, I manipulated the light from the window and the lamp behind the actors to creative a very nice set up that brought vibrancy and life to the scene without having to use any complex set ups or blocking, easy but effective and intentional none the less. This scene was great and well performed by both actors and we got some really good stuff for the film. Thirdly came the ending, we dragged everything up a hill for the films poignant conclusion to be shot and all we came away with was one shot of Sophie and Daniel sat at the top of the hill, not what I would call a success. This happened because the actress hot changed from costume and none of us realised and she hadn't thought to put the costume on before we set off to the location so it meant that we couldn't get her sat next to the grave. But it is also worth mentioning that it was too cloudy for a sunset anyway so the shot wouldn't have been as amazing as I was hoping for and as such this may be a blessing in disguise, frustrating none the less. The final scene of a 14 hour day was the campfire nighttime scene, and wow, I have never shot a scene that looked as good as this did, the mix of the fire and the blue backlight come together to make a beautiful lit scene that really captures the emotion and emptiness of Sophie's loss (I feel anyway) if I take nothing from this film but this scene for my showreel it would still seem worth it, I am absolutely in love with the look of this scene, but this could be just he buzz I am having from the shoot and it's success, maybe I will be pulled back down to earth when I see it back although I doubt this. On the whole a successful shoot day but once again the beginning and end have evaded us which is somewhat frustrating but I am not beaten by this, just slowed down.
(unfortunately no one seemed to get production stills, if some turn up I will update this post with some)

Inheritance- Shoot Day 1

So here it is, the first shoot day for inheritance, and what a day it has been, we have covered a lot of footage and I must say for the most part it is good stuff, I can only hope that I'm not just on that post shoot buzz and when it comes around to editing or watching it back it hasn't turned out to be terrible, only time will tell. The day got off to a pretty poor start as we pulled up to Ralph's cross and began to set up the jib only to find that we hadn't got the slider head and as such couldn't get the jib shot. This meant that the first thing we intended to shoot had to be axed for the day (we will shoot it later) then we moved onto the fishing scene.

This went really well and we shot it at several different spots around the lake because we had time and I was indecisive about what I wanted the back drop to be. The only issue with this was that we obviously had no fish to pull from the lake, as a response to this I decided to make it so that the first shot after the fishing flashback was her wrapping up a "fish" to put in her bag as she leaves, thus implying she has caught a few and has packed them up, ready to be traded in the next scene to Dex.

On the way back from shooting the fishing segment we were stopped by a local man who told us not to film on the other side of the road we met him on, this meant we weren't able to shoot the ending scene as I had intended, however, this may prove to be a blessing in disguise as I am not completely satisfied with that location choice anyway. Then we set up a camp and decided to shoot the scenes which had Sophie on her own in the campsite, these are when she sews up her dads sleeping bag with him in, when she makes a sled and cross to transport and bury him and then her leaving said campsite to bury him.

These went fairly well, although it was harder to make the set I had in mind and as such some shots needed to be adapted to suit but realistically these shots went well and I don't think I will have any major issues when it comes to watching the footage back. Due to the hiccup with the landowner and not being able to shoot the final scene this meant that we were done for the day, and while I am left somewhat annoyed that we didn't get more, it's very much a relief to finally have shot something and get the ball rolling.