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Production Diary

 

 

11th & 12th April - Today we started filming scene 1 in Chelmsford for the house scene. I managed to get all the equipment over to the location and offered lifts and transport for the group. Once we got there we started setting up the equipment. I went through and reset all the camera settings. I turned on a setting called CP Cinema Lock which is essentially the file format RAW on the Canon C100. I also turned on the flicker reduction feature to make sure our film doesn't capture any graininess that becomes unfixable in the edit. I went through the audio options to make sure that it recorded through both channel 1 and 2 to give us the best surround sound. We have made the mistake on other projects before to leave it recording through only one channel and this caused it to only play through one ear which we fixed in the edit.  After audio, white balance and ABB checks we went upstairs and set up the room. We put the props/alcohol bottles and shot glasses on the cabinets next to the bed and made the room look quite scruffy to suggest a life of an alcoholic - someone who doesn't have time or doesn't care about cleaning.

 

 

 

For the first shot I used the C100 to capture a close up, dutch tilt shot of Kieran's face asleep. I used a close-up for the first shot to introduce our audience to the main character and I thought a dutch tilt would work well because the unbalanced angle represents him as an unstable man. I decided to use depth of field on the shot as well to bring the subject forward in the frame, diverting our attention towards our character who is asleep. The next shot is a close-up of the alarm ringing with bottles of alcohol surrounding it. Using a closeup on the alarm draws our attention onto the action happening. I then use another dutch tilt, mid shot of Kieran rolling over to hit the alarm turning it off. The next shot after that is a close up of his hand on the alarm with the bottles blocking the left hand side of the shot creating a frame within a frame composition to exaggerate the wideness of and action following up that happens on the right.  I use racking focus that starts off with me focusing on the hand and bottles and as he rolls over and sits up in the distance, I use the focus wheel to focus on him as he takes a shot of alcohol and walks out the room.

 

 

 

 

Using a Go Pro camera that has a wide lens, I tracked Kieran as he walked towards me through from the bedroom to the bathroom. I decided to use the Go Pro for these tracking shots because I experimented with the C100 and steady cam however the shoulder mount was too big for my waist and it felt unstable. After reviewing the footage I also felt that the C100 lens was too close to the subject - it wasn't wide enough to give it the cinematic movement and look that I had envisioned. So using the Go Pro camera which also includes a very smooth tracking movement feature inside of it was the best alternative option. I made sure that it was filmed at a slight high angle and I framed Kieran in the centre to break the rule of thirds which was an inspiration from the Tv show Mr Robot that I included in my secondary research.

 

 

 

After this I used a technique also used from Mr Robot called short siding. For example in the bathroom Kieran is standing in the mirror, the mirror is in the corner right of the shot surrounded by an empty wall filling the left. This composition makes our brain look into the corner right of the frame which reflects a feeling of insecurity and how he finds it hard to look at himself as a man who has lost hope. The next shot shows him looking at a bottle of pills as to show him contemplating committing suicide. I decided to use a high angle looking down on him using the wide lens Go Pro as well as a POV in case the high angle didn't work in the edit. The high angle was used to create vulnerability as well as an angle to show him looking down into the bottle where you can see the pills inside.

 

 

 

As he walks down the stairs I use a low angle breaking the rule of thirds shot from the bottom of the staircase which follow into a long 14 second shot of me tracking Kieran at a high angle as I follow him around the room grabbing a cup and turning the kettle on. The shot ends with the camera angle going low down looking at Kieran through the bottles. I then decided to do an over the shoulder and closeup of the moving photo he picks up using a clear angle with no movement so that our editor can track the green and edit in the photo moving. The last few shots of the day was a close up shot of the lever on the kettle flicking up. This shot is a closeup because I wanted to create some dramatic tension in-between our main character getting distracted with the memories of his past. To build this tension I used a panning/track shot using the tracking dolly. As he takes a shot of alcohol I slowly pan/move the camera right on the tracks and at the same time I pan the camera slowly to the right to create a cinematic pan that creates a unnerving atmosphere.
 

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