Shoot Diary: Day 8/ Edit Diary: Day 5

Shoot Diary: Day 8/ Edit Diary: Day 5

Today we were able to reconvene as a group. I was in early today anyway so took the opportunity to get out the equipment we needed. I also made sure the room was prepared for our shoot, the green screen and lights had fortunately been left in there for us by the last group. They just required setting up and at this point, Alex and Cailan arrived to help. 

We set up the green screen taking care to make sure there were no creases in it. We had the opportunity to use not only the tungsten lights today, but also the new LED rounded light. This was particularly useful for balancing out the light color levels so that we had a decent white balance.

One difficulty we encountered right from the beginning was shadows. We kept on re positioning the lights and added extra lights but really struggled to eliminate shadows. We used a set up similar to one I had planned but it required raising the lights and moving them closer together so there angles would not cast shadow upon one another. 

We eventually got a lighting set up we were happy with and began to run through the script. We only had the one clip mic so decided the best option would be to place a road mic just out of shot between the two presenters. 

We did a couple of rehearsal runthroughs, allowing Cailan and Andrew to warm up. They had clearly been learning the script and it helped that they were able to use their own words.

While Cailan and Andrew were presenting, Alex and I were directing, although Alex is our primary director I think he was making a conscious effort today to not try and be overly controlling. As a result he was happy for me to assist in directing, since I had an idea of how it would look in the edit. I tried to offer my advice to Cailan and Andrew and explain how the shoot should ideally run, but I was conscious that I may be over stepping my boundaries and could come off a bit patronizing as well. 

At one point Alex and I decided to stop interfering and left the room so Cailan and Andrew could get a few successful takes without us distracting them.

One of the lights blew towards the end of the shoot which caused delays while ferg replaced the bulb. He was kind enough to lend us another clip mic so both presenters could be miked up. Although a great idea, in practice we had a lot of trouble with static/noise and channel interference meaning it didn't work out and we went back to our old set up. 

After getting some concluding shots we also got a shot of Cailan in the studio for the channel trailer. Ferg noted we were probably shooting/standing too close to the greenscreen and would have trouble with shadow and green reflections. However due to delays caused by equipment we didn't have time to re-film and will have to try and fix these issues in post.

After this I went through all the takes to find the best ones, making sure to get the rest of the groups opinion as well. Once this was done I inserted all the clips in to the timeline and moved the clips around appropriately. I keyed out the background and inserted the one I had been working on. I then made sure the rest of the edit was prepared for our fine cut viewing. 

Fine Cut Feedback

Helen came over to watch our fine cut and had the following feedback:

• The package was very strong but we should consider having the audio of some clips start earlier so we can jump in to the shot at a natural point while still making use of OOV/SOT shots.
• The audio transition between shots needs to be smoother.
• Alex did a good presenting job maintaining the energy of the piece.
• Andrew and Cailan bounced off of each other nicely. 
• The voice over we have is strong but we could use some more.
• When stating facts at certain points in the package we could do with some graphics to help back this up.
• The SOT interview we have with the mechanics drains the energy of the piece and is a lot to take in, it could probably be cut.
• The Live piece is strong, the cut always and shot order should be re arranged so we can get a close up of Jason sooner, and maybe cut one or two shots down. 
• We need to have some title cards to introduce people.

The vast majority of this can be acted upon and I will sort it out tomorrow.