Transition: Shoot Days

Transition: Shoot Days

Even though my primary role for this project was as the editor it was still important that I was present for the shoot days, as seeing the sequence unfold in front of me and being able to interject my opinion will help me to create a more effective edit. 

Day 1
We arrived at the shooting location nice and early to make sure all the equipment was set up and we could have time to introduce ourselves to the actress and run things through with her, without cutting in to shooting time. 

Things got off to a great start as Claudia (our actress) was really nice, and great at following direction. We had the shot list to work from and make sure the sequence went in order and all key shots were obtained.

George had decided to shoot the scene in chronological order as it made things easier. Since it meant we could start upstairs where we need the most lighting with full batteries and the equipment was also set up in there anyway (saving us time carrying it all up two flights of stairs). It would also save me a little bit of time in the edit since I don't have to hunt for clips as much. 

Having a copy of the shot list allowed me to make useful notes (especially if we picked up additional shots that weren't listed).

Throughout the day I was helping set up each scene with the track, planning the lighting etc. But my main responsibilities were to review the shots with George and Drey to see how they looked on screen/camera.

When we had a break in shooting I would pull all the clips on to my laptop to review them and see how they looked, and if any needed to be re-shot.

Throughout the day I was also keeping regular

concise notes about how many takes we would do for each scene and which were the most effective. This will save me a lot of time in the edit, as I'll already know which shots to include.

The shoot went very smoothly, we had a little trouble with the stairs shot as it involved a very steep angle change, and the camera refresh rate matched one if the TV's causing visual issues. I helped Drey hunt through the camera settings to adjust and resolve these issues.

Although this put us slightly behind schedule we still wrapped having obtained all the shots we planned.

Day 2
On the second day of shooting, I continued to assist in setting up scenes and reviewing footage.

I had my notes prepared from last time and continued to work on them as we progressed through the shoot. 

Today I also found myslef checking the camera settings to make sure they were the same as last time (frame rate, resolution etc) so that i could confirm this would all match up in my edit. 

For this shoot day we also had the use of my drone. Since I had flown it in all the test shoots I took the lead on flying it for this

day. In heignseight we should have done a practice run through in the morning as getting the right pacing and angel with the drone took a lot longer than we thought. The active tracking messed with the camera too much so it had to be flown manually. But we also had to fly it from a place with a restricted view to avoid getting in shot, making things difficult. Eventually however with assistance from George we got the shot.

At the midway point of the day I reviewed each clip on my laptop while George and Drey went to pickup a prop. When they came back I was able to point out which shots needed to be re-done and how the sequence could piece together. 

I also made it my responsibility to make sure we got an appropriate amount of foley sound, however looking back I would have liked to have gotten more.

Continuing with my note taking in to the afternoon I also worked with Drey to get a decent angle outside where the lighting made things difficult to judge. 

The end of the day involved organising a lot of extras that we had arranged to be there, and blocking them around Claudia, as well as getting them to match the pace of the drone. Needless to say doing all this while George acted as a character (as the contributor dropped out last minute) and I flew the drone was incredibly difficult. But with help from Drey we just about acheived the shot we wanted before we had to wrap up.

Overall despite being less active on shoot than I am used to, I made the most of my time with note taking, shot framing, footage revewing etc. All of which will save me time in the edit and I proved myself effective in my role and as a team member.