Major Project: Karting Sequence Shoot

Major Project: Karting Sequence Shoot

Today we were down in Polegate filming a Go-Karting sequence that will feature in our documentary. The sequence aims to look back on where Alex's journey into motorsport started and how this particular area has helped him on his journey and continued his passion and kept his dream alive over the years. 

Being a strong hobby for him, Alex visits a number of kart tracks every year. Having visited the majority of them with him, gave me an advantage when it came to deciding where to film. 

Filching mannor down in Polegate seemed like the best option for multiple reasons. Firstly this was the first track Alex ever visited and he has a long history with the place (making for a good story). Secondly, the track is very open and ideally located in the

countryside away from housing, roads and air traffic. Which meant we could fly our drone and set up our cameras safely all around the track without issue. Thirdly the staff know Alex well and as such are very accommodating to our project.

All of which lead me to decide this was the best track to film at. Since Alex already has a discount at the track I decided it best for him to phone and make the booking, I simply sat in to ensure our timings, idea, and numbers were communicated and confirmed. After deciding/securing the location, the majority of my work as producer on this shoot day was done. However, I made sure to be engaged on site which I'll explain shortly. 

We arrived on location early in order to sign in, explain to the staff our set up and rig all our cameras. As director and DOP, Alex and Cailan had decided beforehand where the cameras needed to be placed, and I helped them get set up. each person on track was also to wear a go-pro to record POV footage I might use in the edit.

For the first few sessions Alex was on track we decided we should use a drone to capture a more free bird's eye view perspective of the track action (from a safe distance). Although Cailan was our DOP he was not as experienced at flying a drone as I was, as such I piloted the drone for during the racing. Although I had scheduled time for me to get set up when planning the shoot, in hindsight, I underestimated the amount of time I would need to get set up. As a result, I did not get the drone in. position until the race had already started meaning I missed out on a couple of shots we had planned for. Other than that I believe the footage I got followed the plan laid out by ALex and Cailan.

From then on I made sure we stayed on schedule and helped reset the cameras at the start of a new track session. Once the on-track section was complete it was time to move on to the PTC that we had scripted and planned. 

I had a copy of the script on me ready for Alex and myself to read from. For this section, we defaulted to our usual set up where Cailan would be on a shoulder-mounted handheld camera rig, and I would stand next to him to act as a guide for Alex's eyeline, giving him someone to talk to and being able to support both of them at the same time.

I read Alex's dialogue to him before he started each paragraph to ensure what he said was clear and focussed, but also sounded natural. It was at this point that we realised two of the questions I asked Alex sounded relatively similar and as a result led to less effective answers. Fortunately, we were able to overcome this issue by changing the wording of the question to get a more impactful answer. Alex did a good job as a contributor able to distance himself from the camera and reflect on his past in a more meaningful way. 

I was able to glace at Cailan's set up as well as the other cameras while on sight to make sure the framing stayed as desired. We actually finished the PTC slightly ahead of schedule giving us time to get a few establishing shots that we didn't have the chance to film earlier. Looking back I should have made more of a point of mentioning this to my team earlier as the shots we filmed at the end were more rushed due to the location closing for the day. Overall the footage looked good but when I come to edit it I may find some things that need re-shooting (e.g. some drone shots or establishing shots).

I checked the weather before our shoot as it said it may rain in the afternoon. To combat this I made sure to schedule as much as possible in the morning, which mostly worked in our favour (apart from missing a few establishing shots early on as mentioned), however, one thing I/we didn't account for was the high wind. The loud wind may have caused issues with some of the audio from the track but I won't know until I can look at all the footage properly. 

But other than that I think I fulfilled my role as producer well, I had read through all of the script notes and prepared the necissary paperwork for the day. I familiarised myself with the camera plans too. When Alex was on camera I think I did an effective job of relieving some of the pressure from him. Acting as a friend/guide to talk to and making sure what he said matched what we had planned for. But since today was quite relaxed he was able to communicate effectively with Cailan to ensure the framing and camera positions were as desired, whilst I did my best to keep everyone on schedule and made sure all crew (mostly Cailan) knew what they were doing and were happy.

UPDATE: We did end up refilling this sequence as we after watching it back we found issues with the sound and focus of the camera. I was able to locate a new day and times lot that worked for us and the location, and this time we had smoother result.