Major Project: Brands Hatch With Alex's Dad

Major Project: Brands Hatch With Alex's Dad

Today we were filming a reflective sequence at Brands Hatch with Alex and his Dad. Going into this shoot I was very apprehensive and sceptical of how successful we would be, and we certainly encountered some problems along the way. But I'm pleased to say we made a success of it. 

Before this shoot even began there were things I had to organise as producer. Firstly was getting access to the location, although I had a pre-arranged agreement with the MSV staff for filming at the circuit, this did not apply to race weekends (which is what we were attending). So with a little help from Alex I collated all the relevant information and paperwork for our crew, and successfully applied for an application for media access. This not only let us film on the day, but also got us free entry into the circuit.

The next thing I had to work out was crew and scheduling. Looking at Alex's camera plans, I knew we would need at least three camera opperators including Cailan. So I asked Connor Winfield to come down and help us, as well as making sure Alex's friend Jon was on board to help too. Then after obtaining the timetable of the race weekend from the MSV website I put together a schedule for the day. I also booked out the track and Dolly, along with the university Panasonic, and transported this to the location. So for this shoot as Producer, before it even started I had very heavy involvement in its organisation. 

Once on site, I greeted everyone and talked them through the camera plans we had for the day. Although we had filmed at Brands Hatch many times before, this was a slightly different spot to where we usually filmed, unfortunately, I had been here before a while ago with Alex to scout it, so it wasn't too unfamiliar. 

The reason I was worried about this shoot is that Alex's Dad seemed to be a very reserved person, and Alex had made it particularly clear that he wasn't comfortable on camera at all. But had agreed to do this shoot none the less. As such I was worried about how effective the scene would be. To account for this I decided it was best to let Alex brief and explain things to his dad to make him as comfortable as possible. 

Instead today I ended up taking more of a directorial role (whilst still leaving key things for Cailan).

I ensured all the camera operators were framed and focussed in the right area. With the help of Cailan I instructed Connor as to the kind of movements we wanted from him (as he was on the track and dolly). After the first few takes I then reviewed his footage and suggested amendments (and also changed his movement so it didn't obtrude in other peoples shots). And I did the same with Jon.

I brought a clapper board so that we could easily sync up multiple clip mics and cameras, but this time let Alex mic him and his dad up so that it felt less obtrusive. We also had the camera operators at a distance to ensure a more natural conversation. Throughout the first few takes all the camera operators did a great job and I made it clear when to start and stop filming. But just as we were getting in to our stride, we encountered an issue. 

That being that the race commentary started up, which was even louder than the cars on track. We had not considered this factor in our planning (since all other filming had taken place on a weekday where there was no commentary). We tried a take with it in the background but it proved to be too overpowering. 

We had to think on our feet and decided that the best option was for me to re-arrange my schedule so that we filmed all of our B-Roll and cut aways now, and in the lunch break I had timed, we would film the main sequence as the commentary and cars on track would stop.

I left the filming of B-Roll to cailan who went with Jon, whilst myself and Connor reviewed the footage to see if anything needed to change before we started filming again. Cailan did a good job of filming additional material and I was happy with what I saw on the cameras (checking with Jon to make sure he was happy too).

So we had an early break and went over the camera plans one last time. Then with 10 minutes until lunch I instructed everyone to get back in position, and as soon as the commentary stopped we were able to squeez in a couple of great takes.

Overall i think we had a very successful shoot and delt with the issues we faced in the best way possible. Alex was able to fully dedicate his efforts to being a contributor and making his dad comfortable (who after all the worry did a really great job and seemed quite calm and natural on camera). I had a direct creative input on the day which I was really pleased with and i think I organised the day really well.