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.

Major Project: Diary Room Feedback And Re-Shoot

Major Project: Diary Room Feedback And Re-Shoot

After my concerns with the mise en scene and general set up of the diary room shoot, I put together a test edit to show to Helen and get feedback on. She had quite a lot to say, and expressed a number of concerns and points for improvement which resulted in my insistence that we needed to re-shoot the sequence. The full extent of Helen's feedback is detailed below, followed by how the re-shoot went.

Helen's Notes

• Connor’s camera breaks the 180 degree rule in its current position.

• The Sony has a nice framing, but looks too different from the other cameras (in regards to colour, white balance, exposure, and sharpness). She suggested we try using the G7 instead (especially since the auto focus posed an issue in the test shoot).

• The track and dolly is a nice touch but needs to be changed around a bit too be more effective.

-The framing should be tighter (more of a medium close up than a mid shot).

-The movement also needs to be more subtle (remaining static when Alex starts to speak and then the movement should start/pick up when Alex makes a particularly interesting point).

-With a tighter shot the camera can pan from one side of Alex’s face to the other, helping us gauge his emotion, without moving all the way from one side of the frame to the other (which takes quite a while and there’s some eyeline issues).

• Helen doesn’t think we need more than 1 camera. However your directorial vision and reference material were explained to her, the key is that additional cameras can be used for cut in’s/cuts (as opposed to just relying on the 4K). She said that’s fine just don’t overstretch ourselves/overcomplicate it.

• Alex’s eyeline should be making contact with mine (he should be looking at George, and George should be stood relatively close to a camera).

• George’s current position in relation to the Sony doesn’t look very good. On the Sony it looks like Alex is looking too far off in to the distance at something else.

• Make sure we get various shots and establishing shots in and around the diary room (car parts, tools, door opening etc) this will help to set the scene in the beginning of the sequence (and can be used as a cut away to help divide up talking segments).

• She asked if we were going to have cut-aways in the edit to reflect what Alex is talking about?

• The hand shot’s are not really needed for this type of sequence. Instead we should get Alex to interact with various props that mean something to him.

Re-Shoot

After taking on board and reflecting on everything that Helen had to say. As well as speaking at length with the group, I decided that the best way to address the legitimate concerns with the sequence was to re-shoot it entirely.

This was no easy task to arrange but I put all my producing skills to full use and was able to sort everything out. The first task was to find a day that worked for everyone. I had to shift around the schedule a bit to find a day when everyone was available (including the garage owner and Connor). This took a fair bit of negotiation especially to get Connor to come along (as he had a shoot in the morning and planned to edit on the afternoon. But I knew we wouldn't have as much success without him. But after moving, negotiating and combining a few things I found a date and time that worked for all parties.

Then I had to arrange to get all the required kit. I had to re-arrange this additional booking with Ferg. But then some of the kit was being dropped off to him on the morning of our shoot so I had to arrange an early collection from those individuals as well.

I also insisted that we have an additional test shoot the day before so that Cailan could practice using the track and dolly (something he was unfamiliar with) and Alex could create more effective camera plans that act on Helen's notes, by testing them in person before the shoot. I also got brought in Drey (an experienced D.O.P on our course) to give her thoughts and advice. All of this really helped!

After doing this, sorting transport for the crew, scheduling the day more efficiently, arranging for the provision of props, and securing the location at the agreed time, the shoot finally took place.

This time I took an even more active role than before. We had three questions to work through. For each one, I ensured that the camera opperators were definitely in the correct locations, that their cameras were in focus, and that each time we had clear, uninterrupted sound.

Steven was kind enough to agree to work outside for our shoot so as not to interrupt the filming. I also brought with me a clapper board to mark the beginning and end of each successful take (and to help sync up the audio).

After each take, I gave Alex active feedback on the answers he gave to ensure each one was better than the last. This time around we also paid much more attention to mise en scene. Moving cars, and various items in the garage in to the background of the shot. I also set up backlighting for this to make the background pop out a little more. This along with the props I had arranged to bring really helped the scene. My more realistic scheduling also meant we had time to complete the shotlists and film additional material (which I worked on with Cailan) to help the sequence to be the very best it could be.

Overall it was a lot of hard work but the day was a huge success and my efforts to improve it paid off.

Major Project: Role Research (Editor) Colour Grading

Major Project: Role Research (Editor) Colour Grading

As main editor on this project, it will be my responsibility to ensure this documentary is graded properly. Although I have dabbled with grading before, I have not done it to this level, so it will be an important learning experience. One that I am looking forward to.

In preparation for the grade, I  thought it best to take on some key colour research to help me decide how I might want to shape the filter of our documentary. I looked in to the main colours used in grading and what they denote. As well as looking at two pieces of source material that will inspire my grade.

Purple
Purple is one of the more interesting colours. It is not often used in grades due to its meanings somewhat limiting its application. Traditionally purple and move colours are associated with wealth, extravagance and power. Factors usually conveyed through clothing or on set decor rather than a grade its self. Purple is also associated with wisdom and can be reserved for scenes containing some kind of royalty. Again another reason why it is rarely seen. But similar to blue, purple can also be used to create a sense of mystery. Despite this I really don't see myself using purple as a primary or even secondary factor in my grade.

Yellow
Yellow is a very stimulating colour, often used in action montages or high energy sequences, it can be used to bring up the energy within a film (or a particular scene within a film) as well as increase the attention of the audience. Being a traditionally happy colour it can lighten the mood of a scene, but can also denote sickness of the mind and a sense of desperation. Because of yellow will be a big factor in my grade and although perhaps not the primary feature, will certainly feed into the tint of more high-risk scenes like the race sequence.

Red
Red is traditionally associated with anger, fury and an immense sense of danger. Often when a large amount of red is used in a film a=it can put an audience on edge or instil powerful energy within them. But it is lesser known that red can symbolise power, energy and passion. It can be used to asociate love and more positive emotions, as well as the traditional. Red is good for scenes which have a lot of on-screen action and can be used to symbolise a breakthrough or change in a characters mental state. Although interesting and more diverse than I first thought, I am not sure red will be a particularly useful colour to me in the grade, unless I need to intentionally heat up a scene.
Green
When people think of green, the most often thought that springs to mind is nature. Due to this many people use the colour green within their films or videos as such it brings a sense of harmony to a piece. usually in more uplifting sequences after a climactic ending perhaps, you will see green being used to denote the idea of freshness and new beginnings. It creates a feel of calm, and has mostly positive connotations, although if you consider . more negative examples green has been used in the past to symbolise greed, envy and addiction. Despite both these factors I would like to avoid using green for the most part unless it is to bring out things like grass.

Blue
Blue although traditionally associated with sadness, actually has a bit of a double meaning. Often Blue is used to symbolise trust and stability Creating a strong sense of calm and balance within a scene. During more mellow sequences blue instills a sense of safety in an audience. Whilst at other times it can be used to express a break down in a character. Used to symbolise when a character has reached their lowest point and is consumed by grief or depression. Blue can symbolise a lack of hope and a sense of loss will power. But being a darker colour, Blue is also great for creating a sense of mystery and intrigue. But (with a bot of luck) none of this will be a huge factor in my film so my use of Blue when grading will likely be limited to one or two scenes at most.


Orange
Orange is by far the most interesting colour to me. It seems to be the most versatile as it's blend allows it to connote similar meanings to previous colours whilst also bringing something new and different to the table. Similar to red orange is quite an intense colour often used during action sequences and high stakes films. But unlike red, orange does not overpower a scene, instead of giving it a more subtle tone that gets the audience engaged without ruining their immersion within a scene. Orange is used to highlight a sense of struggle within a character, and can be a colour used to reflect the difficulties that person is facing without obscuring the scene entirely, or looking too obvious like yellow. Orange brings out the energy and passion of both a scene and an audience, but subtly, so as not to raise the bar too high. Due to this Orange will be the primary contributor to my colour grade. It matches many of our scenes really well and is extremely versatile.  

Colour Grade Research-Icarus

The documentary Icarus was one that I watched in preparation for this project. I found it particularly relevant in a number of ways, and one of these happened to be the subtle grade it uses throughout. 

Being a relatively high stakes film with some clear action sequences early on, I noticed how the documentary used it's grading, particularly the yellow's and faint oranges within it's scenes to build up my energy and attention as an audience. 

The opening shots of the documentary in particular use a heavy amount of yellow and orange to instantly make its shots stand out and hook an audience. 

As we proceed the grade gets a little more subtle but still maintains those yellow and orange tones that keep the audience engaged with the subject matter. 

What's also interesting about this documentary is that it adds a fair bit of warmth to some of its scenes. This helps to lul the audience in to a false sense of security, keeping them in positive spirits and then dragging them "down the rabbit hole" as the film gets deeper and deeper in to the controversy's it seeks to explore. None the less the warmth is more eye-catching than some of the other grades I've seen regardless of their implications. 

Despite the limitations, they had with cameras, and the varying conditions as we progress through the narrative, they did a great job of matching skin tones in this film. Keeping them consistently warm, to highlight the intensity, pressure and seriousness of each character's situation. 

I intend to take on board much of what I've seen hear in my own grade. I like the orange and yellow tint that tricks you in to thinking happy thoughts, but then drags you along through the character's journey since the scenes feel so engaging. 

The warmth will help our documentary feel like a consistently linear narrative no matter what order we film in. 

Colour Grade Research-Twighlight

Icarus provided me with the main base of my colour grade, but looking at what I have planned for my edit, there is one sequence that stands out as being quite different from the others. That being the South Downs sequence. It is in a very different location to the majority of our documentary and has a very different emotional tone to it.

As such it is quite likely it will need a different colour grade to the rest of the doc.

Considering my above research and the emotional tone of the sequence I believe that blue's and green's will need to be the primary base of this sequences grade. Looking for some kind of source material to macth what I had in mind was difficult, but eventually, the Twilight movies and their stand out grade, came to mind. 

Twilight is well known for its highly emotive content, which while a completely different genre to our film, is quite fitting with this one scene in particular. So I began watching the film for inspiration.

I payed close attention to the way they bring out all the blue's especially in low lighting. Making everything have a soft feel to it. It grounds the characters more and we see further in to the depths of their emotions thanks to the not so subtle suggestive grade. 

But in bringing out the blue's the editors made sure not to neglect the green's, so although there is an obvious tint, things like grass and tree's still look quite accurate. This is pretty much exactly what i want to reflect in our South downs sequence. So I will be comparing my scenes and my uses of blue and green to this movie when I edit.

Major Project: Donington Park Location Scout

Major Project: Donington Park Location Scout

Today we headed up to scout a new location, namely Donington Park. This is a racetrack where Alex will be taking part in an important track day with his race partner Sam, in order to get him familiar with the car and prepare him for the race. The track day is at the end of the month but I felt it important we go up there beforehand (since neither myself or Cailan had been there before and Alex was also quite unfamiliar with the track). By going and scouting the track now we can get a sense of the space we have to work with, the scale of the track, where it's easy to film/access etc. 

We arrived at the track shortly after 10AM to give us almost a full day to walk around and scout the area. Before this, as producer I had emailed the track explaining the project and that we had been working very closely with Brands Hatch. I gave them details about what we'd be doing and emailed over a copy of our public liability insurance to ensure we had trackside media access. 

Upon arrival, the team headed to the main office where I spoke to Sam (the person I had previously been talking to over email) where I introduced the team and explained the purpose of today's visit. He then helped us get familiarised with the track and how media access works at this location. After this he sent us to get signed on in the media office, where I gave over a copy of our PLI and signed on the team. That was the majority of my work done for the day, as this was a location scout there wasn't a whole lot for me to. But this was ok since the majority of my work was to arrange the media access for this day and put together a schedule which all went very well I thought. 

After we had signed on we went to get a few cameras from the car that would allow us to take reference pictures of the track that we can look back on and use to create camera plans. We also took this time to familiarise ourselves with the layout of the track (it's worth noting that the extended layout was in use today. Although this is not the layout Alex will be driving and meant we had to slightly change our planned walking path, it caused very little issue when planning). I also used this time to download a digital copy of the site/track map to use for reference when we were walking around.

Being a location scout there was not a huge amount on the schedule. Having checked the weather beforehand I was expecting unwelcoming conditions (namely strong wind and rain), although the rain thankfully held off, the wind was even worse than we had expected for most of the morning. Which made walking and taking photos a bit difficult at times. Fortunately, when scheduling the day I was generous when allocating time to spend scouting each area, which paid off. We were able to spend a good amount of time assessing each corner as a group and taking both photos and videos of the sight as cars came round (to give us an idea of what it might look like when Alex is on track).

Cailan did a good job as DOP during this time taking plenty of photos and videos everywhere we stopped, and checking with me to find out where we were on the map so he could plan and have a reference for camera plans that he'll help Alex to create later. Although Alex had only been here once before his knowledge came in quite useful as he already had a base idea of which places we should stop at and communicated a clear directorial vision to both myself and Cailan (explaining where would be best for static cameras, where cameras can be handheld, places camera operators can move between etc). All of which was really useful to us, and will aid in our plans. 

I made sure to give Alex and Cailan the space they needed to work whilst encouraging us to move on at times so we didn't fall behind schedule.

Due to the adverse conditions early on and an incident on track, there was a large gap between the morning sessions and the afternoon sessions. As a result, we weren't quite in the planned spot by the end of the morning and had to wait around there for the afternoon session to start before we could move on. This meant our afternoon scout took slightly longer than I had planned but it did not prove to be a significant issue at all. As we were still able to complete the scout on time and get a detailed reference of the entire track and the pitlane (which I encouraged us to check out before we left).

Overall the day proved to be a success, I'm glad I encouraged us to scout the track since the knowledge and material we obtained will prove invalubale when planning the shoot and will allow me to be of greater assistance to any additional crew we have (since I know posses a greater knowledge of the location than I otherwise would have done).

Although there was little for me to do as producer apart from confirming the initial media access and permissions. I still feel I had a worthwhile impact on the day assisting the other two who both did exactly what they needed to do!

We are now in a good position going forward. 

Major Project: Diary Room Shoot

Major Project: Diary Room Shoot

Today saw the completion of our "diary room" shoot. The diary room is basically the master interview that runs throughout our project, where Alex reflects on his past and what led him up to this moment. It helps to ground the film and the narrative.

As producer, I arranged this shoot. Alex gave me the details of some people/places to contact, the most appropriate of which was the one we were shooting in today. I found the details of this garage online and obtained the contact details of its owner. I then proceeded to message him and explained that I was a colleague of Alex's. I went on to explain what our project is and ask if it would be ok for us to use part of his garage as a shooting location. This was agreed by him and I arranged a convenient date for our visit. I was initially apprehensive going in as the owner (Steven) seemed a bit uncommunicative in our discussions online. However, in real life, he turned out to be an incredibly kind and accommodating person. Ensuring we had plenty of space to work with and everything we needed.

Before the actual shoot, the crew and I actually came here one afternoon for a test shoot to make sure we knew what space we had to work with and how we could work with it. The one thing we learned from that shoot was that lighting and subtle camera movements were the key factors we needed to consider.

I arranged all of the equipment as well for this shoot. To get the most out of this shoot I arranged for us to have: A track and dolly (for the movements found in Alex's reference material), Aperture( lights (to fill/flood the room) A roto light (as our key light), a clip mic to pair with the university Panasonic (for better audio sync) and plenty of tripods and stands for the 3 camera's and lights.

As I set up the equipment Alex and Cailan, worked to find the best space and shooting angle's to work with, and see what they could use as a backdrop to create some kind of mise en scene. 

As this was being done, Connor Winfield (who I had arranged to come down to operate a camera) arrived. So after we were all established I proceeded to talk to Alex, Connor and Cailan about the camera plans they had made, which I ensured I had to hand. We got a sense of how this shoot was going to play out, so whilst Cailan and Connor practised, I ran through the questions with Alex. 

I had made a schedule for this day, but I found that this was perhaps an optimistic plan. Since throughout the day we were constantly running behind. This is due to the fact it took many more takes to successfully complete each question than I had anticipated. This was not really anyone's fault, it just transpired that Alex had a harder time finding the right words to give a consistent answer, and Cailan really struggled to get a smooth shot in the limited space we had.

None the less we were able to complete a successful number of takes for each question. Throughout the shoot my main focus was helping Alex with his delivery and ensuring we stayed close to our script and shotlists/camera plans. I also gave assistance to Cailan and Connor where needed.

Looking back at the footage I am happy with the answers Alex gave and the content we shot. But I think the lighting and mise en scene could have been better. But as this isn't really my area, I will show it to Simon or Helen when I'm next in to get their thoughts.

Major Project: Diary Room Test Shoot

Major Project: Diary Room Test Shoot

In preparation for our diary room sequences. We conducted two test shoots during this project. The first one was quite early on and was designed for us to scout/test the location we had found to ensure we knew what we were working with in our actual shoot.

The second was initiated by me, after receiving detailed feedback from Helen about how the shoot could be improved after showing her a test edit. This was designed for us to test our new camera plans and help Cailan get more comfortable operating the track and Dolly in a small space. 

On our first test, we all got to practice our roles (since it was still early on in the project). Allowing us to find a balance between everyone's responsibilities. On this occasion, Alex found he could have greater control and impact on how things were filmed, as he had to focus less on being a contributor, since this was a controlled environment and time frame. This meant me and Cailan coudl have a more direct feed from our director and make more informed decisions. 

There was some clashes however with it being early on in the project and I think my desire to help, got in the way a bit. I was too focused on trying to instruct Cailan and see what he was doing, when I needed to have more faith in him and divert my attention elsewhere. 

The main thing we learned from this test shoot was the importance of lighting. Which lead me to booking out several lights with Ferg, as well as bringing my own. 

The second shoot allowed the team a chance to actively understand and work on Helen's feedback before our re-shoot. Cailan got to get some more time with the track and dolly to understand how best to get the shots we needed. I also got Drey to come and advise him on this as she has experience with this kind of shooting.  

Thanks to this test shoot (even though it was in the studios, which was a different environment to the one we were going to be filming in). It allowed us to adapt our plans to be more practical and realistic for the space we had. Making us more prepared for the shoot and improving the overall end result.

Major Project: Monthly To Do List 2

Major Project: Monthly To Do List

As part of my continued efforts as producer and editor on this project try to keep on top of things by setting myself weekly to-do lists. Here are the things I need to get done this week.

Stuff To Do ASAP

• Email Billy Monger
• Email Brands Hatch

Research editing techniques.

Get a clear edit workflow

Label all shots to make life easier 

Be aware of all content/coverage we have and where it is.

Other Stuff To Do 

• Plan Test Shoot(s)
• Email Brands and Other places for relevant permissions/access
• Make a list of possible contributors
• Generic Sponsors Email
• Branding
• Audience Research
• Set Design/Props List
• Equipment list
• Camera locations 
• Email camera/equipment companies asking for a free product in return for shout out and promotion