On 7th February I held my first practise shoot with the help of my friend Fin. I came across an unused room on my university campus last week which has creamy white walls and despite being slightly small, it meets the specifications I was looking for with regards to my desired set. The room is currently filled with several filing cabinets but I have been told that I should be able to get these temporarily moved when I come to film properly.
I really just wanted to experiment with the space and equipment available. Lighting is something I was praised highly for in my last project and because I haven't worked in a white room before my main concern is not being able to achieve the same standard aesthetically as my last project. I would also like to experiment with some equipment I haven't used before such as the crane and the track. As my film is going to all be shot in one space, I want to experiment with different filming techniques to ensure the footage isn't boring. I didn't experiment very much with different styles of camera work in my last film and so I feel this is something I would like to explore more this time. Also, as the room is quite restrictive, I want to discover any potential problems and difficulties as early as possible so I can work on overcoming these before my real shoot.
This really was just a practise and a way of helping me visualise my film more in terms of the different shots and lighting I could potentially use.
Date of Shoot: Tuesday 7th February 2012
Location: PH86, St Matts
Crew: Myself & Fin (who also stepped in as an actor)
Equipment:
- My canon 550D DSLR with SD card,
- Tripod
- Red Head Lights
- Crane
- Dolly & Track
- Fig Rig
I like this shot, the camera was a little unsteady but as I said, this was just a practise. I really liked the lighting set up here. There was a diffused light in the back left corner at a low angle, and a hard light at a high angle in the middle light. Throughout this shoot I had to be really careful not to get the lights in shot, the hard light almost comes into shot and the light spots come onto the screen. I'm not too sure how effective that was as it reveals the light to be quite unnatural.
Shot 2: High Angle; Tracking
This shoot works well at making a character look uncomfortable or inferior so may be a good angle to use when filming the Support Worker as his role and position of authority will have been reversed. The lighting set up is the same in the shot as in the previous one, and like the previous one, the camera work is unsteady which I'm now aware is something I will need to work on.
Shot 3: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows
For this shot I wanted to begin experimenting with shadows. I would like to play around with the shadows of the characters possibly having them behaving differently to the characters. Using lighting was tricky because of the shadows of equipment creeping into shot. I used a hard light positioned behind the track and myself, aiming directly at Fin. The shadow was really dark and defined in this set up.
Shot 4: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows (2)
This shot is the same as the previous except here Fin is facing the camera. This shot matching the framing of my early ideas show in the first set of storyboards. I am noticing that lighting continuity may be a bit of an issue as the different lighting set ups create a slightly different ambient colour in the room. This is something that I may be able to combat by experimenting with the different white balance settings.
Shot 5: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows (3)
This shot is framed identically to the previous one, except there is a slightly greater close up. I have however changed the lighting set up. In this shot I used one diffused red head at a low angle, aimed directly at Fin. I like the darker, greyer look this light gives the room. It makes the room seem a lot colder and depressing. This colour lighting might work well to create a contrast between the support worker and the homeless man. I would typically imagine this type of lighting to be used to emphasise the stereotypes of homeless identity; cold, depressing, lonely, for this reason, it may be interesting to use this or a similar lighting set up when filming the support worker, and having the homeless man lit much more warmly.
Shot 6: Static Medium Close Up; Head Shot.
This shot is basically the same as Shot 4 except it is static and shows Fin looking directly at the camera, another idea expressed in one of my early story boards. I like the empty space to the right of Fin's head. This is the type of shot I would like to use a lot when filming the support worker. I would like to experiment by using shadow puppets in the empty space to explore the thoughts and emotions of the support worker in this situation. I feel this use of shadows and puppetry would work well to break up the otherwise quite plain scene set up.
Shot 7: Medium Close Up to Close Up; Fig Rig.
I have broken this shot up into 3 sections, the lighting remains the same in each - a hard red head at a high angle aimed at the back wall directly above Fin's head.
Section 1: Medium Close Up,
Section 2: Close Up over Fin's left shoulder,
Section 3: Close Up over Fin's right shoulder.
I really like the way the fig rig enables you to achieve multiple different angles in one shot. Although the lighting set up remained the same throughout the shot, you can really notice the difference between Section 2 and Section 3. Section 2 seems a lot warmer, whereas in Section 3 the lighting seems much harsher and bleaches out some of the colour on Fin's face. I had to be careful when using the fig rig to ensure that my shadow didn't get into shot. I would also have to be aware of equipment and crew members in the room getting into shot if I were to use this in my official shoot. The Fig Rig did do a really good job of stabilising the handheld footage - my handheld camera work is notoriously bad so this was a concern of mine when not using a tripod.
Shot 8: Pan Up; Medium Close Up; Crane
This shot uses the crane to create an upwards pan with Fin being revealed in a medium close up. I like how the shadow can be followed alone in the pan once Fin is out of shot. This shot used a low angled red head facing Fin from the left of the screen.
Shot 9: Pan Up; Medium Close Up of Shadow to Extreme Close Up of Face; Crane
This shot follows the same set up as the previous shot except in this shot I shut the barn doors on the red head to create a much more controlled directional light. This enabled me to create a dark, gloomy ambience to the room whilst still being able to capture a defined shadow of Fin. The shot starts with an upwards pan of Fin's shadow alone, followed by a pan left to show Fin sat at a desk. I really liked the effect of the light on the wall in this shot.
Shot 10: Pan Up then Left; Medium Close Up
Following the previous shot, I wanted to see if I could capture Fin's shadow alone. In this shot Fin is sat with his back to the camera, the camera is still on the crane but is facing the right as opposed to straight ahead. There is a high angled red head with the barn doors closed situated back left. I was able to pan the crane slightly to the right in order to achieve an extreme close up of Fin's face, unfortunately this was out of focus but the overall effect was quite nice as it linked the shadow to the owner.
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