Shoot day

My shoot day took place yesterday and in this post I'll describe how it went step by step. It would be sensible to divide this monologue into several parts, depending on the type of scene we were shooting, the location and the time.

Pt.1. Preparation

The whole crew (including the actors) were planning to meet up in school at 8.50 in order to collect all the necessary equipment and drive to our first location. We decided it would make sense to shoot the scenes, where both Hayley (playing Juls) and Bethan (playing the fake mother) are needed. We thought it wouldn't take us long, because according to our storyboard and action list this part consisted of just a few different shots. Me, Zoe, Isi, Hayley, Tom and Adam picked up the Black Magic Design camera (we practiced operating with during the workshops), the two-stage tripod, portable LED light, batteries, lenses, props and costumes and were ready to go to Hurtwood Inn - our first planned location. 

As we arrived, we started setting everything up in the room we were about to shoot the scenes in. In my opinion, we were very lucky to be provided with such a great room in Hurtwood Inn, because even without any props it did look like a normal room of a teenage girl. To make it more lively, we wrapped the bed with fairy lights, put a few books on the windowsill, paced some notebooks on the studying table and piled some clothes on the armchairs. We intentionally made everything neat and didn't create mess (not like in a cliche teenage room), because Juls character had to be very tidy and maybe even perfectionist. Moreover, we hung up a fake calendar I created the day before on the door in order to cover up the "emergency exit" sign. We eventually shot a few close-ups on it as well, which helped set the character of Juls. 

Initially, there was also a small coffee machine standing on the table, which I personally liked and thought creates that aimed ambiance of wealthiness and luxury. However, after talking to my team, I went along with their view, because it undoubtedly had a valid point: a coffee machine looks fancy, but it can hint the audience that the sequence was actually filmed in the hotel room (because such an object is quite common there). Subsequently, we set up the bathroom: we put make up products all over it, hung up towels and placed a box of bills (props) - for the part where Juls throws them away. Finally, we dressed up Hayley (Juls) in a school uniform: a black skirt, a white blouse, a blazer. She was also wearing glasses, some jewellery and black heeled boots. This classy look was exactly what we were going for. Bethan (fake mother) wore her own outfit, which definitely matched the aesthetic from our mood board that I sent her earlier (classic straight long pants, heels, a blouse and a blazer.
At this point we were almost ready to start filming except we had to set our camera up. The primary footage we were planning to collect were wide shots of Juls in the room, which is why we placed the camera attached to a tripod next to the door, facing the room, chose "white balancing indoors", focused it on Hayley (by zooming in, focusing and then zooming out) and adjusted the exposure. In the next couple of shots we were using the Dzo Pictor 20-55 mm lense.

Pt.2. Hurtwood Inn shoot

Even though we had our storyboard with us, it mostly just gave us a general idea of the action plan, but we improvised and came up with new ideas a lot. In the beginning, we made a few long shots of Juls leaving the bathroom, packing her bag and taking the box of personal belongings from underneath the armchair. We also shot every scene at least twice just in case (extra footage is better than little footage). As it was just the start, Tom was supervising us most of the time, which helped us learn and apply the skills later during the day. I was doing the camerawork in the beginning, while Zoe was responsible for the sound and Isi - for the set design and props. Throughout the shoot our roles kept changing, which is why each of us tried all the roles possible during the shooting process. Apart from the natural lighting coming from the window, we always had all of the lamps and inside lighting switched on for the shots to have a higher quality and look brighter. After making a few long shots and mid shots (by zooming in the camera a bit) we moved on to completing the following shot of Beth approaching the door. This was the first tricky task, as we had to hold the camera in our hands, walk behind Beth and try not to shake the camera dramatically. After at least 5 trials we finally got it. Right after that I started thinking about the previous shots of the dialogue we collected with the questions being: "Was anyone taking care of the sound at that moment?".

We rewatched that footage and realised we forgot about the sound (it was quiet and muffled), which is why we had to reshoot all the shots of Beth talking to Hayley all over again. Talking about modifications, we skipped a few storyboard shots (like the profile mid shot of Juls and mom looking at each other) and replaced them with the options that were approved by the whole team. For instance, we made more over-the-shoulder shots due to the set up of the room (it was physically impossible to make a profile mid shot of the two actresses because of the location of the bed in the room). Subsequently, we changed the lense to Dzo Pictor 50-125 mm in order to make close-ups and ECU to Juls, the box of personal belongings and her eyes. To lit the latter up better, one of us would always take the bedside lamp and use it as the lighting equipment, directing it in the way of the characters. We finished this part of the shooting process by completing the transition (to the flashback we would shoot later on in the day). I was doing this transition, where I had to move the camera from an ECU of Juls eyes around her hand to an ECU of her hair. I tried doing it multiple times and we finally got it (the camera was heavy, which is why t was a great challenge in my opinion). 

Hayley had to leave for a Theatre performance in school for just an hour, which is why we let both her and Beth go (we collected all the footage necessary where both of them were needed). In the meantime (while Hayley was gone) my team pitched an idea of collecting close-ups on different objects in the room, which we would add between the part where Juls goes to the bathroom and then comes out of it dressed in school uniform. The girls made beautiful close-ups on the flowers on the windowsill, the fairy lights, the pile of clothes, the books (using 50-125 mm lense). I made a couple of close-ups on the calendar that we hung up on the door: it might give the viewers an idea of what Juls is like, because her timetable is thoroughly described there). 

Hayley came back soon and we were ready to crack on. We went through all our footage to understand what shots we had to redo. A decision was made to make a few more close-ups and mid shots of her packing the bag, taking the necklace out of the box and being terrified (starting to get the flashback). As we were done with all the scenes, where Hayley had to be dressed with her makeup on, we moved on to shooting the "morning routine" part.

Originally we had an idea of making the first opening shot - a blurred POV of Juls waking up to imply that she has a vision impairment, however after trying to implement that we realised it doesn't necessarily look as god as we thought it would. This is why we modified this bit slightly to starting with a blurry mid-shot of Juls waking up and putting her glasses on. The latter action was accompanied by us focusing the camera, which would as well show that Juls has a bad eye sight. Subsequently, we made both mid-shots and close-ups on Juls switching her bedside lamp on: in reality as soon as she pressed that switch, me, Zoe and Isi would switch al the other lights in the room on simultaneously. After completing all the necessary long shots and over-the-shoulder shots of Juls getting up, tuning the music on and approaching the bathroom, we moved on to the last part of the shooting process in this location.

The bathroom scene was relatively short and we pretty much followed the storyboard accurately. A few mirror shots, close-ups on Juls taking the towel and her looking at the empty box of pills were completed here. The most challenging part was making the POV shot of the bin, as Juls was throwing her pills away. Zoe decided to be the camera woman at this point and in my opinion she did absolutely amazing laying on that floor with a a heavy camera and having a box dropping right next to her! 

The most amazing part about the bathroom scene is that it was totally completed by us, without any supervision already. Both Tom and Adam were around to help us if we needed to, but in my opinion we worked great as a team, helped each other out and figured how to make different shots without the help of the professionals.

After this we had a lunch break and were preparing to head to Turrets (Ewhurst) to shoot the flashback scene.

Pt.3 Turrets shoot

After lunch, the whole crew came back to school in order to pick up Annie (the younger Juls) and arrive to Turrets by 4 pm - the time Karen (the real mom) said she'd come there at. As we arrived to the location, we first constructed an outfit for Annie: me and Isi brought different pieces of clothes and just had to put them together. Eventually, Annie was wearing a red flower-pattern skirt, a cardigan and had her hair braided to one side. The shoot took place in the kitchen, where younger Juls was supposed to be sitting in front of the door. I was actually quite amazed by how fast my team dealt with all the challenges and obstacles. For instance, there was a big green sign above the door, which would clearly be odd in the shot. Zoe quickly took the pins out and took it off even before anyone had time to say "we might have an issue". We removed all the objects, like sanitizers, remotes, off the way for the audience to concentrate on the action rather than the setting. As Karen arrived, we were ready to start. 

We came up with an idea of having Karen wear the necklace Juls (Hayley) pulled out of her box, so that the viewers might start making the link between the two events. As we set the camera up behind Annie to make a couple of mid-shots, we were suggested to adjust the lighting in order to make the atmosphere somber and express that the place is poor and unsafe. For that we changed the white balance, so that the image is filled with cod colours like blue and grey. More to that, we were using the portable LED light to lit up the characters themselves (as all the other lights were switches off). Finally, we wrapped the "necklace" around Karen's wrist, so that it's more obvious for the viewers, when she puts her hand on Annie's shoulder. Later we made a few POV shots of Karen storming in the room saying "we have to go, honey, we have to leave now" as well as the transition itself. This was the biggest challenge, which is why each of us was trying to control the camera and make the transition smooth. We managed to complete this part successfully and now we have at least 6 identical transition shots. Finally, each scene was shot in two different ways: normally and filming 50 frames a second. The latter makes the action seem a bit blurry and slow-mo, which might emphasise the idea that this part is a flashback (we shot it normally as well in case during the editing process we don't actually enjoy what it looks like). 

From my point of view, the shoot was amazing. We altered a lot of details, generally following the plan, but making the action more interesting. In the very beginning I felt really stressed, but as we started the process I felt like we went along perfectly with my team, managed to collect all the necessary footage and more! All the spontaneous decisions we made only upgraded our footage and storyline. Now I undoubtedly, feel more confident in terms of using sophisticated filming equipment, working in a team and staying calm in situations filled with challenges and unexpected challenges.