Production | Shoot Day 4 (Scenes 12 and 13)

Tim and Luke are sat around a table in a pub. Luke has a mostly full half pint of fruity cider, Tim has an almost empty pint glass in front of him and a black eye...

Cast / Crew:

• Director - Alex Hargood
• Director of Photography - Katie Joslin
• Producer - Melissa Moore
• Sound Recordist - Alix Mottershead
• Runner - Katthaliya Cahalane
• Makeup Artist - Beth Ashby
• Cast
• 'Tim Stewart' - Ed Allenby
• 'Luke Lucas' - Daniel Hemsley
• 'Tess Connolly' - Skevy Stylia
• 'Sheila Hodges' - Susan Baskerville
• 'Mark Hodges' - Al Sawyer
• Location / Pub Landlord - Nigel Williams

The agenda:

• Shoot scene 12 first:
• This was the largest scene of the film, in terms of people involved, however the action should be fairly straightforward. We were also limited with the time available for this scene, as the pub we were shooting at was open for business at 11:30.

• Then shoot scene 13:
• The action in this scene was mostly linear so it should not be that complicated, but as with all the scenes we have shot, we will need to establish the timing properly.

• Shoot GVs / establishing shot of owl academy sign
• If we have time, we may shoot some pickup shots of the Kent Owl Academy, such as the welcome sign and other parts of the scenery.

What went well:

• We got most of the coverage we needed to with the time we had available which should hopefully give Katie and Mel enough to work with during the edit.
• This scene had the potential for some continuity issues - particularly with the drinks that would be on the table and in shot. There were no noticeable issues with continuity in this scene so I am happy that we were able to keep on top of the continuity in this scene.
• The authenticity of the scene was boosted by the use of background extras - combined with the pub atmos buzz track that will be added in post-production, this will create a realistic ambience for the actual scene.

What didn't go well:

• We had to rush the pub scene as Nigel had kindly allowed us to film before customers arrived, however this was only until around 11:30 and so we had a very limited amount of time to shoot everything we needed to. We ended up having to wrap before we had all the shots we wanted to -  we were able to shoot almost everything though, the main shot I would have liked to film that would could not was Mark's reaction shot as he stood up to Tim, which we will have to work around in the edit stage.
• We had some trouble dealing with the sunlight whilst we were shooting in the car park. The weather fluctuated between sunny and overcast several times from the various different camera angles, so we essentially ended up filming all the shots from the final scene twice so that we had two versions of each shot - one sunny and one overcast. This was not necessarily a bad thing as we had plenty of time to do this and we would ensure that the continuity played out well in the edit. Nevertheless, if we had a larger budget we may have been able to invest in some better light diffusion which would have helped a great deal with the weather.
• We were interrupted on the shoot several times by things such as deliveries coming to the pub. This was out of our hands and it certainly was not our place to complain about it, therefore we just had to make sure that we worked around these interruptions as and when we needed to. This did end up eating into the time we had available.

What did I learn:

• I learned how to coordinate a relatively large number of people relative to what I am used to. I have worked with a small cast and crew for a number of shoots but this time there were some fifteen people following my direction which was a fun albeit daunting challenge. I made sure that if anybody had a question, I was able to answer it and I ensured that everybody was on the same page when it went came to blocking the action in the scenes we shot.
• This was also one of few times that we were shooting in a time-constricted location that we did not know the owner very well and so we had to be ready to shoot and ready to leave under a very tight schedule. Coordinating with the landlord, Nigel, was vital for this as myself and Melissa could explain everything that was going to happen and what we needed for that to happen. In return he told us what was possible and not possible (which we had already established through email communication and recces) so that shooting the scene ran as smoothly as possible.
• Whilst pacing and continuity is vital for every scene, the pub scene in particular was a test for this and I was able to develop this through rehearsing the scene with the cast. Details such as how much liquid is in a glass and at what point actors enter the scene were refined through rehearsal and communication with the cast members.