Echoes of Silence - Pick-ups & Forest scene

This week we planned to shoot more of Echoes of Silence. On the Monday we scheduled 5-8 to get some pick up shots, which included shots that were missing and were of importance to our previously shot scenes. From watching the rough cuts of the edits over the past few weeks it was clear to see that we were missing a range of shots, all which make the edits more seamless and provide us with a better way to tell our story. For instance, the first scene of Julian in the work space which was shot numerous weeks go has reached a point where we can critique it in a strict way. The result of this was that we found spaces in between long mid shots and wide shots where we felt the need to cut closer in to the characters face. This way we can see the nuance of the performance, and a close up shot is an instant way to make the audience listen and to pay attention to what is happening. Below is an image of one of the pick up shots we got on Monday. 

Graham Saxon in Echoes. 

The second part of the shoot for the pick up shots took place in the lecture theatre, for the lecture hall scene at the very beginning of the film (currently, in time we'll shoot a scene which comes before that). In this sequence, much like the previously mentioned sound stage/workspace scene, we found that a specific type of shot was missing. Once again it was a close up that was missing in amongst a bunch of mid shots and wide shots that gave the scene no real sense of intimacy. The context of the closeup was the character delivering a quotation from the bible to his students in a cosmology lecture. We got this shot as well as recording the dialogue for it to bring into the current edit. I was very happy with how quickly we were able to get the shot. We were in and out within half an hour. 

Later on in the week we were timetabled in uni on Thursday. We had nothing planned for the day. We were in to update our lecturers on how the films were going, and to get on with our usual work. Paperwork, blogging, editing etc. It came over me about 11-12 o'clock that the weather forecast was clear and sunny. For one of the later scenes in the film Julian walks through the forest and has a conversation with Emily. Contextually this was a way to break away from the drama for a few minutes. For the first act of the film going into the second, there seemed to be a constant tension between Julian and Emily. As a writer I was posed with an important question; why are they friends in the first place if this is how they converse with one another? So I needed a way to display affection between the two characters. I did this in the form of a walk through nature. As director I then started imagining the tones and the hues that would contribute to the atmosphere. Undoubtedly it had to be warm and sunny, with the sun shining through the trees down on Julian. Anyway, when I realised the weather was going to be clear between 4-7 I decided to jump on the opportunity to organise a shoot. I made a few calls and brought together a crew and our main actor and agreed to head off to the location which would be in Sunderland, to meet at 5. We then ran into some huge issues. I realised the main prop (the black ear piece, which is essentially the entire character of Emily) was locked in the sound stage. I tried to get access to it but to no avail. No caretakers were anywhere to be found. 

Graham Saxon going over his lines on location. 

The second issue we ran into after turning up to the shoot about half an hour late was the fact that we didn't have a c-fast card. Following a lot of confusion we found that the card we thought had a c-fast card in didn't. We got around the issue quite creatively. We decided to use a 16gb SD card from one of our digital cameras. This only records 10 minutes of footage which we would inevitably go over. We learned this in an early tech dem with the black magic ursa cameras. We also learned where the use of an SD card differs to a c-fast card. An SD card can record the data from the black magic cameras, albeit a small amount, but also requires around a minute between each take to process that information. You take things like this for granted shooting on a c-fast card. Something which normally allows us to shoot consecutive takes now required us to pause and wait before shooting again. This sort of interrupted our flow, but it wasn't that big of an issue. I sensed it was more of an issue for the actor, having to dip in and out of character with elongated pauses which they weren't used to, but I had a chat with them and I made them feel more at ease about the issue. As the SD card filled up quite quickly, another creative solution we had was to do with the fact that another crew member had their laptop handy. This meant that when the SD card filled up, we could quickly transfer that footage which allowed us to format the SD card ready for another 10 minutes of footage. We did this twice, ending up with around 20-30 minutes of footage. Due to all the setbacks through the use of the SD card, we all learned a valuable lesson which was to never take the c-fast cards for granted. And I doubt we'll ever make the same mistake of forgetting to check if it is in the camera before a shoot again. 

In summary of this week, we have definitely crossed the half way mark in shooting the film. This is an extremely satiating and fulfilling feeling, and as director I feel a great weight off my shoulders as I now see the film not only being finished, but finished to the standard which I envisioned it from the start of this module. There seems to be a great energy and enthusiasm amongst the crew, and our unity only ever serves the film we're making. On a more personal note with this project I feel an amazing sense of balance coming into play from all of my previous points of focus and study throughout the degree. For example the past films I have made have all taught me valuable lessons about working with actors, utilising the skills of my crew and bringing a film together. I feel like I am consistently applying my knowledge and experience which I have gained from past ventures. Another way in which I feel that I am applying my learning is through my minor project. Prior to my Final Major Project, my minor project was me focusing on learning the ins and outs of lensmanship. As I am a visually orientated filmmaker, at the time I felt this was the way forward for me. Now that I am making a film, its hard to see how I would be crafting the shots which I am without that knowledge of lensmanship. My minor project and fmp are forming a synergy which really allows me to see my progression across the last year of my degree. I only hope to continue in this fashion in the coming weeks and months.