And straight into prep on "5th street". We shoot next week, the 4th to the 6th. Now that we have a PM on board our schedule is begining to take shape. While i was away we had a few problems with our major night exterior location and we've been told we're not allowed rig lights where i originally wanted; so thats caused a few headaches but it looks like we can solve them. As with "BoB" crewing is an issue, due to the amount of work in the country at the moment. My regular operators have all been booked on other jobs, but thankfully two DP friends of mine have agreed to step in and operate for me for fun.
Prep is being taken up by reccies and pre-production meetings. Ive gone with Fuji 160 pushed one stop for most of the shoot and ill probably bleach bypass some of the flashbacks. More to follow....
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Thursday, 16 August 2007
"Brixton Bob" - The Shoot
Well i certainly wont be making another movie on a boat for a while:)
Overall the shoot went well enough. It was a slow start to the first day but because of the way we are covering scenes we were able to gain ground after lunch. Everyone on the boat, with the possible exception of the dirctor, was feeling sea sick in the large swell we had yesterday. Made working very unpleasant and difficult. My crew worked out very well, in difficult circumstances, and the director made the atmosphere very laid back which really helped get us through the day.
For my part i found working on the seas frustrating simply because nothing would stay still long enough, which was of course to be expected. The weather went from cloudy to sunny every few minutes which ment matching shots was always problematic, but i think for the most part the footage should match pretty well and anything that needs help can be smoothed out in the grade. I shot everything with a 45 degree shutter angle and usually underexposed by a stop or two. Im looking forward to seeing how the new Fuji turns out. The directors approach was really interesting and we shot the movie with almost no traditional close ups. The first scene was played wide and as we moved towards the end of the script we worked progressively tighter for dramatic effect - most of the script was shot like this to parallel the emotional arc that the two main characters go through in the script; i think its a great idea (all down to the director) and should be a really interesting short. I'll post screen grabs when i have them.
Overall the shoot went well enough. It was a slow start to the first day but because of the way we are covering scenes we were able to gain ground after lunch. Everyone on the boat, with the possible exception of the dirctor, was feeling sea sick in the large swell we had yesterday. Made working very unpleasant and difficult. My crew worked out very well, in difficult circumstances, and the director made the atmosphere very laid back which really helped get us through the day.
For my part i found working on the seas frustrating simply because nothing would stay still long enough, which was of course to be expected. The weather went from cloudy to sunny every few minutes which ment matching shots was always problematic, but i think for the most part the footage should match pretty well and anything that needs help can be smoothed out in the grade. I shot everything with a 45 degree shutter angle and usually underexposed by a stop or two. Im looking forward to seeing how the new Fuji turns out. The directors approach was really interesting and we shot the movie with almost no traditional close ups. The first scene was played wide and as we moved towards the end of the script we worked progressively tighter for dramatic effect - most of the script was shot like this to parallel the emotional arc that the two main characters go through in the script; i think its a great idea (all down to the director) and should be a really interesting short. I'll post screen grabs when i have them.
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
"Brixton Bob" Yet more prep
Reccies went well. The Picture boat looks great; full of texture and garish colour. Should look fab pushed one stop on the Fuji Vivid. The Director has some nice ideas about coverage - hes not big into close ups which is great. We're shooting with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and hes keen to show some geography in every shot so thats a refreshing approach especialy from a young director. Fingers crossed for the weather.
Thursday, 9 August 2007
"Brixton BoB" - Prep
So prep for this little film is in full swing. I fly back to Ireland on monday, spend the rest of the day prepping with the camera guys. Then spend Tuesday with the Director looking at the actual picture and support boats, and working out what can and cant be shot. After that its a quick two day shoot before i return to London.
Understandably everyone on the shoot is a little nervous about working on the water - we've all heard the horror stories from other pictures. Personally i dont think it'll be a problem. Our coverage is very simple, and none of the action is complex so we should be able to deal with most weather contingencies. The Director had originally planned to use a combination of Steadicam and Handheld for the shoot but the tight budget pretty quickly nixed the steadicam.
We're actually taking a really stripped down crew on this, which should make it interesting. The camera package is a really small Arri SR3 package with a handfull of primes, and an 11-138 canon zoom lens. Im not even taking a set of Legs:)!
Because the boats are so small any lights would have needed to have been on a third boat at a distance from the picture boat, and the production couldnt afford the third boat let alone the 18K's and genny i would have wanted to put on it so as i mentioned before im not taking any lights or grip equipment. We dont have the space for silks and poly is for pussies. We're shooting on Fuji's new Vivid 160 stock so the plan is to push that 1 stop for extra saturation and contrast, rating it at 250 asa with an 85. The look we want is a rich punchy look filled with all the colour and textures of the fishing boat, and deep dark shadows. A lot rawer then what im usually asked for so it will be an interesting experiment for me at the least.
Unfortunately because its so busy in ireland right now the PM is having a little difficulty getting my regualr crew, and because the budget is so low i might end up getting stuck with a relatively inexperienced crew; and thats something i'm a little anxious about.....
Understandably everyone on the shoot is a little nervous about working on the water - we've all heard the horror stories from other pictures. Personally i dont think it'll be a problem. Our coverage is very simple, and none of the action is complex so we should be able to deal with most weather contingencies. The Director had originally planned to use a combination of Steadicam and Handheld for the shoot but the tight budget pretty quickly nixed the steadicam.
We're actually taking a really stripped down crew on this, which should make it interesting. The camera package is a really small Arri SR3 package with a handfull of primes, and an 11-138 canon zoom lens. Im not even taking a set of Legs:)!
Because the boats are so small any lights would have needed to have been on a third boat at a distance from the picture boat, and the production couldnt afford the third boat let alone the 18K's and genny i would have wanted to put on it so as i mentioned before im not taking any lights or grip equipment. We dont have the space for silks and poly is for pussies. We're shooting on Fuji's new Vivid 160 stock so the plan is to push that 1 stop for extra saturation and contrast, rating it at 250 asa with an 85. The look we want is a rich punchy look filled with all the colour and textures of the fishing boat, and deep dark shadows. A lot rawer then what im usually asked for so it will be an interesting experiment for me at the least.
Unfortunately because its so busy in ireland right now the PM is having a little difficulty getting my regualr crew, and because the budget is so low i might end up getting stuck with a relatively inexperienced crew; and thats something i'm a little anxious about.....
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