Shoot Day 1: Carology News - "How Much Does Motoring Cost" (Package - Car Test)

How The Shoot Went
Day 1 of shoot was compiling the main sequence of our package. This consisted of a planned sequence where I introduce the challenge about the cost of a daily commute. We will then run a part where I talk whilst driving about some facts about the possible options for doing this journey in a cheaper way.

However we did adapt the script on the go as some things did not work when I tried to say them live. It was only the odd word but as we adapted the script into the night last night we probably did not have adequate time to proof read the script which in hindsight we would do.

The start of the day was probably the toughest part. I have not done any presenting to this date, so it was in all honesty a little bit of a nervous experience. I did have to take quite a few takes on the first part of the script as it was a pretty wordy piece meaning it was hard to get out all the information without it being too fast or slow and energy-draining.

Once we where on the road Cailan and I where in the car being used for the sequence whilst George and Andrew in the camera car got set up on some planned locations that Andrew had found and got confirmed from the Kent Film Office.

Part of our test was to see what miles per gallon I got in my car and compare that to what the manufacturer said we should get, as well as working out how much it would cost for that journey using a website which works the cost out.
However our plans had to change once there was a car accident just by where we did plan to film. This of course is a shocking accident to have happened. Cailan and I did not see the accident as we where ahead but George did witness the accident meaning we had to spend about 30 minutes sorting the situation out. Thankfully everyone was ok who was involved in the crash but the crash did block the road to the end location of our test meaning we had to loop back and take a different route.

This did change the plan of what we had intended to film but luckily Andrew did have another location not too far away which we could visit and get some shots at. Over the day I felt my presenting did get better however we did have one sequence through the script in which I got out the car and said a few words, for some reason i kept stumbling and I personally feel I never got the perfect run through.
Andrew had to leave before the last part of the sequence was filmed but we managed well as we where back at the car park that we started the test and we reviewed what we had found out in the test. We decided to change one PTC to a V/O possibly over some nice graphics, this is because I was struggling to say all things we had planned because they where wordy meaning to try and speak and drive like this could become dangerous which would be stupid and unnecessary risk.

Overall, after looking at the footage from a few cameras I was happier than directly after we finished shooting. I was worried I had messed up a lot meaning a lot of the footage was unusable. However the whole team where very helpful in keeping me motivated and saying that it really was not an issue and I was just being too self-critical. One thing I would changed about today though was making sure that we had a route planned and also pinpointed locations of where we would film. This had to be made on the day as it was something that had been overlooked.  We thought we had communicated about who was suppose to do this but the day is done now so we don't need to complain, just make sure it doesn't happen again!

Equipment
I wanted to make sure we had a good amount of equipment today, So I brought along 2 Go Pro's and 2 Cameras to film as well as the kit given to us by UCA. The two go pro's where used inside the car to get a shot of me driving and the Main UCA Panasonic was used to capture audio as well as me driving from the rear seats.

George and Andrew used my cameras to film B-ROLL of the car driving and we also used the main Panasonic dvx 300 for shooting the still sequences at the start and end of the scene. Cailan was the head cameraman for the day and did a great job at getting the shots that we planned and he was very clear in his directions.

Andrew and George were in control of B-ROLL today as Cailan was doing sound as well we did not need a second person to do that. Andrew and George have got some great shots of the car moving as well as some great still shots what we can use to fill parts where I may have stuttered on a word and we can do some editing mastery to make it look like I am a good presenter! A small touch that helped today was a good solution to not having a walkie talkie. We did question if not to buy some walkie talkies because it may have helped.... However Andrew and Cailan had constant phone contact which was good as we could relay information to each other without the driver being distracted. It meant we could set up filming locations quickly and efficiently which was a good because we did have an intense filming schedule with many places where we planned to film.

 I tried my best to direct the shoot today as I had planned a lot of the shots already, I think I did a pretty good job at doing so because of course while presenting I could not say "do this or do that" but the shots that came out of today are really good and i think that is thanks to great teamwork and all of us listening to ideas that we had to make sure the best ideas got used.

Overall as a first day it was stressful and it did take it's tole on myself and the rest of the team as we where all knackered by the end of the day. We knew this would most likely be the most stressful day of shooting so to come out of it with such good footage was a real positive. I am really looking forward to the rest of this shoot now because I feel we have a good team spirit and I hope my presentation can be better as well!