Final Full Day of Rehearsals

Today was the last full day of rehearsals that we had before the big shoot day tomorrow! This was also the first time we had the opportunity to see the set and get the lights set up accordingly for the actual show.

We got in for 10am however, we knew that we would have to wait around for a little bit of time while the set was finished and the lighting was complete. However, We did manage to complete around 4 or 5 full takes today which was very important as we had missed extra days of practice due to the snow about a month ago.

Before lunch our takes were rusty, Del himself said that he could see that we were struggling and it was strange as Cailan and I on Camera 4 felt like we did everything asked but it just did not feel "right". The problem before luck was really the "slickness" of the moves of the camera positions and the setting up time. I do count myself lucky as I only have to move camera positions on two or three occasions and I know most of the rest of the crew have it harder than me.

As the day went on the takes got much smoother and Cailan and I were getting on top of how we would help out each other in the actual show. As we had a half of the show each we knew for the other half of the show we would have to be of some help to the other half who is operating the camera. Cailan agreed to hold my wire so Camera 3 did not trip over it because they had done so a couple of times in rehearsals. To be clear this was not Cailans fault but Camera 3 had to change positions quickly and on a couple of occasions they did not check their lead and it got tangled up with ours.

After discussion with the crew on Camera 3, we sorted out a good method for it not to happen again. We would ask the 3 crew to step forward one step when filming next to us so that the wires would not tangle. We also made sure the camera assistants on both cameras were holding the lead in the second half of the show as that is when the cameras are in close proximity.

Something else we completed today was making sure all five cameras were set up to the same settings. As soon as the lights were turned on it meant we had to drastically change all of the settings on the cameras and just before we left our cameras for the night we made sure we had them all set up the same. We had our camera set up to 3100K White Balance and 11 on the Iris. We had three different types of cameras across the show so we had to do a little bit of tinkering on those but luckily for us we had one of the easier cameras to set up.

Over the day we also make sure the camera was sufficiently charged and I was practising my runs back and forth to the charging station for new batteries. I feel that I got pretty swift with these changes.

After lunch, our takes were so much better and Del recognised this as well. Even though I think we all struggled with the heat and the pressure we managed to get a near-perfect show by the end of this final full day of rehearsals. There are a few instances where we need to change positions quickly and reframe and refocus and I am assuming under the pressure of the actual show we may feel it a little in these situations. However, saying this I am now really excited for the final rehearsals tomorrow and then the big final show at 2pm.

At this point, we have done all we can and we have nearly perfected all of the show. I left today happy with what we had achieved in a quick turn around in the last few weeks as well as now fully understanding the stage layout as well as the lighting. I think after all these weeks.... We are finally ready!