Tunbridge Wells Filming - Transition - Shoot Day 1

Our main shoot day started at 10am on 3rd May. I had set up a call sheet of when everyone needed to be there. Cailan and I were to arrive at Tunbridge Wells for 9:15am and Louis by 10am. After meeting with Cailan at the station I suggested we go and recce the location once more and talk to the owners of the cafe we have decided to film in. We talked to the manager at Cafe Manna who showed us around the building properly, as well as a few potential filming locations. The area Cailan had suggested was the one by the window which offered great natural lighting. I saw this and was unsure at first because of the loud coffee machine which was nearby. This prompted me to ask if there were other locations and the Cafe Manna manager showed us around. There were areas at the back of the store which were nice, but let in little natural light which meant we would struggle. He also showed us an exterior location and an outhouse which was nice and quiet but the backdrop was not as great as before. As the director, I had to make a decision on which area we should film in. Sadly each area had its downside, but I felt the shot by the window that had been suggested beforehand, would have been best. The manager also stated that during our filming period the coffee machine will not be in use as frequently and we can film around it. The natural light was what was most important as we did not want a grainy picture through boosting settings in the camera and the fact we had no lights available to us.

 These two pictures show the difference in light from changing the angle of the chair, which we will do when arranging them later. This is so there is an equal amount of light on each side of the presenters face.



After we had a nice chat with the manager and decided upon a location for the PTC we went to meet Louis at the station. As is the way with things, they go wrong when you need them most. Louis train was cancelled meaning we would start shooting over an hour later than expected. I had created a call sheet to keep us on schedule but sadly that was near-useless once we got set up. After explaining to Louis what was going to be filmed and where we headed to our first location which was Tunbridge Wells' Royal Victoria Place. We filmed just exterior to the shopping centre with the hope of catching people as best as possible. We got set up and we followed the same premise for most vox pop that we recorded. One camera would get a two-shot and be static in the middle. The other camera would get a close up of the person who was being interviewed. Louis was great in going up to people and getting people to appear on our show. I made sure the cameras were always set up correctly, remembering to adjust the iris and focus depending on who and what was being filmed. We successfully completed 10 interviews with the public with Louis doing a great job in them all. Due to the nature of quickly Louis could engage people in the project, we almost managed to get back on time with my original call sheet. After finishing the interviews I wanted to get some possible cutaway shots and time-lapses that Cailan may need in the edit. I was really happy with the quality of both my shots and Cailan's shots from the interviews and I think that is down to my careful planning of them. I was also very happy with the cutaway shots which I mostly filmed, as I feel these are going to be very important when placing it all on a timeline in the edit.

After we had completed all of the interviews we headed down for a quick lunch at the cafe that we were filming in. It would also give our presenter Louis a chance to see the location himself before filming as well as a chance for him to look over his lines. After lunch, I got to work arranging the shot the way I wanted. I wanted the presenter centre of the frame and there to be a desk or table with the laptop on. After moving chairs from the back of the shot to ensure it looked clean, we got to work. We also had a slightly of centre side shot which was more zoomed in and focused completely on the presenter. Louis did struggle in the first few takes of the script but quickly warmed to it and we got some solid run-throughs completed. I had not written the script but did notice in some instances where it did not seem to flow correctly or was a little wordy. These are things that cannot really be anticipated until the actual actor is trying to say them to the camera without looking at the sheet.

I wasn't sure if Cailan was taking offence to it, but I did ask Louis to change a few sentences to make them sound better. It was a productive task and I feel it was worth going to the extra step and adapting the script so that it is the best possible product. I did not want an almost perfect dialogue scene when we could have so easily made it perfect. I think after the changes it sounded perfect and I was impressed we had once again got it filmed in a shorter period of time than expected.

After we had filmed the dialogue I needed to record the cutaways that would correlate to what was being said in these instances. I wanted to make sure I got these shots and Cailan helped me move the set around slightly so I could get a clean shot once again. I took control of the camera for the entirety of these shots as I had planned them and had a better idea of what was needed. Cailan helped by telling me what the next shot was from my storyboard and this was an efficient process which saw us have enough time to get some bonus shots. I suggested a shot where Louis walks into the cafe, as well as a similar one of him walking out. Cailan suggested a pan down from the cafe logo to Louis walking in which looked great. After that, we said thank you and goodbye to Louis and started to collate the footage together.


Cailan was editing this project as this was his role and we needed to get all the footage to him somehow. I did suggest he bring his laptop, but he did not mean when we tried to get the footage onto his hard drive we could not because of formatting. This was a little annoying but I thought of a solution which meant letting Cailan take my hard drive instead. It was a little bit of wasted time at the end of the day but we were both really happy with how it all came together. This is the shortest amount of time we have had to create a project and it was probably the most successful shoot day I have had since starting university. Now the next stage is the edit which Cailan will be doing, I said I will drive to his house in Crawley to help give my opinions next week which should be beneficial to us both! I am looking forward to Cailan doing his magic and helping edit together a great piece.