Jamie Caroline Interview
In the morning we headed to Jamie's house where our interview was to be filmed. In our Billy Monger reference footage, Jamie appeared and this was also filmed in his room. This meant we had a good idea of how the room was going to be laid out and how we could make our scene different to that in the Billy Monger documentary. I had planned a three-camera setup with Cailan. We initially had different ideas, but we came up with a compromise which allowed us all to be happy. This interview was very different from the one we filmed on Tuesday. Cailan had stated that I should not be on screen when this interview is taking place, as it may make this scene awkward. At first, I was against this, but after reviewing the footage I think this was a great decision by Cailan. If I were to be on screen, sitting next to Jamie, it would have been very awkward and not had the tone we have followed throughout this documentary. Instead of this, I will be sitting behind the camera asking Jamie the questions. Jamie would be looking toward me as he answers them. The compromise I found with Cailan was the three shots to be as followed:
- W/S with Jamie COF as he looks towards me. (Tripod)
- M/S with Jamie LOF as he looks towards me. (Tripod)
- Camera capturing various C/U of Jamie. (Speaking, hands etc) (Handheld - Connor)
Before the interview, we also filmed the actuality where I knocked on the door and followed Jamie up to his room. This allows the viewer to see that I still have a presence in this scene. The difference is that I won't appear on the screen when the interviews start. As stated, I did not think this would work at first. However, after reviewing the footage I think it worked better as Cailan planned. This also gives me a lot of confidence going forward, that Cailan will be making the correct decisions when needed. The actuality sequence was filmed and will allow us to use voiceover to introduce this segment. I had wanted to capture drone shots in the hour prior to this, but the drone was not available on the day so we will have to go back to the location just to get drone shots.
The interview itself went much better than expected. I say this because I was under less pressure as I was not on screen. This allowed me to focus on the questions while taking in what Jamie was saying. If I was sitting next to Jamie, it would have created a strange dynamic, one that would have been hard to edit around. The three shots we filmed will give us a lot of options in the edit. Something we had to account for was the lights. Therefore I switched the cameras into an FPS that would not show the flickering on the screen. It took some time to find the correct frame rate, but it was a worthwhile exercise as we would have not been able to use any footage with this issue. The three shots can be seen below.
The three angles are as different as they could be in the area we could film. These will allow us to switch between the three in the edit, using the one that gives the most impact. Something that I have been focusing on before we film is the white balance. In the past, it could have been an afterthought, but now I am making sure things like that do not get forgotten. This time spent before will mean less time required on grading in the edit. As we have a lot of things to piece together, any extra time on unneeded grading would be a big waste of the edit teams time.
Like Tuesday, I was happy with the questions asked and we managed to obtain the right answers for our story. The time spent crafting the right questions before our shoot allowed us to get these answers and not worry about if we missed the point. Jamie gave fantastic, well-rounded answers which allowed us to understand more about him and his journey, while still giving me advice on what I should be doing. As the interview was going so well, I even asked some extra questions that I thought could be of interest. This scene will be edited down to a much smaller sequence, but we managed to get enough answers to cut a really interesting segment.
George did capture some 4k shots from his phone which meant there is a possibility these could be used as a cutaway shot, but I fear this may interrupt the flow of the interview. Nonetheless, it was useful and we can see how these small clips work in a draft cut. We had learnt from the issue on Tuesday and lit this scene accordingly. We did not have a massive LED, but a small external light source allowed this scene to have less grain and better depth. Like Tuesday, both I and the interviewee had a clip mic which ensured great audio quality. This shows we have learned from the mistakes in past shoot dates.
In a later blog post, I will research the importance of interviews being different. This is because I came to the realisation that if every one of our interviews looked the same, it would not be great for our documentary. A variety of styles would allow this documentary to flex both visually pleasing sequences and allow the documentary to not feel so rigid. If the documentary kept going back to the same style, it would feel much more like a "How to" documentary, an approach which we are avoiding.
I was very happy with how this whole sequence looked. After reviewing the footage, I think this was definitely the best shoot date we have had so far. I am really looking forward to seeing how this sequence looks. We have definitely learned from some of the previous mistakes in this process. Things such as sound, lighting and following a shotlist. George and Cailan along with Connor did a great job today, I am really happy that they managed to capture the vision I had for this scene. The fact we have distinct interview segments will mean the viewer does not lose interest. The fact that they are not typical sit-down interviews will allow the camera operators to create visually pleasing scenes which engage the viewer. Overall, a great interview and I am proud of the whole team. This is the first shoot date in which we have had no issues.
Fitness Test Sequence
In the afternoon we head to the gym to practice the fitness sequence. I am currently suffering from food poisoning and a painful stomach, and I thought it would be best if I didn't make it worse. This situation meant that Connor had to step into my role while I also took over his role and became the secondary camera operator. This actually worked well as I could frame up the camera exactly how I wanted, which would be a great reference for when Connor has to actually film this sequence in a couple of weeks time.
We worked through my shotlist and quickly realised that we should run with multiple lights in this sequence. We tried without lights, with one then two lights. We know that lighting will be particularly important as our shoot takes place at 4pm, and the light may be fading by the end of our actual shoot. This was in the back of the minds while filming, which led us to test lights and we found multiple lights would be needed, no matter the light outside.
After this discovery, we went down the shot list that I had prepared for this segment. This went well and we proceeded to spend two hours capturing these shots. Our biggest issue was overexposing the backdrop, as we filmed on a sunny day and in some areas of the gym, the light was coming directly at the camera which meant we had to adjust our angles accordingly.
Using two cameras allowed us to capture an abundance of B-Roll footage, which will be similar on the actual shoot date. This means we will have a lot of choice in the edit, and the time we have at this gym will allow the camera operators to obtain extra shots, not on my shot list. As with a lot of our sequences, we will have a lot of extra footage which will be helpful in the edit. We must ensure, however, that the quality of this is consistent throughout, so these clips are all usable.
Both cameras being handheld allowed the operators to be quick thinking and adjust with the contributors. Being on a tripod would only really work for the establishing shots that I have planned before I enter the gym. I filmed these shots outside which looked good but, was wary of the reflection in the glass entrance. I managed to find a way to get the shot I wanted, without being in the reflection.
Overall, we managed to get all of the shots I wanted. These along with a good idea of the location will allow me to create an in-depth plan for this sequence when I will be in front of the camera. Looking at the footage, the one thing that Cailan forgot to do was white balance his camera. This gym is a great location and I now have all the experience and information needed to craft a plan for the 28th Feb, when I will do this sequence for real.
This test shoot has allowed us to understand what issues we may face on the day and the best way to work around these. For example, changing the angle of the shots slightly so there is not overexposure through the windows. Things like multiple lights will also be important in ensuring both myself and the trainer are lit and not grainy in the footage was also important points we picked up. We learned a lot through this test shoot and it's great that we have allowed ourselves room for test shoots in our schedule. These allow us to be much better prepared for the actual shoot dates, meaning we do not run into issues we might be unaware of.
No comments:
Post a Comment