Sunday 24 February 2019

Production - SHOOT DAY 8 Go Kart Drone Shots

Our next shoot date was a relatively short one, but one with importance no less. Today we had intended to film the PTC from the karting track as well, but due to Cailan falling ill the day prior, we thought it was best for our D.O.P to be present when a key scene was being filmed. Therefore, we decided to focus on capturing the drone shots needed for the kart sequence that did not get properly filmed when we did the PTC test shoot in January.

The drone shots looked much better this time around which was thanks to more time being dedicated to understanding how they are best utilised. Before, these shots where too high and did not give the sense of speed that we wanted to create in this segment. This time however these shots showed the karts going fast around the track which will enable the edit to be more intense in this scene. As stated before, these shots will be linked into a PTC where I speak about the importance of this track and how it is part of my journey in trying to achieve this dream.

Example 1 of Drone shot:






Example 2 of Drone shot:


Cailan captured a large amount of high-quality footage in the last shoot at Filching Manor which means with these drone shots we will have a visually pleasing and interesting scene. I was impressed with these drone shots and I think that it was worth doing them again as it allows the sequence to have the visual style I intended. As we are also one month further into the project, our understanding of it is evolving, meaning each shoot date is becoming smoother. This shows we are working better as a team and understanding and learning from the issues we have faced.

Even though Cailan was ill, I wanted to once more test the PTC for this segment, so when Cailan is healthy once again, we can film it. A further test shoot would also allow us to get more feedback from Simon so we can craft the best scene possible. Connor was available to be on camera while George asked me the various questions. The questions went well and I felt a lot more natural than the first time we did a test shoot. This does show how we are evolving after every test shoot which I am happy about as it means we are improving.

The footage itself wasn't great, however, as Connor didn't quite get the perfect focus. I was not worried as Connor was new to the camera and this was only a test shoot, but the focus is certainly something to watch out for when actually shooting this sequence. When reviewing the footage with George, we also picked up on the fact that the eyeline isn't very natural, as it shows me looking very far away from the camera. That means this scene doesn't come across as being very personal which is its purpose. Knowing this means I have adapted the camera plans slightly so that I am looking slightly off camera rather than drastically off camera as can be seen in a screenshot from this test shoot. This subtle change will allow this scene to be much more personal and allow the viewer to connect with my story and its importance.



We have spoken to Cailan about these changes and we all agree that we should film this PTC on the Universities Panasonic as it will allow better, manual focus and a much better depth of field. This change in the camera will allow the scene to look much better as it is a "sit down" chat rather than one on the go. This means that the Panasonic is actually much better for this and we are glad to have picked up upon this in our test shoot. George has since booked out the equipment and I have booked a kart session for the 23rd of March which means we can film the final part of this sequence.

While only a short shoot and test shoot, it was important as it helped fill in the gaps that were present after the first shoot date at the track. We could have been more effective and shot the whole sequence including PTC on the first date, but we decided the importance of a test shoot outweighed filming it all in one day. Cailan's illness meant we felt it was best to wait until the full crew was available before filming the PTC. In hindsight, we could have probably done this in one day but I honestly feel the quality will be much better because of the 2 test shoots we have conducted. It is clear that we are still learning as we found a few small issues such as camera focus in the second shoot that was not apparent in the first. This means that this sequence will not be exactly as I intended and that is thanks to us dedicating time to this test shoot and re-shoot of the drone footage.

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