Production - SHOOT DAY 9 Formula Ford Shoot

Another exciting opportunity arose in which I was invited to drive a single seater race car (A Formula Ford) by an old friend who had recently rebuilt one and was looking for someone to shake down the car and ensure it was working correctly. Steven who owns the car came and saw me as I passed my racing license towards the end of January. He told me this news after I passed which was an exciting opportunity for both myself and the team as we could include this in the “what else I did” montage just before the main race sequence.

Being honest, I was very nervous about this day as I had never driven a car like this and was aware that I would be surrounded by experienced professional drivers on track, as this test session took place on a media day for a local racing club. Before the event, I spent time preparing for the experience at home, but also needed to prepare detailed camera plans and shot lists for the day to allow the group to capture this day in the best possible way.

After the success of the “Puma Test” shoot day, I used the plans created for that day and slightly adapted them to ensure that all sequences were somewhat different. I also knew we had the help of both Alex.H and Katie.J from our year group which made me confident that with my camera plans we would capture a vast amount of footage from this day. These camera plans allowed George to make a “pack” for all crew showing them exactly where they were filming and what shots they should be getting. The material that I created can be seen below, it is similar to that of the Puma sequence but has been adapted to allow unique angles for this specific scene.

Formula Ford Shotlist

• Pitlane Camera: Sony AX53
• Alex Dad Camera: Panasonic G7
• Cailan’s Panasonic: Alex H
• Uni Panasonic: Katie J

Formula Ford Trackday Shotlist:

1. Shots (in car) entering the track. Signs, road signs, scenery (Cailan CAM on way to track)
2. Drone shots surrounding Brands [MUST BE DONE BEFORE 9AM/ IN LUNCH BREAK 1:30-2:30PM - CARS ON TRACK ELSEWHERE & WE WOULD GET IN TROUBLE]
3. Alex walking along the pitlane to meet team (M/S from behind)
4. M/S - Alex greeting the race team
5. C/U Alex Unzipping helmet bag and 
6. C/U Alex putting on helmet + equipment 
7. M/S - As Alex speaks to the team 
8. W/S Alex gets in the car, directly infront of car / Repeat from various angles
9. M/S On CAR looking forward (Go Pros)
10. Trackside shots (In detailed plan)
11. M/S Alex speaking to team when in pitlane
12. M/S Alex debreif to Cailan
13. UW/S Alex walking into the distance with luggage 

Brands Hatch Alex debrief:

• W/S of scenery
• C/U of scenery
• M/S [static in pitlane] Alex speaking to Cailan  
• C/U Alex when speaking

Camera Plans [Excuse the Poor scan]:

Call Sheet:

I being in this unique position of both director and contributor has been a tough journey but I certainly feel at this point I have adapted to this role and now feel natural in it. Before I was constantly worried about camera positions, lighting etc, but I have seen the work created which makes me fully confident of what the team can do. Knowing this allows me to focus on being the contributor which means that the actual project itself is much better. I was worried about today and when reviewing the footage you can see it in my mood. Cailan has been learning quickly and the actuality he is filming is exactly what I wanted. The mix of close-ups, wide shots and everything in-between means we will have a large amount of coverage to use in this short sequence.

George did a fantastic job at organising the crew, which further allowed me to focus on driving and being the best contributor possible. At this stage, I feel we are certainly working much better as a team and understand how to effectively get the most out of each other. The packs created by George were a great idea and allowed all of the camera crew to know exactly what was required of them. The fact we also had two people we knew well from our year group meant the we were confident that the quality of footage would be fantastic.

I managed to get 12-15 laps in the car over two sessions as problems with the car meant we could not get out for the three 15 minute sessions we had planned. This meant that my three camera positions for each camera operator could not be completed but this is not an issue as this was completely out of our control. Reviewing the footage allowed me to be very excited with the quality of the content we had filmed. The huge variety from static shots, to panning and actuality, meant we had a large number of shots available to us. We also had a 4K Go Pro mounted to the car which will give us a very exciting perspective to this day.

We did film some actuality with me speaking but not as much as was listed on the shot list. When first reviewing the footage I was frustrated that we had not captured these as they were listed in the shot list, but I understand that the team possibly was preoccupied with the car issues and may not have reviewed the shot list before we left the venue. In our documentary, this sequence will not include any actuality with me speaking, simply included in a montage on the build-up to the race. However, I wanted to record actuality speaking/questions & answers so we would have it for future use and a possible extended cut of our documentary. That means this missing actuality will not affect our University documentary, but my idea was to capture as much as possible in case we may want it in the edit or in a longer version.

The team worked incredibly well today, especially around the car issues which cost us a lot of opportunity for extra video footage. From what we did manage to get, the team impressed me with the variety of shots as well as the quality. Tracking cars and framing up at race tracks is not easy so the fact the team have learnt so quickly and understood the shots that will be powerful in our sequences is fantastic for me as a director. I was very impressed and I can see the improvement from the Puma test and the racing license before that. These extra opportunities are also allowing the crew to gather experience at a race track which means by the time we come to the race day in April, they will be able to know exactly what they should be getting.

Overall, barring the issues with the car and a few missing shots off the shot list, the day went really well and I am very happy that I am able to step back to my role as contributor and allow my work beforehand to show what I want as a director/writer. While I know I am getting better at this, I still can see moments where I am possibly not as natural as I should be, but I am learning and it has improved vastly since the start of this unit. This means I am confident that by the race day I will be completely zoned out as a director and fully focused on the race and being the contributor. I am very proud that the team is allowing me to relax into my role as it is hard for me to let go of all my ideas and assume my advice will be followed, but as has been evidenced over the past few shoot dates, the team is fully engaged in my creative vision.

Another very helpful experience for myself and the crew allowed us all to be happy with the day and know we learnt a lot of lessons going forward. I will be researching what I should be doing to become a better contributor, especially how to merge that with my role as director. This research will be evidenced in a future blog post and will allow me to understand how I can continue to become a better face of this documentary. The only point I raised with Cailan specifically was that he should probably refer to the shot list a little more frequently as it might allow us to not miss anything going forward. Overall, however, I would say today has been the best day for shooting cars and the footage captured today was even better than that captured on the Puma test day.