Production - Pick Up Day - Fitness, Cycling, Simulator and Kickstarter

Today we had a number of small scenes to pick up due to changes in circumstances as well as developments in ideas. These mostly refer to the fitness sequence as the gym we were going to use shut down and thus we have had to change the story a little and find a backup gym to film at. This day also meant picking up drone shots of me cycling as well as filming me on my racing simulator and footage of me setting up the Kickstarter. We happily had scheduled a whole day for picking up these shots and I worked with George on a schedule which would ensure all of these were recorded.

Below is the work I had done in preparation for this shoot date:

Gym sequence:

• EST Shot of building
• Alex walking into the building
• Alex walking into gym
• Close ups of Alex in gym on various equipment 
• Medium shots of Alex in the gym on various equipment 
• Extreme close ups of Alex in the gym on various equipment
• Track and dolly movements, focusing towards Alex on equipment
• Alex putting down weights. Close up
• Alex wiping sweat / being exhausted 
• Alex packing and leaving the gym

Plan for the day that I prepared:

10am - Go Over Plans

11am - Start filming at Gym for MONTAGE [Using camera plans used in the test - Focus on the intensity and make the shots INTERESTING. Static shots are BORING in this sequence. Add a bit of movement to empower the sequence

1pm - Recce Queen Street roads to understand drone shots needed

1:30pm - Film cycling sequence on Queen Street road

2pm - Head back to PW for lunch

3pm - Record V/O for fundraiser segment [P1]

3:30pm - Record EQUIPMENT in post & REACTION to fundraiser segment [P2 - Hitting Goal] At home in room
Hear doorbell ring
Alex says thanks mate [oov]
Alex walking upstairs with a Smile on face
Alex unpacking the suit
Alex showing suit m/s
Close up pan of sponsors
Ultra close up of Name
Alex reacting to George’s comment
Alex on PC from behind
Alex turning around and reacting

4:15pm - Alex on Simulator 3 different sets of clothes
EACH Time these shots
C/U of Alex
C/U of screen
W/S of Room
M/S of Alex on sim
C/U of wheel being turned , buttons pressed etc

5:00pm - Alex “Start a project” on Kickstarter


The shoot date
Cycling 
We completed and filled a lot of the odd sequences that we needed to overcome today. All of the footage we got is really going to help us in the edit and allow us to have a near complete cut of the film before race day. When the race is complete along with the Diary Room then we will have all of the footage needed to complete our film.

We started with the drone shots as we began earlier than expected. We completed these on a very quiet back road near my house which gave us both safety and lovely scenic shots gliding through the countryside. These shots will be used in the "Stings" as we count down to the race. We will be starting off with ambient shots, like that of these cycling shots, then build up the intensity as we come closer to the race date. I think these stings will be vitally important in showing the difficulty of this process. We completed a number of different shots which could be used on various sections throughout the documentary. This is both in terms of location and intensity as I cycled quicker on occasions which can be used for a sting closer to the race to show how I am building up my regimen. I have genuinely been training for this event but it would have been impossible for the crew to be there, so we had to film this sequence in one day due to timing. We understand this is completely fine in a documentary as we are not lying to the viewer about the journey, just the clips may not completely represent what stage I am at.

Gym
George had got us access to a local gym which gave us the opportunity to still film the fitness montage that we had always planned. The original plan was to use clips from my "test" at the old gym but these tests were extremely dull for a viewer and therefore we did not want to include much of them. We then decided that this whole fitness sequence would be either voiceover or music, we would now have no actuality of the old personal trainer speaking as this sequence was now to be much more intense than its original state, and also considerably shorter.

Therefore, our aim from this visit to the new gym was to capture a number of intense shots of myself working out on the various machines to show that I had taken on board the advice from the previous personal trainer and I was putting his advice into practice. The shots we captured really helped illustrate the intensity of dedication I was putting into make this dream a reality. The ultra close-ups and close-ups did a fantastic job of capturing the intensity of this sequence.

I was really happy at how the team had adapted thanks to the knowledge gained in the prior gym test sequence and they used my reference material and plans to create a number of great shots which leaves me very happy with this segment of the day. We got exactly what we needed from the gym and actually got more footage than expected which will enable the edit to be as good as possible. The mix between handheld, tripod and dolly shots gives this scene a number of different dynamic shots which excites me as I now know this montage will be much more exciting than our original edit.

Voiceover and Kickstarter
As with the two previous sequences, the Kickstarter sequence and voiceover to go along with it went smoothly as we captured the shots of me setting up the page, which we had forgotten to do when actually setting the page up a few months beforehand. These shots comprised of a wide shot showing me at my computer setting up the page, then punch-ins on the screen, my hands on the mouse and keyboard etc. They are the typical shots you would use for a sequence like this but we need them otherwise this sequence could end up being jumpy. Therefore it was good to get this material and we also know Cailan will be doing some GFX for this scene [Scrolling across the setup page] which will be edited in with me actually setting it up. We intend to include some other miscellaneous footage in this sequence as well because the voiceover is probably longer than the footage allows for, but we will see whether the footage we have recorded works [Travelling, in the car etc] when we are in the edit. Typically, this sequence went smoothly and the shots captured will help form a timeline which is going to be incredibly important for the viewer.

Getting equipment in the post
I also received my race suit with all of the sponsors in the post, so we filmed this sequence where I show off the suit to the camera as well as showing the rest of the safety equipment I have had to buy. This will transition well after the sequence with Bruno where he explains what equipment I need to buy. It may either be immediately after or with a scene between to break it up but, nonetheless it works well. I felt I did a good job in front of the camera and that is thanks to my progress along this journey as well as the research which has been evidenced in a previous blog post. I am getting much better in front of the camera and I am really happy about this as it is allowing the documentary to flourish and we are now recording scenes with both great visuals and actuality. It was a big challenge at first to forget the camera was there but over time I have definitely grown into my role and I am very happy with my personal progress. The scene felt natural on playback which was fantastic and Cailan then proceeded to get a close up of the suit and helmet so they can be used as either a punch in or a cutaway.

Simulator clips
To end the day I loaded up my PC and started driving on my simulator, which is going to help me learn the track even more before the race day. As with the cycling sequence, I have been continually using the simulator to train before the race but the crew are not always available to film me when I am actually on it. Therefore I decided to switch into three different sets of clothes to show that I worked on this for a number of months. It means that this footage can be used in a number of different stings throughout the latter part of the documentary and the viewer will recognise this.

The mixture of close-ups, wide shots and mid-shots will enable these scenes to be visually diverse and enable the stings to all have a unique angle. I am happy that we made the effort to change clothes as it will allow there to be a visual clue that I trained for a number of months, even if, in reality, these were all shot on the same day.

Overall
A very productive day in which we recorded a number of filler shots and segments that are vital for this documentary to have the coverage and meaning that I sought. I am very happy with the number of things we shot today and the quality of them is all up to our typical standard which I am very proud of. At this stage, I don't think we will need to pick up any more scenes as we did such a good job today, but if something does occur then I am not opposed to filming more to ensure the documentary is how we all want it to be.

I think today shows the evolution of us all as a group. Firstly we were very productive and I would be surprised if we could have covered half of this content in the early stages of this unit. Secondly, we are all able to listen to each other much better at this stage meaning we all can give our opinion. Now we typically find a solution instead of taking it personally if our idea isn't accepted. I am very proud to see this evolution as a team and I feel we are continuing to improve which leaves us in a very good place for the final shoot dates coming up. Working together hasn't always been the easiest, but we are now at a stage where we are very productive and come out of every shoot date with the content that we needed. I'm happy to complete a number of important sequences and I know that these will allow our documentary to have much better flow and a deeper story. It's now all about how they are placed into the edit.