Filming day production diary entry

Day 7. Friday 30^th October

1 What did you do?

Today was our filming day. our objective was to get all of our shots and footage filmed within our production schedule. We gathered our equipment and headed to our first and main location which was Southpark, a short walking distance away from FilmOxford. (as a producer I chose this location because of its accessibility and quietness) I helped set up the 4k camera and carefully structured the shot to be focused and to have boca, so the subject could be separated for their background. We spent the first few hours filming all of the interviews for our documentary with members of our group as the interviewees. While the person being interviewed was talking I used my dslr to capture their hand/leg/foot movements and side profile shots to cut away to when we edit.

After our lunch break we only had all of the dramatisations left to film. We headed a bus stop on a road next to the park (our group had a last minute location change, we planned to film in Oxford high street but because of it getting dark early and the fact that oxford high street is busy and has more risks of equipment being damaged and being a difficult location to film in) we needed to film a pov dramatisation of a panic attack and someone waiting for a bus. The sound technician in my group had a gimbal and also brought his own camera. He filmed the shots needed for the bus sequence and then took his camera off the gimbal for the cameraman to film a pov handheld panic attack sequence that we planned to film in one long shot. I acted as an extra in the panic attack sequence and helped film the bus sequence, by blocking the actors and speaking to the camera man about the shot list. Overall we worked effectively as a team and captured all of the footage we needed within our time frame with time to spare.

2 What aspects did you enjoy?

I enjoyed taking on a cinematography role for a short time during filming to help block the shots and find the right composition for the interviews and dramatisation sequences. It is a role I would potentially pursue in the industry and I liked having some experience doing it. My group worked well together communicating any technical problems on set and making each other feel comfortable when filming the personal interviews. I liked how we were able to easily communicate our ideas and stuck to our schedule.

3 What have you learnt and how will you develop your knowledge and skills further?

I understood why productions and films take so long to make. My group took a while to set up the camera and figure out sound. We had some technical difficulties with headphones and wind at first, we had to end up switching headphones which taught me to always come prepared. I mentioned earlier how I particularly enjoyed briefly playing the role of cinematographer. I would like to learn more about actor blocking and more complex shot compositions. I will definitely do this by researching in my own time or taking some extra curricular courses on cinematography in my gap year. Another thing I learnt was to not underestimate weather when filming. Rain and wind can greatly impact the microphones and sound quality. When it got windy during interviews our only solution was to do another take or to wait for the wind to die down. Researching the weather and what specific times it will rain or be sunny is crucial when filming outside and working with daylight.