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| Directing Chris Rochester |
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| My amazing cast. Chris Rochester & Philip Holden |
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| Cast & Crew |
I had chosen to film both scenes in one day, which meant timing and organisation was essential, otherwise I'd run out of daylight. I shot scene 2 first because I needed both actors.
The day started off badly. I woke up to the news that Kent was being hit by 70mph winds, which meant filming outside all day was going to be difficult. Not only that but the wind also affected the trains, meaning my camera op, Ida Frank, was delayed by 20 minutes. Eventually we were able to collect both my camera op and my first actor, Chris Rochester, from the station. We then headed to the first location.
Once we arrived at the location, I asked the actor to sit tight for a few minutes whilst I checked the place out and set up equipment. After that was all complete, I quickly spoke to the manager of the location to check all was okay, and then we began rehearsals. I ran Chris through the scene, blocking out his movement as this was very important. In this scene, Gus, the character he played, notices something odd about his car, and so stays away from it. It was essential that Chris got the movement right, so it was clear that the character was nervous about approaching the car. Also because we were shooting multiple shots, the blocking helped me keep continuity.
Once I had ran Chris through the movements a couple of times, we rehearsed without the cameras and then we began to film. I told Ida what I was looking for and she framed it up perfectly every time. We began by filming the master shots, which were a few tracking shots, both in MS and CU. Next we shot a few pick ups on certain parts of the movement, this included a few shots of Chris standing facing away from the car, looking in the direction of Walt (the other character in the scene who is spying from a distance). The final two shots we did were replicas of two shots in the original scene that I wanted to pay homage too.
We finished ahead of schedule, and my second actor, Philip Holden, turned up early so it was great!
After our break, I explained to Philip what we had shot already and what we were going to shoot next. We were only going to shoot some pick ups on his side of the scene for the moment, not the whole scene. We began by shooting a POV shot of Gus's actions. This was meant to look as though it was shot through Walt's binoculars, so we shot if from a distance. Unfortunately we had an issue with continuity because a lorry that was parked in shot for all the footage we already had, decided to drive off. This was something I would have to think about attempting to cover in post. Finally we shot some shots over Walt's shoulder, of Gus's actions. Once these were complete, we took another break.
I no longer needed Chris so, after we had taken some cast and crew photos, said our goodbyes and recorded some V.O. for Scene 1, he headed off back to London for an audition. The rest of us had lunch, which I had provided by piling food into the back of one of the drivers cars.
During lunch Ida and I spoke about the wind situation. For Walt's side of the scene we needed to record some dialogue and we thought that the wind would ruin that. So I had to think fast and change the scene so we could work around this. I decided that we would place Walt inside a car, unlike the original scene where he is sitting outside hiding behind a wall. This way I knew my audio would be usable, because the actor would be inside and away from the wind.
Before shooting the rest of the scene, I ran Philip through the actions and dialogue, and after a few rehearsals, he was ready. Finally, we shot all of Walt's side of the scene, starting with the master shots, both in CU and MS. For one shot we paid homage to a shot from the original scene. Unfortunately, my OTS shots from earlier we now not usable because of a location change, and I couldn't shoot new ones because Chris had gone. This meant I could do any OTS work. To get around this I ensured I had enough coverage from every other angle. To record Walt's dialogue, we used a concealed clip mic, and in the end the audio was great.
Once this scene was complete, we wrapped up and headed off to the second location.
FILMING: SCENE 1
After a short break at my house, we arrived at the second location, ready to start filming Scene 1. Before we did anything, I got the driver to drive the car into position whilst we filmed it from a distance for our opening shot. Once this one done, I looked around and checked the location to see if it was still the same as I remember it. Everything looked good. After this, I got Philip to sit in the drivers seat. We then ran through the scene, blocking out and rehearsing the scenes. We had to rush a little because we needed to finish filming before the nearby schools finished, as all the kids walking home walk right past our location.
After rehearsals, we began shooting. We started by filming the master shots for the car interior. For each shot we ran through the scene all the way up until Walt leaves the car. Unfortunately, because of a horrible reflection on the windscreen, we couldn't shoot any shots in front of Walt whilst he was in the car, so I had to ensure I got enough coverage from all the other available angles.
Once we had shot all the interiors, we moved outside. It was still very windy, so we had to think carefully about how we could prevent the camera op from being blown over during a take. This meant I had to hold the camera as well for some shots to help with the stability. Before filming I ran Philip through the scene, blocking out his movements. Again, this was important because he had to stop walking towards the house at a certain moment so I could line it up in post with a phone call. He had to be a certain distance away from the house. After this was complete, we began filming, starting with the master shots, which included a tracking shot, and a few MS's and WS's. We managed to finish filming as kids started to appear, and I was happy that we had enough coverage.
Once all the filming was complete, we got back into the car and recorded some audio of Philip moving things in the car, so we could add them in post.
Finally, we wrapped! Philip headed off home and I took Ida back to the station. The shoot was over and I was relieved.
After transferring all the footage to my Mac I realised that the wind had ruined all of our audio, apart from Walt's dialogue in Scene 2. This meant I would have to do a lot of sound design work in post, something I was willing to try.
CONCLUSION
Overall I think the shoot went really well. Even though it was extremely windy, we worked around it and tried our best to not let it affect our coverage, however it did affect our audio. The actors were great. They took everything I said on board and really got into character. I couldn't have asked for two nicer people. Ida was fantastic, all of the footage looked great and that was down to her operation skills. This was my first time directing two professional actors, and I think I did a good job. Now it's time to edit...
- Photo Credit: Ida Frank-
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