Documentary: Filming- Day 2

Day one was complete, it was now time for day two!

FILMING: DAY 2

Before heading to the sight, I spent some time setting all the equipment up so we wouldn't have to waste time doing it on site. I set up all the camera settings, and set the audio levels to ensure we wouldn't have any sound issues.

For day two, Saskia joined me to help record the sound. On our way up to the site I explained to her what had happened on day one and laid out my intentions for day two. For this day I stuck with the same policy as before, film anything and everything.

We started the day off by following Martina, one of our characters. We started off by filming a sequence of her coming onto site in the morning and getting ready for a day of gardening. Then we moved on to filming some interviews with her. We started off on foot, filming her in actuality and asking her a couple of questions as she was working. We asked her to show us the on site pond but unfortunately the gate was locked and she didn't know the code. However, whilst we were by the pond, we did manage to get a few shots of some Bees so that was a bonus. Finally, we sat down and filmed an interview with Martina, asking her questions that would help aid the development of the story. As I was filming, Saskia asked the questions, however occasionally I did ask one too.

Interviewing Martina

Once we had finished with Martina, we went around the 'bottom plot' and filmed some GVs that we could use to fill gaps in her interview. We started by the gate and moved our way through the allotment, filming it in sections. I continued to filming everything I possibly could, and Saskia kept an eye out for any good shots. Whilst on the bottom plot, we also filmed the opening shot, which would be used when our title appears. I already had an idea of what I wanted this shot to be, so we set it up and filmed it in a couple of different frame sizes, so I had choices in the edit.

After we had finished on the bottom plot, we moved up to the top plot to film some stuff with Jamie and his volunteers. We started by filming an interview with Sue, who packs the bags. She was willing to take part and was very confident talking on camera. We knew we'd need to film more with her on day three. Next we went and filmed Jamie's opening shot, of him walking onto site in the morning. This was one of the only sequences we needed to film for the documentary. And finally, we shot an interview with Jamie whilst he was working inside the polytunnel. Unfortunately, we soon ran out of space and so we had to stop filming. Luckily we still had one more filming day left, so we still had time to film more interviews with Jamie and Sue.

Filming Jamie's opening shots

Overall day two was a success. Once again there were no problems what so ever, all the equipment worked perfectly and Saskia did a great job capturing the audio. We got a lot of great footage, and after another 10 hours of transferring, I could see that everything came out as I expected it too.

Now onto day three!