Sound Stage Test Shoots
Our productions for 'Broken Planets' and ’A Good One' did two test shoots in the sound stage today!
Since we are all leaving for Easter break tomorrow, our crews had decided to wedge in this test shoot before we dispersed in our various directions. As this was our last chance to arrange anything in advance, we attempted to cramp as much into the schedule as possible, from test footage of tracking shots and lighting designs to sound experiments.
As we have been in there before and realised that sound is going to become a major issue in our films, this was a necessary task to gauge whether we would additionally need to schedule for ADR sessions and/or foley collection.
Furthermore, every one of us felt the need to get a feel for the set, its conditions, and other possible issues that might come up during production. I, for example, wanted to know what the power supply situation was so that I would not end up without insufficient (or no) power on the first day of production.
Since 'A Good One' is scheduled for the first three weekdays after the break and 'Broken Planets' for the consecutive three workdays after that, we realised that this was vital in order to prepare plans and solutions
To make a long story short: We did not have much time to waste and thus got going!
And it was damn well we did.
For I - as camera operator 1 and gaffer on 'A Good One' and gaffer on 'Broken Planets - needed to understand which one of the electrical circuits worked, what equipment we had already installed on location, where I would find extension cables, and what we would need to book out in order to be fully up and running come shooting day 1.
Furthermore, Has had envisioned a couple of shots that we wanted to exercise up front to know whether they, for the first, would work, and for the second, if they were difficult to achieve.
One of these shots, a tracking dolly wide shot, was intended to be used as an opening shot, so we naturally tried that one first and exercised a couple of times. Initially, we encountered a couple of issues as we accidentally put the tracks on uneven ground with a wide rim going through it. This naturally led to a ruckle in the footage, which is why we moved the track closer to set and started anew.
As we did not know what kind of dolly operation would produce the best footage (pushing the dolly vs. pulling it), we experimented with both, first by pushing and afterwards by pulling. Hannah got into position and I swung myself onto the dolly:
After Has, Hannah, and me viewed the footage back on camera, we decided that pulling the cart produced a more steady movement than pushing it. There were still slight jitters left on footage, but we were confident that we could deal with them by the first shooting day.
Afterwards, Hannah and I attempted a camera 'hand-over' shot, as we called it. Has wanted a shot that followed our characters from the living room into the hallway, thereby seemingly going through the wall.
This posed to be quite an endeavour as this shot not only required a steady hand for a distance of about four meters, but furthermore also good timing, and the bridging of about 70 cm of height difference.
Hannah and I attempted this a couple of times, with me starting out and Hannah taking over at the exact height of the wall (allowing for a cut in the edit if necessary), but we would either produce shaky footage at the actual hand-over, lose the timing or get the actual, bare structure of the set in shot, thereby destroying the illusion that this was an ordinary wall.
As handheld shots proved to be a difficulty, we considered using a slider but had to bury that idea again as we don't have a slider long enough to cover the distance needed that would make the shot work. After a long time of thinking back and forth, Has decided that we would attempt this handheld shot again when time came and prepare for alternatives to cover in the edit.
We then moved on to the test shoot for 'Broken Planets' which meant that we had to move the tracking dolly to the other side and start rigging. After we established the best position for the tracking dolly to make her 'around the table-shot' work, I set about to light the scene with the LEDs and the LEE gel pack we brought along.
As we had already conducted multiple recces on that set, I knew that the window in the ceiling above us could pose a difficult task for me when setting up for a dark, moody shot.
Thus, I experimented with a couple of dark blue and blue gels and jotted down their respective number for later use. Rigging up and turning on the LED's under that sky light, I immediately realised that this is going to become a major issue, as the footage on camera looked as if I had rigged nothing at all. So this was going to be one of my tasks for the Easter break:
Finding out on how the heck I can get that moody lighting working.
After the test shoot, we returned our equipment and I took the opportunity to ask our technician about what we could possibly do with that ceiling to make Chloe's science-fiction piece work. He told me that professional lighting departments would rig a scaffold and flag that window entirely before setting up the rest, but that our college did neither have a scaffold nor a flag large enough to cover it and that he would dislike seeing someone at Level4 do this.
But, and that is the crucial part, he recommended that I try to rig as many lights as possible and instead underexpose the image on camera to create the moody effect that we wanted. Or keep that really for post this time.
However, I decided that I need to do more research into matters to see how others have dealt with issues of this kind and how I could possibly fake a dark scenario with a bright light directly above us. I am just grateful that we did test shoots today, as this helped me avoid any surprises and helped me keep an eye open for these issues in advance.
And now it's research time! MerkenMerkenMerkenMerkenMerkenMerken