A Field Day For The BMPCC4K: Location Recces For Pillars and Gilly
As already blogged about for previous modules, one important part of a DoP’s job is assessing locations for their visual potency to enhance the story you want to tell. As such, my blog entry “Location Scouting: How to Investigate a Film Location” already dealt with the theoretical research and my practical application of location scouting and location recces during Live Production 2.
Since there have been no new developments on the how-to’s and/or theory of location recces – make sure to check for suitability to story, anachronisms, unwanted background noise, transport/parking, power supply, ample space for cast and crew, possible hazards, knowledge of weather and climate as well as of sunrise and sunset, and really important: toilets! – I will directly proceed into my application of my previous knowledge in regard to my two FMP projects.
Thus, during this week, we visited Crimdon Beach for Pillars of Creation and Hordon Beach as well as Featherbed for the Tragic Case of Gilly O’Connor. This also posed to be a good introduction into the use of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. Whilst I will be looking into a proper test of this camera’s capabilities and limitations at a later date, this blog is centred on the location recces conducted this week.
Crimdon Beach – Pillars of Creation
Our art director Eline proposed this location as part of her tasks for her FMP module, and as such, we visited it on Wednesday. The location was marvellous to begin with, as there were not only sand dunes and a lot of flora in the area, but also a lot of driftwood and stones, which always poses for nice imagery.
This is especially true for the symbolic subtext of Pillars of Creation. Even though it could be argued that the two homunculi created by Commander Mark Zane are Adam and Eve, my initial resource was in fact based on their Norse mythology equivalent of Ask and Embla.
As the song Völuspá, from the Poetic Edda, compiled by the medieval Christian scribe Snorri Sturluson, states, Ask and Embla were the first human beings to inhabit the prehistoric Earth – more precisely the realm of the North.
Location Recce Footage, Pt. 1 (ungraded)
In contrast to their biblical counterparts (or rather predecessors) however, Ask and Embla were not made of dust, but of driftwood that was found at the beach – or so the legend goes at least. As I would love to keep that kind of subtext within the story – especially for audience members familiar with that story – I decided to add this imagery to the storyboard.
Location Recce Footage, Pt. 2 (ungraded)
During the further process of location scouting, Crimdon Beach proved to be the perfect location in every aspect possible as it offered a variety of altitudes, scenery and backdrops that were closely accessible from the nearby car park, but still far enough away from the town and the general public, thus eliminating a high likelihood for interference, anachronisms, and background noise.
Location Recce Footage, Pt. 3 (ungraded)
Whilst power supply will be an issue with this particular location, hazards are limited and space is indeed ample. The climate and weather, as well as the times of sunrise, will however be more important to keep an eye on. Thus, we finally settled on this beach as our filming location.
Location Recce Footage, Pt. 4 (ungraded)
Upon leaving the beach, I was able to find an area that was also featuring cliffs – an important ‘item’ which would be needed for our production of Gilly – so we checked that one out as well just in case it might prove helpful.
Location Recce Footage, Pt. 5 (ungraded)
Whilst there is a promising cliff and a couple of rocks to be used for Gilly’s death scene, I took out more time to experiment with angles, perspectives, and focal lengths as this site would only prove useful if I was able to pull that off with the equipment at hand.
Location Recce Footage Crimdon Cliff (ungraded)
Hordon Beach and Featherbed – The Tragic Case of Gilly O’Connor
This location recce today was split into two parts: The first was to take place at Hordon Beach in order to check out the cliffs, the second one in order to check out the cliffs at Featherbed.
Whilst Hordon Beach was a bit of a trek and would thus require a lot more time for setup and wrap, it proved to be a visually interesting location that could provide a lot of opportunities to recreate a cliff scene without actually putting cast and crew at risk. Due to the force of erosion taking place in this area, Hordon Beach interestingly enough formed an embankment of coal that is not too high, but offers an outline that closely resembles the outline of a cliff, if framed correctly.
Although this would naturally require tweaking most of the shots using wider focal lengths to distort the space around the actor, it had a higher probability and variety than the cliffs at Crimdon Beach – which could only be used for establishing the height of a cliff when looking from down below.
So whilst this could work in theory, the successful application of perspective and lens choice would be mandatory in order to be selling the illusion of a steep cliff. From my location recce so far, I would argue that any shot taken from down below would have to be taken at Crimdon Beach, whereas all the shots taken at the top of the cliff would best be captured at Hordon.
Featherbed Cliffs was a different kind of location recce as I immediately realised upon arrival that this was not a feasible option for our production. Not only was the place littered with warning signs indicating that the cliffs in and of themselves were unstable, they were also mostly fenced in, included into the town architecture and integrated into public spaces, thus ruining the illusion of a faraway, abandoned cliff that was required for our story.
Nevertheless, we went and checked out the area just in case we were able to either find a suitable nook or to tweak perspective well enough to make the shots work regardless.
However, as you can glean from the photos, there was no such space in the immediate area that was also safe to access for cast and crew. The first impression was even solidified by the fact that the beach underneath the cliff was especially busy, teeming with a lot of people that would inevitably interfere with our production.
Remaining Location Recces
With Pillars of Creation being sorted location-wise, we are still requiring a suitable hotel, a garden and a house for our production of Gilly. As such, one option for our garden scene would be from one of Chloe’s grandparents, as would a place called Wynyard be for the hotel. However, since other matters are currently more pressing, such as e.g. the storyboards and camera tests, we decided to conduct further location recces during interim week.
Getting to Know the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4k
In addition to this, the location recces did have another benefit: I was able to getting to know the BMPCC 4k camera a bit better and experience it first hand, especially in regard to its limitations and issues that I could possibly encounter.
Already years back, when my father was still alive and taking photos during our holidays in Sweden, he would sometimes jokingly call me “Kameraprüfgerät” (which loosely translates to “camera testing unit”) for my impeccable talent of unearthing possible issues or peculiarities with cameras that I’ve been given within only a few moments of using it, in regard to front-heaviness, grain, focus issues, and the like.
The same seems to hold true for the Pocket 4k, as I realised some issues that I need to take care of and master before going into principal photography as they might influence the quality and progress of our production. These issues entail:
Light-weightiness and thus front-heaviness of the camera (even with lighter lenses)
Placement of fans and mics: The mics are placed next to the camera’s fans, rendering its sound only as scratch sound.
Implementation of in-camera LUTs: The loaded LUTs are not always applying when the camera is being turned on, it can sometimes take up to four attempts to have them applied, which is a loss of time and a strain on battery life.
Accuracy of focus peak function: Watching the footage back on a bigger screen has revealed this to be a major problem, as the focus peak function – similarly to the LUT application – often does not come on and when it does, it isn’t faithful either, with the actual focus peak usually lying in front of the indicated focus peak.
Battery charge duration: The charge of one battery only last for a maximum of 45 min, requiring a massive amount of batteries – or a charging station nearby – if you want to go for a full day of principal photography.
LCD glare and a non-flippable screen: Which will require us to find a solution to properly see the screen and view the footage back on set (especially in bright conditions), such as e.g. a matte box solution or an external monitor.
Whilst most of these issues can be easily solved and or taken care of, I am glad that I was able to take the camera out and test it before we were filming anything important yet. This also encouraged me in conducting more lab tests with the camera first before going into production so that I know how to combat these issues and prepare accordingly. As such I will make sure to address the LUT and focus peak issue with our technician demonstrator and test with the camera to get a better feeling (or at least control measure) of when I am shooting sharp or soft
References:
Aputure (2017) 8 Film and TV Location Scout and Management Tips! [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wYeky964PY&list=WL&index=165&frags=pl%2Cwn [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
BBC Academy Production (2011) How to do a recce [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9uy8tgC9M&index=166&list=WL&frags=pl%2Cwn [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Blackmagic Design (2020) Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras [online] Available at: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Film Riot (2015) Mondays: No Budget Location Scouting & Not Being a One Man Band [online] https://bit.ly/2D16UA3 [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Haines, N. (2017) 6 Things To Look Out For On Your Location Recce [online] Available at: https://elementtwentysix.com/6-things-look-location-recce/ [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Hartle, S. (2018) Location Scouting: How to Investigate a Film Location [online] Available at: https://sveahartle.wixsite.com/sveaexmachina/single-post/2018/11/04/Location-Scouting-How-to-Properly-Investigate-and-Document-a-Film-Location [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Krause, A. (2011) Die Götter- und Heldenlieder der Älteren Edda [The Poetic Edda] Leipzig: Reclam.
McGregor, L. (2019) Building a Low-Budget Handheld Rig for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K [online] Image taken from: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/low-budget-handheld-rig-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-4k/ [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Solemnfilms (2014) Shooting a Film – Location Scouting [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRnZ4vVZeJw&index=164&list=WL&t=0s&frags=pl%2Cwn [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
StudioBinder (2017) 8 Keys to Location Scouting Like a Pro [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-7PwdMaWk&index=164&list=WL&frags=pl%2Cwn [Accessed on 12 January 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach Cliff (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/neFKAyj23iw [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach, Pt. 1 (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/FgaTh7ghc6U [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach, Pt. 2 (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/ro4sQPpHk74 [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach, Pt. 3 (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/-HCXAOGiueg [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach, Pt. 4 (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/NHb9V4HUo1g [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
Svea Hartle. (2020) Location Recce Crimdon Beach, Pt. 5 (January 2020). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/srvAa8AaYIQ [Accessed on 24 May 2020].
YCImaging (2017) How to Find EPIC Shoot Locations (Scouting Tips) [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUm3RGh0_04&index=165&list=WL&frags=pl%2Cwn [Accessed on 12 January 2020].