Totally Sick Shoot

Hello all,

No drawings this time, mostly because I did most of my work on set this weekend.

This weekend we got to film Act 1 Scene 1 of our doc, which is the narrative potion. Despite multiple setbacks we managed to finish 30 min ahead of schedule. By doing so we were able to obtain extra footage that Matt used in our scene. Quite proud of how efficiently we were able to handle the situation.

And to explain the title I was diseased during the shoot. Moving on!

We filmed on Campus near Fischer student union. We were shooting directly outside at a small circular table near the amphitheater, which is mildly unfortunate when a crowd of parents and students are outside blasting hip hop. Later on there was a party in the clock-tower room right above us as well, so Sound could have been bad due to this, but we were able to time our shoot perfectly between the two disturbances.

When we got there I had some slight issues. I had prepared two bounce boards so that I could bounce light into the actor's faces since they would be covered in shadow by 3. The light had extended a lot further than I thought it would have however, and I would up having to ditch the bouceboards idea entirely by the time we were ready to shoot. Fortunately I had the A7sii to compensate for the lack of light on the subjects. There were multiple instances however where the backgrounds would be brutally blown out, due to the raw difference in where the afternoon sun hit the earth and the shade covered the actresses' faces.

So once again we had some exposure difficulties, but this time I had brought on Adam Fackleman to help with the film if he could, and since he had more experience with the A7sII than I did, he actually showed and reminded me of some of it's features that we could use, as well as helping me with double checking any ideas on how to improve shots.

All in all, great shoot (though I was sick during the middle of it and fell asleep instantly when I got back to my apartment), super time efficient, with impressive young talent and a fantastic crew!

Lights! Camera! TOO MUCH LIGHT!

WARNING: CAMERA STUFF AHEAD!
SKIP TO PRETTY PICTURES IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BOTHER

This week we started getting B roll for our documentary.  I took out the A7sII for the first time, and the camera seems like an excellent tool, though I quickly discovered some problems that, though they were partially my fault make me reconsider the A7sII as our all-purpose camera.

Somehow the night before we left to go shoot our B-roll, it did not even phase me that I had only one lens. I noticed this a little too late the next day, and the harsh morning sun wasn't kind to our video. The lens that we used was a zoom lens set to F2.8, which isn't bad at all given the situation, but I had very few options in terms of controlling the light.

I reduced the ISO as far as it could go, down to 50 (which I never want to have to do again), and found that wasn't enough. With a cringe and a prayer of dubious sincerity, I adjusted the shutter speed in a wild attempt to account for the light. In order to keep the B-roll from looking like it was fresh out of Saving Private Ryan, I avoided any moving shots or moving backgrounds at first, instead relying on racking focus to create movement and interest within the frame.

Eventually I used moving shots, and for some reason that is completely beyond me they seemed to play back just fine, even at insanely tight shutter speeds. The biggest problem with the A7sII I found after a little research, was that it's high native ISO gives it problems with shooting in daylight without above average strength ND filters. For the sake of keeping our film looking consistent though, that is not something that is hard to remember.

Sorry about the sorta kinda boring post. Here are some more storyboards from scene 1. I'm trying out a new technique to let me play around with shot ideas. Since I'm the only one using them it's all good if there are random bars through my pictures cause I know what's supposed to go there.

...

I'll stop rambling now.

The title screen; bolder cursive title for legibility

That's a fork...just accept it.

Katie and June saying goodbye when their friend leaves for the bathroom. (More stereotypical to go together? Questions for later.)

Yes, it kinda looks like they're going to miss in retrospect. That's going to look awkward in slo mo.

She's not leaning out a cardboard box with a chair in it, nor is she being launched through a perfectly shaped square hole in the front of an awkward bus. This is what I meant by random bars.  The lines separate the image into potential new frames for better visualization. 

Stay tuned for god knows what! 

(I don't yet)

Week 3 update

This week I have begun working on storyboards for scene 1 of our documentary's skit sequences. For those who do not know, our documentary Circles is focused around 3 acts, each containing 1 skit to help outline the social environment of the age group we are interviewing, and an interview portion in which we talk with women about the subject matter at hand.

The storyboards are below. They are rough approximations of the scene, since the full script has not been completely finished yet.

The opening scene for the film. The title is written in cursive virtual text across the table. Chairs are scattered with our two main characters Kaite and Nikki sitting near each other.

Nikki begins to lean in, covering her mouth while she whispers something so no one can read her lips.

Katie plays with her hair, acting innocent as their friend June approaches from off screen. 

There is much more work to be done with the storyboards, and I will post it as I complete it and read over the scripts. 

In other news, the hunt for older women to interview continues. I am heading back to Raleigh this weekend to meet with some family and attempt to find more contacts through them.