The show must go on.

Disaster!
Unfortunately, we lost an actor yesterday due to car troubles so today was our third, and hopefully final, day of filming on location.
The first day went by, more or less, without any negative incident. Mainly we worked on dolly shots while the equipment was available to us. Though we no longer were going to use the ambitious 270-degree shot that swung around the table we found the dolly very useful for tracking shots. I found it much easier to do this kind of shot than anything too ambitious, though it was a bit of a shame to lose such an adventurous shot. I really enjoyed working with the dolly as the movement was much more diverse than just the use of a slider.

I found it very fun to work with the lovely actors as it made the project feel much more real and lively. I found it very interesting to see what nuances within their acting was actually picked up by the camera.

Back in January we had talked about using a jib shot that would begin focused on the table and the chess set, that would then travel upwards to a mid shot of the characters. We’d also talked about the possibilities of a contra-zoom (though this was impossible with the Panasonic AF101as it is reliant on interchangeable lenses. These shots were not used in favour of more static shots that meant that the filming production process would be easier and faster to allow more time for post-production. Though this was less adventurous I feel the shots we did achieve create a real sense of stillness. It gives you a real sense of the loneliness of Victor’s character, in the eerie tranquility with his mother’s photograph always watching over him.

Yesterday we were sadly without our third actor but we managed! It was a case of using the slider to get some more artistic extraneous shots. The carvings around the fireplace were particularly beautiful when lit so it was nice to capture those on camera though I doubt they’ll get used as they’re not necessarily relevant but it’s always nice to have something just in case.
Though today was a little stressful, having only a half-day. Without Lewis’s character we had to try and find ways around the script in order to keep the project making sense so there were a lot more close ups and non-character oriented shots today which I particularly enjoyed. I really enjoy getting little details on camera and the location was full of great details. Overall I’d say the group overcame problems well and worked hard to get to the goal. Though I hadn’t had much experience with the camera the practice was really useful and I really felt I learnt a lot. It’s been a hard few days but now it’s on to post!