end of year films 2010

"Sole Mates" was the first in our string of end of year films. My position for the shoot was that of D.I.T. Although this was a quite straight forward role there were a few problems that had to be overcome. The main problem was that the DIT kit did not come with a charger for the laptop meaning that when the battery ran out we had to back up footage onto a different laptop. Unfortunately this laptop wasn't compatible with the hard drives we were using to store the footage. Fortunately this wasn't that big a hurdle and all the footage was backed up safe and secure.

On our second shoot, "Breathing Room" I was focus puller in the camera department. This was a much more active role on the set and I found it highly enjoyable. I never thought I would enjoy focus pulling as much as I did. I think it’s the almost computer game like feel to it; aiming, judging distance etc. The set also had a very good atmosphere with many of the crew staying over which made for a very enjoyable experience. I don't think you can underestimate how much staying near location positively affects the moral of a crew because quite simply it means more sleep, a chance to relax on set before you need to start, and less travelling.

Our final shoot was "Broken Bubbles", a film I was to D.O.P. I think everyone went into this one a lot more relaxed compared to the other shoots because we had had a bit more time to prepare. At least in terms of shots and lighting I felt very comfortable going on to set. I think it was very important getting a chance to set up the lighting the night before shooting though. I had had a plan for a while about how I would like to light the film and we started putting this plan into action the night before. We lit the set and I really liked the way it looked. That is until we looked at it through the RED. We couldn't see anything. With so little experience on the RED I had no idea how light hungry the RED was when using a zoom lens (for ease I had planned to shoot the film on the zoom lenses). After we upgraded all the lights though and stuck up a few extra it started to look on the RED how it had looked when we had initially lit it by eye. I think this experience really helped me because it showed me you should never light a set up by eye because it will not look the same on camera. All in all though I was very pleased with how the interior scenes looked. I wanted it to look like the workshop was actually just being lit by a few practical lamps around the room and I think this effect was achieved.

I was also ecstatic about a few of the exterior shots we got at sunset at Mugdock Park. When we had been shooting the day scenes it had had been quite grey and cloudy. It wasn't looking good for the fairytale sunset we had been hoping for. It wasn't until just before we were about to shoot the sunset material in fact that the clouds disappeared and we were left with the sun in that perfect, twilight position just on the horizon, creating this brilliant flaring light. It was clear though that we wouldn't have this light for very long and everyone did really well. I'm very grateful that everyone worked so fast and professionally to ensure we got as much shot in this light as possible.

All in all I believe I have learned a huge amount from these shoots. I find it interesting how much you learn when you are just thrown straight into a new situation and are forced to adapt. Yes, I had experience as a D.O.P before but I think this was the first time I felt comfortable enough in my own knowledge to be creative with it. I also believe the none-stop aspect of the shoots has reinvigorated my enthusiasm and love for making films.