Keeping Track

Well, after running round organising props and a location in which to shoot Frankenstein's Den the day came to set our bottles and lamps out in G03 and make with the video. It took all morning to dress our scene and construct the track and dolly for our opening sequence. It turned out to be a steep learning curve putting it all together and we were still a little disappointed with the art direction. However, with our budget, time and location constraints we reckoned there wasn't a lot more we could have done. We would have to hope that creative lighting and camera angles would give us the atmosphere we wanted to create. Fortunately, the story we are working to requires a lot of close up to avoid revealing the setting. This meant we could use details instead of overall look to drive things forward.
The track was an experience I had been looking forward to for a while. The really smooth camera movement that can be achieved is crucial to some of the best work seen on both big and little screens. It's relatively easy to put together, if a little time consuming, with supervision from staff. I now feel confident I could use it unsupervised (indoors at least!) which is a bonus for future productions. It did seem a bit of an anticlimax to spend only a few minutes shooting the sequence we needed with it after building it for more than an hour! The effect looked really good in camera on the day.
Using three redhead lights was also relatively new experience for us both. We had used them to light still photography work before and tried them out on a green screen induction but this was the first chance to get hands dirty lighting a scene we had in mind ourselves. It turned out quite a challenge to achieve the effect we wanted but we learnt a great deal about the lights and the way the camera works in the end. Using the ND filter setting to achieve a dimmer scene without closing the aperture down a lot is one example.
We had a stroke of luck in finding an understudy for the part of the crazy scientist. James would have had to step in to cover for his step-dad (who was unable to make it) but when Oliver arrived he brought his dad as well as his mum who was happy to volunteer! We had a lot of fun spending the afternoon shooting with Dave and Oliver which will probably show through in the performances. Even the interruption by a group of visiting teenagers was turned into an opportunity for light relief! Keeping performers relaxed in front of camera is one of the biggest challenges we face as we use non professionals in the roles we create.
I came out of the room feeling pleased that we had achieved what we set out to and enjoyed it too! We could have improved things with more thorough rehearsal and practice with equipment but, again, time issues constrained us. Next the edit...