Our recce revealed the characteristics of each location and some of the features that could be problematic. In particular, the reflective surfaces that included transparent glass, black glass, mirrors and brushed/stainless steel, which could limit or influence camera coverage and staging. The West space was dark with a clear contrast between the level/quality of light between the interior and exterior. While the East space was bright and tight with a soft key source produced by bounced daylight.

West specifications included:

• High traffic public space.
• Significant contrast between the interior level of light and exterior daylight.
• Tungsten down lights that formed a warm, hard spot but low intensity spread.
• Daylight (and direct sunlight) bounced from Bowen St through front doors, provided a soft light source but mixed temperature.
• Black walls/floor and a white ceiling contributed to the contrast and shadows.
• Elevator contained warm tungsten (?) ceiling lights diffused through a perforated cover.
• On the other side of the interior glass doorway were LED lights that changed colour (rainbow), complicating the mixed temperature.
• GPO outlet available.

East specifications included:

• Quieter in foot traffic.
• White walls and floor.
• Daylight (and depending on time of day, direct sunlight) bounced from University Lane. The light is additionally bounced by the white interior surfaces.
• Narrow space between hallway wall and elevator, but significant depth down hallway
• 4x small tungsten down-lights inside elevator.
• GPO outlet available.

I planned to shoot in the West for a few reasons. Firstly, by exploiting the dark, contrasty light the theme of ambiguity could be established, since the audience (and Jeff) aren’t sure of Martine’s motivations. I also wanted the challenge of the multiple reflective surfaces to mostly study how this might influence camera coverage. Lastly, the ambiguous theme would also be constructed through hand-held camera movement and I felt the West location offered more opportunity for this type of camera coverage.

The plan was to work with a smaller aperture to allow for greater DOF and focus on the talent while slightly underexposing the skin for a moodier ‘look’. Since I needed to limit the reflective surfaces in frame,  longer focal lengths (approx. 35mm-70mm) would be employed to narrow the field of view.  In addition, I would utilise white core board in case the down-lights cast too dense shadows.