Collaboration is important for any film project, and it is helpful when you share a similar vision with the people you are working with.

Last night Aidan and I helped Ella shoot her first and possibly her final film in her investigations, with both shooting at night and sound design. I think we worked really well as a team, especially since we are all interested in exploring night shooting within this project.

With Ella working with Directing and Audio with a Zoom h4 and shotgun mic, Aidan and I took turns working with camera operating and lighting, using the Sony ex3 and a Litepanel. When it was finally dark, we started to shoot, and almost immediately found that it was incredibly difficult to shoot at night with such minimal light. Since none of us had worked with an ex3 at night, I don’t think any of us really thought about the possibility of light not showing up on camera. We used the Litepanel in every shot, because without it, nothing would be seen in shot. In some of the shots planned, we thought the light from a phone would suffice for lighting in the scene, but we quickly learnt otherwise.

As we all got more comfortable with our techniques in this shoot, setting up a shot got easier and quicker. As Ella wanted this project to be mostly sound design, the visuals were more secondary, but after this shoot I think with the shots that were created, the sound design and visuals will work together incredibly well.

This experience also helped me get an idea of things that would help with my shoot. I wasn’t considering using a Litepanel, but after seeing how difficult it is to light a scene at night, I might try it in my shoot and do some tests. Even though I will have more lighting in my scene, it could still be a good addition to some shots.