In November/December of last year, I AC’d on a feature film that my friend was directing. The pick-ups day was a few weeks ago, and in the lead up to the shoot I was scheduled to AC once again, which was fine (and obviously expected), but didn’t really provide me with any excitement. About 2 days before the shoot the director told me that the boom/sound recordist had injured his shoulder and was unable to perform his duty. As he didn’t want to spend money on hiring a professional, I was offered the role despite having close to zero experience, which I accepted. I learned everything on the spot, and was surprised with how much enthusiasm I had for the role. I have been itching to do boom work again, and as Kerry/Max showed greater eagerness for directing (which is my preferred role), I jumped at the opportunity to do sound for this exercise. However, I was more preoccupied with operating the boom pole (which was broken), my observation of the lighting for this exercise was somewhat limited. So please note that I’m more reflecting on the result of the footage, rather than my thoughts on the actual shoot.

Shoot #1
We had some technical difficulties in the lead up to the blocking (sound + camera) which gave us about 10 minutes to shoot everything.

I really like the level of exposure; it enhances a defined patterned symmetry of the lines on Kerry’s shirt in the foreground and the bricks in the background. This is a ultimately shot of lines – along with the shirt and the bricks it is Kerry’s sunglasses, the tree, the pavement, the shadow on the ground, how Lydia and Andrew are standing upright. It’s really nice to look at and as an establishing shot, it succeeds its purpose of drawing you in.

I think this shot is too overexposed. Andrew’s white shirt has lost its information and it’s somewhat of a distraction. There is too much shadow on Lydia; as an exercise it’s fine but in a ‘real’ shoot, would look contrived.

Shoot #2
Kerry directed this, and before we started shooting discussed the opening establishment shot. We agreed that a POV shot out the window was most appropriate – Kerry opted for a slow pan whereas I preferred a slow zoom in (a shot that I’m practically obsessed with). We both had a go at operating the camera and trying our particular way. I struggled to manually zoom and decided to try the auto zoom. I am usually okay but on this occasion found it way too sensitive to get any consistency. The irony is that, in my opinion, a camcorder performs this function more smoothy! The first shot below is Kerry’s pan.

Slow zoom, slow pan; little differences but ultimately provides a similar atmosphere.

I think the blocking of this shot is pretty messy, and not nice to look at. I think the light that we bounced onto Lydia is subtle, but the overexposed light from the window distracts us from this.

The soft light that hits the side of Andrew’s face is at a decent level, though I think the frame is a bit too tight on him.

While we would have all obviously benefitted from serious planning of each shot, acting on instinct and without a lot of time made this a worthwhile experiment. I would have liked to have had a go at directing/camera, but understand that time constraints make this difficult.