Critical Evaluation

Making Morning Glory has been a stressful but creative experience, I have learned a lot about cinematography and being a practical cinematographer. The work on set was extremely difficult and I am not overly pleased with the final outcome however I believe that it has taught me skills that I will need in the future and works as a sort of proof of concept for our final film even if it is not quite visually what I had imagined.

During the pre production phase of the film I was fairly active, we held a lot of little meetings to make sure that everyone knew exactly what they had to do to prepare and we all attended and felt fairly prepared when it came to production. I began my pre production, after looking at the script and having a little input on its redrafting, with shot listing. On reflection I think I should have done this with Jess our editor as whilst imagining the scenes and shots I was thinking a lot about the comic timing and the cutting of the scenes to create comedy. This is the first comedy I have been involved in and I found the process of shot listing quite fun however in the final film a lot of my personal ideas and comic timings were not carried though, partly because of the execution of the camera work and partly due to different comic ideas. Another issue with my shot list was that it came a little before our full location scout, therefore on the location scout I had to try and squeeze my shots into the settings rather than working with the locations I knew were there.

The location scout itself went fairly well, we found all the places we needed within ten minutes walk of each other and had a few shops and a cafe close by for breaks. I took a few preliminary shots to show the rest of the crew and for my own reference. I also wanted Jess to try colour correcting them to the morning hue that we wanted but she said she thought it would be better for me to do it in camera. This is something we had previously discussed as well so on the day I also used a blueish hue indicative of morning overcast light.

I also went on a few early morning shoots to get examples of the light, they were dark, fairly blue and low contrast. I drew story boards from my shot lists and showed them to Alex our director who was happy with them.

Production did not run as smoothly as any of us had quite expected. The first day drew to an early finish because of my mistake in only bringing two batteries that didn't last the full day. That was a time problem however we had lots of other small issues as the day went on. Principally the tips I had researched for outside shooting didn't help. I was planning to three point light the first scene we shot, the scene at the house, however it was too overcast for the reflectors to do anything. I attempted to light with portable lights but they were too dim to really be noticed.

We also had a few issues with overall coherence. I think Alex our director was a little nervous and didn't quite call the shots with enough confidence, this meant the actors were a little unsure of themselves and their marks and they often stepped out of the depth of field because they missed marks. I wasn't too worried as I thought we had time to practice until we got rushed to finish shooting at that location. Whilst the day was loosely planned we didn't have a time per shot even though I had included setup time in my shot lists. This meant we didn't know when we were and weren't running over and by the time we realized it was too late. My final problem and I think our overall biggest was that nobody else knew what we were shooting, I was the only person with knowledge of the storyboards and so I had to tell Dan where he could stand out of shot, Alex what we were shooting, he had to tell the actors and on top of normal setup that would take five or ten minutes. Next time I am going to make sure we all have an extensive knowledge of every shot.

After the problems on the first day I took advantage of the time left over and went through the shot list with Dan and Alex for about an hour and planned exactly how long each shot would take. Unfortunately I was late on the second day, I put this down to shooting my second project the previous night however it is not an excuse. When I got on set I thought it best to move all of the shots we had missed to the end of the shoot. Our biggest enemy on the second day was the sun, it was out in force and made a lot of the images really contrasty and gave us a few continuity issues with the day before. Alex was still a little flustered and we had a few issues with the general public slowing us down, overall we only had time for a take or two and one setup. Dan helped out a lot with this, we had no sinc sound to get so he helped me lay the dolly and get each shot setup as well as entertaining our hyperactive child actor Courtney. I feel like we got closer to a good shoot on the second day but still didn't have enough time to get the images I really wanted. The dolly ate up a lot of time and really wasn't as nice as I expected. Next time I plan on looking into sliders just to add a little movement and a faster close up feel.

In the feedback sessions and after looking at the edit it was clear that the camera work wasn't up to the standard I wanted, I think our colour choices were a mistake, I should have shot it clearly and with a lot of light and taken it all out in post and changed the colour there. There were also several shakey and weak shots but we couldn't get our actor back. I got some pickups that set the scene and they became some of my favorite shots of the film. There are some that don't appear and I'm not sure why but I trust Jess' editorial choices.

Looking back at the final film after being away from it for a while I am a little less critical however I think there is a lot to fix if we are to achieve the final film we imagined. The look itself I think needs to change, for a start the colour balance doesn't work. Although the light is blue in the mornings it isn't as cold as the balance makes it out to be and the image loses a lot of its charm. I think if we shoot in a brighter colour balance and just bring the blues up a little in post production the overall picture quality will be much better. We struggled on day two with the sun being so bright. We may have to look into scheduling some of the more important outside scenes in the golden hours however with the next project we can afford to do that, in this case everything was outside and we needed to shoot more than two hours a day. If I was in this situation again I would definitely just make sure I shoot only in sun or only in light, composing so that the contrast wasn't in the image.

The film opens with a lot of shots I like, although the balance doesn't quite do the justice the slow starting pace sets the scene really nicely. Unfortunately my first strongly planned shot with the grass in the foreground and shop in the background was so low I couldn't use a tripod and the image ended up shakey, it was the last shot of the day and with fading light time was of the essence so we used all we could get. The restriction of time was really our biggest problem, with two shooting days and ambitious location shooting we really didn't have the time or control over the environment to shoot five pages a day.

The opening is nice and features the shots from the pickup shoot, I had more time to shoot and set them up however I would have like to use a thinner depth of field but we didn't have the lens for it. The bully shot is where it begins to deteriorate, with the track back and pan. It didn't work because we changed the shot, the scuffle was supposed to happen in the middle of the road as more of a long shot but Clarice our producer didn't want the actors in the road so they ended up in a medium shot, too close for the framing. Again this problem was caused by a lack of communication and knowledge of exactly what we would be shooting.

Another well planned shot gone wrong was of the balancing curb shot. The depth of field was thin but in a few takes I got his feet solidly in focus as he walked however that shot didn't end up in the edit. I'm not sure why but I know that Jess had some footage loss problems and wonder if this was all she had left. Next time I think I will go through and label the files and show which ones I think are best to use to help cut down on her workload.

A few of the shots I had planned on the track and dolly didn't quite work out, the camera just didn't travel the way I expected and I turned instead to handcam, specifically in the dog reveal shot. It isn't nice and I didn't have time to focus. I am already looking into steadycam and fluidcam as well as cheap alternatives to a follow focus to improve upon the quality of handcam footage next time. In the park Georgia reveal shot my lighting was way off, I should have shot the action towards or away from the sun to avoid the horrible shadow rather than trying to use a reflector and bounce to balance it out. Finally a little framing issue in the last scene, I should have shot the actors looking to the other side of camera, as it is they look away and we see more of their backs, the other way round would have been more including and fit the tone much better.

I think we all learned a lot through the film, I think Alex will be more confident in his directing which will have a great effect on the performances, and I have learned a lot of practical drama shooting techniques. I am fairly happy with the finished film, I think that Dan's sound adds a lot to it in both setting the scene and tone. We didn't have a large focus on art direction and subtle little touches, I think that me and Alice need to talk about putting more obscure comical close ups into the film for next time. I would also like for Clarice to look into getting a budget for the next project as more money means more time and I would like to shoot as close to  two pages a day as I can.

Overall I think I put a lot into the production, despite it's and my failures I learned a lot and have become a more practical cinematographer and film maker. I have definitely become more of a cinematographer than a director interested in cinematography. Whilst my research was slim and mainly online I feel like I have actually learned what to research. Before this project I knew so much less I wasn't sure what questions to ask and what to study but I have learned which areas I need to know more about and can now look into more informed study. We definitely learned more about planning, and practical planning, and that everyone needs to know everyone else's jobs for a smooth day of shooting. I have also personally learnt a lot about shooting drama, the film I have been most comfortable and prominent as a cinematographer was a much slower contemplative doc, the shooting style is the complete opposite so working with actors, marks, shot reverse shot and general film making techniques is still a big learning step for me and I feel much more confident with these techniques now. I would like to look at a few more films for reference before we move forward as a lack of real visual goal was one of my main weaknesses, I definitely need to increase my aesthetic research and am looking into how to achieve the images that are in my mind. A more precise focus on my equipment and the use of different lenses, sliders and a general better standard of kit, including battery, will help me to improve on my own productiveness and I am looking into exactly what products I need to achieve my goals. I look forward to making something better than this but am happy with what we have made and what I have learnt.

Morning Glory

Here it finally is!
http://vimeo.com/82327245

I am pretty happy with it in the end. There are things I will definitely do differently next time but for this little short everything worked out ok in the end.

Pickups

1st shot reshot with door opening.
POV of second shot walking away from door
Paper pulled from inside of door
Paper placed through letterbox
Sunrise
Cloud movement
Brids scattering
Leaves falling
Long shot of street lights
Establishing of Georgias
Empty streets
empty street 2
Establish park from N's POV
Slide CU's
Swing CU's

I got a few other small pickups of similar nature and the whole shoot went really well. It was only me which led to a few issues with shooting and rewatching as I dropped leaves and practical things like that but it all went well. In fact it went better than the normal shoots an the images I captured on the pickup shoot look a lot more like the shots that were in my head. I think I achieved them better because of time and practice, being more comfortable in the location and being able to play around with a few things till the shot was perfect really helped.

Rough Cut Screening

Lots of issues that I and other people noticed. I am really not too happy with the work on looking back at it but there were a lot of issues on the day and at an outside location that aren't easily avoidable. I agree that a lot of the camera work just wasn't up to scratch. Overall I think it was a rush to set up each shot, a lack of everyone knowing what shot was what and a panic to get things finished that lowered the standard.

Some of those issues we can be sure to solve next time, I will be shotlisting more closely with the whole group so that everyone has a sense of every shot, so we are always on the same page. I also would like to shoot less that 3 pages a day, 2 would be much better however the cost would go up a lot as we are paying £50 a day for our child actor Courtney so we may have to look at funding. Next a tighter schedule, on our first day we had a rough schedule sort of group of shots for time, I would rather have a specific slot per shot so that we can tell when we are behind and infront of time exactly.

I missed a few focus points along the way, thats unforgivable but if we had longer I'm sure its something that would have ironed out over a few takes. The same goes for a few of the performances and camera movements. I struggled with the heavy duty tripod a little, especially on the tracks and a few of the tracking shots just weren't possible, I may have to invest in a steady cam for the more complex shots of the next project.

Shooting Day 2

I was a little late to the shoot after a long day shooting both projects the day before but I got on set and we started straight away moving the shots we had no time for to the end of the shoot. Whilst coherence was a little better we were still clearly pushed for time and scenes in the park were hard to get with other kids playing on the equipment. This ment we had really short setup times and I couldnt get the level of detail I wanted.

We also had weather issues, whilst it had been dull the previous day it was now bright and sunny, ruining continuity. ut with no budget and our child actor costing £50 a day we had to shoot despite weather. I tried in camera to keep the cold blue slightly overexpose look but I'm not sure how well it really captures the "morning" feel.

We finished on schedule and it worked really well, not everyone was on the same page still and I think that going through the storyboards again an again and actually writing the shotlist together for the next project will improve work flow massively.

Shooting Day 1

First day of shooting was a bit off a mess, both in planning and execution. First and foremost I didnt have enough battery for the day so it was only a half day shoot however at the rate we were filming we didnt really lose much time. Our first location had a time restraint that had us working through 11 and travelling to the second location and filming at 12 however I already didnt want to shoot at 12 because of lighting. However we did get it done rushed in time. The other issue was that my storyboards didnt quite match the location, we adapted them to work however the lighting plan for the whole shoot went straight out the window. I thought we would be able to use reflectors when the sun was out to add white outlines and gold glints to everything however there wasn't enough sun for them to work. My fallback was Sony hand lights but they couldnt really be noticed in the sun.

My other problems were that not everyone was on the page with what we were shooting an that we didnt have a shot for shot schedule. This meant we didnt know when we were too slow until it was too late as with the house (the first location). However it was the lack of knowledge of the shotlist that slowed everything down, having to describe over and over what the shot was slowed down setup and made the whole day difficult.

I took advantage of the early day by meeting with Dan and Alex (Sound and Director) and going shot bu shot through the next day planning how long each shot would take and exactly what happened in the shot as to make the next days shoot smoother. Heres what we came up with:

Marked up Script

Here is the marked up script showing what each shot in the shotlist will cover.

Storyboards

These are the storyboards we have left after the shoot, a few got lost in transit, I'm sure theyre jammed in pockets somewhere but they did their job either way. A few of them werent informed by the locations so unfortunately got changed but a large number can be seen in the film. Next time however I will go through them more thoroughly with our Director and Producer as on the day they werent happy with some of the shots.

Shot Listing

Time Scene Shot Description Actors Length Location SetupTime Other Scene Length (s) 1 1 Wide. Street. Parallel with road. - 4 EXT Shop 5m 1 2 Sun rises over a park. - 3 EXT Park 5m 1 3 Birds flutter from trees. - 3 EXT Park 10m 1 4 LS Streetlights turn off. - 5 EXT Shop 20m 1 5 CU Grass. In BG Nathan(N) comes out of shop. N. 5 EXT Shop 5m Try focus rack. 1 6 Reverse shot 4. N pov. - 3 EXT Shop 10m 1 7 MLS N stands proud then waddles off comically N. 5 EXT Shop 5m 1 8 CU N's face tracking back he drops out of shot N. 8 EXT Shop 15m Tracking 1 9 High angle of nathan still on the floor N. 3 EXT Shop 10m Canted 1 10 Low shot ECU on papers in focus. N gets up in BG N. 5 EXT Shop 10m 44 2 1 ELS-MCU down the street. N struggles toward cam N. 9 St Johns 10m focus pull. FULL 2 2 Low shot bag drops on floor. Skateboard drops too. N. 6 St Johns 5m FULL SCENE 2 3 CU N Taking a breath, looking around. N 5 St Johns 5m 2 4 CU skateboard. 4 St Johns 5m 2 5 MS Profile on N track across. Stops on door. N. MrB. 12 St Johns 15m FULL SCENE 2 6 MCU on MrB takes paper and tuts. N. MrB. 4 St Johns 5m 2 7 Setup end of SH1. Track back as he walks pan as  N. B 6 St Johns 15m he crosses the street. Boy comes into shot. St Johns 2 8 CU of Scuffle. N. B 4 St Johns 5m 2 9 ELS N CC 1PP picks bag up, walks to cam sighing 6 St Johns 10m 56 3 1 CU Paper going into a door. N. 3 Brentwood 3m Cutaway/montage 3 2 CU Paper being taken out of bag. N. 3 Brentwood 3m Cutaway/montage 3 3 CU Gate opening N. 3 Brentwood 3m Cutaway/montage 3 4 Paper through letter box N. 3 Brentwood 3m Cutaway/montage 3 5 CU Another Gate opening. N. 3 Brentwood 3m Cutaway/montage 3 6 CU N's feet balancing on curb N. 4 Brentwood 5m Focus pull 3 7 LS Behind N as he balances N. 4 Brentwood 5m 3 8 MCU Tracking back as N bumps into car N. 5 Brentwood 15m Keep tracking to LS 28 4 1 LS Tracking back CC 1point perspective N. 4 Street 1 10m Track 4 2 CU N's face Tracking back N. 7 Street 1 10m Track 4 3 ELS behind N walking. He stops "I think Im..." N. 6 Street 1 5m 17 5 1 Shot of T junction. LS N walks through and back. N. 18 Victoria Rd. 15m looks up junction then walks towards and past cam 5 2 MLS N leans into street glares and goes in the N. 7 Opposite V Rd. 5m 5 opposite direction. 5 3 Same as 2 but he just leans back out of the street. N. 4 Street 2 5m 5 4 OSS N  dives, the dog is framed where he was N. DW. 8 Victoria Rd. 15m 5 5 CU N Through car window. N. 4 Victoria Rd. 5m 5 6 N's POV of dog and woman happily walking DW. 4 Victoria Rd. 5m 5 7 MS N sat on ground woman spots, looks confused N. DW. 5 Victoria Rd. 10m 25 6 1 ELS Park - 4 Park 3m 6 2 Grass. N runs past cam. Rack with him to park N. 8 Park 3m 6 3 CU N smiling at Swings N. 4 Park 5m 6 4 N's POV looking at Swings - 4 Park 5m 20 7 1 N Swinging towards and away from cam N 10 Park 5m Try diff focus points 7 2 N's POV swinging.  - 6 Park 10m 7 3 Profile of swinging. N 5 Park 5m 7 4 Shot from behind N. He stops. Pan to slide. N 7 Park 10m 28 Park 8 1 Shot from behind N on slide N 3 Park 3m 8 2 Shot from bottom of slide infront of N N 5 Park 5m 8 3 CU of N looking around, spotting G N 5 Park 5m 8 4 Profile of N on the slide down N 10 Park 15m 8 5 N's POV of G G 6 Park 5m Soft light + Focus 8 6 LS of G G 5 Park 10m Soft light + Focus 7 G's POV of N N 5 Park 5m 8 8 Circular track around N as he watches G runs past N 5 Park 15m 8 9 MLS N walking towards cam away from slide N 6 Park 10m 8 10 ELS Of Park N leaves. N 6 Park 10m 56 9 1 MS N walking towards G's house. N 4 G's house 5m 9 2 CU Feet walking. Track with them N 3 G's house 15m 9 3 CU N walking towards G's House. N 5 G's house 10m 9 4 CU opening gate  N 3 G's house 5m 9 5 CU feet walking towads the door (Profile) N 3 G's house 5m 9 6 CU Last paper goes out of bag N 3 G's house 5m 9 7 CU Paper goes in letterbox N 3 G's house 5m 9 8 CU N's Head turns N 3 G's house 5m 9 9 CU G G 6 G's house 15m 9 10 MS N G MF… She walks past him. N+G 5 G's house 10m 9 11 CU N facing the door N 7 G's house 5m 9 12 OSS N N+G 7 G's house 10m 9 13 MCU G in her doorway G 5 G's house 10m 9 14 LS-MS as N leaves N+G 5 G's house 15m 9 15 CU gate closing N 4 G's house 2 66 SHOTLIST TIME 340
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Today I got through to shotlisting the project, was hard work but I think everything should work out well. Here is some of my reasoning:

Scene 1 Shot 1-4 Hopefully these cutaways shoul do a lot of the work in setting the early morning scene.

Scene 2 Shot 2 I think this really low shot of the items dropping on the ground will be nice and mimic him picking himself up in the previous scene.

Scene 2 MrB Whilst no longer in the script this section represents some passage of time and includes Nathan's genius idea of using the skateboard in action.

Scene 3 Shot 1-5 Another representation of the passage of time.

Scene 5 Shot 1-3 In the script Nathan is just found again, these shots are a nice visual representation of him comically searching for a street he recognises.

Scene 5 Shot 4 The dog should come into focus after a small pause to give the action a more pathetic feel when we discover such a kind looking dog across the street.

Scene 6 Shot 2 Should be similar to Scene 1 shot 5 however we track with him now.

Scene 8 Shot 10 This point is where he goes from being in a normal state to his romantic encounter with his dream girl. This is going to be reflected by him walking out of focus as he comes towards the camera to end this scene, entering almost a dreamlike space.

Scene 9 I shotlisted this before knowing the location, I guessed a more closed off garden rather than the awkward driveway we will be using, I will have to adapt it later. 

Scene 9 Shot 14 Leaving the shot this time he comes into focus representing the end of the dream state and the end of the encounter with the dream girl.

Reccie

Today we went to Stradbrook, the location Alex and Clarice have picked for the shoot. Its a good 15 minutes on the bus but Clarice's grandma lives there so we can use that location as base and Alex like the look of the area. I agree, the level of suburban banality is just right for the story.

Of course I took my camera to take some images of what I think the storyboard will look like.

Opening Shot... I always planned dewy grass being one of the first shots. In the narrative he starts by leaving a shop, this location has a really nice setup for that exact shot!

Most of the film will take place around streets, we aren't quite sure exactly what we need from the streets yet so we just had a wonder to get a feel for the area.


The next few are of the park and its view. This first shot has a really nice look over Sheffield and we should be able to get a really nice picture of Georgia with Sheffield as the backdrop.

 We need swings for the story and the park has a decent set so thats good.

 Finally we have slides! In all the images I used a cold blue white balance to denote morning, in this picture I put my hand in as well to show the effects on skin tone that we may have to work to reduce.

Overall the reccie went well, it has informed my shotlists and should be a good place to work, shame about the journey but should be a good location.

Early Morning Reccie

We got commissioned and got our brief:

"Create an interesting, engaging and atmospheric early morning scenario between a 13 year old boy and his unattainable person of desire."

For me the most challenging part of the brief will be to capture the atmosphere both of the scenario and of the morning itself. I want to get across that magical dark and cold but free and crisp morning feeling.

In an effort to capture the early morning feel we are looking for I traveled around the area in sheffiel I live in at 5.30-8.45 taking photographs an films of the parks and streets.

The first pictures are of a street with the emphasis on the perspective pulling off into the distance. I always wanted a shot like this in the film to show an empty establishing street. Whilst taking these photos the street lights turned off giving me the idea to get that on camera in the film also establishing time and setting up the reminiscent magical feeling.
WB5200

ISO3200

ISO1250

ISO800

The next two shots are almost cityscapes, I think they really capture the morning feeling as does this film.

On the way back a few hours later I took some similar pictures at different ISO's and WB's as the light had changed.

The biggest difference I didn't expect is that even though I lowered the ISO it still looks too bright. My initial though was that the morning light would be bluer but the absence of pink in the sky is clear. A more balence WB may be more appropriate.

Finally at the park I took some photographs of the vacant slide and swings, they really capture the piece and quiet and the dew on grass is one of the essential images for creating the atmosphere we want.

The shoot was really helpful. The images look like I want them to look like in the film. The struggle will be recreating the images in broad daylight.

Paper Chase Pitch 2

The second pitch went just as well! We were well rehearsed and added a few images to the cinematography slide. On feedback not all the images were great but the dew filled grass brilliantly captures the tone we want for the film. The lack of accuracy in the other pictures motivates me to get out early and really experience the early morning before attempting to recreate it.

Paper Chase Pitch 1

The pitch for Paper Chase went great! We rehearsed and split things evenly between each department. The cinematography side of it was particularly interesting, the main change that came out of the pitch in the cinematography was that we changed the look from generally sunny and happy to fit with the comedy to a more picturesque and beautiful early morning feel. For me this is a lot more interesting, I am looking forward to the challenge of capturing the morning light feel.