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.