Re-scehduling the Road Shot and Skyline

Re-scheduling the Road Shot and Skyline

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The Road Shot

After moving the dates of filming, Daniel and Iain stayed up to film in the early hours of the morning.

During filming, they both experienced difficulty as there were more cars on the road than expected. Also, they had trouble with working the tripod; the tripod was new and they could not figure out how to work the tilt on it. 

Due to this, they both decided to use a handheld shot to get the tilt we needed.

However, after the shot, they both thought that it could have been better so as a group, we planned another day to get the shot. 

The next day (21/10/13), Iain took the camera to film alone as it would be more efficient and easier than taking the whole group.

When filming, Iain found other issues this time. Although we had figured out the tilt on the tripod, the road was not as empty as we had hoped. Iain attempted to get a good shot but the shot was disrupted by cars passing by.

Therefore, he went to the forest to try and get the establishing shot of the wood.

Here is a video:

We liked the shots Iain got as this experimented with different movements and shots. They were also quite fantastical with the high key lighting, which matched our sci-fi/ apocalyptic genre. 

Due to Iain's unsuccessful road shot, we looked back at our old shots and decided to use those instead. We found a good shot that wasn't too shaky (although it was handheld) so we could move on with our other filming schedules; we had a lot left to film.

Skyline Shot:

For this shot, we decided to go to the top of a multi-story car park to allow us to get a good skyline shot.

The sky was perfect as it was cloudy with patches of light, resembling our apocalyptic genre/narrative.

We planned to film around 16:00 as we knew it would be good lighting (low-key lighting) and quite empty at this time.

When we reached the top of the car park, the view looked amazing and exactly what we wanted to shoot. We positioned the camera and began to take a few shots, each taking turns on the pan.

After taking a very little amount of shots, a car park attendant came over and asked what we were doing. Politely, we told him about our A Level Media course and why we were filming. However, he soon explained that we were not supposed to be filming there as we needed a permit from the Council to continue.
Since we had no idea or awareness of this, we apologized and left quietly.

Daniel and Iain suggested that we try the other car park, however, this idea did not progress as it was closing.

I found the experience rather beneficial as it gave me an insight into the rules and laws of filming and where you can/cannot film. It also helped me to manage a situation and understand the issues that can be found within the media industry.

Extra Shots:

Daniel also went out and shot some extra establishing shots. Here is a video of a few of them:

The Dolly Shot

The Dolly Shot

The first thing we decided to shoot was the dolly shot as it was in college and seemed the most challenging. 

As we had planned in our storyboard, we wanted the camera to dolly past someone's head, ultimately giving the appearance that Ged (the teacher) had vanished when it came out the other side. 

We wrote out a shooting schedule to plan when we were going to film and who we would need to be there. Since the scene needed to represent a class, we had to ensure that we had a large amount of people willing to help. 

We thought a good room to use would be the lecture theater, within our college, as the seats are tiered and it has good room for us to work in.

 To set up, Iain put a History PowerPoint on the board and we sat Daniel down in one of the seats. Since we do not have a Dolly or any form of equipment that is similar, we decided to improvise and make our own.

By using a jacket, we found that the camera could run smoothly across the desk, creating a dolly shot. At first, we had difficulty finding the right pace, keeping the jacket off the lens and making the jacket quiet when we moved it.

We asked if we could borrow a class to help out and they agreed, allowing us to fill up the frame on the camera. Luckily, the class had Clare (Selene) in it so it added extra characters from our plot.

How the Dolly Shot worked:

1. The camera would start on the left showing Ged teaching
2. The camera would be moved right to go behind a student's head.
3. I would give the signal to Ged to move behind a wooden desk whilst the camera was behind the head
4. The camera would come from behind the head and Ged would be gone

We knew this would be a challenge but it became harder than expected. To make the Dolly run smoothly, we had to keep a quicker pace. However, when the camera came out on the right, Ged was seen moving (sometimes it was obvious and other times it was subtle.)


After almost two hours of filming, we still did not have a shot that had Ged disappearing as the many attempts always had Ged in shot. Therefore, we got some re-action shots, of the class, when Ged 'vanished'. Due to our unsuccessful dolly, we re-scheduled to shoot another day.

Corridor Shot:

After our unsuccessful Dolly, me and Iain decided  to film one of the establishing shots: the corridor.

For this shot, we needed to use a zoom as we wanted to experiment with camera movements. This only took a few attempts as we all took turns to try and zoom. One think we disliked was how bright the corridor seemed as it was not possible to turn the lights off. Therefore, we decided that we would edit it later during post-production. 

Re-Shooting the Dolly:
This time, we decided we needed more people to help to cover Ged's movements. Moreover, we decided that I should be in the frame and allow Clare to give Ged the signal. That way, as a main protagonist, I could be in the shot.

Another thing we changed, was the way in which Ged hid from the camera. We decided instead of him moving to his left and hiding behind a desk, he should just duck down. That way, the camera was less likely to see him in with the speed of the dolly.

After many more attempts, we finally got one shot that gave the illusion that Ged had vanished. This was great because many people were becoming impatient and we needed to move onto other shots.

Overall, I felt that we attempted a very challenging shot considering we did not have a Dolly or a track. The shot looks believable and works well to portray our narrative.

Here is a montage of a few unsuccessful attempts and the successful shot.

Establishing Shots: The Empty Road and Skyline

Establishing Shots: The Empty Road and Skyline

The shot we scheduled to film was the establishing shot of the empty road and Skyline.

Since we needed the road to be empty, Iain and Daniel volunteered to stay round Daniel's house to enable them to get up early for the shot. That way, the road would be less busy during the early hours of the morning. Then, later that day, I planned to meet them for the Skyline shot.

Unfortunately, when the weekend arrived, we had to cancel due to Daniel being in hospital.

Our main priority was him so we ensured that he was better before re-scheduling.