BMX filming done and dusty!!

First day was the Olympic development programme, again a long drive to film at Manchester. Gaining access in though felt slightly overwhelming but the riders were nice and we just let them continue on whilst working with them. I struggled this day the most, the tripod was stiff and the handle didn't work so any movement caused big jolts in the footage. As well as that using the 70-200mm lens made it harder for my depth of field and I am always wanting to push myself but had focusing issues at the start and didn't know about the image stabiliser button which is normally on. After a day of defeat I felt very deflated as my work has been consistent. But with the support of the director without mistakes I wouldn't have learnt more about the equipment.

Saturday we spent the day at Peckham BMX track and then off to visit Flo our young rider. Peckham initially was something I was worried about, after the dilemmas of the other production company filming their riders I felt nervous. The production company was there, well students working for them were. To start off with I felt I was stepping on peoples toes but out of all the time filming I had the best time there. I filmed actuality of Quillan coaching and the riders practising whilst the other cameraman filmed interviews. I knew what the director wanted so used my initiative and got on with it. The riders made me feel welcome and you could tell the coach and them were one big family trying to make the best out of an area known for being rough. Spending time with Flo was enjoyable, she was much shyer and often when I filmed her she went the other way. To relax her as well as testing out other shots I got into a tunnel to film, which made her laugh but got her use to being told where to ride her bike and the camera being on. Whilst the cameraman was interviewing her dad, I spent time with her recording her playing on the swings, showing her as a normal 12 year old girl. By the end she was more relaxed and I even joined in with her doing cartwheels.

Final day was with Rob which was a short day filming. All we needed was some nice visuals for an opening montage and an interview. That day I felt a bit like a spare cog as this didn't require two camera operators and felt this day a 2 camera set up was too much. But on the one hand having 2 meant capturing him on the track meant we spent less time filming. All in all a busy couple of days.

Here's me filming Flo:-

It's a wrap!!

I must say after the first two days being pretty straight forward I found the last two stressful. But then the pressure starts to build because you're trying to concentrate on what to film? have I missed any shots? and keeping an eye on the story.

Tuesday was the night shoot which made me uneasy before I had even got there which didn't help. On the way there me and the editor/sound sat in with Phil and his son whilst driving to try and record them just chatting casually as Phil always sticks to talking about his work when the camera is on and I wanted him to relax more. The more we filmed the more I got to see the real Phil. The journey took much longer than he had told us so before we started filming the light was disappearing. We did an interview with Matt sanders, which started off really well but after my questions I was ready to pick up the pace and get the actuality of them setting up before it was too dark. The producer and me disagreed on this situation, she wanted to continue the interview but I knew I needed this scene and we didn't have the time before it got too dark to film. In an ideal world we would have done the interview again or gone back to do it but we didn't have time on our side. The night shoot was tiring and we didn't get back until quite late, I have noticed more so than on other shoots, that being on location is tiring.

Wednesday was our last day, after feeling very tense from the night before I wasn't at first looking forward to filming. We had a break in the day where I could work out what was left to shoot before we met up with Phil  in the early evening to finish the shoot. I got the producer to ask some final questions we wanted to get out of Phil and then headed off for our final interview with a guy who used to work in the military. This felt all secretive as we have to blur out his face and distort his voice to keep him from being identified. I was thrown  off by his answers of "no comment" and "can we move on to another question" as what I had prepared were going to get the same response. I had to re think and got the producer to help as he had thrown me off track.

I have definitely found this role very difficult and can now understand why when I worked on the strip doc the director was panicking and I couldn't see why. Even when things are going well there is always in the back of your mind the pressure is on the director to deliver. At times I found it hard but have felt I have been given a great opportunity to try a new role, which at first I was surprised I convinced myself to do it but if you don't push yourself now, then going into the industry you will just sink!

First couple of days of my first time directing!

Sunday was arrival day more than anything else and to meet Phil's son for the first time who I didn't even notice was in the house on the recce. I didn't really know what to expect before we met him but was prepared for the interview with him. He was not what I had expected, I didn't expect him to have the same beliefs in as much because from the research I had done, I had been ready for a football lover rather than a young lad interested in UFOs but he was a really nice guy and was confident on camera.

Structure was something I found didn't really work, as pin pointing with Phil when to film was often changing and after meeting him again I realised we had to just go with the flow and think on our feet. Monday arrangements had already changed, even after discussing with Phil on Sunday. Firstly we met with a witness who had seen a UFO which was hard to interview as the quiet road where he saw this sight was all so quiet until we hit record. Patience was a virtue, but looking at the time was a habit I seemed to have. Afterwards, Phil decided he wanted to find a farmer which was previously arranged for later on to give me and the producer time to find one. Instead we followed Phil down many lanes in order to find one and yes we hit the jackpot.

These last two days have ran quite smoothly, a few changes but I feel confident. Directing is a new role for me as I'm normally filming. So far, I have learnt that you have to think on your toes and it isn't always easy when people are asking you for the answers but I'm learning a lot and it's completely different to filming, even though you work with the cameraman to pick the visuals the pressure is on YOU to deliver.

Here is a photo of most of the crew (minus the cameraman taking the pic) after a non stressful two days let's see how I cope after the night shoot, which is the one shoot I'm nervous about.

Recce

Yesterday was the first of two recces before the final pitch. We drove to shropshire to meet Phil Hoyle who is the co founder of the APFU, which is one of the contributors for the UFO doc that I'm directing. He was very inviting and a perfect host. Very well spoken normal guy, who off camera was much more relaxed but was still very good on camera. The information he was saying was interesting but at times a bit too much for me to understand but I definitely felt he was a really good contributor when we left his. This is my first time directing so at first I was nervous but my team is strong and I had the support I needed and I started to picture what we would film next time so directors hat is on.

Yesterday, I realised how important it is to have a good team, driving 10 hours with the sound man and camera man (to shropshire and then to Taunton) means your stuck in a car, with the heater stuck on hot air (my faulty car) on a sunny day trying to find the place. Definitely need to get along and the team was brilliant.

Today, we met David Follett for the extraordinary me brief, this time I was camera so less pressure was felt. He was lovely, and this was harder than yesterday because we didn't know how open he'd be about his accident. He was really co operative and helpful and had such an interesting story. So overall, a positive couple of days.

Now back to cornwall, after what felt like a long couple of days but definitely worth it..lets see what get's green lit.

Here's some stills from the recces.

Camera practice= camera change

From practising on the Canon 1d I realised that the footage you get out of them and how well they work in low light is exceptionally good. At first I was put off by using them but since playing around and testing them out, I want to push myself and use it for the majority of filming for the documentary Young and Pissed.


The main pitfall is the follow focus on big movements, which is why I shall use the Panasonic P2 for anything that will need to cope with drastic movements. I have noticed that the Canon 5d is being used more often in programmes, and since watching Bouncers Ch4 I noticed that they used this camera on some of the master interviews and actuality. In order to keep up with the trends in TV, I want to able to use this camera for the documentary.

This evening we did our first interview with Kevin from 5 degrees who had an interesting story about how due to excessive drinking has seisures now so he can't drink, this interview would have goten the best out of the story if the director hadn't used the Recce questions for this interview as he didn't explore the story and we only captured a glimpse which is a shame. Got some more interviews scheduled soon so hopefully hearing from someone who owns a bar will give another perspective and the questions will be developed to help this.