Tag: Student Shoots

• Directed by – Josh Farrell
• DoP – Julian Deane Jon Morby
• Boom Operator – Bamba Diop
• Camera – (Josh’s Friend)

Josh’s shoot was the easiest to get to by far, just a mile down the road from my house.  The snow caused problems for some of the crew (notably Julian who dropped out at the last minute due to fears over trains), although Orlando made it in and he lives in the same area as Julian.

During the day I saw some flashes of brilliance in the directing, mainly editing in camera (which I think Josh’s friend, who is also editing this, had guided Josh on in their rehearsal a week earlier).

There were some logistical issues in Josh’s kitchen due to a huge centre console, however, we worked around them.

As Julian pulled out at the last minute, Josh asked me to step in and act as DoP/Cinematographer, which I was more than happy to do.  

We got to use fairy lights, and Josh’s redheads which he’d acquired on eBay a week earlier.  

I brought my sound gear, including my brand new Rode NTG4+ which I had literally only taken delivery of the day before (Julian had been scheduled to bring boom pole and an NTG2)

The shoot went well, it seemed like a cast of thousands, all very well choreographed and scheduled.

Hat tip to Josh, with rehearsing the week before, and pulling in some professionals to steer the ship whilst also employing several HND students, the whole thing went very well and was a fun shoot to be on.

• Directed by – Julian Deane
• DoP / Camera – Jon Morby
• Sound Recordist – Alex (who left due to allergies) and Jon Morby
• Boom Operator – Bamba Diop
• 1st AD – Josh Farrell?
• Script Supervisor – Josh Farrell?
• Grips – Sammy OA, Hamed and Orlando Bryant

Lenore was the first of the student shoots, Julian had managed to sneakily schedule his shoot as an overnight shoot the weekend before my 1st day of shooting in Covent Garden … it was going to be “fun” doing an all night shoot, having Sunday to recover and then going straight into a 2 x 12 hour day shoot for my own project, however, I had agreed to assist, so here I am! 🙂

Rush hour traffic through Wimbledon was fun, and once there, finding Julian’s mansion was a little difficult, however, we were soon there and went through a quick briefing.  I will commend Julian on his preparation work, and the storyboards which his mother had drawn up.  All very professional.

I did originally think Julian had gone a little overboard with the equipment rental, including two 2k HMIs in the back garden, a Black Magic Ursa, as well as his own kit (Redheads, Strobes, etc), however by the end of the night we had raided the boot of my car for additional LED panels as Julian actually didn’t have enough lights to complete the scene as he had wanted it.  Thankfully, I had packed lights, camera, reflectors, etc just in case (what self-respecting DP turns up to a shoot empty-handed?!)

The shoot went reasonably well, although the sound recordist had a serious allergy to cats which meant he didn’t stay for long, the other help Julian had been promised from the local school failed to turn up, so I doubled up as sound as well as camera and lights for the night.  I did miss one reflection, which is annoying, especially as we can’t pretend it is moonlight due to the angle / position of the windows vs the picture that is reflecting the light.

Owing to the size and nature of Julian’s shoot, we really could have benefited from walkie-talkies for communication.  As it was I was cueing strobe effects on a countdown (3 …  – silent 2, 1) … and in the latest rough assembly, you can hear me shouting to the lighting guys outside … you can also hear the strobes “beep” as Julian had been unable to turn off their alarms, however, this should all be fixed when Julian completes the sound design and foley.

All in all, a well-run shoot … Craft services were acceptable, made all the better by Orlando bringing some hot food from Pret which he prepared lovingly in the kitchen during the lunch break.

• Directed by Sammy OA
• 1st AD – Ana
• DoP – Julian Deane
• Camera Asst – Josh Farrell
• Sound – Jon Morby
• Boom Op – Bamba Diop
• Runner – Arabella

Today I was co-opted onto Sammy’s shoot as a sound recordist, working with Bamba on boom.

The shoot went reasonably well, although everything did seem a little haphazard and it felt like no-one (including the 1st AD) really knew what was going on.  

Sammy chose to steal a few shots early on that weren’t on his shot list as we were waiting for crew to arrive, and we then found ourselves running behind before lunch.

The shot list, such as it was, was numbered in the most random and confusing way I have ever seen, with shots labelled as 1.1.a.iii and so on … Boy were we confused! 🙂

Sammy stole 15-20 minutes from lunch which started to get things back on track, and by the end of the day, we were pretty much on schedule.

There seemed to be some friction between the DP and his AC (different AC, but again??!) however Josh coped with this pretty admirably and didn’t let it get on top of him.

The location was Sammy’s house, plus a park just down the road.  The internal location was so confined / cramped that we couldn’t always have everyone in the room when needed, and on occasion, I had to assist Julian by making lighting changes or lense changes as either Josh couldn’t get through the bedroom door, or Julian couldn’t get from behind the camera to the lights.

It was also worth noting that Sammy/Julian didn’t allow enough batteries for the shoot and ended up having to borrow my Canon 60D to complete the shoot.  Fortunately, I always have 3 batteries and a mains adapter with that camera … and quite fortuitously I had decided to take that with me rather than the GH5 in case they needed any BTS footage.  As it was, Sammy hadn’t thought about BTS, but as I was now camera-less, I ended up taking what few BTS photos I did manage to take using my iPhone (oh the shame!) 🙂