Short Film | Day 3

On the 22nd January, Alex, I and the rest of the film spent the afternoon up at East Hill car park to film the first cut of the interrogation and running scenes for the short film. We all assembled at around 11:15 and began straight away to film the interrogation scene with Luke, Morgan and Alex (with Harry appearing briefly when the fight breaks out in the scene) and eventually the running chase scene with Luke and Morgan after our deadline of 15:00 to give us enough time to setup for the running chase scene.

The film day itself had its highs and lows. Firstly, a low point of the day was the lack of quality footage we had obtained for the necessary scenes that we had planned to film. Despite the organisation we had made prior to film day, there were still a few camera shots which we had forgotten to shoot because of time pressure. We therefore will have to wait until the next film date to film the missing footage which we need to construct the scenes we intend to include in our short film. Another low point of the day was when we were on set. The cold weather which had an effect on our actors as Luke and Morgan, who were already wearing fairly thin materials for their costumes, were beginning to get really cold as the temperatures began to drop. As a result, the quality of their acting when on camera began to decrease as the cold temperature began to affect their overall performances. We therefore spent a lot of time trying to perfect each shot instead of recording all of the footage we needed in the whole day so that we can begin editing with what we've got. On the plus side however, there were plenty of funny moments which helped us to lighten the mood of the day despite the cold weather. One thing which surprised Alex and I the most was how much fun our actors had during the day since they were thrilled in the early stages to be able to take part in this short film production. They were all so enthusiastic when on camera and were really trying their best, despite occasionally letting out a laugh or two when they incorrectly said a line or someone was doing something silly.

Although we didn't completely finish the interrogation scene as we had hoped, we at least managed to film the forest chase scene which we were very pleased about the outcome for. We were able to accomplish this camera shot by driving alongside our actors Morgan and Luke at the same speed as they were running. The two video test shots below show this technique we experimented with.

Overall, the 3rd film day was a success in many areas but also had its flaws as I had already explained. Alex and I are looking forward to begin editing our new footage from these new scenes and look forward to seeing the rest of the cast back on the next film day for re-shoots (10th February). Unfortunately, Harry is going to be unfit to act as of next week as he will be having an operation on his left ankle. Which was just as well that we were able to film the bits where he arrives to the interrogation by car but also being involved in the fight scene.    

The day was probably was one of the most enjoyable times the actors have had so far as they are all great friends with each other and Alex and I and they were all really happy to see each other whilst arriving and performing on set, which meant that in the end we all had a really great time nonetheless and look forward to see each other again at our school Oscars in April!