The main aim for the re-shoot was to gain more coverage and better shots for the edit. We realised that some of the shots in scene 4 were overexposed and didn't match the quality of the shots we captured in other shoot days. Scene 6 also needed re-shooting as we didn't quite capture the idea of them speeding away in the van at the end. We were rushed on the first shoot day due to one of the cast members having to leave early. When organising the re-shoot it was my priority to make sure all the cast members were available for the day. Although I couldn't do anything about the cast member having to leave early on the first shoot day, I wanted to make sure we had everyone all day for the re-shoot. By doing this we will be able to take the time to get the best shots possible.
Cast
Tim Stewart - Ed Allenby
Luke Lucas - Daniel Hemsley
Sheila Hodges - Susan Baskerville
Crew
Producer - Melissa
Director - Alex
Director of photography - Katie
Sound assistant - Aidan Robinson-Jones
Runner - Megan Liddell
Make-up artist - Bethany Ashby
At the last minute I got a friend on board to be a runner for us. This job doesn't require a lot of filming knowledge as we only needed her to stand by the road and watch for traffic as we did in the first shoot week. Again, I helped watch for traffic when it was needed. I also wanted to act just as professionally as I did the first time, meaning that just because we were safe the first time doesn't mean we don't have to be safe the second time. Beth continued with the same job as she took on in the first shoot day. She was on hand to top up the blood on Tim's face and hands. Harriet was also taking on the same job role. She made sure the face cat was in the correct place, as we changed the location. Instead of panning across the road and under the front gate, we placed the cat just off the side of the road under a car. This meant that Katie didn't have to concentrate on panning across the road, but instead just in a diagonal direction downwards. I believe this was more suitable as we didn't waste time trying to pan across the road, instead we got to the punchline quicker of the 'dead' cat peacefully sleeping under a nearby car. Along with this, Harriet made sure the screwdrivers, doctors bag and stethoscope was in place. If these weren't in the correct places, Dan would have struggled to complete the scene.
SCENE 4
Scene 4 consisted of the blood splatter sequence, which is what we wanted to improve on by the end of the re-shoot day. We decided to re-shoot the whole scene as there were more problems with the initial footage. Some of the Sheila's shots were over exposed which Katie didn't like the look of and wanted to improve. The weather was also quite bright and sunny, which usually would be fine, however, after working on the edit, I realised that this day was the sunniest day and therefore, the shots don't quite fit in with the surrounding scenes. We have a bit of sunlight approaching into the shots in the final scene, however I had amended this in the edit by bringing the sunlight in gradually. Due to having scene 4 and 6 in the sun but having scene 2 / 3 and scene 7 and 8 with a dull grey sky, the continuity didn't quite match up. I wasn't able to gradually bring the sunlight in with these scenes either. As a result of these additional issues, we decided re-shooting the whole scene would be the best thing to do. If I found out in the edit that we preferred a shot we captured in the first shoot week, I may be able to use this. With a bit of colour correcting we may be able to get it to match the new footage. It is unlikely that I will want to use an old shot as we had a successful re-shoot day, however, I have that option if I need it.
Props
Props needed for the scene:
- Fake blood
- Syringe / scalpel
- Screwdrivers
- Stethoscope
- Mask
- Gloves
We were able to use all the props from the first shoot week as they were all in good condition. In terms of the items that got covered in blood, such as the gloves, mask and scalpel, we had a box full of masks and gloves and we just cleaned the scalpel ready for the day.
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| Shooting the surgery scene (left), shooting Sheila's wide (right) |
SCENE 6
Scene 6 is a short scene consisting of Luke running back from Sheila's house. In the previous footage, the get-away from Tim isn't very quick. In the script, we paint the idea that Luke is trying to get away quickly with his run towards the van, but then we slow down when Tim starts the engine, checks his mirrors and drives off. I understand that pulling away in a vehicle requires checks to ensure it's safe before doing so, and as a result of this, I get that it must have been difficult to pull away quickly when Tim needed to check the mirrors and the front to make sure it was clear to move. However, as we have the runner on board they are part of the reason as to why we can pull away quicker in the van. The runner kept their eye on the road which gave Tim the confidence to pull away quicker. We tried this take a couple of different ways. We started with the van engine on, this idea came about before the shoot day. Ideally if the engine is already on we shouldn't need to spend time turning the ignition and then the engine on when Tim is trying to make a quick get-away. This worked well, however, we also tried it the way we did the first time where Tim had to turn the engine on. We took this opportunity to get more coverage for this short scene as well. Prior to the re-shoot day, we only had this scene in one take of Luke running down the road to the van, and then watching Tim drive it away before panning to the sleeping cat. This time we shot the characters from the inside of the van on both sides. We wanted to give off the idea of panic and hurry as they try to drive away.
Props
Props needed for the scene:
- Fake cat
- Vet van
Fortunately, the cat was in good condition from the first shoot day. The cat was also suitable for what we wanted so there was no need to change it in preparation for the re-shoot. This saved some of the budget as I didn't have to buy another one.
Costume
Tim - scrubs, black hoodie
Luke - grey hoodie, green top, jeans, green parka coat
Sheila - trousers, purple top, pink cardigan
Costume was the exact same as the first shoot day. However, some items of clothing, Sheila's pink cardigan and Luke's grey hoodie had a blood stained hand print on the shoulder. Fortunately, the fake blood came off in the wash and they were as good as new. This saved money in the budget as I could re-use the clothes rather than buying new ones. This was also ideal because it had been nearly a month between the main shoot week and re-shoot so I couldn't guarantee the cardigan and hoodie would still be sold in the shop. If the blood hadn't come out in the wash and the fashion had changed in the shop then we would have struggled to find the same clothing elsewhere.
Location
We were happy with the road in Margate that we used in the shoot week, so we were eager to use it again. Again, I contacted the Kent Film Office and gained permission to film on the road. As I said previously when I was prepping the re-shoot, I had looked back at the church timetable and the area was quite clear and was only busy during times in which we wouldn't be in the middle of filming. This is evident in blog post - Prepping the re-shoot, pickups, Voice Over Day, with ADR Research.
On the re-shoot day, as I predicted we had no problems with any members of public or residents. I believe that the second letter I posted through the residents' doors gave all the information they needed for the day. It was slightly busier around the church than it was on the first shoot day, however, like I said previously, this was during the times that we weren't deep into filming.
Creative control
To follow my creative side of producing, I printed off the shot list again and ticked off each shot as we went through the day. I wanted to act as professionally as I did the first time, so it was essential for me to keep track of both the shot list and production schedule as we progressed throughout the day. As we have already shot these scenes once I believed that it would be a straight forward shoot day, and fortunately it was. I tried to make sure the initial vision for the film was realised through the shots we had originally planned, however, as we had already done this shoot, we knew what we liked and what we didn't like about the first shoot day. The re-shoot was mainly about capturing the same shots but doing them again to improve them. We also aimed to get more coverage. We wanted the re-shoot to resemble the first shoot but with some improvements, so as a result of this, I took the same shot list as before, the same one Katie was working off, to ensure our original vision was still coming across in the new footage.
As I had started the edit, I was able to think properly as an editor during the re-shoot. I found it difficult to sync the sound of the surgery scene without the clapperboard, so I reminded Alex to use the board on this occasion, making the syncing easier once I come to the edit and less time-consuming than before. It was mainly when Tim put his gloves on as this was a constant squeaking sound, so I was adamant that they used the clapperboard for this shot.
I was trying to keep in the mind set of the editor during the re-shoot day and because of this I noticed a continuity error. The new blood splatter hit Ed's face, which was ideal for scene 4, however once he drives off and arrives at the academy, the blood has disappeared. I suggested finding a way to show him wiping his face which would then make sense once he leaves the van in the next scene with a clean face. I had face wipes with me on the re-shoot day for Ed to clean his face anyway, so we decided to incorporate this into the scene. As a result of this, we finished the scene by capturing a close up of Ed getting into the van, wiping his face, then starting the engine and driving off.
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| Shot list for re-shoot, scene 4 |
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| Shot list for re-shoot, scene 6 |
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| RE-SHOOT schedule |
On the day, we re-shot scene 4 up until lunch as scheduled, but fortunately, we finished shooting scene 6 slightly earlier than 16:00 as I had predicted and we recorded a bit of the missing dialogue. I had liaised with Alex before the re-shoot when he explained about recording the missing dialogue. I agreed and said that instead of doing ADR, we could just record the dialogue so I have the clips and I will play about with the edit to try and chose specific shots that don't show the characters faces when they're talking. By doing this, I will be able to add in the dialogue from today without concerning myself with the sync with their mouths. If this works then we would have solved the missing dialogue problem, if it doesn't than I will schedule a proper ADR day and set days beforehand to sit down with Ferg to practice, making myself fully prepared for the day.
We recorded the dialogue and still managed to wrap at 16:00 which made a successful re-shoot day.
What went well
- It was beneficial for me to have already started the edit when we came to re-shooting as I was able to think properly as an editor. This was challenging in the initial shoot week as I hadn't seen it altogether at that point. As I am doing the rough cut, I was able to suggest things that will make my job easier when I get back into the edit room, such as using the clapperboard on the surgery shots. I was also able to think back to the edit and suggest any extra shots I think the film could do with.
- The blood splatter went really well this time. We brought a new litre bottle of fake blood so it was a deep shade of red and we had enough to fill the spray bottle with, giving us a big splatter on Tim's face. Similarly to to the first shoot day, Beth finished Tim's hands off with the blood, completing the look.
- We improved from the first set of footage we captured which was the aim of the re-shoot. The shots were clearer and less over-exposed. I remember in particular during the first shoot week, we had a car moving in the background of Sheila's close up, however as we were losing her early on we didn't have the time to re-do it. Fortunately, Sue was able to come for the whole day on the re-shoot. Getting the actors to Margate for the whole day was my priority when arranging the re-shoot so we could make the most of it and improve the two scenes. I believe I achieved by getting the cast in for the whole day. This led to a successful re-shoot.
- Although we re-shot these scenes, we kept to our original plans but just improved them slightly. I believe that having the original shot list helped this.
What didn't go so well
- I would have been ideal for the first shoot day to have been as successful as this one was. Apart from having to stop every now and then for passing public, this re-shoot was near perfect and we were very happy with the quality of the shots that we captured.
What did I learn
- It takes time to capture the perfect scene. Knowing we had all cast members for the whole day meant that we had enough time to go over shots multiple times. We struggled with this on the first shoot day as Sue had to go so early on. We were fortunate that we got everything we needed and in the best quality (blood splatter) on this re-shoot day otherwise I may had to re-schedule another which wouldn't have been ideal on the budget.
GV PICKUPS
Cast
No cast required
Crew
Producer - Melissa
Director - Alex
Director of Photography - Katie
Runner - Aidan Robinson-Jones
Location
Having GVs of the Vet Van was first suggested by Simon, and Alex and I quite liked the idea. We agreed that it may help the story progress from one location to the other. It was also a simple idea which could be created quite quickly and easily. We didn't need any cast involved as we would only be filming the van driving. As this would be at the usual speed limit of 30mph, the van would pass the camera at some speed so we shouldn't be able to see anyone in the seats. In addition to this, we aimed to shoot the back side of the van more than the front so it wasn't obvious as to who was in the front two seats. On the shoot day we found that we were correct in thinking the van would pass the camera quite fast so we worked around this by capturing a couple of pans. I realised that I couldn't advise Alex to drive slower for the camera as he would need to keep with the general speed of the other road users as driving purposefully slower may have become a hazard.
Props needed:
- Vet Van
The only prop needed for this shoot was the van.
Creative control
I liaised with Katie before the GV pickup day to see how she was going to shoot the van. She explained that she didn't need a shot list as we only had to capture the van moving a couple of times. Although I agreed at the fact that we only needed to shoot the van. I wanted to create a small list to make sure we had all the angles we needed. Then I could take this with me and check that we've got all of these angles for me to work with in the edit. As I am currently creating the third rough cut, I have an idea of were these GVs can go and the type of shots that would fit in well with the rest of the film. For example, we want to shoot quite shots, rather than watching the van drive along a long road and then finally pass the camera. I will be focusing on the choppier shots, which get the van to the camera quicker.
- 3x straight roads
- 3x corners
- 2x front of van
- 4x back of van
Even if we get a couple of each of these shots I will be pleased. I think we need a variety of the shots to gain more coverage for the edit. While we were conducting the GV pickups I decided to upload a story to the VET-MAN Instagram page. I created a boomerang video of the van driving along the road and added a countdown until the start of May. I did it for the beginning of may because we haven't set a release date just yet so I didn't want to put one up for our followers to see. I added the words - 'wonder where we're off to? Find out in May!!'. The idea of the post was to tease a section of the story of VET-MAN. I wanted our followers to see that we were working on the production of the film at that point of the day. It also might give off the idea that the van is driving somewhere in the country, and our followers could try and look out for it.
What went well
- I believe we got a variety of coverage of the van driving around. I made sure we got a number of shots from the angles I had noted down - corners, straight roads, front and back shots. I was correct in thinking that we didn't need a sound assistant as we were able to attach the microphone to the top of the camera. This saved time and budget which benefits our project well.
- We had no problems out on the road with the equipment. The roads and pavements were quiet as we filmed in the middle of the day when most people are at work which was beneficial for us. We wanted the GVs to focus on the van driving around and this may not have been the case if we had other cars driving in front of the van or behind it.
- We used the safe areas for the van. Alex was able to pull over in the pub car park for us to talk to him about the shots. He was also able to pull over in the street parking safely. We all wore high visibility jackets, especially as we were only a small crew out on location, we felt it was necessary to be highly visible as we have done at each location during this project.
What didn't go so well
- We didn't come across any problems during the shoot. It was simple and short, mainly focusing on the van. I made sure we captured different angles of the van driving and I am eager to put these into the edit to see how they transform the piece.
DOG SHOT - Scene 4
In one of our previous edit reviews, we were advised to film a dog laying in the road and possibility in the back of the van. Initially, we believed that this would be extremely difficult to capture due to the idea of trying to get a dog to lay still for an amount of time. We asked around for anyone who had an obedient dog, as we would struggle further if the dog we chose was really energetic and uncontrollable. I knew plenty of dogs but they are all small, energetic animals that would struggle to lay still. Eventually, one of Alex's friends allowed us to use his dog, Barney. Barney is more obedient than the other dogs we considered but obviously with new people around him, it was inevitable that he was going to be very excited. We waited until he had calmed down before we started attempting to film him. Having his owner, Dan, involved made the process easier as he could control the dog. We weren't at the location for long, but as we only had the one shot to capture, it seemed like we were there for a little while.
Cast
No cast required
Crew
Producer - Melissa
Director - Alex
Director of photography - Katie
Owner & dog - Dan & Barney
Location
The location worked really well. The road wasn't busy as we filmed during the day when most people are at work. We also filmed in a residential area rather than a main road, due to the business of vehicles. This helped towards the health and safety aspect of capturing this shot. As it was only the one or two shots we needed, I stood on the opposite side of the road watching for traffic. It seemed unnecessary to get more crew involved with this shoot as we only wanted the one or two shots.
Creative control
I liaised with Katie before this shoot day to find out the details of the dog shoot. We agreed that it may only be the one shot we will be able to capture of the dog on the ground. Due to the size of the van, we may not be able to fit the dog, owner and Katie in such a small space in the door opening. She explained that she wasn't going to use a shot list for these shots either as it was only the couple of shots that we needed. As Barney was inevitably excited, it proved difficult to get him to lay still even after settling down with him. He would lay down nicely, but it just wasn't long enough for a good take. After a few attempts, we tried to film the animal in slow motion. This would allow us to have a longer shot of the dog laying still. This worked a lot better and the time in which Dan's hands left the frame to when the dog started moving again was a considerable amount. Long enough for us to have a good length take of the dog on the ground.
As predicted we only managed to capture the one shot of the dog. Due to only getting the one shot, I didn't need a shot list to follow. As long as we captured an appropriate take of the shot that was useable for the edit, then we were successful, which we did.
What went well
- After a difficult start, we managed to get the shot captured which we were happy with as it is a vital part of the story. It also builds on the believability of the film, that we can actually see a dog laying on the floor as if it had been hit.
What didn't go so well
- When the idea of getting the dog shot first came around, we discussed the idea of getting two shots of the dog, one in the road and one in the side of the van. However, once we got to the shoot day it became apparent that we were only going to be able to get the one shot of the dog on the ground. It was difficult to get the dog in the van and laying down still with room for both Dan, to control the dog, and Katie to film. It would have been ideal to get a second shot of the dog in the van purely for believability. The viewer would have really believed we had hit a dog if we could include a couple of shots of him in the film. However, due to the difficulty of getting the shot in the van, we could only capture the one shot.
What did I learn
- Although not realising that we needed the dog shot wasn't just my problem, I have learnt that when something is written in the script, the film needs to show it. If I had realised this, I may had suggested to Alex about changing the script slightly so it doesn't explain that we actually see a dog hurt on the floor. For future jobs / clients, I have learnt to deliver exactly what is detailed in the script to avoid disappointment / re-shoots.
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