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First day on the job as AD. Today we read the script and established everyone's roles. I am in a partnership with Sophie as assistant directors and am very happy. By the end of the lesson we had collaborated on ideas for cast, setting and how to get the paperwork handled.

We sent out self tape requests to our 6 actors and how to send them to us in a format that suited us both and Vedad. We gave each actor 2 characters to audition for so we had rage and every character had someone audition for. We also said the actors are free to send over additional tapes of character we hadn't asked for if they desired.

Sophie and I are very happy wroking together and have similar visons with how we want the film to look and have high hopes of the end product.

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Today there needed to be a limited crew for the shoot as it was supposed to rain and the scenes where shot in the Director's car and the exterior of his property. There was only enough room for 3 members of crew. Between myself and Sophie, we agreed she go and be the AD on set and I would sort out the paperwork for the day and the get a head start on the rest of the shooting schedules and set up documents. i had already been working on the documents during our second day of rehearsal and a clear continuous structure would be helpful for other members of crew.

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Today, myself and Sophie teams called Vedad and went through the second draft of the script. We established the fundamentals of the piece and the storyline. He included my own ideas that i suggested in our initial lesson.

My idea was Noah had a reason to stay and the urgency to get him back to his normal life was dramatised to engage the audience, therefore Veda’s altered the script for a more dramatic ending.

We also established how the storyline panned out. I suggested that Grace enter the room at the end or we have an ending shot to show where she goes at the end of the script. In the draft it leaves enigma, however, by showing grace ending back in the bathtub the audience connect the dots and find out she is in a loop in time as she ends up back in the bathtub like when she found her in the beginning.

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During this week, there were a lot of opinions flying around.

One of the AD jobs were to help the Director with liaising with artists and other departments. However, immediately after finding out everyone's roles for the project, we had some concerns brought to our attention, regarding particular parts and the reality of their attendance and professionalism.

There were concerns with two particular actors. Attendance is crucial for a smooth running project, and one of our actresses didn't show up to the initial meeting, and it was brought to our attention she is often late or absent from lessons. This was helpful information - which we followed up with Lara about - to help us continue with casting. In addition, another actress was upset we hadn't asked her to audition for Grace. We felt she would suit the role of Lily perfectly as she is a confident woman. However, we suggested if she wanted to showcase her talent through another role to what we had asked for, she and everyone else was welcome to it.

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Photoshoot scene 1

Today I arrived at Bolton on time at 8:30am. I unloaded the equipment and found a place to park. When I arrived on set, the equipment hadn't been set up and the room we had prepared for was now unavailable. I believe the location manager should have decided on a new location quickly so we were still on schedule and set up there, however, the decision wasn't made until 45 minutes into the set up time. This was concerning as we were already behind and some people - such as props - hadn't arrived either.

Nether the less, we set up in a new room and began shooting at 10:30 - an hour after into the time we should've started. I did my best to keep to times from that point on but I was glad it was only a one scene day. Myself and Sophie directed the whole scene by ourselves. I had to tell many people - including lights and continuity - how to do their job because they weren't considering toes aspects themselves and therefore made the shoot longer than expected.

I had made our shooting schedule and set up documents for today's shoot which proved extremely valuable as camera had forgotten the initial ideas for each shot and needed to be reminded. I had factored in everyone's time-keeping into the shooting schedule and therefore allowed the whole day for this one scene. Unfortunately, this did concern me that we had only a 1 minute scene to shoot and it took us 6 hours to do in total. Hopefully, next week will be more efficient.

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Casting was our main priority this week.

Watching the tapes gave a very interesting insight into the type of actors we had and the level of professionalism we were going to get. The tapes ranged in professionalism. However, we all agreed on the cast unanimously.

We also discussed the new changes in the second draft. Helping us all getting a better understanding of the time line we established it was the 90s and that really helped the departments understand what type of props, costume and set they could use.

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We discussed the changes in the script, draft 3.

Added in another scene.

More dialogue in beginning scene

No laptop in taxi because she wouldn’t have a laptop in the 90s

We discussed the explanation of what happened to Grace and why she is in this loop in time is slightly over-explained and suggested to cut it down for a quick explanation with some slight enigma. Maybe a hint to the next stage of the Agent's mission.

A group discussion took place to suggest new ideas.

Myself, Sophie, Production Manger and the location manager had a location meeting with the Director. We have such a small budget that finding a house which fits the aethestic and our timeframe, has proven difficult. The longer it takes for us to find a location, the harder it is to sort out the floor plans and the call sheets for the rest of the shoot.

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Sophie and I went through all the scenes and gave them basic descriptions and had a look at which characters were needed for each. We then colour coded the scenes which could possibly be shot in the same location.

With locations manager and production manager, we had a look at many airb&bs for our main location - Grace's house. However, most of the places that suited were too expensive for our budget. This was becoming concerning as we needed to make a move on creating the shot list.

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Today we had a meeting about shot lists. This was very helpful. We established every scene needs to have whatever is on the script (in the setting description) in the masters shot - this needs to be filmed by page so there is always a takeaway shot. We discussed how the script should be marked for the shot lists, and how it is helpful for the rest of production.

I learnt each shot will be static and the edit of zooms and close up movements will be adapted in during the post production. Therefore, the camera will be 6k and shot in 2k so there is leverage to reframe the actors and their eyelines.

I also learnt the importance of keeping the focus on the same area of screen and to only let the focus move gradually to keep the audience engaged - if the focus moves too quickly from left to right, it can become quite jarring for the audience - leading them to disengage.

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Today we worked on compiling all the documents into one folder for the shoot - set up document; storyboard, shot list, floor plan, props list, call sheet.

I suggested to the locations manager to send a video of each location so we can work out the floor plans.

planning

risk assessments

schedule

call sheets

set up lists

shot lists

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Technical rehearsals

Today we rehearsed each scene chronologically and used the cameras to get the slates for our shot/set up lists. I used the time to write notes about all the requirements for each shot and on Tuesday, I went through all the footage and labelled each shot. I believe, the data wrangler should have done this prior to the lesson as it took me 2 hours when I could have spent making notes about the scenes we rehearsed that day.

However, it did help me get a good knowledge of the shots we needed and when putting the shots into the set up document I could quickly identify the correct ones.

Requiring sound, camera, continuity and editors and actors

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I am trying to create the set up lists for each scene with enough time to create a shooting schedule and for production manager to create the call sheets. However, in order to this, I need all departments to send me a clear document of what they need for each scene. This has proven to be a big challenge for many departments as their layouts are unclear, they are missing scenes and haven't considered better possibilities in terms of props and floor plans.

In addition, the lights department and camera department had created floor-plans, however they were unclear and lacked in detail. I took it upon myself to create my own for the set up documents that replicated to proportions of the set we were using.

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Day 3 shoot - 22nd April - podiatry clinic

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Day 3 shoot - 22nd April - podiatry clinic

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Today we filmed the interview and the hospital scenes.

I considered the framing of the Agents and wanted them to be the controlled force throughout the film and continuingly using shots where their backs are in frame and the other character is in the centre and slightly looking upwards, gives an uneasy sense and almost fearful quality to the characters. We used this in the interview scene and I have considered it for the other scenes in the week such as when they snap Noah out of frame, when they retrieve the file from the Receptionist in scene 21b and when they finally approach their boss. Although they are his agents, they are still the ones calling the shots.

Queeneth was so good at playing the Nurse, we all agreed she really took the role on and helped us capture a sincere nurse. This scene took a long time to create as the lights were constantly reflecting on the whiteboard. The batteries dying also didn't help move things along. I made sure to keep on top of keeping talent hydrated and comfortable. I would be going in and out getting water for the two actresses. I also was there to help give direction for their pace and made marks for where they needed to stand. I enjoyed helping keep them company whilst we set up new lights and moved set around for each shot type. I believe I helped keep the process smooth as they were calm and relaxed. I also suggested they run over lines if they were unsure of anything.

Challenges

We were told a separate end time for the clinic before they close, we had planned for a 5 o’clock wrap however, after being behind for our second scene of the day, the lady on reception notified us we needed to be out by 4 and that would mean we had an hour and a half less.

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Day 4 shoot - 23rd April - Bolton Town Hall

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Day 4 shoot - 23rd April - Bolton Town Hall

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Today we filmed two big scenes, which required slights stunts, continuity focus and outside patience. We filmed in Bolton and had outside shots to capture which proved difficult with many members on the public getting into the shots. The shots where of our main character entering the magistrate building, it took us many takes to get the shot without anyone getting into the background - which wouldn't have worked as they clearly represented the 21st century - not very 90s. As expected, our Director wanted more shots and we adapted to this, but I made sure to keep himself and the other departments aware of time to capture all the shots we had planned for the day.

You could say it was a blessing in disguise that we had a time limit for Bolton Town hall, as there was a sense of urgency with capturing each shot from most departments and everyone was focused.

When moving onto scene 19 we found using two cameras was most useful for continuity and for the actors. You could say we had a slight stunt, with our main character fighting between a camera. In our film, Grace disappears once Noah takes a picture. We needed to create the illusion the camera snapped her out of the scene and in order for this to take place we needed to keep Noah in the exact position he takes the picture without Grace in frame. Using two cameras helped keep the continuity. You can see from the video that I had to move fast between clapperboarding each scene - keeping track of the different shots and the cameras used to create them.

One of the things I have enjoyed about this video project is finding the wierdest positions to get into to be out of shot but near the camera ready to clapperboard and also out of the way of lights to prevent creating shadows. In the clip you can see I thought about this well.

I came up with a shot for the Agent's entrances. This was a shot that hadn't been considered but the Director liked very much. I wanted to have Noah's reaction captured as the two enter either side of camera into frame and almost trap him with their bodies, him ending up in the centre of the screen. This idea has been continued into the rest of the film with a lot of shots centering around the centre. Like the interview scene where Grace is in the centre and the Agents' backs are either side.

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Day 5 shoot - 24th April - Bolton Town hall

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Day 5 shoot - 24th April - Bolton Town hall

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The Locations' manager met me and I drove us to a Props/Actor member of the team and collected the mirror for tomorrows scene. I then picked up the Production Manager and made our way to set in Bolton. We arrived on time and was told by our Director, he wanted to change the shooting schedule. This wasn’t the best news as I had taken ages to create the shooting schedule last night and make sure we had enough time for each shot. In addition to that, the Director added on 2 more shots to the first scene of the day. So between Sophie (the other AD) and I, we decided I alter the shooting schedule (as I was responsible for today’s) whilst she helps set up for the first shot. Sophie and I work well together as we just adapt to the scenario.

Challenges

We were given extra shots and one being following the agents on foot walking towards the boss, we didn’t have a steady grip of the camera when tracking them backwards. We attempted to put the camera on the trolly that we used to cart the equipment, but the movement was too jaggered. So we tried using the walking quickly in front with no shoes but the movement and keeping focus was too difficult and the time limit became stressful for the camera ops so we decided to cut the shot and if we had time we would reshoot at the end of the day.

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I met the Production Manager at Tramways and helped pack the car with props and we set off. Halfway through our journey, the Director notified us the person keeping hold of all the equipment hadn’t woken up and let him in. We also know this Editor/Production Co-ordinator went out the night before drinking and posted it on our group chat. This was infuriating because it set the whole day back. The group attempted to get in contact and as a result, the Director suggested we get Lights co-ordinator to book out more equipment and he go collect that. It wasn’t until an hour and a half after call time that we heard from them and they were on their way. One thing I learnt from this is to not rely on one person for equipment.

Whilst this was happening, we set up the room to be 2013 for the monologue, as lighting was okay because it’s supposed to be bad quality for when she uses the old equipment o view it. We found the look was too modern and similar to the other scenes so I suggested she have a big and tie her hair in a way to look like she did. It was unfortunate the makeup and hair team didn’t have grips for the hair as it was quite messy and temperamental for the actress to keep it staying in the bob position but we did manage to get the shot better. As our Director was waiting for the another member of the team, we had to change the dialogue as we didn’t have the camera prop. Once he arrived we went back to the original script. This set us back again.

We moved onto the second scene of the day at 11:25, we had to set dress again and change the actress’ clothes and look. This was our longest day. A lot of the crew had become drained and this was difficult to keep moral. As we made it through each shot, I created a countdown for the team so they could have a sense of getting somewhere. However, it became difficult when the director would add in more shots.

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Today was our last day of shooting! Exciting. Sophie had made the shooting schedule, however after considering the time of day, we switched it around a bit to do the harder more technical scenes first as they were set in the morning when the sun would be shining through the windows. I constructed up a new shooting schedule for us to follow. We also decided to end the scene on a cast scene. Originally we would finish on the montage scenes but these didn’t include cast so instead we finished on Grace in the bathtub, and left the bloody mess to the end of the day.

The day was running smoothly until we realised we didn’t have the bag she puts the camera and note in. We had a choice: go without and hope the audience don’t notice or we could go back and get it taking an hour and a half. I decided I should go with Bella (production manager) to retrieve the prop as Sophie kept everyone in time with the new schedule. I decided to go because I was the only one with a car who wanted to make sure there we were as quick as possible. Luckily we made it back before they got onto the shot with it in.

We went through all the scenes and I went through the script to double check we had footage for everything we hadn’t planned to do today and we had all the right footage. So relieved to know we had filmed everything we wanted.

I had to concentrate on the clapperboard when we got back as we filmed scene 14 and scene 16 at the same time because the situations are similar and the camera set-up is the same for most of the shots so we did scene 14 shot 1, then scene 16 shot 1 and kept going like that. This saved a lot of time rearranging twice. Our actress was a professional and didn't let this take affect her acting and I was there to reasure her what the take was going to intake (also allowing time for rehearsal).

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One take before the end of the production process, an editor on set told myself and Sophie all the clapper boards didn't match the scene numbers in the script. This was highly disappointing as they were on set the entire shoot and hadn't informed us.

However, taking a look at the material on the laptop, I discovered there were two instances where the clapper boards didn't match.

We had an exterior shot cut from the script and therefore, we had moved the scene numbers up and so they didn't match and the shot list didn't include some of the scenes. therefore when we were on set we had to change the scene numbers to 21.a and 21.b because 23 hadn't been included and didn't make sense.

I took the script and annotated it to change the scene numbers so the editors could match the clapper board to the correct scene and there would be no confusion.

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During the last pre-production phase tensions were high. I was concerned with the level of preparation from most departments, such as: lights, sound and props. I had a chat with the members of each department on Monday and requested their scene breakdowns to be sent to me and Sophie via teams by 2pm Wednesday latest.

I had a heated discussion with the set and props department as I heard them say "we can get that" a lot, regarding props and set for the shoot. I was concerned they had underestimated the time it would take to source them and physically get them to the shoot - which was fast approaching. By the end of the conversation they were aware of the time frame and assured me the props would be there for filming.