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To start off the process of the creation on Last Thing I Heard, I introduced everyone to the project with a full script read through, getting the cast to recite their lines whilst I read through the stage directions. I felt that this would be a great way to familiarise everyone with the plot of the film, so that each individual could begin to think about their own particular inclusion to the film in their cast or crew role. Straight after the read through, we broke the script down into each scene, and I opened up discussions with each department in the group about what their initial thoughts were for each scene. I asked the cast about the key beats of the scene, my tech team about how they think the camera, lighting and editing could be used to enhance the scenes, my artistic team about the set, costume and props for the scene and my production team the logistics of how this would be filmed in the budget we have been provided. Opening up these discussions helped me think deeper into how the film would creatively come together - with particular inputs enhancing my understanding on the subtext of the film. For example, Livvy mentioned having the hostage scene take place in Hayley’s old apartment, her daughters old bedroom, to add to the creepy aesthetic of this final scene; this is an idea that was then included in the final film.

I then called for a lunch break, and when we all came back I split the team into their particular departments: Production, Tech, Art and Cast - for them to start piecing together all of the ideas we had come up with during the scene breakdowns, as well as develop more ideas. During this time, I spoke to Stanka and Nathan about the camera and lighting for each scene, and let the two of them have a discussion about the shot list in addition to the inclusion of lighting in each particular scene and how it will be utilised to match my vision for the film. I showed my Art and Tech teams the Lookbook I had created before the project started so they could begin to think about what can be accomplished on set and what can be manipulated in post production - and so they could start to lock down on all creative decisions they had come up with and ensure they fitted with my creative vision. I was also able to hot seat my Cast and throw open questions at them about their characters to help us all understand their characters more; it was through this exercise we learnt that Hayley’s relationship ended when her daughter passed, and that Danni has been friends with Lyndsey since they were very young.

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Today started with a meeting with my sound technicians to decipher how many sound effects are involved in the script and also to get them thinking about testing out the sound in all of the locations so we could take into consideration the noise levels in the environment, and prepare ourselves for potential ADR from the very beginning. Whilst my sound technicians went on location to check out sound levels, I sat down with my cinematographer and editors to discuss exactly what is expected to be done in production and what can be picked up in post production to make sure the film fits with my vision I have specified in my Lookbook and Analysis. It was at this point we spoke about the lighting differences between past and present, as well as the manipulation of aspect ratio and opacity layers of multiple shots - in turn, this impacted the shot list to fit with new criteria.

Because I devoted more time to my tech team this morning, I asked my cast to create character bio’s based on the discussions we had during hot seating yesterday and any other discoveries they may have had with their characters. This worked out well to help us think about the costume the characters would need, as we had a meeting scheduled with the wardrobe department today. George had created mood boards for each character including both colour schemes for their costume and example outfits they could be seen in - we used this as inspiration when picking costume to use from Wardrobe. I did not think they had enough that we could use, as a lot of wardrobe felt very period when our film is set in the modern day, so I asked Brent to go out and find me some more costume.

In the down time I had whilst I was not working with other departments I was able to complete the shooting schedule for the production weeks with Alice, and also lock down my Shot Lists with Stanka so we had a strong understanding of how it will all work out. After this was done, I attended a Ronin induction with Stanka and Nathan.

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Based on the discussions I had with Nathan and Stanka over the first two days, we decided to do a test shoot of one of the flashback scenes, to see how both the free flowing camera and the dynamic lighting would work in conjunction of one another, and on top of that we needed to work out how sound would be implemented and not caught in shot on the camera. Working out how to get all of this to flow professionally was an interesting challenge with a very good pay off, as we ensured we recorded all of the footage and audio so that Tasha could have a practice editing the scene together, to start thinking of techniques to separate the past from the present. We tested out the ronin, and then played around with multiple lenses and different lighting techniques so I could make a decision of what I thought would work best for all flashback scenes. As the past is intended to be more dynamic than the present, I felt it was very important to establish our capabilities for the past, so we could then work out how far to go with the cinematography in the present.

I used this test shoot to also work on the blocking of Scene 8 with Caitlin and Lewis, talking them through the motivations of the scene and how it will play out with the rest of the film. I got them to think about how this scene is intended to make the audience believe Liam could have been the person who is responsible for the dissappearence of Lyndsey, so we had to work on how Lewis could play the role to be both misleading but honest to his character. I then carried this methodology into the scene rehearsals that I conducted during the afternoon, going through both blocking and key beats with the actors so they could begin to understand their character motivations more. We also engaged in more discussions on how their characters would behave in each individual scene by re-structuring the timeline of the film into the placement of all the key events, this helped the actors think about their subtextual motifs of each scene.

Some of the themes I am exploring with this film are very dark and mature, specifically with Caitlin's scenes so I had a discussion with her about consent, and whilst with Lewis had a conversation about the boundaries in the scene - I needed to make sure Caitlin felt comfortable to go to these places with me, which she appreciated.

Next I had a meeting with the production team to confirm the locations that we would be filming in - as we are part of the second group of films to be created, me and Alice went location scouting before the start of Pre-Production, so that the process of confirming locations could run a lot smoother. I let Alice and Will know all of the locations I definitely wanted to film in and they ran me through how many locations were already confirmed and what locations need to be reconsidered. For Scene 5 of the film I initially wanted to film outside of a police station, but I was told that this was eat in to quite a lot of our budget, and considering this scene is so short it would not be worth the money. This lead me to go and speak to Stacey about turning the Old Fire Station Building into a police station for ease in the film - we spoke about ways of dressing up the building to create the illusion. During my lunch break I quickly went to the location to pass photos on to the art and tech teams and we were all satisfied to go with this location so Will contacted the owner of the building. We also had an issue with finding out how to get permission to film on Salford Quays for Scene 8a, and Will is still continuing to work out how to get permission to film here - this is a key location that I really want but I have been considering the potential of moving to Peel Park if we do not get permission, I have alerted Alice about this and we will make the final decision tomorrow, but as of today all other locations have been confirmed. I also confirmed wardrobe with George and Brent today after they spent the past 2 days shopping in Manchester for the final bits of costume. We got pictures of all the actors in all of their costumes for George to compile into a document.

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To start off the day I met with the my tech and art team for us to go over to one of our locations (Liz’s Café) to have a test shoot. I have intended to use the café for Scene 3, and as Alice had used this location before I already had communication established with the owner, who has allowed us to film in this location free of charge after she closes at 2pm. Whilst here me and Stanka went through the shot list whilst Petru and Irium tested the sound levels. The owner also gave us her keys for us to check out the apartment above the café, as she is in the process of renting it out so it is empty - and this location really works well for the final scene of the film, where we find out Hayley is holding Lyndsey hostage. So again we looked at the shot list and got sound tests done whilst Stacey began to think about how we can dress the set and what props should be added to her shopping list. We know that we need to get a cot or crib of some sort to dress this scene, but at the moment it is a big struggle to think of a mother in the surrounding area who’s child is old enough that they no longer need the crib that would allow us to borrow their crib; especially because people in our age range are either not mothers or mothers to very young children. We do not plan to shoot in this location until week 2 of production, so as of now we have some time to consider how this will work.

For the shooting schedule me and Alice made the decision to get all of the flashbacks shot in week 1, this would get all the night shoots out of the way before daylight saving hours come in to play at the end of this month and ensure that people get enough rest between shoots.

We took a lunch break after finishing the location test shoot and when I started back I engaged in an improvisation session with my cast - getting them to engage in role playing scenes with one another whilst in character to test out their relationships with the other characters. I would open up a circumstance and allow the cast to naturally let the scene play out - such as Spencer and Liam just hanging out in their living room and some speed dating. Doing this helped establish some more characterisation, like who are the more dominant personalities and which characters change their behaviour around different people; what I liked the most was how Lewis’ character seemed to be very boisterous around Spencer (Joel) and confident with his ability to be around women, until we then put him in scenes with women where he starts to become a lot more introverted. After the improv sessions we went across the circle talking about what they have learnt about their own character and something they noticed about another character in the room.

Today I also created a document with all of the Scene Transitions in it, this was to compliment my storyboard but also just be a concise PDF for the tech team to look back on when thinking about how all of the scenes are going to piece together, as I want to do a lot of invisible cuts and sound matches to get us through each scene so the film flows a lot more natural. This document was then uploaded onto the OneDrive.

I also made the decision that I definitely wanted to film at Salford Quays for Scene 8a and Will continued to work on getting permission.

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As today is the final day of pre-production I wanted to have a final meeting with each team member to ensure that they are ready for the production process and all of the criteria I set has been met. Anything that has not been completed by today needed to be worked on immediately or brought to mine and/or Alice’s attention as something to troubleshoot before Monday - this included trying to find a baby crib and also getting photos of the cast together to use as props in the film. The photos can be taken during production as long as Stacey has 24 hours to print it before the shoot it is needed for and I have asked my mom to contact some of her friends to see if they could let us borrow a baby crib as I know I will be going home before the second week of production.

Me and Natalie had met with Naqqash this week to discuss the slight change we wanted to make to the script, this was to allow for us to transition from Hayley’s apartment to the abandoned house she holds Lyndsey hostage in - we got permission to do this so I tasked Natalie with getting these changes locked off as soon as possible. I also managed to lock off costume, set, props and make-up with my art department and confirmed that everything had been purchased. Earlier in the week I asked James and Tasha to create a website and some social media profiles to go on it for Scene 1 and I locked off the design and all the components today - we noticed that the url for the website was going to be an obvious problem (Tasha created it on wix) so me and Stanka spoke about going tighter on the shot to avoid this - something I am happy we could consider and prepare for now before worrying about this on the shooting day. Whilst with Stanka I also finalised and locked off the shot lists I had created with Stanka so she knew what I would be expecting to get for each scene and could begin to think about her own inclusion.

With the majority of the technical and production sides of the film locked off, I ran through a full script run through with my cast, with the blocking we had discussed. This was refreshing to see after the week have had working on characterisation and motivations, and I only had minor notes on inflection and interpretation in different scenes - the rest of their performances I am satisfied with. I paid particular attention to Scene’s 9 and 10 with Caitlin and Kelsey as these scenes act as the climax of the film, and focus with a lot of subtext (it is only ever implied that Hayley lost her child, it is never specifically said) so I needed to make sure they knew how to portray this without selling away the story.

To finish off the day Stanka set up the ronin and we tested out some one takes of the flashback scenes and how we can manipulate the ronin in each scene and avoid lighting and sound issues. This was rather fast paced and focussed a lot more on the technical side of the film than it did the performative - but it was very telling in how we should manipulate the camera and how much we would be able to show with a fixed lens and an auto focus. After finishing off our practice, I called the end of the day and we wrapped Pre-Production week.

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This morning I went with Alice to go and pick up all of the equipment we would be needing over the next two weeks. We stored the majority of the equipment with George as he lives on campus and our location for the night shoot is also on campus.

As the shoot today wasn’t taking place until the night I used the free time I had during the day to write the scene briefs for all of the scenes we planned to shoot during this first week, so I could send it to my team and they can look at the narrative importance each scene has fresh before the shoot starts. I also made a decision to upload the shot lists for each scene onto the OneDrive the day before the shoot so that all the people who needed information from the shot list (notably Stanka for camera and Will for continuity) had this available in good time.

Once we arrived on set I began to get the equipment set up with my tech team whilst we waited for it to get dark enough to begin shooting - due to Caitlin and Sophie wearing thin dresses as costume, Alice sent them inside to keep warm until we required them on set. After the ronin and the lights had been set up, I used Will and Tasha as stand in’s whilst me, Stanka and Nathan tested the movement of the shot and the placement of the lights; at the same time Petru and Irium were testing out the sound levels from a position where they definitely would not be caught in shot. We learnt that Nathan would also have to move around with Stanka so that his main light did not get caught in the shot, he carried it around with him. It took a lot longer than we had thought for it to get completely dark, but as soon as it got dark enough we began shooting, and because we spent the time practicing the one take before it got dark, it meant that by the time it was dark enough we could begin shooting instantly. The ronin shot took quite a lot of attempts to get right, and as this is the shot that we started the shoot with, it felt like it we was going to run over schedule very fast, and I worried that this was going to cause the enthusiasm in the cast and crew to drop. Conveniently, after the ronin shot was captured and I was satisfied with the take, we managed to get through the rest of the shots in quick succession, I attribute this to the three years of experience we all have with the more conventional and familiar shots such as the over the shoulder shots. We also had several extreme close ups that took up a lot of the shots we wanted, so these could all be covered in one take without the need of capturing sound in quick succession. After getting all the shots I needed the cast in, I finished the shoot with getting some shots of the location which could be used as “B-Roll” and establishing shots when it came to the edit. Once this was caught, I called for a wrap and we passed the footage and audio on to Tasha.

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Before tonights shoot our updated script got confirmed by Naqqash after Natalie sent it over to him, it did not affect anything with the filming process and did not change any plot details, it just changed how one part of the film played out. Once it was confirmed we put the updated script on to the OneDrive for people to look at, but all props, locations and set had already been confirmed and decided in pre-production at this point.

We all met at the university at the call time before getting taxi’s to Kelsey’s apartment, which is where the shoot took place. Once we got in it became obvious very soon that there was far too many of us in one room and we could not all fit into the apartment without it starting to become a problem with set up and shots. Stanka was having issues getting the ronin set up and this began to push back our schedule, which was an issue as the longer we stayed the more of a disruption we became to the people who lived in the apartment, but there wasn’t much we could do at this point, so I asked the art team to do the finishing touches to the location and the actors, and I ran through the scene and blocking with the cast. Once the art department were finished and I was satisfied with their work, I made the decision to dismiss them from set so we could free up more space in the apartment and only have the tech team and cast working in there, we managed to get the rest of the team in Kelsey’s bedroom.

As soon as Stanka got the ronin sorted we started shooting, the one take was over a minute long for this scene and required us to move between three separate rooms whilst also maintaining a high standard of cinematography and lighting. It became quite obvious very early on that this was not going to be achievable to a desirable standard using the method I had put in place, and at the same time a lot of the batteries for the lights started dying which was annoying people on set. So, me and Stanka changed how the shot would be done, going between only two rooms now, which meant we could keep much more control on the lighting and sound in the scene. Just like yesterday, as soon as the ronin shot was done we were able to get the majority of the rest of the shots complete in quick succession of one another. At points I took the camera from Stanka as after working hard on the ronin and then taking all the shots handheld (my direction for the flashbacks) her arms naturally began to hurt. During these moments I was able to get through a lot of shots very quick, and because I was directing whilst holding the camera, it meant that I knew when I was satisfied with a shot straight away, and we could lock off on shots much quicker. We managed to finish the shoot around the time we set to finish, which I am pleased with considering how long it took to get everything set up before shooting.

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We had a long day ahead of us today, aiming to get 4 scenes filmed in around 10 hours. All of the scenes were filmed in and around my house, which made it easier to set up between shoots as we could just keep a lot of equipment out instead of packing down after each shoot. Before starting the shoot, I spoke to Alice about changing the schedule for week 2 around slightly, due to availability issues with one of the locations and also a work conflict that was beginning to become a personal issue for me. The swap around didn’t affect too many people, it only changed locations and days a couple of the actors would be required to be on set.

Whilst we had daylight we started filming the present day scenes: 5a & 6. Starting with 5a, I had Stacey and Brent set dress the room whilst Stanka set up the first shot. We encountered a problem with the lighting of the scene in the Master shot, because all of the lights had to point from one direction, it meant that shadows were unavoidable, and Nathan was very persistent with ensuring that the only shadows present looked intentional and as if they were coming from one light source only. Due to this issue with the lighting for this one shot, it took quite some time before we could begin shooting, and this was something I was not too happy with because of how much we had to get covered today. We started to implement more light into more locations closer to the back wall that would not be caught in shot just to try and help get rid of some shadows, but in the end I had to make a call that we would have to film with the lighting how we had it so we did not lose anymore time. My calling of this was made primarily because I imagine we will only be briefly using this shot in the final edit anyway, so I can make sure to let the editors know to cut to another shot when we encounter shadow situations to avoid this being an issue in post. With the master shot done we could then move on to getting the rest of the shots; and so far over the production process me and Stanka have been working really well together so I can call what shot we are going to do and she has the lens and tripod set up ready to go for me whilst I converse with other people, ready to go for a take when I am ready. Because of this, we could get through the rest of the shoot at a reasonable speed that meant we could move on to scene 6 in good time.

Considering I wanted the lighting to be natural in the present it was proving to be quite an issue on set today as it took us a few attempts to get the lighting in Spencer’s room right when bouncing it off his wall. We did not need many shots for this scene though, and with only minimal dialogue we managed to get it shot really quick.

I then called for a lunch break and due to work commitments, I lost Nathan on set so I took it upon myself to set up and control the lighting for the rest of the shoots - as it is only me and Stanka who really knew exactly what we wanted for the scenes. All three of the groups currently shooting for this module wanted to use the ronin, which meant that we had to wait to get it back before we could set it up and begin shooting. Whilst Stanka was setting the ronin up, she came to me and told me that we did not have the lens that we required to use on the ronin, and that it is not really possible to put another lens on the ronin - because of this I had to act quick, and I made the decision to rearrange the ronin shots for the end of week 2 when we would be filming in our kitchen, and only film the handheld shots today. Because of this, we managed to get through a lot of shots very fast using the methods and techniques during shooting that we have been using the past couple days, such as getting shots lens by lens rather than shot type by shot type to speed up the set up process. I must credit my tech team for their commitment to such a long shooting day, we managed to get a lot done in the time we had, and with the help of the art team getting each set dressed whilst we filmed in a different one, it was all able to run smoothly.

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The first scene that we filmed today was Scene 2 in the early afternoon. The first shot we attempted to get was the most technically challenging one, involving both the dolly and the jib as we transition from a close up into a wide shot in one take. Whilst Stanka was getting the jib set up, she noticed that there was a fault with it which unfortunately meant we were unable to use it in this shot, this wasn’t too much of an issue because we could still get the type of shot we desired with just the dolly tracks, it just meant we couldn’t be as creative as we initially intended to be. I had Tasha and Daisy come on to set as extras in this scene to help fill the space, and I also reworked some blocking with Livvy as I needed her to move her seat into shot so it wasn’t in the way of the dolly tracks. All of this  happened rather fast paced before I was ready to start going for some proper takes.

Though I had all of my crew with me on set today, I noticed a lot of crew members not actively getting involved in their roles - I had to ask people to get tape to cover branding on some of the products in shot, and my mentor noticed a continuity error with costume before my art department did, which is a bad situation because in my role I am having to focus on getting everything shot in a very concise time frame, so I don’t have the time to be checking on the smaller details that my crew members should focus on. Because of this situation and a discussion I had with Naqqash, me and Alice agreed to send an email out to the cast and crew highlighting some rules we felt needed to be reestablished. These were rules on nobody leaving set early, no smoking before I call wrap and absolutely no mobile phones on during shooting hours. These are simple rules that I wish didn’t have to be reenforced, but I am happy that we were able to professionally get this point across to the team before moving on to the night shoot.

On the night shoot I had a lot more commitment from my team, managing to wrap this shoot a lot quicker than we had planned even with several shots of “B-Roll” being filmed. Whilst at this outdoor location we did have some issues with the noise in the surrounding area; metro’s ran close to the location and a few pubs were very lively just in the distance. It wasn’t too much of a problem when we held the microphone as close to the actors as we could, but it was definitely there. This is a scene I am fine to try and get ADR for if necessary, but I also intend to put music under this scene in the edit which may get rid of some of these noises. I shot with Kelsey first as she had to leave set early but I told her that we can not allow her to leave set early again as we should not have to worry about people not staying on set when they are called. But once she was gone we managed to get the shots done rather quick, working on the ronin shots at the very end this time, which actually made the whole process feel a lot smoother.

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Today was the first day of the second week of the production, after having a long weekend break I returned back to Manchester with the baby crib we need for the final scene that we plan to film tomorrow. Today we started by going back to Kelsey’s apartment in the morning to film Scene 1. Stanka had this scene set to a really low aperture to ensure that the window wasn’t overexposed in the shot - this added a dullness to the shot that I loved as a creative choice, it made the scene feel very still, emotionless and empty. It was important to try and keep all of these components in every shot as there is no dialogue in this scene, so all of the shots needed to tell the audience the story instead. Because there was no dialogue luckily there was no sound issues but we still got sound as we will probably need a wild track in the shot when it comes to the edit. The lighting in this scene was not messed with too much, but we did try to bounce a lot of light off the walls to brighten up the shot as we had to film it in the lower aperture.

Once we had finished Scene 1 we all headed to the university to have a lunch break and then get ready to film Scene 5 at the Old Fire Station. Stanka had the C100 and jib booked out again today for us to get a CCTV style shot to help try and convince the audience that this building is a police station. I got a phone call from her before we planned to shoot, and she told me a crew member from another film still had the jib and he was late in returning it, which meant that we could not use it to shoot as we didn’t have time to rearrange this shoot. Because of this, Stanka was told about a couple of things we could do instead for CCTV style footage, the most appealing one for me was using a GoPro and having somebody pan it from left to right to mock a security camera. We ended up trying out this technique and it worked well and looked convincing, so after getting this shot we could then focus on getting all the other shots on the shot list. We started by getting a shot from right in front of the door, as the building was occupied so we didn’t want to be a burden or a safety hazard, and finished with the wider establishing shots.

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We only had one scene that we needed to film today, so I headed on to set today with the motivation to get everything shot in good time and before the intended wrap time. As soon as I got in I started to get the baby crib built and decorated the set with some baby toys I grabbed from home. As I brought most of the props myself and I was the first person there I believed that this would be a good use of my time and did not see much point in waiting for the art department to get in if I could be getting on with it myself. When they did arrive I just asked Stacey to rearrange the set as she felt she wanted to and I got Will to take pictures of the placement of all the toys for continuity.

I had some rope to have Caitlin tied to the baby crib but logically this was not enough to keep her hostage, so we had to think of anything else we could use. Conveniently for us, there was some loose cable in the apartment that was disconnected and completely safe to use, so we used it to wrap around Caitlin, tying her hands and legs together. Just like on Monday, Stanka shot with a low aperture due to the windows being visible in the shot and not wanting anything to be overexposed, because of this all of the shots were dark but this is something I will make sure I pay attention to in the edit. Nathan did a good job at trying to put as much light into the room with it still looking natural, but because we had the curtains drawn and wanted to make the house look abandoned it would have naturally been very dull and dark in here anyway. Because we filmed in the corner we had to think about the placement of the camera, lights and boom pole a lot because it was hard to get everything perfect and also have the shots look completely natural, but this is something we were able to achieve with everyone communicating with one another, rather than waiting for me to confirm anything. Doing this allowed me to focus on the time keeping of the day and also work out a plan of action for the rest of the shots in my head, and it was very refreshing to have my team work as such a strong unit whilst I could focus on something else for a moment. After I was satisfied with all the footage I called for a wrap and we began to pack down set and equipment before getting taxis back to uni.

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Another day where we only had one scene we had to film, we had a later start today as the café does not close until 2pm and we had complete access as soon as the owner had finished trade. She gave us the keys so we could store all of our bags in the apartment upstairs (the location we used yesterday) and because we had the keys and the C100 and the Ninja we got another shot for the montage Scene 11 of Lyndsey being dragged up the stairs. It’s a POV from Lyndsey so we did not need Caitlin in and instead used Lucy in the costume to be dragged up the stairs. This shot did not take long to get before we could start getting the café set up.

Today’s shoot was another shoot that started slow but built momentum after we got the initial master shot filmed. I started off with the C100 and Ninja birds eye shots I wanted for the table so that we could then get this equipment packed away and Alice could return it to the equipment store as it was due back in during the shoot. We then moved on to the Black Magic shots starting with the longer master shots. We was having issues with the temperamental weather, the sky was cloudy meaning that natural lighting was constantly changing and this was affecting continuity. Other things that affected continuity was the cake Hayley was meant to be eating and the cars driving past just slightly in shot. In all honesty this is something we should have took into consideration during the reccee but as we began to reposition the camera it stopped being too much of an issue, especially when we got other shots we could cut to if needed to mask the continuity issues. Because of the sound issue this is a scene I am considering for an ADR session. Though we had a lot of commitment for the most part on set, we did have some issues with Kelsey’s availability again, but I told her that this shoot is more important and that she could not be dismissed until I called wrap, which isn’t something I wanted to have to do but I had to put the best interests of the film first. Lucy was also very passive in her role with topping up make-up, and at one point we had Alice doing this or the actors themselves doing their own make-up. But even with me saying this, we had commitment from everyone after I called wrap to get the café put back in place and tidied up before the owners return.

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We are finally on our last day of shooting and we are actually in a very good place. There has only been one scene so far we have wanted to do a reshoot for based on the footage I have been watching back, and conveniently we are in the location for this reshoot all day today which makes it possible to get this done. The reshoot is for Scene 6 and it is only the mid shot we want to reshoot because of a lighting issue in the scene that affects the continuity.

Before we did this reshoot though, we got the kitchen scene between Spencer and Liam filmed in it’s entirety - the scene is broken up with a few flashbacks in between but should flow like one conversation, so we shot it that way. Stacey and Brent helped me dress the set and Stacey also provided the food that Lewis would be eating, so I also asked her to check on the continuity of the chips for the take. After getting the master shot the boiler in the kitchen started to make a low hum that could be caught by the mic, so I got sound to also record a wild track for us to lace underneath the master shot in the edit and save ourselves from having to do any ADR for this scene. Because we also had to set the dolly up for this scene, it became very time consuming to get all the shots done and we started to fall behind schedule - and after filming on the black magic we then had to move back on to the C100 and Ninja to get some closer shots of Joel, including one shot inside the fridge (this was all risk assessed). These were filmed really quick and once we moved on to the C100 I got Brent and Stacey to get Spencer’s bedroom dressed like it was the week before again so we didn’t mess up continuity in the take. This reshoot was a quick shot to get and match to the footage we got the week before, and because it matched so well we did not have to shoot the whole scene and could call for lunch.

After lunch we got the rest of the people we needed on set called in and I got Lucy to get Caitlin’s make-up put back how it has been in all the other flashback scenes, but Caitlin ended up doing her own make-up instead. At this time I went with Stanka and Nathan to film Kelsey closing her car boot from inside the boot. Stanka helped Nathan with lighting whilst I got in the boot and again because I was on camera and could control it to fit my vision there and then we managed to get this shot very fast.

Once we finished with Kelsey I went through the lighting for this scene with Nathan whilst Stanka prepared the ronin for the shoots we had to push back due to the ronin situation last week. Once the ronin was set up we were able to get multiple takes of the Spencer flashback with the ronin, but once we went outside to get the Liam flashback done with the ronin the weather took a bad turn which made it a safety hazard to film outside, as well as putting the equipment at risk, so I had to call a wrap much earlier than I wanted to and me and Alice had to discuss when to reshoot this scene after the Easter break. But for now, the production is done and everything but one shot has been filmed.

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The Post-Production process as a whole required me to come in to spend time with my editors and keep up to date with their progress but I also have a lot of work to do to keep in touch with my composers to ensure that music is being made and picture locks are being sent to them.

To start off the Post-Production phase we did our reshoot to get the ronin shot we needed for Scene 8 and this was a process that went extremely quick and that everyone involved committed fully to. Everyone was on set in good time and everything was set up ready to go as soon as the sky was dark enough. We even managed to get a bonus shot due to the amount of time we had and this ended up making its way into the most recent edit Tasha has done of this scene.

I also had to communicate with the New Adelphi to get both an ADR session and induction booked at the earliest convenience for some of our scenes. ADR took place on May 9th and May 10th and I made the decision to get ADR for multiple scenes done with all of the actors because at this point it seemed better to get it whilst we could rather than not having it and wanting to use it when we are too late. We got ADR for Scenes 3, 3a, 6a, 6b, 6c, 9 & 10 - but in the end we only used the ADR dialogue for Scenes 3 & 3a as the ADR was too much of a distraction from the other scenes where sound wasn’t too much of an issue. We had several issues with protools but luckily we had a gentleman who works in the voice acting studio assist us as much as he could, meaning we could still finish in good time on both sessions.

Over Easter I was able to contact some people about composing music for the film, and whilst communication was stagnant they had produced some music for me to sample in the edits by the time we came back from Easter break. I was not a fan of the music they sent over so provided them with some notes and changes, but at the same time I also contacted another composer as I was worried about the time restraints. I ended up using music from both composers in the end so was able to give them all credits for their continued (unpaid) hard work for the film.

Within the first week of the edit we were able to put all of the film in a sequence together, our first rough cut, for us to watch, review and suggest changes for. I enjoyed being able to watch the film through altogether for the first time, but I did have a lot of notes on the pacing, we were hitting 14 minutes, which meant we had 60 seconds to manipulate, so I gave both James and Tasha notes on where we could let scenes breathe more. I must take this time to credit James and Tasha on their commitment to the edit and all of their hard work, I would come in to the edit suite every day with additional notes and improvements which they would complete as well as working towards their own personal tasks for the day. We came up with a lot of changes to help enhance the film, the most notable one was some changes in the transitions between past and present, where instead of using the ronin shots in Scenes 4 and 7, we instead did a straight cut but matched it to the beats of the music. We also played around with overlapping lots of clips on top of one another in the flashbacks and James worked very hard on making the ADR sound more natural by putting wild tracks in to the Café scenes. All of this was done in good time, and we had the film exported in good time on submission date for us to watch it back, review one last time and re-export for submission. I am very pleased with how Post-Production went.