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Khieng ha made a shot list which he sent over for me and Matt to put in the template. Me and Matt went through this shot list and adjusted, added and took away any shots we thought needed it.

I then transferred his shot list, with our notes, into the template. I did one in a shooting order starting from wides to close ups on one actor, then wides to close ups on the other actor, etc. mixing in some moving shots where it fitted.

I noticed from this shot list that me and the director have very different styles. As he likes a lot of moving shots, pans, zooms, getting a lot of coverage and wides. Whereas I like handheld shots, one take shots, close ups and I like when shots are motivated. This was an interesting experience, adapting to a directors style which I hadn’t have to do before. This was something I took into consideration when writing out these shot lists and making new shots.

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The first day of filming started of well. Khieng left us to set up whilst he directed actors and other departments.

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I decided that today I would be more vocal with when I wanted to control the camera. Just mentioning that I could do it instead of letting the director trouble himself to do it and show that I can do it myself. It helped a little today.

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We never got instructed to do floor plans, however I thought they would be a massive helping when creating the shooting order- which they were. They helped me to see Khiengs visions for his shots and plan what equipment I’d need.

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On the bank holiday Monday I had the director, ADs, other DoP, lighting department and sound department over for a tech run as it was a large space. We checked all the equipment we had booked, Khieng cleaned the lens ready for tomorrows filming, me and Matt set up and took down the camera with all it’s accessories to see how fast it’d take and we worked with lighting to discover what they could for certain scenes because this was their first time seeing the anamorphic lens.

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When finding out our roles and looking at the shot list Khieng had made we straight away got to booking equipment and practicing.

We wanted to try things we hadn’t done before but that we KNEW we’d nee such as the slider, the track, easy rig and things we had used but not very often such as the gimbal.

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“I never get myself into a situation where I don’t have creative freedom”

-Sofia Coppola

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7 Ways Sofia Coppola Captures Isolation — Directing Style Explained

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To start of my research I firstly wanted to feel inspired. I wanted to look at other cinematographers and camera operators, specifically ones from the films Khieng liked. During this I became determined to discover more women cinematographers as all the DoP’s of these movies and many others I know are male.

I wanted to find more women to feel motivated and confident when working beside Khieng and Matt. I didn’t find many that I knew or films that I had seen yet. I still took a lot of inspiration from them and what I saw but I carried on looking and learned more about Sofia Coppola, she is a director but is very known for her isolated shots, she knows how to make a character look completely alone and the audience feel that isolation through the screen. I thought this could be really fitting for ‘Cloths of Heaven’ and framing/ shooting Phoebe (Natasha). This was also perfect because she also directed ‘Lost in translation’ which was one of Khiengs inspirational films for the style of ‘Cloths of Heaven’.

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Thelma Schoonmaker was another inspirational women in film that I looked at. She is an editor not cinematographer however she had a lot of clever insight which could be helpful in the camera department.

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Thelma Schoonmaker & Scorsese — Film Editing Tips from Goodfellas, Shutter Island, and The Irishman

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However, as filming started I noticed that Khieng liked to be very hands on with the camera. Not letting me and Matt frame the shot and trusting us to capture what he’d like. It became very hard to position it, frame it, do the movements, sort the settings myself and even see the monitor at times. There wasn't a lot of opportunity to practice tricky shots that neither me or Matt had ever done before he decided to do them himself, brushing my hands away.

I quickly felt pushed out and overlooked which was disheartening after the work I had put in leading up to this, it all felt very demeaning after that first day of shooting.

When choosing my role I was excited to build up my skills on camera as it’s something I’m very passionate about, I wanted my director to direct me and communicate what his vision was and what he wanted and let me and Matt create it. This was not the case today. This caused me and Matt to become competitive when trying to operate the camera because we had to take any chances we could when he let us.

Overall, today went well because we got all the shots we needed and they looked good. However, it felt filled with stress and I left the shoot feeling an immense lack of confidence and disappointed that I couldn’t do my role to the full potential I wanted too. As well as a lack of faith and trust from our director. I hoped that this was just a first day thing, he wanted to almost show us how it was done or get the shots quicker and hoped that the next day would be better.

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This was the first day where Matt was acting which meant getting used to doing the camera in my own. I did enjoy this, I noticed we got through takes rather quickly and felt more in control of my role a little more. In this video I was tracking forward which also meant I had to keep focus on Matt, I had a few practices as I was adamant on getting the shot on my own. In the end Ella helped out to push it to keep it steady. But it was nice to practice this shot and get it.

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In the afternoon we moved to a different location where we used the gimbal. For this me and Matt took turns to capture each shot.

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As the day went on me and Matt decided that I’d do a lot of the camera operating and he would do a lot focus pulling. We wanted to make sure we’d switch these up but this dynamic happened a lot over the shoot which worked well for us.

A big issue we face was the tracks just because the camera shakes gong over where they connect. This wasn’t something that could be helped, just something we needed to be aware of.

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‘Texas, Paris’ Wim Wenders, 1984

‘Wings of desire’ Wim Wenders, 1987

‘Solaris’ Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972

‘Lost in translation’ Sofia Coppola, 2003

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I knew after looking at the shot list that I’d need some extra practice.

So I hired out a track, camera, easy rig, follow focus, gimbal and a selection of lenses to get an even better understanding of them.

This was a massive help to practice pulling focus, creating a smooth track in/back, figuring out some details within the camera such as learning more about white balance and ISO. Plenty of things I already Knew but I wanted to learn more so that on set I can quickly adjust what needs to be adjusted. It was also good to practice with different lightings (especially because I knew I’d have to adjust them to fit the light outside, sunset, translucent lighting and everyday lighting from the windows).

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Due to these issues we met up with Jason to go through some things such as the cage so we can put the camera on the easy rig and what other useful things we can do with it. With the cage on we couldn’t use the battery grip, this solved the issue of the focus reaching the lens however now we needed to solve the issue I of the battery draining to quickly.

And we learnt how to set up and use the Bluetooth follow focus. As having two camera operators it would be helpful if not every one was around the camera at once.

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Finally, we met with Khieng to discuss what equipment he had for us to use.

Firstly was the anamorphic lens. He wanted to use this for a higher quality film and so we could use diopters to create a split diopter which also meant saving time when it came to changing lenses, we could just add a diopter.

He also helped solve the issue of the battery, as he provided a power bank for the camera.

He brought in magic arms, so that we could attach the monitor directly to the camera, with the anamorphic lens we needed the monitor to see the shot as it will look on a TV screen because the camera monitor only showed it squished because it was too small.

Because of the monitor being attached the camera this meant that we could also use a transmitter which he provided so that he could have his own large monitor, as well as 4 others being able to get it on their phones.

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Day 4 was the first day where we could really set dress. From the tent, to the petals on the table we as a group had supplied everything for Athena’s stall.

I was happy with what we created however I imagined way more fabrics. I only ordered 3 because of the budget however I should’ve tried harder to find more for cheaper as I spent £35 of it in total and still had £5 from the producers. So if I had known how big the tent would’ve been I would have gone to the charity shop or somewhere cheap to buy some more.

We struggled with supplying tables and chairs. We couldn’t find a table we could easily transport to the park. Luckily Ella was able to get a light foldable one from the SU and Khieng supplies the stools.

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We tried a few diopters to get to know them, this was the split diopter which will get used a lot in the film so we wanted to see how it’d look.

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“This shifting focus within the depth of field is yet another compositional technique to help you to direct the viewers attention around and into the depth of your frame”-Bowen,C. ‘Grammer of the shot’

Another thing I noticed from Khiengs shot list was that he liked a lot of coverage. For example, there were shots of the crisp packet, shots of a blank wall that Phoebe was staring at, medical tools and posters. However, a lot of these shots felt unmotivated and would’ve looked random in the edit. I didn’t want these things to take away the attention from the actors and what was being said, I also feel like showing things like that make them seem more important than they are or as if they’re going to be important later on in the in the film when instead you can see that they’re eating crisp, for example, in the wide shots, or that she’s simply staring at nothing from the voiceover. Therefore i spoke to Khieng about the doctor’s scene and I didn’t add the shots of the medical tools and medical posters in the shot lists. The day where he wanted the pan to the blank wall I suggest she could be zone out, looking at her ring which gives the audience something to look at instead of just at a wall.

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Me and Matt split the risk assessments into two halves. Him doing the outside ones and I did the inside ones which meant we could work more efficiently and quicker. The ones I did are bellow.

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I didn’t anticipate that we’d need to get so low to the floor for these shots where Jason (Matt) proposes to Phoebe (Natasha). I imagined these scene they’d be stood up and Matt would get down on one knee. So I didn’t bring the easy rig so safe space in the car. However, an easy rig would’ve been a massive help due, I could’ve sat on the floor and let the camera rest in front of me, instead we had to kneel down and rest the camera on my leg creating a hand held shot which Khieng wanted to stay away from. This is definitely a good thing to take into consideration next time when filming outdoors.

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Because we were filming on a beach we had to make sure all the equipment stayed safe and as sand free as possible. To this we brought picnic blankets to put all the equipment and equipment bags into. Then the tripod we used we wrapped its legs in bin bags just to stop the sand.

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Day 8 was one of the toughest days. With tricky shots that Khieng hadn’t told us his to do yet, there was a lot of time spent setting those up. And because three of us can’t huddle around the camera I let Matt and Khieng capture those shots (the rotating ones for vfx). I feel positive that I could’ve captured those shots with Matt but it was hard to try and have a go and I felt as if Khieng would approach and direct Matt more than he did more when it came to these shots.

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We firstly found a lot of issues that we’d need to solve before filming.

They included: the follow focus not reaching the lens due to the battery grip, not being able to work the blue tooth follow focus and putting the camera on the easy rig.

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Firstly with set design, I needed to create some ID badges for the characters. One NHS doctors one, two cleaners and one teacher. We had someone take a photo of each cast member, they then sent them over for me to edit. I created them from scratch as it was easier to put in more personal specific details. The actors then tapes their lanyards so they could always be facing forward and be seen (a choice which the people on continuity helpfully suggested).

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the main other job for set design was actually purchasing the set and props.

I made sure to buy:

Phoebes engagement ring

Fabric for Athena’s stall

4 lanyards

Flowers to hang at Athena’s stall

I also tried to supply a lot of the props and set myself:

dried flowers for Athena

Tarot cards for Athena

Ivy for Athena

Table clothes for Athena

Mop for Phoebe

Fairy lights for Athena

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Day 3 of filming went quite smoothly. There were still times where Khieng would be trying to be on camera instead of directing me however he let me get a few tracking shots and then let me and Matt practice a long moving shot with a lot of focus pulling.

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Filming day 7 was a tough one due to the heat. We had to keep taking the camera out of the sun due it overheating. luckily we had the time to take those breaks however it was a worry all day. The heat also started to get to people, there was a lot of miscommunication with the director and other DoP about where things were being set up, what the shot should look like, etc. As well as us running out of time, if I couldn’t get a shot well enough for Khieng and quick enough for the ADs schedule (one of the actors needed to leave at a certain time which made it tight on time) then Khieng would take over.

I also distanced myself a little today as with the heat and me, Matt and Khieng all around hovering the camera it got quite overwhelming. So I tried my best to help set up where I could but Matt and Khieng seemed determined to get the shots themselves.

I felt today that I also struggle to see how Khieng wanted visioned these scenes. A lot of shots I thought were questionable and I must have misunderstood them in the shot list. Which is also made it tricky to set up at times and why I let Matt capture a lot of these shots. But I tried my best to help as it’s what the director wanted. Me and Matt did suggest a few shots and ideas but we ended up sticking to the directors vision.

We had to start the day by setting up the tent, I left this with the other three members of set design whilst I went and got B-Roll with Khieng and Matt. I had pictures of the set design from day 4 though so I made sure everything was set correctly for continuity purposes.

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At the end of the day we brought out the gimbal to try and capture some tracking shots of Phoebe as she walks down the beach. Because Matt was on the drone and was setting that up, I was on the gimbal. It took a few attempts for me to get to right but I think I managed to get a good take.

Khieng then wanted another take but where she wasn’t centre frame, she was camera left, this proved to be a struggle for me. As much as I tried I struggled to keep the camera still on the gimbal. So during my first attempt at this Khieng took the camera of off me to get it himself with the camera still rolling. Tracking shots on the gimbal, especially at that speed, is something that I still need to practice.

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I worked a lot with lighting as I could edit the exposure and aperture on the camera and needed to communicate with them a lot on what needed lighting and what didn’t, a lot of the time they knew straight away and was quickly on it. We also spoke a lot about where they can place lights so that they aren’t in shot.

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Today went well, we moved quickly and as efficiently as we could. Matt was acting for most of the day which left me on camera.

I enjoyed capturing this tracking shots as I thought it was a shot that looked visually stunning and was effective and motivated. I didn’t the track as Khieng helped out on focus. I would’ve liked to have tried to do both but should’ve spoken up about that more.

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There wasn’t much to do with set design today. We didn’t want to take things down from the walls that were already there. Khieng also wanted some cut aways to medical tools and posters, however, due to it being such a heavy topic scene where a couple find out horrific news we thought this would’ve been inappropriate as in a usual setting where someone would find out this news, it would just be a plain office. Very simplistic. We also didn’t want to take the focus away from the actors and their performance.

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We had to do some reshoots due to the editors finding lines on the footage we got from the initial shoot because of the battery on the camera.

The day went well and moved fast as we already knew what we needed and had done the practice before. Me and Matt made sure to work together and made sure it was only us on camera today. The tracking shots of Matt Khieng did do the camera operating (tracking the camera) as I pulled focus. I wanted to try this shot on my own but I didn’t want to waste time incase I had to get multiple tries. The last shot was a simple track left to right to reveal Jason, a shot I wasn’t able to capture on my own even though I had done it before. Which would’ve been nice as it was the final shot of the film to get. I do wish I was more confident today in taking the opportunity to get those shots by myself and to speak to Khieng when I wanted to get the shot myself. A instance that I should’ve done throughout the whole production.