As the flyer of the drone during the production, I need to get a flyer ID from the CAA

Yellow

Vital to me in order to understand the director's vision.

Transposing the worked on shot list into a visual means, finding ways to best show what I could see in the scene.

Opened up access to creative freedom, allowing for more shot types to be discovered.

Once completed, I shared with the creative department on teams and went through certain areas of it to flesh out any confusions.

Both Freya and I worked together in order to develop and enhance the shot list, taking as much inspiration from Khieng's original shot list, but also allowing for our own creative insights.

We looked at the shot list from a practical and creative perspective, having any potential issues cleared out with Khieng before shooting

After discussing with Freya, whilst I did the storyboarding she would complete the floor plans using the Shot Designer app.

This allowed for an even split of the workload, doing as much preparation as possible before filming

Continuing the relationship built across the DoPs and the ADs, we discussed together on several occasions throughout the pre-production process to go through the shooting order.

The final order came from much organisational discussions in order to have an efficient shooting day, allowing for both time and creativity within the work.

As Freya lives with one of the ADs, this did mean they had an easier communication network than with me. However, I made sure that I was still being involved and in the loop of any decisions.

When shared with Khieng, there was some confusion as to order which had been made. But, ultimately he agreed that the shooting order would work.

For future, it is important to create a shooting order with the shot list in numerical order and then have the shooting number next to it.

Red

Freya and I went through the booking one last time to make sure we had all that we needed.

Freya booked the kit as she would be storing it at her house.

I travelled from my home in Wales to help transport the Equipment at 9am

Once transported, I noticed something was missed, and so made a new booking to collect alongside the lighting equipment

Due to ease of transport, I made the booking and collected the equipment on behalf of the lighting team.

Any kit they needed was communicated to me and was then stored at my house until filming.

All kit (including camera) was tested to make sure there were not initial faults

Due to a mixture of poor planning and it being bank holiday Monday, there was no location open to do a technical check and brief run through of shot types.

After some deliberating, we settled on using my home and Freya's home to set up kit, which ultimately led to just using Freya's as she had a larger room.

I was transporting for the a big part of the day, driving both kit and people back and forth from locations.

The run through itself, was saved however.

Prior to filming, the equipment check involved checking the sensors and lenses for any potential smudges or scratches.

After seeing the sensor, we all agreed that there were obvious smudges and marks on the sensor, and so we were show how to appropriately use a sensor cleaning kit.

Figuring out blocking as both the actor and cameraman for how split diopters would work now that we have the final kit and crew together to get a feel of a scene

Once happy with sound and lighting, they left so that we could do a final go through of all the camera stuff one last time.

Once we were happy with the kit, we designated places for it to stay/charge, ready to begin the filming the next day

One of the coolest things I have ever found. An app that can Bluetooth connect to Aputure lights, designating them with pre-set settings for each scene, as well as having the ability to adjust settings from your phone.

After experimenting for a bit, I shared this app with the lighting department and showed them how to use the app. Potentially improving a scene by manipulating the light whilst filming.

Whilst not the most demanding piece of work. One of my targets for the Easter break was to watch films that involve a similar portrayal of a spiritual character, aiming to be inspired by the most minute choices from actors to give off the impression that they are not fully there.

Ghost (Zucker, 1990)

Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987)

Understanding the character direction across the film was vital. Even more so knowing the order of which we were shooting in so that I could plan the level of choices for each day of filming.

I intended to have a rollercoaster of the intensity of emotion. Giving each scene a designated level of 'life' of which to portray, which then would be connected to the character's spiritual state.

Overall, I believe I excel in the awareness of my own performance level, and choosing them at specific points will help offer diversity even with a lack of dialogue to present the narrative

Scene 1 & 2: lowest point in the entire film for the character = highest amount of intensity in the performance. He is barely keeping it together, gradual increase of intensity until explosion of emotion. This means the rest of the film can contrast the live state, and from a performance perspective I can perform knowing I have shown the lowest point of Jason.

Scene 9: Second lowest point in the film for Jason, the need to move on. Having this state become too much and yet still brightening up a bit at the news of Patrick's proposal.

Scene 17 & 18: The proposal (Jason's highest point in the film) and giving back the ring (conflict of emotions). Showing the emotion from a romantical sense, no longer sad in a negative way. Sad in a necessary way. Delving into the different levels of emotion for Jason's character

Uta Hagen's Six Steps were my closest resource when it came to rehearsing for the scenes.

Being both camera and DoP, the limited time to switch into the role would mean preparation must be substantial enough so that I can be confident in what I will perform.

Understanding my relations to each of the characters meant that I could give subtle variations at different emotive moments.

Whilst Jason's key reaction point is Phoebe, he interacts/reacts to pretty much all of the characters, and understanding that and being aware of each person's history would help to bring out subtext

Green

Purple

Recap of what was done for assessment 1

Whilst we had all spent time together throughout pre-production and the tech run, the first day was about understanding the flow of the set. Timings, technical work, creative flow and general wellbeing of individual members were all elements that had to be considered.

No matter how many films I have done or will do, there will always something special about finishing the first shot. Knowing that its actually begun, and the hard work is coming alive.

With it being the first day of filming, it was important that both Freya and myself shared the operation of the camera. Khieng would sometimes also check and operate the camera, I believe just to assure that we are working correctly.

Focus pulling - one of the newest things I have done, whilst I have done basic focus pulling before I had never done it to this extent or level of quality. It was a difficult thing to get used to, but throughout the project it became much more efficient in capturing the focus

I would often take pictures of the framing, especially for over the shoulder shots, so that I could appropriately match them to the reverse angle later

It was also helpful having the monitors up, as I would often speak to lighting and work with them to bring out the best for the shot.

Communicating with continuity was also important, as anything they were concerned about would be spoken about with me or Freya and we could tell them whether it was in shot or not or use the shots themselves to double check whether continuity was maintained

No matter what, my aim is maintain a positive working environment. Whilst we may be working in a high-stressful environment at times, as long as we can maintain an efficient and positive work flow then we cannot ask for much more.

Ultimately, this module is a learning opportunity not just in a creative and technical sense, but also about earning to be in an on set environment day in day out

Offering transport for kit and crew to set as well meant there was opportunity to bond with people in car journeys, building a stronger relationship for the working environment but also just forming stronger friendships in general

Having got the Flyer ID over the Easter break, Khieng and I arranged to meet in Peel Park after the first filming day to go through operating the drone ahead of filming over the following weeks.

This provided not just an opportunity to learn a new style of filmmaking and skill, but also to grow the relationship with the director. I see the filming environment as being more than just fulfilling roles, I see it as building relations with one another so that you can trust in each other and build a united piece of work.

Yes, it was fun. But, with roughly half an hour of flying experience and being taught all the different controls and techniques, I also became very comfortable in how to operate the drone ahead of filming.

I hadn't operated a drone in roughly 7 years, and it was not to the same standard as what was needed for the film. Whilst I knew it would be a challenge, I welcomed it and could at least rest assured knowing Khieng could take over if I absolutely could not get the shots.

With me acting within this scene, when it was tracking on me Freya did a solo track in shot. When it wasn't me acting, I took over so that we both got an opportunity to do tracking shots solo.

Unfortunately, a reoccurring issue throughout production was technical issues out of our control, mainly to do with the harddrive.

After filming all of the tracking shots, it was later discovered a technical glitch (horizontal lines) appeared on every single shot, meaning no matter how well they were shot, would all have to be redone.

Actor and camera, two roles that usually don't go well together but I really enjoyed. Having the monitor up on my phone, helping craft the shot even whilst being the subject of the scene, and then just switching into the role is one of my strongest abilities.

I obviously did not want to be overbearing within the camera whilst being the actor, but for general composition and matching the lighting to the shot, it was enjoyable as well as efficient because I knew what I needed to do to work with the shot type.

Understanding the techniques of the gimbal in order to match the style of the film was quite difficult, especially as the scene set within the toilets was only decided an hour before shooting.

Freya and I set up the gimbal together and then alternated operation of it, giving us both opportunity to learn and work with the device.

Often, a shot would result as a compromise of the pre-production work both Freya and I did and Khieng's vision. I do believe that my storyboards were overlooked and rarely used, but I was not frustrated or disappointed as ultimately it's what helped me connect to the visual style of the film and 'see' its journey.

There was also plenty of opportunity to show off my skills within the frame, and for any future opportunities where I see a better shot, to do it.

First time ghost Jason appears on screen, needs to hold a contrast to the alive Jason we see in the beginning, not just in emotion but in the level of 'presence' within the scene.

Having the strong connection between the characters being felt through the screen means that even the most subtle of smiles can portray so much love. My aim wasn't to make a big show of how I felt, but to give the smallest movements, slightest smiles and movement of the eyes to give off the emotion

As the shot tracked in, my performance ramped up, growing the closer the shot got. Balances the camera and the performance through a simple action (a smile) moving at the same time.

One of my strongest beliefs as a film person, is that if it works for the shot then do it.

This is a video of me crammed up against a wall, so that at the start of the shot I cannot be seen. As the camera tracks past Tash's (Phoebe's) head, I appear out of nowhere.

It looked weird and funny, but it looked great in the shot and that's all I cared about

Unfortunately, all the shots of me from this day were unusable and needed to be reshot in future due to technical glitches.

Another strong belief I have as a film person, is that if it doesn't work, then don't keep trying to get it to.

On this occasion, I do feel like if we had more time we could have absolutely nailed this appearance of Jason.

As an actor, I had the monitor up on my phone to see when the window of opportunity to jump into frame undetected arose.

However, what I didn't account for was the delay on the playback, meaning I was always leaving slightly too late. On the one I did time it right, Mei blocked me, and by that point we just needed the shot. I stepped away

Being on day 3 of filming, skills were starting to develop faster and stronger. Taking less time to set up, less time to get framing and less time to get focus or tracking right.

General efficiency of the camera was improving, and with it the freedom to see new/better shots

Manually adjusting the ISO and iris of the camera became vital on this day due to location involving the ever moving sun as lighting. Whilst not necessarily my role to keep note, mitigating any issues with the continuity of lighting by adjusting the camera settings was vital to the team. We worked together and communicated in order to best make the shots flow

I used the monitor playback less on this day, focusing more on the performance choices, having the progressive levels of 'presence' within the scene represented through my physicality and facial expressions.

It was important to allow myself some time before acting, so that I could get into the appropriate headspace, not necessarily thinking emotionally, just focusing in on the movements. I see it as operating my body in the way that is needed for the shot.

This, for me, was my least favourite day. I struggled quite a bit mentally, losing my positivity and just generally short fused.

From the very beginning of the day I had been told to wear the wrong costume and had to travel back home to get it, the wrong makeup had been put on me and resulted in a couple of comments about the way I normally look as well as there being a couple of personal issues occurring at the same time.

When it came to the camera work, because I was acting in a few shots throughout the day, my hope was that I would be involved more in the camera for those that I wasn't. Instead I found myself pushed back and felt worthless at points.

Overall, my mindset was not in the right place. However, I did my best not to show it to others/rub off on others. I did carry on, and in all honesty needed a bad day to learn how to handle yourself whilst getting the work done.

After a difficulty settling into the production, as the first 3 days saw a steady decline in my enjoyment, I was hoping to approach day 4 with a different mindset.

Day 4, filming in Peel Park, provided me with the bright blue skies and greenery needed to bring back my spark.

Every filming day gave me a new window of opportunity to grow, whilst it may not have always been a positive experience, it always led to a positive growth on how to work in these environments.

If I am being honest, if every single one of these filming days was great, whilst I would have been happy I feel like the best growth had been made from the challenges I had faced the days prior.

This was the first day where I solo set up all the kit, this was out of choice as prior days I had been having my makeup done or we had done it together and I felt the need to make sure I knew it all.

It was a surprising moment to reflect on the prior months where I had never even heard of some of these pieces of kit, yet alone used them, and here I was setting up comfortably ready for our fifth day straight of using it.

So much progress, in such a short amount of time

Considering how fearful we were at first at the sound of operating a drone, here I am a month later flying the drone for the final film.

Whilst Khieng and I had already planned a couple of drone shots, I was confident in the demand that I had a couple of shots I wanted to test out and try, and was appreciative to have support and then validation from Khieng when succeeding in getting it.

Whilst I don't have it to show for the Padlet, the shot starting with Tash walking down the stairs walking towards the camera as it then rises and rotates whilst tracking her... that is perhaps my favourite shot to film in the whole project.

With Freya needing to focus on the set dressing of the location, and limited need for me as an actor, it meant I had an opportunity to operate the camera more.

Having time across the entire day to pretty much focus solely on the camera provided me a strange sense of fulfilment, as I could path the way for the next shots knowing what I had done for the prior ones. Mapping together a puzzle of shots, a false edit in my own mind to clearly see the direction of the scene

Whilst such a small moment, I did have to switch into costume to play Jason being seen by Athena

It was important to me that I separated myself for a moment from the rest of day to focus on that performance.

On reflection, whilst there was nothing negative said, I am curious to see whether what I gave did work in the context of the seen.

In all honesty, if there is any moment where the I can say the real Matthew blurred into the performance of Jason, it was this. I am not saying this is a bad thing, as it was a choice I planned to make as a comedic moment when being 'seen' by Athena. My only worry is whether it was a miscalculated decision when put into context of the character choices in other scenes.

What I did every day

Maintaining and building relationships among the cast and crew was vital for myself to feel connected to the project and get both what I needed from others and what others needed out of me.

Having constant communication from a DoP perspective with Freya, the ADs and lighting was an every day task to make sure we were all happy with how we are running and feeling shot-by-shot.

It was also very important to me to communicate to people from an actor perspective. Bonding with the hair and makeup team, making sure I knew what costumes were needed, having continuity look me over if I thought anything looked different, and of course my relationship with Tash (Phoebe).

It was most important to me every single day to bond with the director, Khieng. His vision and direction is what I am here to complete, I am to learn from him and work with him on making film.

During lunch breaks or before/after filming, I often found myself chatting with Khieng, as well as transported him back to wherever he needed to after filming. Connecting with him on a personal level meant a level of trust and comfortability could be created.

I was very aware each day that Khieng is having long days too, and has a lot of workload. My personal aim was to make sure he was doing ok, and that if he needed a minute to break or drink, to do so.

Being both an actor and DoP, when I wasn't acting I was on camera. This meant I was in all day, every day, with 8am call times most days till late.

I had mentally and physically prepared for sequential long filming weeks, and was aware it would take a toll and made sure to try and maintain a work/play balance to keep sane.

There were a few times across the filming days where I struggled with tiredness, heat or general frustration. But, I will hold myself to the fact I always tried to maintain positivity, and even if I couldn't I made sure I did not affect anyone else's mood or work.

I feel the need to highlight the relationship I had with these two specific roles, as whilst the relationship to lighting as DoP is clear, the relationship with continuity is one that grew throughout the production.

Throughout the entirety of the project, I have been closely linked with Sarah and Leah on lighting, suggesting potential ideas and asking them questions on how best to improve shots or what we need to get something to work.

This was primarily me in the role of DoP who took a lot of focus in the relativity of lighting to shot, and meant I could actively look into details behind the frame to improve the shot.

This is where the relationship with continuity grew, as I would throughout the project mention whether we were moving anything or whether anything would change with someone from continuity to ensure they knew it was happening and not caught out. If they then saw any issues, they can tell me.

Furthermore, on the beach scene specifically, I had communicated with Mei to take pictures of the position of the sun after every take. Due to the lighting settings changing directly on the camera as the sun moved, I thought it best for continuity to know where the sun was so the editors can try and match lighting styles.

Whether the good, bad, ugly, amazing, failures or successes. I wanted to enjoy every moment of set.

With 2 full weeks of filming, I knew there would be ups and downs, but I also knew that I would grow exponentially in my skillset and knowledge because of it.

With it also being the end of 2nd year, it was an important time to work with my friends, spend time together doing what we do best.

With it being the beach scene, I agreed to transport cast/crew to and from location.

As this was a Jason heavy day for the scenes, this is where I mainly fit into the acting role for the day. I never fully switched off from the camera, just did my bits with Jason then went back to it.

With this being the highest point for Jason in the entire film, I found it easier to bring more of my natural positivity into the role.

Having this also be one of the only scenes of Jason alive, it was also important that for the day I gave 2 different levels of performance. One 'present' and in the moment with Tash (Phoebe), and the other still being present but maintaining the spiritual feel that I had created for the other scenes.

From a performance perspective, I want to mention how every now and then I panicked when putting the ring on, as it was a tiny faff that I needed to make look a smooth motion, the difficulties of acting.

As covered in the risk assessments, the filming on the beach posed the risk of sand damage.

It was absolutely essential that we took precautions to make sure no kit would get damaged.

Stored kit securely in bags when not needed, covered with bin bags when transporting or static, didn't change lenses (but would have in a car if we needed to), stored kit bags in shelter from wind and sea when not used

With drone shots being the last ones to get, and the lack of sun, this meant that whilst the operation of the drone was fine and the shots themselves were good, the lack of appropriate subject meant they were not good enough to make it into the final film

The shots showed a vastly grey, clouded sky

Unfortunately, we continued to face technical issues that were out of our control, again with the hard drive connection. This meant that certain files were corrupted or lost frames.

Whilst we managed to work around it, the biggest issue we faced which we also couldn't control was the weather. We aimed to get a sunset, and due to too much cloud and mist, could not achieve a sunset finish.

This mainly became an issue towards the very end of the day

With needing to capture a day scene and an evening scene, it meant there was a lot of time in-between filming. This was vital time to block out the scene for me and Tash so that when it came to filming we already knew what we were doing.

This was also an opportunity to go through shot types, and matching my performance to each shot.

With the limited window to film, it was important any potential issues were sorted and figured out before we started.

The final scene of the film, Jason's final moments in this stage of his spiritual state.

Needing to portray both conflict and content. Over the short space of time of the scene, offer a journey in the performance for the audience to follow. They can see how he is happy she is happy, the need he has to both stay with her and move on.

Allowing the scene to capitalise on Jason's disappearance

Portraying the happiness of the moment, capturing the life in Jason so as to best showcase the contrast from the beginning of the film

Yes, I was acting in most of the scenes on the beach. However, when I wasn't in shot it was good to be behind the camera again.

For certain shots, it was a challenge to get the sun within the frame, fighting against the cloud. But, we pushed through and I had the mindset that if we are going to get something lets do it well.

Going back to my lovely film mindset: if it works for the shot then do it.

After getting coverage of a wider performance, the split diopter shot was only capturing my eyes, which to me translates to anything needed elsewhere to make the shot of my eyes look good.

After getting the monitor up on my phone, I helped craft the shot whilst physically moving myself into a position that looked good for the shot.

With the shot demanding a turn, the focus attention was absolutely critical, and even the slightest wrong movement meant I would go out of focus/frame. It took a lot of concentration and strange looking physical movement, but in the end I believe it looked good for the shot, and that is all that matters.

Was aware that this is my heaviest amount of acting specific work. I had spoken to Freya prior to assure her that whilst I am in the scene I am there to help in any way needed.

This is the lowest point in the whole film, and the introduction to it all. I had prepared for this day to give a stronger intensity of performance, being responsive to the cast in my alive state, having the opportunity to be bigger now so that the spiritual stage is a step back for the audience as well. They would be able to tell I am not fully there

My sense of acting to the shot meant that on certain close ups, I could focus on the composition of the shot whilst acting it out live.

This picture shows a close up of mine and Tash's hands, of which I am adjusting the height of my leg to bring them central to the frame.

I hold respect to Natasha, as her approach to acting is more psychological and emotive. Whereas mine I have found to be more technically led, whilst still maintaining the appropriate emotive needs.

I feel this picture in particular is the perfect example of different acting approaches, neither of them wrong or not working, just different. It was a real opportunity to learn my own acting style, as well as see those around me too

A theme I constantly refer to for my own acting style is the scale of performance. How big is my performance in both relativity to the shot and across scenes.

I will more often tend to give 'too little' rather than 'too much' in a performance, as I can sometimes focus too much on the minor adjustments and instead come across as flat.

It is in this concern that I still continue to work on improving. I find it conflicting in myself as to whether to have a 'pre-set scale' that I perform, or to adjust relative to the shot type. One is more difficult than the other, and I think I have discovered it is a balance of both.

I do hope my performance in this scene is good, and I know I will hope that in all, but this one in particular I spent a lot of attention to detail and the emotive responses to each moment of the script that I don't know whether I did enough with it on the day.

This was the scene, the largest scale of performance that I needed to give. I will admit that I was hesitant to decide at what scale to give even moments before doing it.

I usually don't need much time before a take to get into the role, I can switch back and forth quickly. But, for this scene in particular I give myself a couple of minutes beforehand, disconnecting completely from the monitor and the camera and just allowing myself to focus entirely on the performance.

It was important to me that Khieng was happy with what I had given, because I am someone who wants to know if I need to do something different because I will do it differently. I told him prior to the take that I will give him what I had prepared, and then if he wanted anything differently to just let me know. He was happy with what I gave.

The moment my scenes were finished, I went back to helping on camera, packing down and preparing for next location. It still suprises me how quickly I can jump in and out of roles, especially even when emotion is involved.

With acting in the morning, the afternoon was a good opportunity to get back onto the camera for the classroom scenes.

It was during this scene I really excelled in crafting new looks for specific shots and movements, adjusting actors with minute differences to have them perfectly in place.

I felt myself enter a creative flow where everything just seemed to connect for the shots, and I was making minor improvements wherever I could find chance.

This day was one of the only days we needed to get a lot of B-roll of the park, involving sun through the trees and flowers in the breeze.

With the same setup as the week prior, we felt comfortable in how we were going to shoot this scene

This was one of the hottest days of the year, and being outdoors all day in the sun meant we were not only getting hot, but also finding it difficult to see the monitor to craft shots.

We troubleshooted by spending a fair bit of time crafting underneath a jacket or having the sun blocked by someone holding a reflector

The heat did cause issues for the camera, and we did our best to prevent any issues by powering down as often as we could and having designated breaks where we left it in the shade due to overheating. We also needed to swap hard drives from time to time, as they would get hot and cause issues.

Whilst not necessarily a bad day, it was incredibly tough. The cast and crew were all very hot, tired and in a highly stressful environment. Place technical issues alongside that and it became problematic after lunch.

There were some tensions among the crew across the whole project, and it became difficult for people to keep their tempers. My objective was to try and stay cool, keep sun creamed up and drink plenty. I cannot manage how other people cope with the conditions, but i encouraged them to do the same.

Fortunately, despite this being a difficult day, I do believe we achieved some good scenes

Getting to operate a drone for a film is one of the best things I have ever had a chance to do. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding, the creative opportunities of a flying camera are endless.

This was an interesting scene to perform, in the term that it is the only real scene where Jason is outright avoiding Phoebe, not because he doesn't love her or doesn't want to, but because he is trapped and wants her to know he cannot always be here for her.

At least, that is the interpretation I took into the performance choice, and no matter how long and hot the day had been, it was vital that I got across the messages I needed to

This was the first time during production that we had taken the tripod leg connectors off so that we could set the tripod down on the floor whilst still providing stability.

This became a very useful technique throughout the scene, really offering a level of closeness to the characters that we may not quite get in others.

Furthermore, it was possible to get a contrast of levels with the environment around us across scenes, using the natural height of the bank for the Jason and Phoebe scene.

It's about experimenting at the end of the day. I set up this shot purposefully against the normal framing for an over the shoulder (Mei being center right facing right, but still keeping Aoife in the frame), as it matched his physical position within the scene and provided an opportunity for an abnormal shot type to be used.

Unfortunately, this didn't work as intended when it came to the reverse, and instead caused problems as we had to go back to reshoot correctly. I appreciate though that Khieng gave me the opportunity to try and craft it differently, I just wish I had thought it out more on how best to capture it.

This was something that as a creative team we were looking forward to seeing. Having the same shot types appear at different points in the film, such as the hand reaching out to the other in this scene and the beach scene.

This is the type of pattern I focused on in pre-production, finding opportunities to bring back a shot type from a different scene so that the whole film rhymes.

With this being my fourth time operating the drone, I was comfortable enough to set it up by myself

With the final day being all in a small crammed classroom, and the fact it was the hottest day of the year so far, it made it quite difficult at times as the long couple of weeks of filming really started to show in the crew.

A fair few people were also still recovering from sunburns and heat illness from the day before, so it was vital to keep moral up and make sure everyone is taking the proper precautions to keeping safe and well

Due to the extreme height difference between me and Tash, it made it challenging at times to get the correct framing for the shots.

One technique I have always used is adjusting the actors in small movements, rather than making larger adjustments with the camera.

Whilst again, it looks weird looking at the behind the scenes, the final shots will hide any oddness in the scene

We had ended a previous shot in scene 15 on this framing.

We had then moved onto another shot, moving the camera and 'losing' framing.

When we realised we needed to get back to this angle, it was again important to take pictures of the frame to compare live with the monitor to best match positioning

This for me was a difficult scene to rehearse, but on the day felt comfortable because of the prior time spent working on the moments.

There will always be a strange feeling for me performing romance in front of a room full of people, but it's the carrying on and doing it that I am proud of.

This, for me, was a very important scene to bring back the element of life that had been lost from all other scenes of Jason as a ghost. In my perspective, the time freeze and disappearance of Patrick marks a crossing into a different temporal place, one where Jason isn't just a spiritual presence, but a physical being.

Giving that little bit more emotion, subtle physical attributes and just a slight raise in the scale of performance meant that for this scene the emotion of the moment can really be captured.

Knowing how the beach scene was going to fit into this meant that I could contrast, but also rhyme with the themes I had portrayed earlier in filming. These two moments needed to be performed in synchronisation, my only hope is that it worked.

This was another one of those shots that I couldn't see how we were going to get it, but trusted in Khieng's absolute confidence in getting it.

In order to get a rolling motion on a tripod, Khieng flipped the baseplate on the camera horizontally, so that the tilt became a sideways motion.

This did mean that in order to actually tilt, I suggested we loosen the leveler, which he agreed with. Combine all this with a track in motion (and a few trial runs) and we achieved a very unique looking shot.

I was quite proud to be operating on this one

When doing a similar motion from the clock with Patrick, it became a lot more difficult due to the distance we had to get to, and the extremity of the motion losing him in the frame.

After trying it the same way, we decided to flip the motion, starting with framing and moving away so that it could be reversed in the edit.

It also became another actor's turn to squat, as I got approval to lower Mei for this shot and others to help him match the framing.

For this shot, I proposed the idea of purposefully breaking the 180 degree rule to transition across scenes in one shot.

With Phoebe revealing that she is going to give Patrick the ring, and the approaching time freeze, I felt this warranted the use of an obvious flip of the 180 rule, naturally foretelling something is happening.

With Phoebe being on the left and Jason being on the right in the next scene, it needed to have this angle anyway. But, the one shot instead of cutting felt more powerful

I'll admit, I was more nervous about this day than I really should have been.

Knowing that we had already done these shots before to a good standard almost set a target that we had to match/beat.

Obviously I had full trust we could get it again, and we did. But, it was funny to me how looming the reshoots were.

it was also good to see how quickly we achieved these shots, and how much better we were in our roles. It had been several filming days later, and this was our chance to realise how much we had grown in the short space of time

Well, here we were again. In terms of acting it came full circle for me, my first scene to perform was Jason in the corridor, and now it was my last scene too.

Coming at the scene a second time round I think was good for me, as I feel that I could give that extra 10% improvement just because of how I had been on the journey with the character.

Whilst it did involve very minimal actual 'acting', it felt important to give it my all, focus in on those minute details one last time. Sending off both Jason, and the film.

I had to perform the action again of appearing within the shot, timing my appearance so that the camera went past Tash's head.

It was that constant reminder to me that acting isn't just about what you do in the shot, but what you do out of shot to make it look better.

This is probably the skill I have grown the most over the last few weeks. Being able to find the balance between DoP and actor is not one I believe most people can find, and yet I felt so comfortable switching back and forth shot to shot, scene after scene, day after day.

Filmmaking is such a high intensity job, and one that 99% of the time I have been focused and worked hard.

Buy as a student, I feel it has been important for me to also make the most of the people around me, not just learning in a technical and creative sense, but socially too.

Working hard was of course my number 1 focus throughout this project. But, finding the balance with opportunities to have a laugh, bonding with people and enjoying the experience as a whole is such an important factor that I did not want to overlook. We can only achieve such hard work by allowing time for rest and play, whether it be a few minutes, or a few hours.

I can trust in the people around me in their roles and they can trust me because of how close we have gotten over the last few weeks. Creating that bond between cast and crew is what will hopefully have made our film a success, and I am excited to work alongside them in the future.

Upon reflecting on the process as a whole, I have discovered how unique of an experience one can have in a filming environment. I have been used to filming days of 1-3 days in length, but never one of this scale before, and having each and every single day be different for every person has just really highlighted for myself how much I have grown and developed in certain areas and taken in from this project that perhaps others haven't.

Alternatively, there will be so many other things people would have grown and developed that I haven't, and it's understanding that that is the point, and that we are each going to grow in our own respective areas whilst working together as one unit.

I do feel we have achieved the goal of replicating an industry level of production, perhaps not 100% efficiently as it could have been or with 100% of the quality, but from myself at least 100% of the effort.

When watching this film, it will be very exciting to realise just how much I have been involved, as whilst I know I have been either in front of or behind the camera for the entire shoot, it will only be when I see the final thing that I know how well it has all worked together.

I also think it will be funny from my own critical perspective, looking at shots that may be ever so slightly out of focus at times, or acting where I think I should have given 5% more. Little things that only I will really notice, but it's what I need to know where to improve on for next time.

I am very grateful for this opportunity. I feel it has been the biggest amount of growth in mainly a technical sense in my time at university so far, and a great way to end off second year. I look forward to continuing to develop my skills into the next year, and hope to achieve the best I can.

Whilst having no dialogue, it was important to work on off-line reactions. Creating subtext through my responses to the scenes, portraying emotion and character in even the smallest details

Physically motivated actions were also viable techniques to look through the script and look at where I can add a layer of performance through either explicit or subtle physical language

Artis, A. Q. (2012). The shut up and shoot freelance video guide a down and dirty dv production. Burlington, Ma [Etc.] Elsevier Focal.

Bowen, C. J. (2018). Grammar of the shot. Routledge.

Brown, B. (2021). Cinematography: Theory and Practice. Routledge

Churcher, M. (2003). Acting for Film. Virgin Pub.

Uta Hagen. (2008). Respect for Acting. John Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1973)

Wenders, W. (Director). (1987). Wings of Desire [Film]. Basis-Film Verleih.

Wheeler, P. (2017). High definition cinematography. Routledge

Wood, P. (n.d.). Seven Steps to Owning the Journey - From Script to Screen.

Zucker, J. (Director). (1990). Ghost [Film]. Paramount Pictures

Between myself and Freya. We always made sure to communicate with the ADs for any shooting times, opportunities for new shots or extra time on one more than the other.

Generally, we had a good communication chain with the ADs to make sure we were making good time whilst prioritising the quality of each shot.