After multiple delays and cancellations over the past few months, Frazer, Mark, Boppy the tomcat and myself finally reconvened at Chez Fraz in Watford to finish shooting the footage for our ten minute long video project.
(click the "new project" tag for more posts about the project)
We had already got the first half of the project in the bag in February so we only had half the scenes to shoot. Last time we took a while to get the ball rolling but this time we were quicker. We knew were to store the bags, how to set the rooms up, and we learned lessons last time. We got filming quickly and the day moved along at a good clip. We started early and, to my surprise we finished early, by 7pm.
We didn't break for lunch (again) but we snacked on biscuits and crisps throughout the day. Which got me thinking, is it better to graze during a film shoot or break for lunch? The hour we saved was certainly a bonus and I never felt hungry as the day went on. I only wish I'd bought better food, there's only so many Oreos a man can eat in one day and still function fully. Towards the end I was feeling like a bit of a monster.
On the subject of filming, what I found interesting was that no matter how well prepared we felt for a scene, we would always find ourselves re-inventing it. There was always this gap between theory and practice, but on a Friday in a house in Watford the gap felt massive. What we planned in our heads or on paper just seemed so different when people were actually acting it out in front of you. We re-assessed and reworked every scene collaboratively, paced around the house and tried ideas out, finding what works and what doesn't. Even something as simple as walking to the fridge while on the phone became a tricky puzzle. I'm not sure if we were overthinking it or perhaps just seeing things properly for the first time. There's so much that we do unconsciously, and when asked to replicate natural behaviour for the camera suddenly even basic movement becomes surreal. Well, none of us are trained or even practised at any of this stuff, so we're learning a lot as we go! Hopefully that theory/practice gap will be a bit smaller next time.
Still, we got the lot done, I got to see Frazer play a few minutes of Dark Souls on the 360 (looks great!) and Mark and I cracked open some cold beers on the cab ride home. The cab company sent a nice spacious black-cab style car so we got to stretch our legs and pretend it was a limo.
Very happy with how it all went. I'm yet to see the footage as I'm still working on the Soup Studio session video and I need to keep everything compartmentalised.
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