16/12/2024 Blog

This week is especially important, before the Christmas break!

In comparison to the previous week, the organisation of all the necessary paperwork and equipment for filming, actor requirements and location details needs to be precise.

On a positive note, actors for Whispering Walls were confirmed at the start of this week - I managed to secure 2 female actors and 1 male actor - all in which have acting experience on screen and/or stage and theatre. Furthermore, 2 out of the 3 actors are located in the Grimsby/Cleethorpes area. The main protagonist of this story is played by Abbie Knight, a postgraduate medical student from Norwich, who does acting as a hobby. She and another actor both submitted video auditions for their participants - both actors expressed very emotional dialogue and expressive facial expressions, so their auditions were very successful. The actor that I have previously worked with did not send in an audition, however, due to the lack of male actors in my local area but the clear evidence of his passion and confidence in other work, I discussed the filming plan and script with him. He was very open to being part of this project, which thankfully did settle some anxiety about finding a male actor!

My shot list for both filming dates - 06/01/2025 and 07/01/2025 - was also completed. After creating my own template, for better understanding, I referred to every script page written and imagined all the creative angles I wanted to experiment with. I made sure to include a wide range of angles, such as dutch, tilt and over the shoulder, and also shot styles like medium close-up, extreme close-up and long shot. One thing that was key to consider more than the angles and shot sizes, was the camera motions of each scene. This was very important to me, as the camera operator and director, because I had to consider the availablity in camera moption equipmrnt, as well as already transporting lots of equipment, catering and props/costumes. Therefore, when booking the equipment for the filming sessions, I thought of ways in which I could utilise the necessetities over the additional equioment available - i.e. how to could I make full use of the Sony A7iii kit with all of the hand-held attachments? How could I manoeuvre the tripod to help create these artistic angles?

The equipment I booked included:

• Sony A7iii kit with attachments

• Tripod

• LED kit

• Gimbal (for experimentation)

• Clapperboard

• Lenses

Finally, for this week, I made an extensive list of what to complete over the Christmas break, prior to filming dates. I made sure to include that shot lists, risk assessments and location reccees were all completed fully, as well as arranging, recording and taking notes for cast and crew meetings.

Looking over the last 3 weeks, I feel confident with the progression made on the pre-production paper for this project. I just need to remain structured to the schedule created and refer back to the script, when understanding shot styles and the storylines characteristsics (i.e. character costumes, acting, SFX makeup).