Wednesday week 3 the raven

Wednesday we shot at the cemetery and I think being able to expose an image with natural lighting from the sun meant that I could use my light meter and we got some very accurate exposures and some nice shots I also got the chance to use my shoulder rig and I liked how it felt. Although I wish I had lenses which worked with my follow focus more. I also wish I had my matt box attached when we got back in the studio as we did get some flare which we had to find a way of dealing with. The end became a bit of a rush and I gave the camera to Zac as it was taking too long for me to check and organise the lighting and getting the shot planned right. This was more enjoyable as I felt that I was missing things by being behind the camera all the time. Stepping away from the camera meant that I could look at the light more which I wasn’t able to do before as we was having to rush to get the shots a little. I think the lighting I started to produce when stepping away from the camera was far better and I enjoyed getting really creative with the red lighting for when I was meant to be losing it and adding more red the more angry he got. I enjoyed doing things like just lighting little strips of red and lighting his eye, just the shelves and then lighting across wall near his table so half of his body was lit I really enjoyed this and I think I got some great looking shots from doing this. I think knowing all this now I would want more time to light and plan shots so we could just place the camera in a planned position and at a planned exposure meaning I could look more at the light without having to worry about the camera as much. I would also like to be able to work away from the camera because trying to instruct Rich my assistant cinematographer as to where to place the reflector while also trying to set up the camera and having to look through the camera makes it hard to see the light and means I was bouncing between trying to explain to Rich talking to Zac and seeing the light. This is very hard to see the light as too much of my focus was on setting up the camera and not enough checking the light. But as mentioned earlier getting to step away from the camera when giving it Zac made the speed of the shoot increase and also allowed me to see the light more. It did become a real rush toward the end as we knew we would be kicked out of the studio at a set time and needed to get the important trashing of the room scene. This was essential to get right as we couldn’t take it again so having to rush this wasn’t good but giving the camera to Zac meant that I could concentrate on the lighting and Zac could get the shot set up meaning everything sped up and we really got the important shots right at the end which was key. I think we got good shots today and although it was hectic I think everybody did a great job and I am quite happy of what we got considering the issues I have mentioned.