Filming the Drama Project

For my Filmed Drama Project I decided to shoot my Tableplay 'The Date'.  I wasn't happy with the script in the end but I decided it didn't matter- I need to just focus on the look of the film.





Pre-production:


For my lighting I planned to use Fren-L, Pro and Rifa with difs to soften the light.  Due to the set up of the room, one light will probably need to be bounced from a wall to achieve fill light.  Reflectors will also be used in the MS and MCU's of each character.

As far as storyboards go I storyboarded the whole script.  I'm actually not concerned whether the actors choose to follow the script word for word, so long as the actions are there for me to get the shots I need.  Because I have extra storyboarded shots than the number of set ups I need I plan to just do what I can, any if things end up working out differently once I get the actors into the space then so be it. 

Scene1 Storyboards

Scene 2 Storyboards pg1

Scene 2 Storyboards Pg 2

Scene 3 Storyboards.

I also created a shooting order that I will follow the best I can unless something comes up or a better order presents itself.

In the week leading up to the shoot I had some panic as I hadn't found an actress yet, or heard back about location permission.  As I was filming in my flat I had spoken to the property manager and written a letter for the owner, but they had wanted a copy of the script too so there was a bit of a hold up there.  Luckily a few days later I found an Actress AND got permission on the same day! 



Production:

On the night I had a small crew of 5 including me.  I meant to shoot from 5-10pm but we went over time by an hour.

Photo by Dan DeLaet

I found that some shots on the night didn't work out as well as I had thought so I replaced a few shots, eg swapping an MCU for an OTS.  Some shots I had intended to shoot on the tripod ended up looking better handheld as well.  I also found that I didn't need the amount of shots I had planned to get the full coverage of the script as a large amount of the dialog became improv.