Fiction adaptation: What went well with the shoot

When the day of shoot came around, I had a shot list made to help me keep on track with all the shots that I needed to cover, and Alan, one of my actors, just down the road at my nan’s house, ready to come to the graveyard at a moment’s notice. I was expecting the shoot to last 2 hours, and I finished just under that, which was good, as I needed to keep to a schedule as I was filming between 14:00 and 16:00, so the sun was getting very low between those times, which would have made filming very difficult. Despite this however, I was able to work with the decreasing light, and even incorporate it into some shots. 

Before the shoot, I made the decision to have the whole film shot using a handheld camera instead of a tripod, as I wanted the uneasiness of the shots to try and evoke emotions in the audience. I did bring a tripod with me, as I was going to shoot the GVs as a Steadicam, but I decided against this idea as I felt that having this constant changing of shots would not look good in the final product

Both of my actors were very co-operative, with one of them, George, even suggesting some ideas for shots or actions that his character could be doing. This was very helpful as he thought of a couple things that I hadn’t, such as some facial expressions in several of the shots. Alan, my other actor, was also very compliant, and followed my directions very well. I would definitely use him again if I was to do this project again, or in a future project.

Due to there being a public pathway running through the graveyard, there were a few people that walked past over the course of the shoot, however they saw what we were doing and waited for us to finish the shot we were doing.