Digital Video - S2 Week 5

04/08/2020

I heard back from Nathan Gill and he's fine with me shooting vox pops on Esk, Kelvin, and Don Streets, as long as I don't block the pedestrians walking past and to be aware of the CBD redevelopment.

I messaged The Southland Times through Facebook this morning to ask for a copy of the footage they took of the March 2019 climate strike in Invercargill and whether I can use it for my documentary. I'll give them a couple of days to reply before emailing the licensing contact at Stuff with the same message.

I contacted Leigh this morning to see if she's available to help out on the Sunday shoot as a runner and BTS photographer. It turns out that she left the film course, but is committed to helping out. No longer being a film student won't be an issue since she won't be using any of the film equipment and even on the Wednesday shoot, she just asking the questions to members of the public and holding a clipboard with the release forms.

Leigh replied to me saying that does have transport, which would be to transport crew and interview subject to Queens Park in the event of good weather on Sunday afternoon. She is also fine to be the BTS photographer on the Sunday shoot.

I heard back from The Southland Times and they suggested that I contact the syndication team at Stuff, which I did. They later responded back saying it will require a licensing agreement from them and likely a fee. I replied to the message asking for a quote on the fee.

I went by Miharo to do some recon for shooting on Sunday. I spent time visualising shots in my head and finding plug outlets, and thinking about what I would need in terms of dressing up the location; a couple of tables (including craft table) and a couple of chairs

Class tutorial

The main idea about today's class to how to maintain camera and its attachments during and after enduring the elements, but mainly sand.

When dusting vents or cameras, consider what direction and away from important stuff 

Air blower used for big chunks off the camera 

Do these steps when you have a break and/or at the end of the day 

Mattebox can be used to protect the lens from the elements 

The plastic bag can also work when filming on a beach. But be sure to have holes cut for the lens and viewfinder. Make sure the lens hole is just before the lens mount and taped down with VFX tracking tape, not gaffer tape because of the residue that it leaves behind.

After spending many weeks with the URSA, looking at how the F55 and it's attachments seemed a lot less scary. However, the mattebox looks complicated to me to assemble.

I followed up with Ashleigh and she's still keen for the filming on Sunday. I also managed to get all the paperwork updated this afternoon.

05/08/2020

Gayle wasn't available to help out yesterday afternoon because of her study commitments. I didn't put everything in one basket when came to sourcing cardboard for my shoot, so I bought a big piece of recycled paper myself from the art supplies shop.

I sent out the call sheets, location maps, and other details to the cast and crew today. Tyler was fine with it, but asked for me to cover his petrol costs, which I was going to anyway. Bradley also told me that he prefers to buy his own food for the shoot.

I sent a follow up email to James Shaw's communications guy on the release form for the footage that I took of James Shaw early this year.

I heard the news yesterday that the next school climate strike is confirmed for the 4th of September, in the lead up to the general election in New Zealand. I will try and get someone else to come along shoot B-roll for me, while I also do some shooting at the protest. I hope to book the FS5 for me to shoot protest and the X200 for the other camera operator.

06/07/2020

I managed to get all the equipment issued out for the weekend. I switched the Panasonic monitor for the Flame monitor because the resolution on the URSA was too high for the Panasonic and the URSA couldn't display any lower than 1080p.

I tested out using the Flame monitor only to find the batteries weren't working and had to rely on an AC adapter. I will try and charge them tomorrow.

Rhys might also be a sound recordist since it's come to my attention that Oisin will only be available for the morning of the Sunday shoot, but he will make it up for me by recording foley for my sound mix later on. 

07/08/2020

Talking over about my research with Kathryn also made me realise how my findings are currently all theoretical and was in need of practical findings encounter in the actual film project, some of which may not exist until the shoot this weekend.

She has confirmed with me today that I should have access to the seminar room and Upstage for shooting this weekend.

I have decided to save time in preparation by only having the indoor shooting with the URSA on a tripod and the location shooting with the URSA on a shoulder mount. I also took a last minute check at the interview questions and everything looks fine at that end.

I attempted to charge the batteries for the Flame only to find them fully charge already. I put them back into the Flame only to find them working this time. I must had not placed the batteries in properly last time.

I heard back from Stuff. They wanted to know what my documentary would be used for, how much did I want to use, and they informed me that their licensed footage tends to be in low resolution. I will need to think about over the weekend. I would played back the video online and I would say 30-60 seconds would likely be used, but it's also possible that I may use the whole video except the Stuff intro and outro graphics. This may drive up the price and the video is about 1 minute and 50 seconds (110 seconds) without those Stuff graphics. I wonder if they charge you per second like the United Nations does.

I also sent an email to remind Guyton about the shoot tomorrow.

08/08/2020

Arriving at campus this morning, I saw that there was construction noise out on Don Street, which concerned me because it could interfere with the interview's sound. I heard back from Guyton and looks like he will be coming 10 minutes early.

I checked the seminar room to see if it was accessible and switched on the desk lights to find a problem. It creates a buzzing noise that would interfere with recording sound for Guyton's interview.

I set up the camera before the crew arrived and it took less time than I thought.

They all arrived earlier than expected, but that was good since we had 20 minutes until Guyton arrives. The filming went swell and quick, aside from issues arisen from the Flame being onto the URSA. The interview only needed one take and it was perfect, I felt there was no need for more takes. The film crew was of great help today and we will be meeting up again tomorrow morning. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow with a full day of shooting from 9 until 5. 

I managed to ingest all the footage and sound, then back them up on cloud storage. I set up a Premiere project and synced the footage with the sound from the Zoom. I realised only then that the URSA's internal mic wasn't on, so this was a new challenge as an editor for me in syncing sound with footage. I'll be sure to make the internal mic going next time.

09/08/2020

It was an exhausting day to go through. Leigh pulled out for personal reasons and Ashleigh had a school exam pop up at the last minute and could only be available for the morning. 

I came on campus early and spoke to some of my crew that arrived before going over to Miharo to get access there from Mandy. 

I stayed there while the others carried over the equipment. I stayed because I thought it was important to have at least one person in the building at all times for security reasons. It took a lot of discussions and time in the one hour before Ashleigh in setting up sound and lighting. 

I came outside of Miharo five minutes before Ashleigh was scheduled to arrive to meet with her. She ended up being about ten minutes late. I had Oisin take BTS photos when he wasn't busy.

The most painful thing about shooting an interview today was the natural light being unpredictable. It was a stormy day overall, but when we were shooting the interview the sun would beam very brightly into the window, which would looks really bad and will make it very challenging to colour grade in post. I cannot afford the time in reshooting it another day and we had a strict shooting schedule this morning with it being a long interview, so we couldn't afford to do more takes. Eventually, I got annoyed by the changing skies interfering with the lighting and so I moved the camera angle and Ashleigh's seated position a bit.

Guyton's interview had similar lighting issues, but it was more subtle.

I ended up shooting the covid-19 then rather than in the artistic way I had planned at Upstage due to time constraints and the hell of it. We rushed the B-roll shots because we only had half an hour to do so and was shot in the Academy Ratio like planned. Sound wasn't needed since there's no dialogue or any particular SFX.

I got Oisin and Rhys to go and get the crew's lunch (pizza) while. This morning, I had the lunch set to be picked up at 12. My crew dismantled and carried the equipment back to campus with the interview shoot done. I also managed to get Ashleigh to sign a release form. I tripled checked the building and spoke to Mandy before leaving.

We shot something that I had in mind that I wouldn't mind experimenting with in compositing and cross-fading. The idea is that the type of VFX where you see the passage of time with cross-fading with one person being different spots within a stationary camera angle. Sound and lighting wasn't needed. Natural lighting was used.

I managed to ingest and back up my footage and sound from today while in an exhausted state before going home for much needed rest. Oisin managed to send me the BTS photos and it wasn't until I got home that I forgot my laptop bag.

10/08/2020

I managed to return all the equipment back to Chris with Oisin's help. I also got an editing suite booked for a week for editing my project. I couldn't find my laptop bag in either the Boom Room or the green screen room, so the only other place would have to be Miharo. I sent Mandy an email whether if I had left it there and it turns out I did. I will be picking it up at midday today.

I sent Caleb Lay a message to see if he would be free to replace Leigh's role in the shoot this Wednesday and he is keen.