It begins. Countless work. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Here we are. The shoot.
Day 1 began with the roadside scene where Ellis and Kane split off. We shot this at Craigie's farm. It should have been a very easy, relaxed way to begin the shoot, but Aaron's set-up times were ridiculous. We got incredibly behind schedule. There were lots of issues with framing out roads etc. however ultimately, there wasn't much we could do. I think some of it probably looks nice enough, but it was difficult to tell.
On top of this, we only found out on the day that we weren't allowed in the actual fields themselves. This meant I had to completely replan how I wanted to shoot the scene at the very last moment.
I get that it's a pandemic, but Ruth was overly strict about what I could not do. It was incredibly frustrating, particularly because it only seemed to be me she was taking issue with. She wouldn't let me near the monitor in order to see the shots and she wouldn't let me near the actors in order to direct them. This meant I was having to shout my directions over to the actors, which really wasn't something I was comfortable doing. I would far rather this be much more private.
Sound was a struggle too. We were surrounded by roads, sheep and building sites. It was a nightmare trying to get silence for a take.
Hopefully this is just a rough start, but I'm worried. I'm doing my best, but there's not a good atmosphere on set. Ruth is just being oppressive and I know Maddy, the AD, is certainly struggling to do her job with Ruth always hanging around.
On the plus side, the costumes are looking great. They've turned out really well.
For some reason, Ruth decided it was a good idea to schedule like a 10 hour gap between shooting. Later that night we shot the car scene. It obviously had to be dark outside.
The plan was to have the rain flowing down the windows. However, Ruth booked the wrong carpark. We weren't allowed in the carpark with access to a tap, so our hose was useless. It didn't stretch either. So much preparation time wasted. We had to use the weedkiller pump that we used on the test shoot, however for some reason it stopped working. So for the most part, there is no rain water.
Unfortunately, Aaron's set-up times proved to be a recurring issue as well. We had to cut more shots, because we really just didn't have the time. We were well behind schedule and I had to cut the shoot in half nearly as well. This needs to improve. Sound seemed to be easier for Juliet fortunately though.
I really enjoyed working with Ryan on his monologue. Our rehearsals clearly paid off, because I think he nailed it.
It was a really tough first day.
Comments