The LOCATION Recce ,,,,,,, OLD CLASSIC or MODERN ?

Jen had been doing her home work in relations to Railway stations ,,,,,, and after a few days we were down to a couple of contenders ,,,, I liked the idea of the old Victorian ,,, ST James station ,, It actually didnt have very much light in it at all ,,, but interesting shapes ,,, in the classic old railway station look ,,,But ST James only had one track at each platform and there was very little room between the yellow line and the wall ...... in some areas .
The seated area was Ok but it did have a part wall close to the seated position ,,, that could look a little boring and flat with the close up work ,,, But I still like it ,,,,,, At this stage I think jen liked Green Square station ,,,,,, A more modern look ,,,
Another negative st ST James ,,, was the black painted wall opposite the seated area ,,,,, not very visual ,,,, there was a nice curve to the ceiling though .

NEXT CIRCULAR QUAY ,,,,,, at first you would think that having the Harbour bridge in the background would be a big plus ,,,,,, but actually to really read it ,,, you would have to shoot at T1.4 .......... and there was to much light at the seated position ,,,,,,, and maybe the background would be to distracting to the story ,,,,,,
Out the other side ,,, It was OK when the trains were in but ,,,, just black background when they were not ,,,

Just a bit boring actually .....

So now to Green Square ,,,,, a modern set of escalators ,,,, not as busy during the night ,,,,,, and it would be FREE ,,,,,,

Some nice available lighting situations ,,,

And some nice modern architecture to help the plot ........ Jen was right ,,, This WAS the LOCATION to shoot in ,,,,, I had a big fat stop of T 2.2 ,,,,,,,,,, he he .

THE BEGINING ,,, Lost my 1st AC and Data Loader , NO GAFFER , NO GRIP ,,, We are shooting tonight ,,,

SO just in a nick of time ,,,,, STEVE BYRON and RYAN PETER step in for 1st AC & data/loader ,,,,, THANKS fellas ,,,,, Just when I was going to get my 12 year old daughter to help out ,,, he he he ,,,,, only joking ,,, I think .

Sorry Monique ,,, STEVE has the job now ,,, he he ,,, and Stop sneezing all over the focus charts ,,, Its tough trying to do a freeB when you got school pickup after 3pm ,,,

Steve checks out the ALEXA from ARRI upstairs at PANAVISION downstairs ,,, Its handy having those companies so close together ,, Thank you STEFAN & MARTIN ,,,,,, Steve is finetuning the way I want to use it for handheld ,,,,, I hate those big 2 handle rigs and prefer the old arri 3 single handle ,,,, It leaves you left hand free to do other adjustments ,,, like slightly move an actor to the correct OVER position or fight your way through a crowd ,,,,, or even slap the focus puller ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, only joking on that ( we have a remote focus system in place ) We only have a small set of Superspeeds ,,,,, from 18mm to 85mm ,,,,,,, we did throw in a 16mm on a late call in the gear check ,,,,,, Actually we used every lens we had ,,, I love that feeling of not waisting anything $ ,,, WE have two very good actors on the Film ,,,,,, KELLY PATERNITI
AND JOHN BATCHELOR ,,, It was fantastic that they agreed to do this Film ,,
And they are happy ( but tired after the second night ,,, I'll bet ) people and fun to work with ,,,

Jen wants to Block the scene on set . Decide on few wardrobe issues. Workout what we are shooting first. Get Kelly & John in to makeup then SHOOT ....

Jen like to have the actors to herself for a little time to work things out before revealing the all setups and angles to the crew ...

Although we were handheld most times Jen was planing a couple of tripod shots ,,,,,,,, I was thinking how good the train was in the background ,,, then realised it should not be there in the script ,,,, Dammm ,,,, Change the script ,,, it looks good ,,,,,,, he he he Only joking .

Actually after taking this shot ,,,, It was obvious that it looked just as good without the train ,,, I always use my Little Leica D-lux 4 to help line up angles and show suggested shots to the director

THEN WE START SHOOTING ,,,,,,,,,,,, This was a long take and wide with a handheld move ,,,, its the waiting on a long static part of the shot at the begining of the scene that is testing and we did quite a few takes to get it done ,,, but we were now shooting and it felt good ,,,, I must say it was a little strange not needing any lighting time after a rehearsal before we shot ,,,,

I had been a little concerned about possible close up lighting problems in the positions we had chosen for the scenes and although I was not able to get a Gaffer for the FreeB gig i was able to get a few pieces of kino and diffusion frames from Tony Gardner at ENGINE ,,, Thanks guys .

As it turned out ,,,, No Gaffer , No Time , No problems ,,,, We went available light except for the use of a round fold out silver reflector a couple of times ,,,,

I must say ,,, it is easy to notice that Jen is very good with the actors and they respond well ,,,, its going to be a good film ,,,,,,, we just have to get it shot in the time we have ,,,

We are off to a slow start but we are getting good footage ,,,

Kellys saying ,,,,,, What now ? ,,,,,,, Did I hear someone call Lunch ?

It was Jen's Birthday ,,,,,,,,, A cake was a nice gesture by Jiao ,,,,,,,,,, So sang happy birthday then had Cake and Meat pies for Dinner,,,, Then Back to work

Back after Birthday Lunch/Dinner ,,, I do love a good Meat pie

When we got back from lunch/dinner ,,, we got stuck into the dialogue close ups ,,,,,,, As we had no grip but were able to borrow a western Dolly and some appleboxes from Tony Bosh ( thanks Mate ) ,,, So sitting on the box on the western dolly handheld was the order of the day ,,,,,, Craig did the honours again ,,,,,, Lucky we were looking for a bumpy movement ,,, he he he ,,, Only joking ,,, He did GOOD .... Because of the height of a sitting person and the fact my sideways movement was provided by the dolly ,,, I actually put the camera on my shoulder ,,, where as all the walking and running close up coverage was off the shouder and lower angle ,,,,, It is much smoother this way ,,, Your two arms become the steadycam ,, This is coming from a person who has shoot so much handheld footage with the old arri 2c ,,, From standing in a row boat , out of helicopters , light planes , surf boats , car interiors , and even tracking shots on the beach sitting on a 2x grip powered potato sack ,,, Still one of the best handheld camera designs around ...

After having originally prefered the Old traditional Station like St James ,,,,, I have now fallen in love with the shapes and angles on offer at Green Square ,,,, enjoyable ,,, But no dawdling here ,,, It is like the speed dating version of Filming ,,, Find a good composition and Shoot it and move on ,,,, Fast fun .

I do get to sit down on the seat for some setups ,,, Steve loves that wireless focus and so do I , Craig is sticking his head in to see why I am now sitting on the seat and not getting him to push me around ,,,,,,,

OK it on the shoulder again ,,, but only just ,,, It is a static piece of close up dialogue ..

Once again there were ample places to find good angles for the scene ,,,,,I love this shot ,

Another Shot I love ,,,,,, The stairs are great to shoot against ,,

With shooting totally available light you come up against things like these blue green spots hitting youe artists ,,,, Not good on the face casting nasty shadows ,,,, It is close work so just move them a step closer and it is only a rim /backlight/toplight ,,, what ever ,,,, Still got green ,,, but gradeable to some extent with Face recognition style windows ,,,

Crick ,,, doing his homework ,,,

Sitting on that dolly again ,,, yeh I know on the shoulder ,,,,,,,, and two hands on the camera ,,,,, I prefer the single arri3 style right hand grip and left hand on the matbox edge .....
Wow Jiao just arrived with permission to shoot at the station ,,,,,,, Only joking ,,, Its probally a form for me to sign ,,,, saying that I wont say anything silly about him in my blog ,,, he he he

Actually I was hoping it was another meat pie ,,, they were good .

Jen & Crick ,,,, jump ahead for a little next scene block through ,,,,,, We still have heaps to shoot ,,

WHO'S WHO ON THE SHOOTING CREW

JENNIFER PERROTT is our Talented DIRECTOR and really shows her ability to think fast and make creative decisions in a time hungry environment on this shoot ,,,,,, 10 out of 10 for Jen .

JIAO CHEN is our Producer who put this whole project together in a very fast and professional manner ,,, as well as being able to stand in the background with a bag full of money to keep the production going ,,,,,, he he he ,, only joking ,,, The bag was empty ,,, There is Low Budget ,,, then there is NO budget ,,, A great Achievement to actually get this project done in the time frame . ELEANOR WINKLER is our Second Producer ,,, working with Jiao as a Great Team ,,, everything she organised went on without a problem ,,, another Great Achievement ,,,, Talking to her on set are ANTONIA GAUCI & SHOSHANA WALL both Production Assistants .Here we have the lovely Production Designer PELE HEHEA adjusting Johns Jacket

Hey Here comes CRAIG !!! ,,,,,, our 1st Assistant Director ,,,,,,,,, Step back or get your feet runover ,,,,,,,, Hey sorry I had to ask you to push the western dolly while I sat in comfort on an applebox ( Grips dont take offence ,,, We couldnt get one to work for free,,, he he ) ...... But it all worked out fine in the end ,,,,,, We were looking for the edgy bumpy look anyway he he he ,,, Thanks again CRAIG ANDERSON .

Hey STEVE BYRON ,,,,, What a great job you did mate ,,,,, Bloody hard focus ,,, no stop ,,, and no stop moving hand held he he,, Thanks for stepping in at the last moment ...

Hey RYAN PETER ,,,,, What a LIFE saver you were coming onboard at the last second after we lost our other Data/Loader ,,,,,, great work mate ,,,, we would have been lost without you ,,, sorry about the lack of sleep .

Hey Thanks PHILL KEROS ,,,,, I owe you one ,,,,,, Dammm I will probably have to shoot a family wedding for you on a RED ,,,,,

HEY CHRIS our boom swinger ,,,, Only saw the Mike once mate ,,,,,, your dad has taught you well ,

CRICK ( Benedict Paxton ) Flew all the way from Perth to work for nothing as the Script assistant/Continuity ....... and what a great job he did ,,,,, Got a Good eye for detail .

JOSH FREESTONE takes the cake ...... as far as working for free goes ,,,,, He didnt tell us that he had come up from Woolongong to work on the film and was sleeping in his car ,,,,, When we found out we gave him a can of deoderant ,,,,,,, only joking ,,,, We got him a bigger car to sleep in ,,,, hang the expense ,,, he he he ,,,,, He was absolutely invaluabe to me while doing all the handheld shooting ,,, I can recomend him highly for any production ,, but for god sake someone pay him next time ,,,, that deoderant wont last forever . he he he .

Dear LIVIA LEI did a fantastic job with the actors John & Kelly carm quiet and Friendly professional ,,, Here Making up Kelly ,,,,,,

JAKE NGU was doing a great job with the STILLS ,,,,, but he never got a shot of WHO the culprit was moving the props around ,,, he he he ,,,

I am sure some of you fine shots ended up on this blog ,,,,,,,,,, THANKS JAKE

PETER CROMBIE did a great job of editing this Little ( but Big hearted ) Film ...

The the lovely YOOMIN was our Grader at CUTTING EDGE ,,,,,,, ALL doing a Fab job and giving their time for FREE ..

SOMEONE has been moving the props around and I think we know WHO it is

Crick thinks he has spied that SOMEONE has been moving the background props all around the set ,,, out of continuity

Craig makes an announcement ,,,,,,, SOMEONE has been moving the props around without proper authority ,,,,,,, I want the culprit to step forward and admit his wrong doing .....
Jen ,,, Did you see who has been moving props around ?
Gee ,,,,,,,,,,, I dont know who woud be doing such a dastardly thing ,,, have any of you guys seen anything ?
Crick ,,, I think I saw Gribs do it ,,, He is the culprit ! Jen ,,, No I dont think so ,,, Thats why I wanted everything handheld to keep him busy so he couldnt do that ,,,he he he .
John said ,,,,,, I definitely saw Gribs sneek around and move some of the props ,,, Without Proper authority ....... It was outrageous .
He is guilty ,,,,,, OK ,,, lets play back the video and see if we can spot the culprit ,,,,,,,,, OH there he is ,,, DammmCraig makes another important announcement ,,,,,,, Gribs has admitted his Guilt and Has made a Promise not to DO IT AGAIN .