Internship #2
Screen test
The first day of the Screen test film project started with the entire cast , crew, and some Set and Prop students gathered at 8am. There was a basic safety briefing and then an introduction to the set some of us in the Set and Props department had been working on for the month prior. The reactions on the actors faces made that entire build worth while and I was very excited to be working with them in the filming process.
For this project I am working under the title of 1st AC (Assistant Camera) for our DOP.
Monday 11th October
The cast members that were being filmed first along with the crew went to our first location, a car made to look like it was driving in a snow storm. I was tasked with helping set up our director with a monitor, then setting up the lighting equipment that was soon delivered after that. Lighting was set up with a bounce light, using the white wall in the front left of the car as a natural bounce, and flags over top of the car windshield to stop reflections from showing up on camera.
From there I grabbed a 2×4 and some blocks of wood from the Prop shop and made a quick rig to help shake the car to simulate it driving while filming. After that was all set up we started on filming all the different casts doing their respective parts of the same scene.
The day over all involved working with the DOP to move around flags to mask reflections, swapping lenses, resetting for each set of cast members, and most importantly shaking the car every take. It was a long day, which we did not keep completely to shoot schedule, however it was a start to a packed filming schedule working directly with an in demand DOP so I am very fortunate.
(Was so busy as a first day I forgot to take photos once we got into it)
Tuesday 12th October
Day 2 was more of the same. We continued with the scene we ended the first day with. Since this film has basically 4 main characters the 2nd year actors are all split between the roles with the majority between two characters. (Jake and Young Woman)
Unlike the first day, we went about having all the actors in the scenes on standby so we could swap casts per camera set up. It took less time overall per scene which meant we were able to pick up some momentum.
My role continued to be a combination of 1st AC in swapping lenses, and a Grip/Gaffer setting up the lighting per shot. And most importantly, rocking the car every shot.
Wednesday 13th October
Last day filming in the screen lab with snowy car scenes. All the scenes we filmed through the first 3 days take place before and after the farmhouse so the car was then covered in more snow as we swapped to scenes after. (taken care of by the designers on Art Department)
It was a great day to end a very cool part of this film shoot. I had never seen a car filmed in a studio before and especially not one made to look like it’s driving in a snow storm.
I’ve started to build some solid teamwork with the DOP and a 2nd year actor also helping as 2nd AC for a smooth flow rigging lights into shooting.
We ended the day by packing up all the gear from the screen lab and bringing it into the theater ready for shooting the following Monday.
Monday 18th October
Shoot day 4 meant first day filming in the farm house which I was super excited about having helped build the set.
We started by setting up the lighting where it would best work for the first scene and going from there. The lights generally had to be covered in gels to make them warmer for being inside the house. We had practical lights which had warm colored bulbs we had to match to a degree. From there we went about moving everything for each shot since the scenes are more complex then filming single shots outside a car.
This was a great first experience into filming on location since this set had the luxury of a floor and ceiling so shots can be done quite wide.
Tuesday 19th October
We had picked up pace really well the day before and started a scene meant for the end of day 5. Since we had everything set up we continued with the scene then moved into basically filming the same scene the rest of the day.
The day focused mostly on a dinner scene between two casts. The reason it took the whole day was because they had to get a wide then singles on everyone in an 11 minute scene. Done over and over you can see why this took all day.
It really was a test of filming stamina with lots of coffee and focus.
Wednesday 20th October
Day 6 of shooting meant the last full day in the farmhouse. It was sad to only have been in it for 3 days but amazing to see the kinds of shots we could get in it.
My favorite moment of the day was two scenes we combined by have a camera pan away and come by to a different cast sitting on the couch. This was all done in camera in one shot which took a few takes to nail down.
Watching Bill (the DOP) work with Vaughn at this point was amazing. They had never worked together on a project like this but were totally in sync when it came to how shots could be done. Bill also had no qualms offering ideas for how to film/light shots which was great to learn from.
Friday 22nd October
Day 7 started back in the farmhouse for one scene then went straight outside it to the other sets we made for this production.
We got to film with the fake lambs one of the talented 1st years made more realistic then required. It was so crazy how believable they looked on camera.
They lighting changed as we went outside the set back to cooler colors to mimic moonlight instead of interior light and we worked to hide boom shadows along with not seeing the theater walls.
Saturday 23rd October
Last day filming was good but very bittersweet.
We started by going down to the production bay for Set and Props to film on the stairs going up. We cleared it out and set up some key lights and fill lights. It was honestly an extremely beautiful scene to watch be shot.
From there we went to Tulsey Town and got to see the whole outside on camera in all it’s glory! The designers had created an amazing looking interior or the ice cream shop look. From there it was more of the same for myself and Dylan. Moving lights, setting up bounces, rigging fill lights, and helping swap lenses.
After finishing with Tulsey Town we went into filming the final scene of the day in “Jake’s Bedroom”. The set was actually a real room in Toi, repainted and then amazingly set dressed by the 2nd year designers. It was over all a small scene however because of the size of the room with all the crew and no windows it was rough.
After the last shot it was an official wrap and the start of tidying up all the equipment.
Reflection
Compared to past experience this internship was very different in a few ways. I think being in the same building as school has both advantages as it does disadvantages. Being able to not have to travel somewhere I don’t normally frequent/go to every day was very nice. However being in the building meant during the shoot days some people expected me to still make certain meeting when I was technically “not there”.
Working in a crew of fellow students besides the Director, DOP, and Sound, was interesting. There was still a level of tutor and student relationship, yet still being treated very professionally. Which I appreciated on this kind of project. As it turned out basically every student on set was a 2nd year so we all had in some ways the same level of experience. Which gave a normal hierarchical structure a more flat feeling amongst students. I believe we did however stay more to our on set roles so as to produce a more professional environment.
I honestly learned lots from Bill just by watching him work. He’s a very experienced DOP without working with a ton of equipment. It was great to learn ways of cheating light with bounces and dialing them up or down to create moonlight for many of our scenes. Him and I talked a few times about his past work on bigger projects and how cray it can sometimes be. He initially started on films by wrangling cables for the camera team an now he’s a full DOP so nothing wrong with starting from the bottom.
Though this internship didn’t end up going as initially planned (Thanks COVID) I still am so happy with how the overall experience was! It was amazing to work with the 2nd year actors I started Toi with and see their growth in ability.