Film Workshop – Meeting with Andrew, Blocking Plans + Blocking Rehearsal (‘Moving Day’)
Film Workshop, On-Set ProductionOliwia and I attended an online meeting with Andrew to discuss our new camera arrangements – hello Ursa 12K – and lighting plans for the location. Andrew provided us with a lot of insight and technical knowledge which we noted down for future reference when creating camera and lighting plans, in addition to when we are on set.
Some useful tips Andrew shared were:
- If the subject is positioned in the background of a shot, the foreground must appear darker than the background.
- Match a custom white balance to the main light source.
- 10amp = 2400w.
- 13amp = 3200w (if fully uncoiled!).
- Any light bounced onto a coloured wall will affect the characteristics of a skin tone.
- If relying upon natural light, work out the sun position throughout the day in relation to the windows to ensure the sun doesn’t suddenly appear and counteract any lighting.
- The kit storeroom has a gel that can convert halogen lights to daylight.
- Use the Magic Cinema Viewfinder to plan out shots with the camera you’re using on location recces.
Blocking Plans
Below are the blocking plans I made with the dimensions Oliwia took on our first recce. These will prove an invaluable reference when on-set discussing blocking with crew and actors. This was my first attempt at properly blocking using Shot Designer, so I was still learning how to use the software and all of the features it includes. I definitely found it a useful practice and will continue to implement blocking plans in my future directing. The blocking plans include a base without any characters or movements to show the layout and then are followed by a blocking plan with those aforementioned characters and their movement present.
Final Location Recce + Blocking Rehearsal
On Friday 17th November, we had our final recce at Michael’s flat which was predominantly a blocking rehearsal. We decided that it would increase our efficiency on set if the actors could walk through the blocking in the location prior to the shoot, and so arranged an additional blocking rehearsal for myself, Michael, and Abigail.
I found it very beneficial to focus on the blocking with the actors, as it is something I’ve underestimated the difficulty of and the skill regarded to do effective blocking as a director. You not only have to be able to envision the movement in your mind in a temporal-spatial sense, but then give clear direction on what happens and when and provide memorable cues.
Once I had run through the blocking with the actors several times, Oliwia (DoP) and Kyle (writer./script-supervisor) observed a blocking rehearsal and pointed out any concerns with respect to their role. Any information that arose from the blocking rehearsal was relayed to the rest of the crew.