Sugar 1 shoot

We had good light for the shoot. An eyecup on the viewfinder of the SR would have been a great help making it more comfortable and easier to setup and use as the sun was low and for initial shots the camera was shooting toward it. I had to try to cup the viewfinder with my hand to keep glaring sunlight out whilst making adjustments to the camera.

Trying to account for the crop factor of the final 16:9 aspect ratio from the 4:3 camera whilst framing added a new challenge to the shoot, which whilst I don’t think that I have done badly from the images that I have been able to see. It is difficult to evaluate properly having not been able to genuinely view the cine transfer 16:9 cropped file or see the final edit crop from the original 4:3 shots.

The first/establishing shots were taken using the zoom lens. Whilst I have done experiments with the Arri Prime lenses. A lack of confidence/experience using these lenses made itself apparent to me when I changed the lens for a subsequent shot and picked the wrong one. I felt that I was holding up the process as people waited for me and refitted the zoom to allow the shoot to carry on quickly, as I and the crew were aware of the time constraints of the shoot, due to the sun already being low when we began.

Sugar shoot day preparations

The day before the both shoots we came in on the Wednesday, booked out checked and prepared the necessary equipment for the following day so it was ready to go. This was a good way of organising the equipment as once booked by us on the Wednesday when a lot of people film students are not about meant that it was not required by anyone else and could be locked in the studio over night making it immediately ready for the following day.

The day before sugar 1

Sugar Camera tests

In the run up to the sugar shoots Kyle and I spent most Wednesdays performing camera tests, first with the SR3 and later with the SR2. We received demos from Lee on the SR3 and digital Sekonic light meter. Performed black bag magazine loading tests and generally familiarised ourselves with the equipment.

sugar 2 shoot 2

Due to the camera failing on our shoot we were left with few cutaways. We cobbled together another shoot in the film studio to film some emergency cutaways. I stayed up most of the night cutting a zugarteck logo out of mounting board. I managed to get the hopper into my car, gathered props and costume and arrived at college where the crew were waiting.

I think that the shot of Liam filling the Hopper probably works better than it would have at the original shoot due to the angle that it was filmed where Liam was able to lean right into it, which it wouldn’t have been possible due to it being mounted to its assembly at Toms shoot.

The zugartech Logo effect also worked well, brushing salt over the logo which filled the cavities in the lettering.

Unfortunately the action on sugar web address was not as effective as with no guides on the makeshift conveyor belt, there was too much movement.

The day was successful in that we got our cutaways for Richard to play with in the edit but inconsistencies were apparent from the original shoot leaving it all a little bit of a compromise.

Sugar2 Shoot1

The day of the shoot worked well. Everybody arrived on set to build by 10am and every one knuckled down to assembling the set. Kyle and James brought over the studio steps. The group worked well together and we completed the build quite quickly. James ran around gathering a few last minute dressings like the logo poster and we were ready for action. Tom was scheduled to arrive after lunch so we ate and awaited his arrival. Once Tom was on set we were away.
The set looked effective in situ and the shoot rolled along nicely. A little restructuring of the crew and supporting cast to help cope with the demands of the day and the filming carried on into the afternoon. Once all Toms shots where complete we let him go and concentrated on getting our cutaways. All went fine until the conveyor belt shots when the running camera sound changed and a fault was suspected. Upon further investigation Kyle found the film buckling up inside the magazine, which called an end to the shoot. Mattys Dad was waiting with a van outside the college to collect the set and take it back to mine. The arrangement that we made with photography was that we would be out and clear by 12 the following day. Under the circumstances we felt that we had no option but to strip the set. It was a very disappointing end to a good day. The crew worked to dismantle the set and clear the studio. The next day we removed the steps and trolley-jack borrowed from the college swept the floor and moved furniture back to its original position before finally vacating the area.

Day 4 Set Build

Day 4 Wednesday
Kyle offered his assistance and came over first things first, we assemble a gazebo as the weather looked very threatening, and just in time as it immediately started to rain as we finished. The opening and closing mechanism of the cowl had not been considered in too much depth and it was designed and constructed as we went along. The design relied upon the weight of each half to support the other as they ran on baton runners, with this in place the cowl construction was complete. Whilst I was reluctant to do so, I decided that the best way to secure the hopper to the weighted tea chest assembly was to drill through the base of it and to screw through into the top of the runner assembly attached to the tea chest support, this secured it safely without risk of toppling. I cut a hole in the bottom box to aid filling and weighting it quickly on set.  We stripped and  prepared the set dressings and the machine for pickup later that evening and stacked it all under the gazebo to keep it dry. Matty arrived in a van with his dad a little later. We all loaded it and Kyle and I followed the van in my car to Hartlepool. We unloaded it and delivered the set to the CCAD photographic studio to be ready for assembly first thing in the morning.
The cowl stayed at my house for me to take in the morning, through the night I covered the visible areas with lining paper to blend joins and colour match with the paper which will be attached behind conveyor legs.
I composed a shot list from my notes and adjusted the script before going to bed for an hour.

Day 3 Set Build

Day 3 Tuesday
As we are obliged to be in college on Mondays we resumed where we had left off on Tuesday.  Matty came over to help and we set about making the conveyor belt. We kept the 4m length and it was cut width ways to compliment the width of the conveyor base. I glued a dowel into a fold at one end and made a cut out in the carpet I attached string to the dowel to pull the fabricated belt.This was effective at making the conveyor belt look like it was operating. Next job was to manufacture the machine cowl to fit under the hopper. Dimensions were taken to compliment the conveyor frame, hopper and tea chest tower that it sits on and translated to the sketches that I had previously drawn. A lot of marking up, cutting and nailing later and we had two rough halves of the machine cowl. Again we called it a day as we lost the light.