Daily Production Log

Daily Production Log

20/3/17 - Truth

This was the first day we filmed, and we filmed part of Amy’s film, Truth. We needed to use a specific type of room and the only one that really worked was upstairs in the staff area of the college, so we asked our tutor Mark if we would be able to use a free room. He went about trying to find one and we were able to use an empty room for filming. On the production of Truth, Amy was the director, I was the assistant director, Andrew was the script supervisor and Logan was the DOP, for now at least. We began shooting at about 10 in the morning after the actors had all got their makeup done. We began filming in a small, pre-booked room for the scene in which Harper questions Jake. We got everything done that we needed for this shoot and began getting ready for the next shoot later in the day when the upstairs room was free. During this scene we needed Florence to cry for the scene, but when we needed it she couldn’t quite do it, so she went away for a little while and came back and nailed it. Over all it was quite a successful first day of filming. We filmed from around 10 till 5 for the day.

21/3/17 - Truth

The second day of filming for Truth went just as well as the first, resulting in us filming more than we needed for some scenes. As the assistant director, it was my job to help direct the actors and the DOP to better realise the directors vision. We started filming in the college and later we moved to Amy’s house to film the later scenes. We filmed some of the scene that had Harper talking to Webb about his daughter and introduced new actor Lucy to the film for her brief part. We only had Connor for a brief time this day so we had to try and get his scenes done as fast as possible after he arrived and I think we did this quite well. After this we moved with Sophie and Danny to Amy’s house to film their scenes. All I all it was quite a successful day of filming.

22/3/17 - Hidden in Plain Sight

The third day of filming was dedicated to my film, Hidden in Plain Sight, as it was then called. This entire day was a disaster from start to finish. We had only planned to film the night scenes today so that they were done and out of the way, but even this was difficult to do. We had planned it all so that Logan would go and get his props and take them to the location in Amy’s Grandad's car, and then he would come back and get Andrew to take to his house to get his props and take them to the location while all the actors were getting makeup done. It was planned to all work out in time so that we would be ready at the same time that Andrew and Logan were at location. But it didn’t go to plan at all and we ended up being a half an hour behind from the get go. Once we actually got to location it was raining so we had to rush to be under the bridge, all 18 of us, and had to rush around to get the set ready and all the actors in their places. Eventually people had to go and the whole shoot just sort of came apart at the seams until it was just me and Amy at the bridge. It was at this point that we decided to write the whole day of and not return to the Newport Bridge, and instead look for a new location. It is a shame how this day turned out because it was my first attempt at directing a film, and it was a disaster.

23/3/17 - Truth

This day of filming for Truth didn’t quite go as well as the first two, with delays from the start and a lack of proper organisation. The lack of organisation meant that we were put behind in terms of shots and timings for the next few days as a result of this. We managed to complete one scene and the makeup artists got to do some quality work on Sophie’s hand, creating a cut for the scene. Due to this day of filming the whole schedule had to be rearranged and we had to move the filming of Hidden to a later date. Other than these glaring issues we did manage to get a fair bit done today, so it wasn’t all bad.

24/3/17 - Truth

Once the schedule was figured out, again, we decided to film some of the night scenes for Truth today and get a smaller scene done earlier in the day. We got all but one of the actors ready in makeup and costume and headed down to film the earlier scene with him. Once this was done we waited for it to get darker and got Connor’s makeup done at location while we waited. While we waited Andrew went and got his dog for his small cameo scene, at this point it was dark enough to film so we got the scenes with the dog done first so he could go home. After this we filmed some more shots before it got too dark to film and called it a day. All in all it was a good day of filming, and it was a lot of fun to work with and help direct a dog.

27/3/17

Today we had a discussion with our teacher about Hidden and we came to the conclusion that it would be better if we re-wrote the whole script and began again on the new film.

28/3/17 - Truth

This was the first day of any kind of reshoot as we had to, and they were for Truth. Amy, Flo and Sol weren’t happy with the way they looked and all wanted to reshoot them, so we booked the room out again to get it done so we could move on with the next shoot. We wanted to reshoot more scenes later in the day, due to noise in the background of the shots, but found that the room we needed was already booked out so we couldn’t use it. During the first set of reshoots, we filmed everything that didn’t include crying first then we let Flo go off and get ready to cry again, and we got that sorted too.

30/3/17 - Truth

This was the day we were due to film in the Principals office, originally at 5 in the afternoon, but that got pushed back to 5:30 due to the Principal needing the room. We were planning on using a new piece of equipment that we hadn’t used before, a low down, wheeled tripod. It was difficult to use at first but after we figured it out it was surprisingly easy to use. There were some difficulties during this shoot, from load music coming from the dance studio to a very quiet mic, but all in all I think it went quite well, and it was fun to film in the Principals room.  We had to finish quick, or so we thought, as we only had the room till 7, but by that point everyone had gone home so we could have the room for longer. Unfortunately the next area we wanted to film in had closed for the day by this point so new couldn’t film there.

31/3/17 – Hidden and Truth

Today’s shoot was on Hidden and Truth, and it was going to be a long day. We started early at college filming a scene with Josh Wilson, then moved to the high street with Connor for his scene, then he went home while we all went to Amy’s house to film the rest of the scenes with each cast member helping with their fake Facebook accounts. It was a complicated set up but we got through it. After this the camera was almost dead so we went back to college to wait till we were ready for the next shoot. We decided to go to KFC for a meal before we began shooting, and it was only then that we realised that the camera hadn’t been put on charge so we couldn’t really film anything that we were going to. Once again we had to push things back.

3/4/17 - Hidden

This was another day of filming for Hidden, this time we were filming a small scene in the morning with Charlotte and then went back to college to figure out how we were going to film in the new location for the rest of the film. It was a relatively short day; I think we all needed it.

4/4/17 - Truth and Hidden

Today we had booked out the small meeting room to reshoot a scene with Sol and Josh. It was a quick shoot as we got everything we needed in record time, making sure everything was the way the director wanted it. After this we went to film scenes from Hidden. We set up a makeshift camp at the back of the college and got to filming, however some of the actors weren’t taking things seriously, as they were laughing during shots. As the day got later and darker we had to rush around getting barely any takes for each shot as we had spent so much time earlier in the day. After we got everything we could for the shoot we packed up and were asked to leave the area as the college was closing. After this we filmed some shots for Truth of Sophie’s body being found. This went comparatively well in relation to the shoot for Hidden. It was quite a rollercoaster all day today.

5/4/17 - Truth

Today we had to reshoot some scenes from in the EDGE bar, after they didn’t work out last time. We managed to get more done than we needed to, but unfortunately Josh had to leave early so we couldn’t get everything with him done. After this we went to the riverside to get some scenes their done. We reshot a scene from earlier and got done everything we needed to. It was a relatively successful day today.

6/4/17 - Truth

Today was a bit of a disaster as one of our main actors didn’t come in. we couldn’t really film anything with any of the others, as they all had to go early. While it was a wasted day it put everything in perspective of how little we had to do now.

7/4/17 - Hidden

On this shoot we were only in for a little while, filming with Dan and Lucy for the most part. We filmed around a lot of the college and used lots of equipment. I took over from Andrew on a lot of the shots as his shoes were making too much noise when he was walking with the dolly. All in all a successful day.

12/4/27 - Truth

On this shoot we were going to finish the whole of Truth, what we had left, but one of our actors didn’t show up as he had been filming with the second years till late. Because of this we could only get a few shots before we had to call it a day. As the assistant director I took it upon myself to try and console everyone after the way this film was going at this point. We were trying really hard but things just weren’t going right.

19/4/17 - Truth

On the final day we gathered all the cast we needed and headed to the bar late at night. We didn’t have long to film as we had already begun to feel like we were messing the bar owners around, but once we got there we knuckled down and got to work. We filmed everything we needed and called a final wrap on the production of Truth. We have learned a lot from this film and from Hidden, and will try to have our future films not end up the same.