Tuesday 17th November 2009 – The First Day of Filming

We began filming our film today. Josh didn’t come so Mark played Jack Allcock. However, because of this, it took us a while to ‘find our feet’ and get on with it. Mark had to look over the script and we all discussed what we were going to do about the whole situation. We don’t want to rely on Josh playing the role of the main character if he isn’t going to make it to the meetings/filming days.

Once we got the equipment set up and Mark got in to character we were fine. Sam (Art Direction) had brought in a bag full of clothes to throw on the floor of Jack’s bedroom and a white shirt and tie for Jack. I began getting shots of Jack waking up reluctantly, and tried to get as many different shots as possible. I got point of view shots of Jack looking at the clock, close up of his sleeping face, long shots of him tossing and turning, and high angled shots of him asleep. Although I used my own shot ideas, I took on the ideas of the others in the group. For example, Sam had a great idea to put the camera out of focus during the point of view shot (i.e. as though Jack’s eyesight is blurry) and then bring the shot into focus so that the time on the clock is revealed. Mark got very in to character and even stripped right down to his boxers to play the part!

I also experimented with shots which could be used to show Jack rushing to school, without actually showing the audience the whole journey to school. For example, I shot Jack grabbing his shirt and dashing out of the bedroom then shot Jack (from the top of the stairs) rushing down the stairs and out of the door. We agreed that the next shot would be Jack rushing down the school corridor.

Overall the filming day was very successful, although I am a little worried that we haven’t been together as a full group for a while. I also feel that, because he had to act in the scene, Mark was disadvantaged as he couldn’t practice and get a feel for the sound work in the piece.

Nicola is working on the script and will hopefully have it finished for us to look at by tomorrow. Nicola also has images of today's filming process and will upload them in due course. Mark will upload the footage we shot today...good old Mark, he's the only one that knows how!