Fiction Adaptation Unit - Shoot Day One (Soho, London)

A couple of days ago we shot in Soho in London. I had already organized about travel and times with the actress and crew also sending out a call sheet a few days before hand. Since this was going to be a night shoot I decided that we would meet late morning and then drive into London to get there just after lunch. This was a good move as we were not rushing around but we had a good amount of time to scope around the area reaffirming the shots I wanted to get as well as checking out for any other health and safety hazards. After an hour of this I then called the crew for a coffee and we had a meeting about exactly what I wanted from everyone out of this shoot. The actress was already changed into her outfit that I had brought for her to wear and had a warm coat on over the top so when it came to filming we would be ready to go. All the equipment was also checked before we left in terms of battery and frame rate so we were ready when we got there.

We started filming as soon as the sun set and the first location was down a back road that was closed off for moving vehicles. This was good as we were all safe to really concentrate on the filming and it gave us good scenery in terms of graffiti and shutters along the walls. We spent half an hour here doing walking shots as this is going to be the introduction to my film.

We next went to film some neon signs that were around where we were. I told Gavin what I wanted and he focused the camera and shot it. Some of the footage came out quite bright around the sign so I reshot making it darker in the background and the neon signs brighter making it really pop.

Next we did some more walking shots with the actress but they were a lot more public. We filmed on some really busy streets and alley ways as I wanted to get a sense that she had no fear when it came to walking around with her outfit on amongst crowds. We were very sensible with this as I didn't want to get in the way of anyone so we waited for a quite gap and then quickly shot what we needed to. although these took several takes to do I am very happy with the final result. We were getting a lot of attention due to having a bright light on the actress and with what she was wearing but it enabled me to get some anonymous shots of people staring and judging which will work well with how I wanted to adapt the sonnet.

PIC

We finally ended doing a few last minute shots near Carnaby street as there was some good visual imagery I could get. We found a nice quite square with metal grating on the sides which added to the tone of my film. When we finished I wrapped up the shoot and we headed home. I feel this day went very successfully applying to all the regulations and getting some great visual shots that I look forward to editing together.