I decided on hiring the Canon C300 because I wanted to take the step up from DSLR camera's, but more importantly because of its brilliant dynamic range, allowing me to use a higher f.stop, as it is so good with low light, to achieve some of the shots I wanted. The C300's base ISO is [850], and this ISO can be pushed very high without becoming grainy, as apposed to DSLRs such as the 5D & 6D that start becoming noticeably grainy at 1600 ISO. This was my first time using the camera, but I had been around it before on other shoots when I have been ACing, such as Jack Bottomley's Gorilla, & more recently Liam Healy's artist film Beauty. Both of which were shot by Paddy McGowan. After I had collected the equipment on thursday I got the camera out and started practising. I read the manual and started getting to grips with the layout/functions. You have the choice to shoot in different settings depending on what you are used to, I set the camera up similarly to a DSLR, using shutter-speed instead of shutter-angle, and ISO instead of GAIN. Maybe in future I will change my preferences on this but as it was my first time using the camera I wanted to keep it as simple as I could. I really enjoyed using this camera and got to grips with it pretty quickly, the images I got out of the camera were better than anything I have perviously shot on DSLRs and plan to use the C300 again in the near future.
Another piece of kit that I hired from Calumet was the Profoto Pro-Daylight HMI (800w), which was probably the most important bit of kit which I hired that would help me achieve the look I ultimately wanted. I used this light in the majority of the interiors I shot, and for two completely different aesthetics. I used this light for the apartment/squat scene's, as there are large windows in the room, and i wanted to use this window as the only light source in the building, but obviously I would have to add more light to flood the room from one direction. I did this by adjusting the Pro-Daylight for each shot, and adding a Beauty Dish to the light to spread the light and make it softer. I also used diffusion frames, which i placed directly in front of the lamp, to spread the light even more. Because we were blasting so much light into the room, and the wall paper was white, the scene became rather flat, which is not what I wanted. Instead I wanted there to be strong light on their faces coming from the window side, but then the other side of their face to be quite dark/low key. I managed to get round this problem by placing one of the diffusion frames on the other side of the room, with the black material on it, which would soak up the light instead of bouncing it back and making the scene look flat. I ended up getting the exact ratio of light on each side of their faces that I wanted. I also lit each character slightly differently, with the main protagonist (Joe) having quite high key lighting, with little differation on the tones of each side of his face, but then the interviewer, who is seen as the villain of the film, to have much lower key lighting and harsher differences in light. I carried these theme's on throughout each scene of the film.
Another scene where I used this Pro-Daylight light was for the interview scene, but this time it was not acting as daylight, instead a cold top light, which is the only source of light in this surreal interview scene. For this scene, Elliot wanted the interviewer to look really intimidating and sinister. I decided that top lighting the scene with just one, harsh light source would achieve what elliot wanted, as their would be pools of black in his eyes and strong shadows across his face. For Joe's shots in this scene, I slightly adjusted the positioning of the light in correlation to the character, and then used a reflector so that his face was higher key, therefore not looking as sinister. I also positioned him at the table directly in front of a blank brick wall, which made him look trapped/claustrophobic. For the Interviewers shots I positioned the light directly above the interviewers heard (still out of frame) so that parts of his face would be blacked out and have harsher shadows, along with pools of black in his eye sockets, making his eyes harder to see. This made him look more sinister and intimidating. The third time I used this Pro-daylight in the short film was for a house corridor scene, where Joe posts a ransom note through the letterbox. I wanted this scene to be again lit solely by one source, being daylight. The house where we filmed (my mum & dads) has large stained glass windows on the front door, and I wanted these windows to act as the light source. I placed the Pro-daylight outside on the front path, pointing directly into the hall, where the camera would be facing the light. Then Joe is seen in silhouette as he posts the letter through the post box. There is another shot when Joe has to go back and knock on the door, I lit this the same but added a tungsten micro-beam in the living room, so when the woman walks into the corridor the orange light from the tungsten light floods into the corridor in a strip of light, and then when she opens the front door, the blue daylight from the Pro-daylight HMI floods into the corridor. This works exactly how I had planned on this day of filming which was a relief.
Another bit of equipment that I needed to hire was a Manfrotto double wind up stand. This was an essential piece of kit for a crucial scene in the film. Elliot wanted to make the interview scene feel like an interrogation, so I thought the best way to create this mood would be through lighting. I wanted the whole scene to be top lit from one powerful light source directly above the table that they are sat at. I wanted little of the surroundings to be seen, and the characters to stand out, making the audience very aware that it is just the two of them there. Because I was using the Profoto Pro-Daylight HMI, as it gives the cold look I wanted, with the Magnum dish on it as that gives the harsh lighting that I wanted for the scene, I needed a large stand to not only hold the weight of the light & power source, but also to get the light high enough, and far enough across for the light to be in the place I wanted without being in frame. A normal C-stand or lighting stand would not generate the look I wanted. The stand was very large and heavy, consisting of two parts, and counter weights to make it more stable with heavy lights on the end, but it worked perfectly and I was very happy with the lighting on this scene.
I also hired a flags kit from calumet, which I got good use out of, I used the flags to direct the light exactly where I wanted it, so it wasn't spilling into places I didn't want it. For example, the interview scene where I used the flags to block off the light from the walls. The walls in this scene are very dark but details can still be picked up in them which is exactly how I wanted.
I managed to hire a Steadi-cam for a really cheap rate from a friend, Matt, which was perfect for a specific shot that I wanted. This shot would have not had the effect that me and Elliot wanted if I had to go handheld/use a rig, so I was very grateful for this favour.
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