Let the shooting begin!

The day has finally come and we've started principal photography for the snatch edit sequence. Shoot 1 is scene 3. Mickey's caravan. Unfortunately all of our efforts to use a real caravan have not been successful and though we were hoping to have this location be as close to the film as possible we need to be realistic with our scheduling. So no caravan, however we have the luxury of a second option; Damon's bedroom has a large space by a large window with netted curtains and so by making only a few adjustments (adding a table and some pictures of 'his ma' we have transformed the space to resemble Micky's caravan.

Damon has made a big effort in recreating the space for the shoot while Peter (our cinematographer) has focused on getting the angles and lighting right. While most of the shots are one continuous shot with the camera on a dolly or steady cam changing the focus of the shot we found it would be just as easy to have the camera on a fixed tripod to get a better shot and shoot the scene from different angles. As each clip has several jump cuts it will be easy to blend the images later on. The camera placement for this shoot was never going to be ideal, if it were in a caravan as planned we would have had the cast and crew in an enclosed space so we planned for that eventuality. The house we did shoot in was obviously much larger than a caravan however the window placement was important to the shot which meant that the camera would have to be positioned in the doorway. This obviously presented issues as the cast and some of the crew would potentially be trapped in the room which of course is a problem if there were ever a fire or another emergency. Luckily there was a patio door leading to the garden at the rear of the room so there was always an exit available (though it made tea runs a bit of a nightmare). 

Possibly the biggest issue at this location was light. We had planned for a decent amount of light coming through the windows and brought dedo lights and reflectors with us to make sure our talking props looked picture perfect incase there was no sunshine (which being in Cornwall right next to the sea is bloody likely). Instead the unexpected happened and there was a flood of light streaming through the windows washing out everything and ruining the 'caravan-ness' dingy aesthetic we were going for. Luckily the reflectors and some spare cardboard worked nicely as impromptu sun blockers (luckily Damon and his housemates are big pizza eaters).

Props and Costume:

Luckily for us Troy makes a wonderful Brad Pitt (who would have guessed?), he has a similar wiry build and the same facial hair as Mickey so just needed some costume. The Mickey costume was fairly easy and Troy was able to provide most of the clothes himself. All he needed was a vest a pink shirt a waistcoat, a hat and some gold jewellery. I went hat hunting around the charity shops and Damon hit the costume shops to get some costume gold. 

  

The outcome was pretty close to the original, though we were unable to find a suitable pink shirt and the hat was more of a tweed than leather, the look was pretty spot on and we were happy (as was Troy who spent the rest of the day talking about dhags).

Props in this scene were mostly provided by Damon, he was able to find a striking leather purse 'from his mum' to put the gold jewellery in. We found a small box and painted it dark brown to match the one used in the scene and Damon just happened to have an ash trey and a lighter in his house. The playing cards used on the table were part of a set bought for the Franky poker scene. I found a picture of Micky's Ma online- the same one featured in the background of the actual scene and referenced later in the film. I also printed a picture of Jesus which is always visible in Mickey's caravan as well as printing out some actual size bank notes. I had planned to head to Lloyds and get the real thing for the scene however I was informed by a member of the group that using real money in films was illegal. After some quick research I made my way to tvtropes.org (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StageMoney) and verified that this was true, you can't use real money on film legally, thus I ended up looking sheepish printing out £20 notes on campus - 'it's for a film...honestly'.


Outcome:

We were shooting for most of the day but that was mostly due to all the cast and crew finding their feet and getting into the swing of shooting again. We got some excellent shots and are ready and rearing to get the next shoot rolling.

Until next time film fans!