Tests

Test shoots.

Due to the situation with COVID-19, test shoots have grown in importance for the project as this is all we have to work with in practice until we're able to rearrange production. Before lockdown started, we were able to carry out some location recces and test shoots that I arranged.
Some of these were filmed during pre production, however, as it's the only visuals that we have to work with, it's useful for me to show how I produced these scenes and reflect on them in terms of my role.

Car Scenes

I've written about these scenes here already during the pre production unit but I figured that it would be useful to reflect on them especially as these were the key scenes for concern surrounding health and safety.
These scenes were going to be filmed on a private track that belonged to a local of Herne Bay. I sourced this location by posting on the local Facebook group for Herne Bay. I made a risk assessment for this location and what we would be doing during this shoot.

AA Meeting

This scene was filmed just days before lockdown started. I booked this room for us to recce initially and I took a video talking about the space and how we might use it.

We knew pretty much as soon as we went in that we wanted to use this space for the AA scenes. It was modern and bright and clear enough to look like a non-descript professional space, it was big so we could maneuver equipment around the room. It also came with plenty of chairs and a water cooler that would set the scene.
This is the risk assessment for this scene.

Fight Sequence

This scene is one of the most dangerous to film so myself and Esme wanted to put ourselves in the actors' shoes so that we could understand what we will be asking of them physically. We knew it would be difficult for them, so fully understanding what they're doing would help me in terms of health and safety and Esme in terms of directing the action.
Here's a second angle of the test shoot to show how we went through the motions. We tested without the camera initially just to get ourselves comfortable such as where Esme would be falling. We took it really slowly and no contact was actually made in terms of the punches. This also helped Harvey and Ebony to understand what they would need to do to make the action look believable onscreen with both the shot movement and the edit.

This is the images for the pub where this scene would be filmed. We also had the plan of using my yoga mat on the floor so that we could practice the scene with a softer floor for Danny (Martin) to fall onto. You can see the floor that we would be shooting on is worn wood, so it was important to take this into consideration because there was also a risk of splinters. This is why we planned on taking the scene so slowly.