Work Based Learning Unit: Production

I had my first day filming yesterday at Magpie Bottom. 

Beforehand, I had written up the script which I briefly went through with Ed. I also had my shot list for the day ready. 

We met up with Dave at the site and started filming, mainly what he would point out as worth filming. Such as, plant species, flowers, some butterflies. I managed to get a lot of bees and I even found a fungi. But butterflies were the main thing I need to film, unfortunately because of the lack of flowers at this time of year and the weather, a lot of them were just resting in the grass, whereas I'd like to catch some in flight. 

It was also quite a clouded day, which made for some nice landscape shots in the distance watching the light change over the hills. I've sped that up in editing and it makes for a nice effect. However, I will hold out for better weather still to create my time-lapse and other location wides. With clouded skies, the light is more even, but as the sun keeps coming out from behind the clouds I had to make sure the exposure of each shot was consistent. 

We film with Dave next week. Yesterday we chose the best locations to film each section relating to the content of the script and found two perfect spots. They also give Dave the opportunity to interact with the land and the plants around him which will make the whole film come alive. So the plan is to shoot him talking and showing at the same time, then I'll go in and get the close-ups. I'll be taking with me a sound op as Dave will be wearing a radio mic, plus i'd like to record some natural sounds from the location as well as using database sounds. 

After filming we went back to Tyland Barn to go over the script with Dave to check the accuracy of the information and making sure I hadn't missed anything important. I reassured him that he wouldn't need to memorise the script, as long as he has the subject areas. I have now rearranged and refined the script, and as with documentary making, I'll continue to change the script during editing. 

We'll also be visiting another location at another reserve where you get a higher view of the whole area. This should make for a nice ending and to talk about the Living Landscape project.