I shot 2 scenes last weekend: Scene 6: Where Lachlan lands on a "Wellington" Beach, (shot at Fortrose Beach), and Scenes 21-24 where Lachlan reveals to Vicky that he knows she's assisting a defector.
My basic shooting rule has been all shots are handheld and lighting is natural or with support lighting from natural sources. I have also wanted to give the camera a fluid feel with a shallow depth of field, and capture dirty 2 shot close-ups, however I don't feel I was achieving this in most of my shots over the weekend and will attempt to work on this aspect of the photography. My plan was to work with another cinematographer, but this has not yet worked, but I am enjoying being my own DoP. However this has it's draw backs. I would like to take a bit more care in lighting and also be more conscious over performance. When you are holding the camera, you are more concerned about capturing the action/composition rather than focused on performance so this is a draw back and have to make sure to keep that balance. However, I do feel that the hand-held dynamic is working and achieving the dynamic feel that I was aiming for.
In terms of scene set ups, I have tried to be as flexible as possible with the actors, using the script as a guide and painting a scenario for them to then add their own improvisation or variations to the scene. I have taken the approach of not story boarding, and playing out the scene in blocking, and then selecting my shots after this. This technique seems to work, allowing me freedom to roam with the camera.
Here's a rough cut of scenes 21-24:
In rehearsals I had prompted to actors to take an approach that rather than memorizing the script, they should be willing to find ways to say things in their own voice, as well as rather than knowing what's coming next from their counterpart, to respond to what they are actually saying. In the above sequence (especially the last portion), I encouraged David to improv his scene and approach it slightly differently than previous shots. This did throw Charlotte as it was not what she was expecting, but it also gave the scene less of a scripted feel.
Here's a couple of stills from Scene 6 (with some colour adjustment).
What was really helpful for the actor is that the water was cold so it made him appear visibly uncomfortable and in pain. Note: David was fitted with a dry wet suit, his clothes were wet in the sea water and place over him for the majority of the shoot.
Some colour graded still images from the shoot
