The shoot

 As the day of the shoot arrived and I have decided to use a boom sound recording set up which should be operated by Michaela Donegan and recruited Matt Hawkins as my DOP, who shot the majority on a shoulder rig. I have recruited four actors, my brother Rory Thomas to play thug one Sukh to play thug 2, Charlie Briggs to play The beggar and Adam acus to play John.

None of these people are actors and so I decided to dedicate a good six hours before heading to the shoot to rehearse.  we only had 2 1/2 hours to film after the sun goes down and so I had to make sure that all actors knew their lines beforehand and would be able to perform on Q as quickly as possible when we got to location . The Rehearsal process gave me the opportunity to go through all lines with actors and make sure They understood them, understand the characters motivation and also how to deliver the Line.  This turned out to be extremely effective as my professional actors delivered extremely professional performances on set the vast majority is of the lines were performed with  them even need needing to see the script because they were so well versed in the story and understood what was going to happen next.  As a result this saves a huge amount of time on set meaning that all of my phone could be shot in one day and everyone can get home at a reasonable time which is always a risk doing a night shift .




 As well as this rehearsal of the actors I also sat down Matt several times in order to talk him through the process of the film so he also understood what I was trying to create. I sent him a copy of every shop list draft and explain to him all of the changes so that I can hear his feedback of understand how he would shoot the film under my direction.


 As well as talking through it theoretically, as part of practical preparation I made all actors and crew arrive at the scene two hours before sunset meaning we had two hours to practice rehearse and a set up shots to ensure that things will go as quickly as possible.  All of this had a massive positive impact on my film and the time it took to shoot. I feel the biggest part of being a director goes into all of the time before the camera starts rolling making sure that everyone you're with understands your vision so that you can execute perfectly.
 The only real struggle was sound. none of us were experience sound recordists and so setting up sound recording cues and having it recorded in unison with the video proves to be difficult not just on set but also with the edit. Next time I will also take the time to practice with the boom pole and make sure that the sound recorders understands all of the lines, cues and direction so they can move with the filing.

 In the end we finish 10 minutes earlier than predicted all of the food I need a shop as well as extra coverage I consider this an extremely successful shoot .