Crashing boats on final shoot day!

Director's Reflection: Day 5

12th of April.

Final shoot! Today was the most fun of the shooting days as we finally shot the boat sequence. From the start we knew these scenes would be the most technically and emotionally demanding parts to film due to the number of moving parts. Thankfully due to our test shoot two weeks prior, we had already ironed out the kinks majority of the technical kinks and we had constructed the boat set the day before meaning we could jump straight into things. After the rowdiness of the crew the day before, we decided that it was best if only myself, the actors and two production assistants spotting the actors in the studio during the initial rehearsal. This made it 1000 times easier to engage with the cast and walk through the scene and the chat about the events of what was about to happen.

After rehearsing the emotional performance first and getting comfortable with the blocking, we brought in the lighting and camera team to then match the timings with the technically demanding manual light sweeps as well as two set builders to then practise with the actors gently rocking the boat. After each department was content we brought in the rest of the crew and in position (ready to generate wind and manipulate the fog machine) while the art team prepared the actors with the final touches to get that wind swept-boating look. We got the shots and then moved onto the smaller stunt- the boat crash. Following the same process as earlier, we first worked through the basic blocking with just Eliza, then once comfortable, we introduced the movement of the boat, then camera and lighting had some time to practise timing.

Rehearsing blocking with John and Eliza. Photo by Alexander Binz.

Once we got the coverage we needed we had a break before returning for the next set up. We followed the same process as earlier but this time we spent the bulk of our time fine tuning the mechanics of the larger stunt. Trialling the action at gradually quicker speeds to become comfortable. Eliza was a champion throughout this process. Once we were confident in the stunt, we then spent some time working on the emotional performance then the art department stepped in and drenched the actors to make them believably drown. After one final playback, we wrapped on the production. It was an extremely bittersweet feeling. I am so utterly proud of the effort of the crew and how everything came together. I am very excited to move into post-production.

The above the line creative team with the cast. Photo by Abbie Fisher.