Production Schedule

Description	Time	Date	Cast/Crew	Room
Unloading Equipment	09:00-10:00	17th March 2014	Crew	Garage & KN Singh
Pick Up Equipment	09:00-10:00	17th March 2014	Crew	Equipment Hire
Clean Studio	09:00-10:00	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Set Up Studio for Fire Scene	10:00-11:30	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Brunch Break	11:30-12:00	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Dancer Arrives, hair/make up, and warms up.	12:00 – 12:45	17th March 2014	Dancer	KN Singh
Sound, Camera & Lights Test/Set Up	12:00-12:45	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Fire	12:45-13:45	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Break	13:45-14:00	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Fire Choreography	14:00-15:00	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Lunch	15:00-16:00 (Dancer) 15:00-15:30 (Crew)	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Set Up for Air Scene (Deconstruct Fire Scene)	15:30-16:00	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Sound, Camera & Lights Test/Set Up – Dancer Warm Up	16:00-16:45	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Air	16:45-17:45	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Break	17:45-18:00	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Air	18:00-19:00	17th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Pack & Lock Up	19:00-20:00	17th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh

Description	Time	Date	Cast/Crew	Room
Prepare Studio Floor	09:00-09:15	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Tape Down Bin Bags & Lay Down Tarpaulin for Water Set	09:15-09:45	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Fill Up with Water	09:45-10:30	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Breakfast Break	10:30-11:00	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Dancer arrives, hair/make up, and warms up.	11:00-11:45	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Sound, Camera & Lights Test/Set Up	11:00-11:45	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Water	11:45-12:45	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Break	12:45-13:00	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Water	13:00-14:00	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Lunch	14:00-15:00	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Warm Up	15:00-15:45	18th March 2014	Dancer	KN Singh
Shooting for Water (Back Up)	15:45-16:45	18th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Pack Up Equipment	16:45-17:15	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Remove Water	17:15 -18:15	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Lay Down Tarpaulin & Sand	18:15 – 18:45	18th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh

Description	Time	Date	Cast/Crew	Room
Set Up	09:30-10:00	19th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Dancer arrives, hair/make up, and warms up.	10:00-11:00	19th March 2014	Dancer	KN Singh
Sound, Camera & Lights Test/Set Up	10:00-11:00	19th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Earth	11:00-12:00	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Break	12:00-12:15	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Earth	12:15-13:15	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Lunch	13:15-14:15	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Warm Up & Set Up	14:15-14:30	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Shooting for Earth (Back Up)	14:30-15:30	19th March 2014	Dancer & Crew	KN Singh
Pack Up Equipment	15:30-16:00	19th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Clean Up	15:30-17:00	19th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh
Extra Time: Back Up Air	17:00 – 20:00	19th March 2014	Crew	KN Singh

Final Notes & Lighting Experiments

By Friday the 14th of March I had everything finalised: the actor's agreement, costumes, shooting schedule, props list and signatures for the risk assessment. I called for a team meeting on Friday to discuss the controls that had to be put in place from our Risk Assessment, the props we needed to bring in and the call times for cast and crew.

Al, Jacob and Callam had edited our rehearsal footage with notes for our dancer to follow (video to be posted at a later date). This was sent out to her before the weekend so that she could practice and apply Al's notes to her performance.

Whilst I was after Chris Pinnock for the last signature on our risk assessment I found this on set:

At first I was extremely confused and thought someone else was also building a water set! Turns out Chris Pinnock built it just for our production. It measured out to be just over two meters on each side. He had some recycled wood lying around which is what the frame is made of. He even laid out the second tarpaulin layer I was going to ask him about! When I realised that this was for us, I asked Chris Pinnock if the studio was free for the afternoon and if we could experiment with lighting. That way we could save up to two hours of setting up on Monday. 

My experience with lighting is fairly limited as I am only familiar with theatre lighting. This meant I had a lot to learn from the guys, even when what we decided to use is considered "the basics."

Al decided that we should be working with a three-point lighting system as our minimum for all the scenes. This requires using the 2K lights #1, #14 and #21 in the studios. From there we can build up on our layers of lighting. We concluded with the following results for our basic lighting: 

With the basics of our lighting planned out, this means we can dedicate 1.5 hours during Monday's set up to figuring out the lighting for fire. This means adding gels and cookies to see what creates the best combination for our fire dance. Looking forward to working on set! 

Risk Assessment: Set Practice

Following the green light day with Kathleen Rogers on the 6th of March, I wanted to double check if my Risk Assessment was good to go with Rosie Gunn. After discussing some of the measures I had in place, Rosie suggested that I speak to Tim Savage as my project was actually considered a medium-risk due to the fact that we are working with water around equipment.

I consulted Tim Savage and he said that he had to seek secondary advise with another coordinator. He advised that I came back the following day for a meeting at 1:30PM.

I did as instructed and received the following control measures that had to take place in addition to our current list:

• RCD's (circuit breakers) are to be used on all electrical items - these are available from the stores. 
• Electrical floor sockets must be covered with water proof material and duct taped down (and not covered by the pool). 
• Use two tarpaulins (one to cover the ground, the second to create the vessel holding the water). Tarps are to be checked in advance for water retention and robustness - to avoid toe nails or sharp objects penetrating the material (simulate in a location without electricity before studio use). If insufficient, a pond liner should be purchased from a garden centre. 
• Provide a non-slip matting for the model when getting in to the pool. Maximum depth of water is limited to one inch. 
• Do not use Red Head lighting - only use the overhead studio lighting. 
• Any water based practices (set up, filming, striking the set) can take place while supervised by Studio technician (Chris Pinnock) 
• During evenings (after 5PM) only low risk process can take place (no smoke, water, heights). 
• A calculation is required of how much water is required to fill the pool. (If the pool size is 3m x 3m this totals 9m2). This requires 270 litres of water (which weighs 270kg). Where is this water coming form? And once completed, how is this volume of water removed from the studio safely? 
• In respect of the sand, the area should be regularly swept to avoid a build up (which increases the risk of slips). 

After bringing this information to the team, we respected the additional controls that Tim Savage put in place for us. Thankfully we had five days left before shooting so there was still some time to implement these changes. 

• I can book RCDs from the equipment hire. I will be doing this on Thursday the 13th of March. 
• We can cover the electrical floor sockets with plastic bags, and tape down the edges. This is considered a waterproof material. 
• Our "tarpaulin" is actually visqueen, which is construction-strength and waterproof. I spoke to Tim Savage and negotiated with the fact that we do not have it in our student budget to purchase another tarpaulin sheet. We came to the compromise that if we shrank down our water set to 2m x 2m, then the University actually has a tarpaulin sheet that we can borrow. Considering that our dancer doesn't actually travel a lot in the water segment this seemed appropriate. This also minimise our use of water. 
• We have already purchased the non-slip mats for the dancer. We have agreed that maximum pool depth should be one inch. 
• We can switch to the 2K lights that are in the KN Singh studio, so that we minimise electrocution risks if water does spill through the studio. The boys were disappointed, but we can learn to deal with different lighting. This entire project is a learning process.
• We will not be performing any of the medium-risk stunts after 5:00PM. I have this scheduled to finish by 4PM everyday, so that we have the supervision of Chris Pinnock. 
• The team has already agreed that we will be bringing in our brooms and buckets from home, so that we can try and keep the set as clean as possible. As producer on set, this will be my priority along with safety.

The only issue we had left was that we actually had to construct our 2m x 2m water bed. Tim Savage requested that we experiment with this, showing him photographic evidence of the visqueen sheet being robust enough for the project. If we did this he would be able to sign us off and help us supply the water vacuum and second tarpaulin sheet. 

We got busy that afternoon:

The experiment with the set concluded that our visqueen was indeed strong enough to resist accidental tear (it requires a blade to be torn) and that there was no water leakage when used on set. We will be bringing these photos in as evidence to Tim Savage tomorrow morning. 

Make Up & Costume Fitting

When our choreography rehearsals concluded I called in our make up artist, Iulia Maroussi, to practice her ideas with our dancer. Iulia was given the instructions that "we would want our dancer to seem alien, however, the priority is to keep her make up quite neutral. Especially when our colour palette is very neutral and earthy."

For health and safety measures we asked our dancer to bring in her own make up. Thankfully she has several metallic versions of earthy colours. Iulia managed to experiment around with eye shadow and found a gradient of beige and browns were the most effective look for our dancer. After applying all of the eye make up, Iulia powdered our dancer's face so that it would reduce shine from the lighting.

The final outcome got the approval of the team as we didn't want to go for a very dramatic look. Our dancer showed us several photos of her experience with stage make up, which had quite a bold look that we weren't after. These designs were bold as they were designed to be seen from a stage: from several meters away. The team felt that as the camera will have the opportunity to do quite a few close ups, it might be too much to have very bold make up. 

After the make up experiments we had our dancer fit into her costume. The costume was a black leotard and a black pair of high-waisted shorts which both came from ASOS. Thankfully it fitted her well however we do need to order a back-less bra for her. We didn't anticipate that she wouldn't have one. This is of no concern as one is currently on its way and is expected to arrive before the shoot.

Al decided that we should let her hair down as it provides us with the opportunity to make her movements seem more fluid. 

Rehearsals

Today was our scheduled rehearsal with our chosen dancer. Jacob and I were at the University at around 9:15 to pick up our Sony EX3, Manfrotto and studio keys. By 9:30 we were in B32. As we entered the room we found it at quite a messy state so we spent 9:30-10:00 cleaning up the room which was rather frustrating.

Our dancer arrived at 10:15 and spent until 11:00 warming up. Once she was ready, we showed her the "choreography task sheet" which had the following details for her to improvise with:

Earth:

• ·       Starts lying down under the sand.
• ·       Fetal position opening.
• ·       Emerge from the sand. Kneeling or crouching.
• ·       Breathe. Gesture.
• ·       No quick movement. No height. No fluidity.
• ·       Travel through the space, low grounded.
• ·       Improvise: 2 mins will be low and ground based

Earth to Water:

• ·       Hit the sand. Imagine it turns into water.

Water:

• ·       Hit splash, continue from the transition.
• ·       Constantly fluid movements. Body curves and fluid joints.
• ·       No standing straight. Medium low height.
• ·       Standing and kicking water.
• ·       Improvise: 2 mins
• 
  

Water to Air:

• ·       Travel. Gesture and breathe. Whip the silk.

Air:

• ·       Whip the silk again.
• ·       Jumps. Work with heights.
• ·       Standing allowed.
• ·       Lots of weightlessness. Elegance.
• ·       Exaggerate movements.
• ·       Pretend like the air is pushing around.
• ·       When still, keep the silk moving.  
• ·       Twirl. Imagine cyclone.
• ·       Improvise: 2 mins

Air to Fire:

• ·       Travel, throw the scarf away.
• ·       Gradually slow travel to the middle.
• ·       Crouch. Finger flames. (Smoke rolls in)

Fire:

• ·       Rise from the smoke.
• ·       Candle flame. Eventually escalates to forest fire.
• ·       Whip like, lashing movements. Rapid.
• ·       Excessive arm movements.
• ·       Lots of retracing steps. Unpredictable.
• ·       Improvisation: 2 mins.

Ending:

• ·       Massive gesture.
• ·       Disappear into the smoke.

Our dancer took these suggestions onboard quite well and we progressed rather quickly with her. Jacob would film the session whilst our dancer and I would try structuring the improvisations. At times when we were stuck we referred to some of Jacob's suggestions, which brought forth some interesting variety. At the end of the day we concluded with some of the following notes:

• Earth should have staggered movements. 
• Earth has a lot of contact with the sand. The dancer has been very involved with the ground so we beckoned her to be careful with sand getting into her eyes! She says that she "seems to forget that it will actually be there," but we'll have an eye bath on set in case something does happen. 
• Water should stay closer to the same 1m x 1m spot or else it becomes too easily confused for air. That way our dancer can focus on her arm movement. 
• Air should be free to roam the space in a circular pattern. 
• Fire should start as a still movement, until it breaks out into a very excited and high-energy piece. We made this decision as variation is a good thing for a dance piece. 

We were able to create at least 16 sets of 8 beats, at 60 beats per minute. This meant each Element has approximately two minutes' worth of improvisation, which can be cut down in post-production to 1 minute and 15 seconds. As a group we feel it is better to have shot more rather than to not have shot enough. Especially when there is a slim chance to reshoot with the KN Singh studios being extremely busy.

When Al arrived at 2:00PM (as scheduled, as it wasn't necessary for there to be too many people at the improvisation session) we showed him what we had created in the morning session. He had the following notes:

• If variation is good then more standing up needs to be introduced in the Earth segment, just occasionally. As the piece currently is, it is entirely ground-based. 
• When traveling through the Air segment, traveling diagonally (but in circular movements) will help differentiate Air from Fire. 
• Fire could become more intense if our dancer used her hips to accompany her shoulder movement. 
• Stare directly into the camera for the transition between Water and Air. Al wants to "break the third wall." 

Our dancer then requested that, if possible, we send her the edited footage and notes as a reference for her to practice the night before our shoot. We now aim to compile the footage on Thursday so that we can have it sent out to her by Saturday. 

Lighting

This afternoon I sought after the advice of a peer on the Film Production course. This particular peer specialises in Cinematography, so his last few weeks have been very familiar with the KN Singh Studio lights. During our conversation I sought after his opinion by asking "what would you do if you wanted to depict fire through your lighting?" This information is rather crucial as our fire scene is rather dependant on the lighting and smoke effects.

He suggested a three point lighting system with the following ideas for one of the lights:

This fist suggestion made was to use red gels - which was something we already had in mind. He questioned whether or not we wanted to use sodium gels, because it would give off more vivid red lights. This is something that I will have to enquire and discuss with Chris Pinnock. He recommended cutting out a long sheet of gel, and having it constantly moved and waived around so that it creates a rippling effect. This would be effective in our concept because fire is not a steady source of light. 

The next suggestion that my friend made was to use a golden reflector along with the moving red gel screen. "The more layers of light, the better.  It's all about creating layers after you've established your basic fills and highlights." The golden reflector would provide a layer of warmer, yellower highlights to accompany the red highlights. 

Lastly, it was recommended that I asked Chris Pinnock for a "cookie cutter," which is apparently something that can direct light into shapes. According to my friend, if we moved this around we could get quite interesting effects, especially with moving light. This would be relevant as fire is not a steady source of light. It would be accompanied by our fill lights from the three-point lighting system.