Shooting Tips and Lighting

Our first location for shooting will be inside a small surf shop. Space may potentially be an issue, but can be resolved with handheld footage rather than the use of a tripod. Rather than it creating an unprofessional appearance for my film opening, it will go along with the idea that the camera is filming from the main characters POV. Some other tips include;

• Use natural light (unless there's lack of it, or none)- it makes the colours appear more fresh and clean, shadows will come from more natural directions and it makes the clip appear more natural and appealing to watch. However, not all natural light is created equal. It’s best to avoid times of day when sun is shining directly into your room- this will keep certain areas from being brighter or more blown out than others. Filming on a cloudy day is actually ideal as clouds act as a natural soft box, diffusing the light and creating even, subdued shadows.
• Make the Sun your backlight- by positioning your actors in a way that places the sun to be behind them to hit the back of their heads, you are essentially doing two things. First off, you’re protecting their face from taking in all of the sunlight which will not only make them look bad, but also cause them to squint. And secondly, with the sun behind them, they will naturally have a backlight that will separate them from the background and create a nice rim around their heads, with nice even lighting on their face.
• No digital zoom- digital zoom creates a grainy and pixelated video, whereas optical zoom creates the same effect without the worsened quality of the image.
• Be prepared- ensure that all of the shots have been planned beforehand to avoid wasting time on the shooting day, and also make sure that you have all of the correct equipment (along with spare items for back up, like an extra battery).
• Hold your shots- film for longer than necessary as it's better to have too much footage that you can easily cut down than not having enough.

I will also have to be aware of my surroundings and people wondering in and out of shots- but this will more so be an issue when filming outside on the beach. Whilst filming outside I could also face issues with the Sun creating a glare on the camera. To avoid this I will have to plan filming facing away from the Sun, unless the glare is an effect I wish to create (although for most films they create sun glares during post production). Background noise such as cars, people and the wind will not be an issue as me and my partner decided to cut out the noise from our clips and just use title music, although we may add a sound effect of waves to help create the right atmosphere for our film. Due to the fact that we're filming in the middle of January, we have to be wary of rain/cold weather when filming outside. To get around this we could film all of the interior shots on the designated shooting date and film the outside shots on a different day.