Shoot day: 18th November + reflections

During this shoot, we decided that we needed to get the two dance sequences filmed across each era. To make this work, the camera had to not move at all, and Juliette and Jacob had to be in relatively the same places. Because of this, we had to set up the camera and leave it alone, but for pressing the button to record, and also possibly re-focusing. We also marked on the floor where Juliette and Jacob were standing, so that they would always start in the same place. The only difference between the second and first dance sequence, apart from the moves, was that they swapped places, so rather than creating new marks, we had them simply use the other person's.

Meanwhile, Jacob and Juliette were doing their 90s make-up

We started with the 90s scenes as we had to re-shoot these, and it was also one of the harder sets to set-up.

Filming the 90s scenes before moving onto the dance sequences

After filming the 90s scenes, Audrey, Chyrstal and I set up the camera for the wide-shots in the dance sequence, while Jacob and Juliette rehearsed the dance sequence and ensured their make-up was properly done.

Audrey and I ensuring the shot was properly framed and that the camera would not move.

Alice powdering Jacob and Juliette after their rehearsal, to ensure they'll look good on camera

Juliette and Jacob doing the dancing sequence

After having done 90s, we moved on to the 80s set as this was the easiest and most convenient to set up, as well as for make-up. In this scene, we didn't have to go over the marks as they weren't covered by any props, and they performed the dances almost exactly the same.

Setting up the 80s set. It was easy to do as it was just aligning the bench and ensuring lighting was correct.

Juliette and Jacob doing the choreographed dance once again

We then moved onto the 70s era, once again having Jacob and Ju perform as similarly as they could to the way they'd previously been doing it. However, while setting up the set, we realised that the dance floor covered up their marks, so to get around this, we simply found their marks in relation to the disco floor, and then drew them onto the disco floor so that they would be able to find their marks without moving the floor.

Taping down the disco floor, after having marked on their spots

Juliette and Jacob doing the dance during the 70s

After this, we moved onto the 50s:

Setting up the 50s was more difficult, as we had to once again
attach the nylon wire to the cars so that they stayed up.

Juliette and Jacob doing dance in the 50s

Lastly, we did the modern era, as we needed to shoot the scenes for this era as well. At the end of the second dance sequence, we again had to make sure that they walked off in exactly the same way, matching their steps with the music.

Jacob and Juliette during modern

Ensuring the walk off was properly timed

After reviewing the footage, and deciding that it was all okay, we knew it was safe to move on to setting up the camera for the narrative scenes.

(Below left: Me running through choreography to show Jacob, Below right: Filming the modern scenes)

REFLECTIONS

Shown above is the first dance sequence, which does not include the modern era, as it has not yet been introduced in the narrative. Overall, it worked quite well, and we were happy that the match-on-actions were good enough to no have to re-shoot this. We had a few takes of each era, so if any problems do arise, it is likely that we have a take which we can switch in for that moment. 

For the modern:

- Good in general
- Re-shooting needed for the mid-shot of Jacob, and also the close-up of Juliette