Final Planning for 'Off-Track'

*Note: This article was scheduled to post before the article named 'A Wild First Shoot on 'Off-Track' but an issue meant that this wen't up late. Apologies for any confusion

Preparing with the Alexa

For 'Off-Track' we shot on the Alexa Plus. This was not my first time using the equipment, I have experience with it as 1st AC, 2nd AC, camera operator and have shot two dance showreels myself. This however is the first short film spanning multiple shooting days and locations that I have had this as a DOP so I needed to make sure that I, and the rest of the crew, were comfortable with it to make sure as little mistakes were made as possible and we were efficient on set.

Firstly we had the ARRI Certification. Through the uni and the wonderful cinematography lecturers, Jack Shelbourn and Zeta Spyraki, this year an ARRI Certification was available. This took place over two days of all day lectures and a wealth of knowledge, I don’t think I have ever taken so many notes.

We were able to bring two members of the crew along to also get certified so I brought Aaron Bruce , my 1st AC on this project, and Darren Wong , my 2nd AC (also the editor of Off-Track). But thanks to being involved on other projects it meant that by our shoot, we would actually have five ARRI certified people on our sets at any time as Thomas Klos and Brooke Austin also had roles on our film, this was a very good place to be in.

The Test Shoots

Having test shoots is very important, this allows us to try things out that we are unsure about such as composition or equipment tests, and get comfortable with our plans so on the 8th of February we arranged a test shoot in the sandbox, a time that we could test a range of things that each department needed to know.

For lighting, we set up and experimented with one of the lighting plans, setting up two stand ins in the seated positions they would be in and lighting them how we planned on doing. This was good as it allowed our Gaffer Dionne Sweeny to get hands on with the specific equipment we would be using, meaning less time on set spent finding things or working things out.

We then also had Sophie Brown come in from the sound department to practice setting up the tentacle on the Alexa. This syncs the timecode between the camera and the sound equipment to help our editor sync the footage once post production starts. This is especially useful as the Alexa does not record sound locally by default. Darren Wong also experimented with recording proxies on the Blackmagic monitor our focus puller would be using.

Another thing I had to test was whether the tripod we had for the Alexa was able to go on the dolly track we had available, this worked just fine, but testing it before the fact taught us that we were limited by the height of this tripod as we could only mount it with this and the shots we wanted were looking up at a child actor and level with a table as a model train went by. To achieve these shots with this set up we would need to place our actor and table up on apple boxes to get them level with the camera. A small problem that was easily fixable but could have caused issues if we didn't test them.

And lastly we had decided to shoot the film in the aspect ratio of 2:1. The Alexa supports a lot of aspect ratio guidelines but not this one unfortunately so I had to get my own guidelines onto the Alexa. This was done by using ARRI’s Frame Line & Lens Illumination Tool, here you can set your own perimeters down to guide line colours and faded area outside the guides all according to which specific camera and sensor you are using.

Once I had made the guidelines and was happy with it, I formatted an SD card inside the Alexa which sets up the folder organisation for you and then I just needed to put the file in the right folder and I was able to import it on the Alexa and have my guidelines set up.

Once we had finished shooting we also had a packdown exam where we would go through the equipment and check for damage or missing items, we cleaned everything and had officially completed the certification.

The next day though was the ultimate test…

Demonstration Escalation

The next day I had been scheduled to help with an Alexa demonstration for offer holder day at UOL. I would arrive, help with set up and then with whatever is needed during the ‘class’ and then I’d pack up.

On this day though the area was suspiciously quiet, I went to see if anyone knew where the lecturer was. The weren't coming, I would be giving the presentation in 20 minutes myself… I began setting up even quicker and just minutes later the class of students were in the room EARLY, before I even had any idea what I was going to do.

It is safe to say that for many this would be a nightmare, a sudden presentation unplanned in front of a crowd of teens. But thankfully I had literally just finished shooting my project with this particular equipment and I had just the day before completed my ARRI certification, I was in a good place to give this presentation.

I was able to talk about the multiple cameras available, lots of students had questions about the course, I even had lots of little fun facts about the equipment from the certification lectures that I was able to bring up. Overall I think it went well, and the fact that it did is a testament to how well Jack & Zeta had taught.

I was pleased with how this day went and have done two more of these demonstrations, these times with lecturers and these ones have been a lot better for my hairline.