A few thoughts about the studio (back-building/paintinglot) shoot in Paris.
As I understand it. We are building two main sets, which will be combined with the footage from Canada.
1. The swimming pool set 2. The Tennis Court
Also we are building/painting numerous smaller "sets" to either provide a surface or add a few elements to what we have in the canada plates
3. The running track 4. The graveled surface and gobo to combine with "Queen Elizabeth hotel roof 5. Car park door 6. Surface for corner of (University Street Building). 7. Ledge of Skyscraper. 8 Paddling pool
1. The Swimming Pool Set. As discussed with Joe, this set is essentially decking and then a water filled "pool" (approx. 30-cm deep). The set needs to be filmed front and reverse. Joe mentioned that he would provide a visual divide to suggest the edge if the reverse set, like a small wall or railing or similar. There is also a Glass wall around the edge. It is assumed that there will be a blue screen (pantone provided) behind the featured talent. This may be portable if this helps.
2. The Tennis court. The main elements of this court are the door & corner, plus at least one panel either side. We decided that it would be best is Joe's team painted the markings for a quarter of a tennis court and included a net. Again blue screen behind, possibly portable.
3. Running track. This could be as simple as painting the markings on a suitable surface, though the director did say that he wanted the option of running around the curve. I believe that joe has built a track with half a curve.
4. The gravel floor and Gobo. This is to provide a believable contact when running. An apple box can be placed on the day to represent where the girl needs to jump. Also a safe flooring will be need for when the talent dives.
5. The car park door. Joe took measurements for the door and I believe that he is making up just the door (painted) and a surround to secure it. Attention should be paid to what we see behind the door. Also if the surround is generally painted to match the original, this would be a bonus.
6. Surface for corner of (University Street Building). Very simple right angled surface to be filmed from up high (cherry picker??). Joe has measurements.
7. Ledge of Skyscraper Again very simple. possibly a 6-ft (?) wide strip of brushed aluminum-like material. I don't know how. Simple surround in flat colour, (possibly mid brown?)
8. Paddling pool. The plate for this way filmed on the roof of our hotel. Measurements are in continuity notes. The main purpose of this was to get the back-plates (skyline) and line up the camera. I have sent a photo to Joe of the low ledge, but there is no real reason to match this identically.
Finally. I'm sure that some/all of the sets will need dressing, with props and the like. There is no real technical spec for these.
Camera on the floor. Actual height 28in 55 degrees up 18mm lens Distance 12 foot to corner. straight line distance to wall - 11 & a half feet. distance- camera right 5 feet
Due to wet/cloudy weather we decided to scout the remaining locations and find camera positions and lens. We shot references on DVcam (NTSC). All camera Data to follow. For Marten.
Also I was going to write a full report and zap relevant stills, mainly for Joseph, probably tonight 9pm (ish) after the big match on Sky. (Huddersfield Vs The Super Reds).
Copies of all photos going to Agency, to do there thing.
Today`s shooting has been cancelled due to wet weather.
Tomorrow we are indoors and it is unlikely that we will not be able to shoot.
If the weather is poor on Snuday then everything is moved to Monday. As Ben knows, it seems that I need to be back in the UK for Monday, so maybe it`s worth warning Molly and Angela now. Perhaps Alistar could find someone to pop over for on Sunday PM, who could cover Monday`s shooting. I`m sure that they could have my room.
Otherwise all is well. There is a tech recce in Paris on Thursday 18th and Mark (Executive Producer) has stressed that he would like me to attend this as well. The main shoot is the following week and Ben has cleared me to go.
The Paris shoot will be busy as we only have the girls (tennis players) for 6 hours each. Before the Paris shoot, the Director, Tom, is putting together a rough cut to help us decide which action plates to shoot. We may need to help out for a few hours, (beware).
As mentioned before, a quick CG type will be needed to roughly put together an early version of the Tennis court, to ease any concerns, people may have. A good day should do it.
By now, Ben you should be able to confirm that The Badger is covering me on Citroen, so that I can go to Paris.
As a result of the recce day, Tuesday, it was decided ( after a little bit of head sctratching), not to shoot the tennis court here in Canada. In fairness a rooftop court couldn't be found and the ground level was little to no real use.
Our trip to Toronto was a huge success, with some excellent plates. I took about 300 stills which are now backed up on two separate CDs. I took a large number of measurements, but to be fair the contiuitity lady was very switched on. As a result we should work off her camera notes in Paris.
The weather is getting worse and tomorrow is looking like a washout (be warned).
Also Ben is looking into, The Badger covering me in The Mill so I can be present for the Paris shoot. "No Excuses Ben".
Also Ben it might be a good idea to free up a 3D type for half a day next week to look into a few things which will be coming there way. Eg building a tennis court (extreme wide and distant), plus tennis court chainlink netting. I have a reference.
Spent a good part of the afternoon looking at possible sets.
Personnally, I guess that the Office set (if chosen) is great and should cause us no real problems.
We are struggling to conclude how exactly we will do the swimming pool scene. Presently we do not seem to have a perfect location, which shows off great backdrop (cityscape) and great foreground, (pool & deck. One argument is to film a (not great pool and the add both foreground extra and background city scape later. In my opinion this is not the correct way to achieve this. Plan two is to find a great rooftop and dress with decking and fake the edge of the pool. (good solution, but permission & permits may not be possible). Plan three is to make a set (dressed decking, bannister, and fake pool in Paris and film the star and extras in camera and simply replace the background with a Canadian City scape. (my preferred option.)
I have not seen the tennis court yet but think that we have to careful about what we can get from it. I am sure that this court will be helpful for the looking down mid and wide shots. There is a danger though of hoping that we can simply comp our star (bluescreen) against a court with no real interaction with the environment Eg shadows, a net. This would be fine if the court was on a rooftop, but it`s at ground level and against trees and a park. We are going to look at this court tommorrow. I guess that on some hots it will necessary to use a city scape background with a dressed section of fence against a city scape, will help create the illusion of being within a court.
More info tommorrow.
Also weather report is wet so we may be here a while, whatever that means.
Finally I am in financial straits. Barclays Bank have yet again stop my credit card, (due to irregular spending patterns,ie being abroad) it is costing my a fortune to ring Mumbai and then be put on hold. The hotel have got the arse because I can not pay for my room and I have no cash to buy a burger.