“We are going to be filming in Edinburgh next week, and we hope you can help us again, pretty much as you did when we filmed in Newcastle. We want you, with your same Sound Recordist, a local Production Assistant, HMUA, and very similar equipment.”
The best clients are always the happiest clients.
When Microsoft sent a production company to film at the Newcastle HQ of accountancy software company SAGE, they needed local support to organise and supply their location film crew and equipment.
They booked me as their local production support, to organise, book, and provide top crew members, and to supply lighting, Magliners, and other equipment.
I was also booked as their Gaffer.
I signed-up hugely experienced Sound Recordist, Martin Ellis. Chris Chadderton is a very enthusiastic broadcast Camera Assistant/Junior Cameraman, a team player whom I have worked with numerous times. He has a can-do attitude, so he was my go-to-choice for Camera Assistant/Grips. Vikky Johnston is a Newcastle-based HMUA who has worked in TV Drama and on movies for many years, so I was delighted to catch her between contracts.
I own a lot of lighting equipment, so I was able to supply everything their DOP required, including lights, modifiers, stands, distribution, flags, and cutters.
The American team included the Producers, Director, DOP, and a Lighting Cameraman.
Everyone had a wonderfully relaxed professional attitude, so the shoot was a dream to work on, and we produced fabulous footage that looked delicious.
So, I was excited to be contracted again, to essentially repeat the shoot, albeit in another Corporate HQ, and city.
5 days later, with the crew and accommodation confirmed and my van loaded, I was on my way to bonnie Scotland.
Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Craneware Group is a leading provider of revenue integrity solutions, improving financial performance in U.S. hospital and health systems. Our film was to showcase how they use and garner value from the Microsoft Azure application.
Craneware’s HQ is in an impressive multi-story stone and glass building. We would be filming on the third floor, which has a large circular floor plan and floor-to-ceiling glass walls, which offer amazing light and 360-degree views of the city. So, we were blessed with endless choices of deep backgrounds, and as the weather was unusually sunny for December, when the sun never gets very high in the sky, we were blessed with golden hour light throughout most of each day.
As the Gaffer, I was excited to work with all the opportunities and challenges the glass walls and day-long golden hour light afforded me.
Day 1: We filmed B-roll showing people working at their screens and on breaks in and around the office, and outside we filmed vox pops and GVs in the city.
Day 2: We had to shoot 2, 2-camera Interviews. I wanted to create a clean, stylish look with a subtle mix of a sharp corporate feel and yet an almost natural, unlit look, respecting the natural ambient wrap-around light afforded by all the many huge windows.
With 2 camera angles for each interview and glass windows and walls everywhere, I had to pay particular attention to the increased risk of my equipment being seen in reflections behind the subjects.
Our first interview was filmed with our interviewee standing in the middle of the meeting/rest area of the open plan office space.
With a stand-in in place, I used my Aputure 600D Pro fitted with a 150cm light dome as the key light. This is a powerful daylight colour ac/dc light that, even through a large modifier, can output all the intensity needed to balance direct sunlight.
I set it as 3/4 lighting to create a subtle 3D effect and to balance the brightness of the cityscape background, seen through the glazed wall behind.
I used a LitePanels 1x1 Gemini as my kicker/backlite to tie the subject to the natural daylight behind him. And I used 2 further Geminis and a strip to highlight and stabilize background details.
I deployed 3x2 black flags to “turn off” several problematic ceiling-mounted office lighters, which of course, were not individually switched. 4x4 floppies added negative fill for my 3D look and prevented the passing of clouds changing the look and the required exposure as we filmed.
After lunch, we set up for our last interview. This time in a glass-walled meeting room.
The first task was to block as much daylight as possible from entering directly through the windows; lots of 4x4 floppies, flags, and other black material did that perfectly.
Space was limited, but with glass walls, my key light could be positioned in a refreshment area adjoining the meeting room, with the light shining through the wall. I used a 600D Pro with a 100cm diameter modifier. I positioned it in the nearby general office, shining through the glass wall behind the interviewee, to add a sense of natural window sunlight backlighting him.
With both lights’ output passing through 1 layer of glass, both sources were equally tinted slightly green. This was, of course, easily addressed by white balancing the cameras.
And that’s a wrap.
Time to strike the kit, load up, and drive back to England, and home.
Once again, we all worked together perfectly and wrapped exactly on schedule. That is always a sign that the whole team knows what it is doing.
