Production Day 1: Hotel Scenes

Because the the scenes taking place in the Hotel were in the evening/night we wanted to start filming at around 6:00pm when it actually started to get dark outside. We told the actors to arrive for 5:30/6:00pm and we got there ourselves to start setting up and blocking out shots at 4:00pm.

Unfortunately because we were using a room in the hotel on favours there was no way to see the room before hand, although Chris had described to me in advance the different sort of rooms the hotel had available. When we got there the room we got was decently sized and I began mapping out where I wanted what i.e.: The Camera and the Actors and movements of shots.

When both the actors had arrived I had a talk with them, describing what order we were filming the scenes in  and where I wanted them to stand and where  the camera would be and what kind of shots we were getting (establishing, close up, mid shot etc.) Then we went for it.

I ticked off the Shotlist as we went along, and used the Marked Up Script as the main point of reference during takes, referring to my Directors Notebook for any changes or additions I had thought up along the way, or had previously written down.

Filming took a lot longer than expected, even though I expected it to run over, but we got everything we needed from the Hotel room and then some. The actors and the crew all stayed motivated and pushed through to get the shots, no matter how many times I wanted it done again. There was one moment when the actors kept laughing in one shot and we must have done 5 takes before we got it right and I insisted everyone take a short break to get back in the zone. We had water and various snacks provided by Chris to munch on during the long shoot. In the end it was very successful first days shoot and I thanked the cast and crew for doing a great job.