It's good to finally be back on set! I think the last time I was on a film shoot was in early 2020, what a year it has been! But now, after months of pre-production, all the student films are beginning to take shape as restrictions for education have been lifted. 'Crowded Town' was the first project that went into production and it was no easy feat for me. After this long break from working on set, I came on doubling down on roles, as 1st AC and Gaffer, because the crew had to be as minimal as possible to keep the set safe. This sensible approach is one of the many reasons I always enjoy working with producer James Reilly, who actually got me on board for this film, too.
The first part of the shoot was in an empty apartment in London, which came with its challenges. No furniture meant there wasn't too much depth to the space, there weren't many practicals that could motivate lighting, and the plain white walls were just bouncing the daylight everywhere. The DoP, Ina Dungyova planned out her shots and lighting, but on the day we had to work around with the unpredictable amount of sunlight that was shining through the windows. The film was shot entirely with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and a Sigma 18-35mm lens on which I was remotely pulling focus using a Tilta Nucleus M and a pair of Hollyland Mars 400S TX/RX. The fixtures I used to light this flat were an Arri 750W Open Face, three Arri 300W, two Arri 150W and an Aputure AL-M9. Most often, however, the most useful tools were the polyboard, 5-in-1 reflector and gels which allowed me to control the light. Here are some still frames from the film, that I applied a LUT conversion to, along with my light breakdowns.
The second part of the shoot was a single character in a car, which may sound simple at first. But you also have to take into account the fact that the time of day was supposed to be early evening, and we were filming in the middle of the day. It was a bright day, so the car was parked in the shade, away from any direct sunlight, but I was still limited in what I could do. I advised Ina to underexpose the image and use a 3200K white balance, so we would have a good base to begin with. I then used a 1.2K Arri HMI, a KinoFlo DivaLite and an Arri 150W to create a three-point lighting, and at times panned an Arri 300W across the frame to imitate headlights passing by, all of them set at colour temperature around 2700K.
Overall this project was a good experience which helped me get back into the pace of working on a film set, and it was interesting to observe the minimalist approach of the producer, the DoP and the director Benedict Webb.