The Filming of Breath in Pictures

The majority of the filming of Breath was done on Saturday 8th March 2014. Here is a few pictures taken on the day of the recording.

Breath Filming Preparation - Tracking Shot

In preparation for my thriller 'Breath', I tested out ways in which I could achieve a smooth, professional looking tracking shot on a budget. As a professional camera dolly went into the thousands of pounds, I thought of another, far cheaper method of achieving the high standard tracking shot I am aiming for. I used and old skateboard and a 3 meter by 20cm plank of wood. The wood is long enough and wide enough for the skateboard to glide across it, to give a smooth and fluid movement. I first tried testing this method with corrugated cardboard, but this made the camera shaky as it ran over small lumps on the material. With the woods smooth finish, I was able to place my camera onto the skateboard an achieve a smooth sideward glide. The video below shows the difference in footage when shooting gliding over corrugated cardboard and wood.



Looking back at the footage, I chose to run on wood. The equipment cost me £5 altogether, the skateboard being £3 from a car boot sale and wood being £2 at a wood off cut shop. This made the set up a worthwhile investment and far from the £1,000 to £2,000 price bracket of professional grade camera dolly's. Below are pictures of my homemade tracking set up.

Breath Filming Preperation - Underwater Footage

The final scenes of my thriller opening incorporates some underwater footage. This is meant to show a body being thrown into a lake. To do this, I got my hands on a waterproof case for my action camera. Unfortunately, finding a nearby lake was not as easy. This got me thinking, Instead of going to a lake, why not take the lake to us. And thats what I did. To simulate a river, I filled a large paddling pool full of water.

You may be thinking, that water looks dirty. In fact this was done on purpose. When initially filling up the pool, I figured that rivers are generally quite murky. At that point, the water was crystal clear. The solution? Gravy!

By dissolving 4 buckets full of gravy in the water, I was able to make the water have the brown tinge, common in rivers. Despite the hurdles I had to overcome my ambitious idea made the water a rather accurate simulation of a river. To test the underwater footage, I dropped my waterproof camera into the pool. This was the result.

Breath Filming Preparation - Bike Camera Angles

My thriller opening is very much focussed on a young boy riding on his bike. As I need multiple shots og him riding his bike from various interesting angles and perspectives, I attached my camera to different places on the bike to see what shots look good, and worthy of being incorporated into my final cut. Here is a video of my favourite camera angles that were taken and are likely to be found in my thriller opening.

 



Breath Filming Preparation - Camera Equipment

To film my opening, there are three essential pieces of equipment; A DSLR, a waterproof camera and a Tripod. As filming approaches, I needed to make sure i met these requirements if nothing else. My DSLR camera, the Sony A37 I will be using to film the bulk of my opening. It is just over 16 megapixels and should provide plenty of depth and clarity to make my open in have the cinematic feel. Partnered up with a 18mm-55mm standard lens, I may also be using a 75mm-300mm lens for shots further away or ones which require a more eventuated depth of field. With this camera I will be shooting in 1080p full HD 30fps, in MP4 format rather than AVHD for editing convenience. 

                                     

For the action shots I will be using the Mobius action-cam. This camera is about the size of a Tic-Tac box and weighs at very little too. Despite its small stature, it too will shoot in 1080p 30fps. It can be attached via various mounts, including bike mounts, head mounts and various other ways to attach it to pretty much anything. I will be using some of these mounts to achieve some particularly challenging shots in my thriller, as it is capable of what DSLR's are not. In the picture below it is also wearing its waterproof case, which makes it withstand up to 30 meters of water. This is perfect for my thrillers finale, where it will get thrown into a pool of water.

Finally, I will be using my own tripod. Like the DSLR itself, it is also Sony, and will come in very handy when keeping the camera stable. The tripod incorporates a built-in remote on the handle, which allows me to stop and start recording or adjust the zoom without touching and potentially jogging the camera. It uses a universal tripod mount compatible with both my Sony and Mobius cameras.

Breath - Shot List