Deciding Shots | Development ~ SP

As rehearsals get closer, myself and Laura, the vision mixer, decided to get together and look at the script to get a rough idea of the different shots that we might have for each segment of the show.

Previously, I had looked through the script and very roughly noted down some potential shots that might work well. However, this was very rough and definitely needed some developing, which is what Laura and I did.

We started off by having two copies of the script printed out, one for her and one for me. I knew the type of shots that I wanted, I just needed to know when they were each going to cut. As me and Laura talked about the different shots, we made sure to think about alternative shots, which in turn helped us develop the blocking of the sequences, as well as the camera positions.

As we went through the script we ended cut marks where the shot should be cut, however we only got round todoing a few pages. This was useful to me as I knew the type of shots I wanted before would work and also I developed some more ideas for the rest of the show.
When I went home I decided to keep working on the shots and managed to have a rough idea of what the whole show would potentially end up looking like in terms of shot sizes for each camera. Due to knowing what camera was doing what shot, it gave me the knowledge of what camera would be more challenging and that meant I could start deciding who would be on what camera.

Based on the workshop we have had so far, when rigging the equipment I could kind of tell who felt more comfortable on what or at least I could see what the camera people were potentially more interested in.
My first initial thought for the camera operators was:

• Ellie on Camera 1
• Cheyenne on Camera 2
• Troy on Camera 3 which will be on the TRACK and DOLLY
• Saskia on Camera 4
• Josh on Camera 5 which will be on the JIB

I haven't made a definite decision on these positions yet, and I know that during the actual rehearsals of the show someone might want to do something else.

I think going through the script and picking out some shot types that I might want to use was a good idea and very useful as I could see what camera was doing what and also it helped me visualise the whole show a bit more. This would aid me in the blocking of the show, however I know that during rehearsals all of this might change, but it's good to have a starting position.