23 - Shooting the Film

SHOOTING THE FILM

While shooting the film I did not run into many problems. I took all the video I needed over the course of a few days. 

My main concerns for filming were both of the weather and of my dog, Scout, who is also in the film. Thankfully, he was incredibly well behaved and I didn't have any trouble with him at all. He also got a nice run about for a few hours each day which I'm sure he enjoyed. The weather was also perfect over the course of those few days, and I was incredibly thankful for that too.

Before I had even began filming, my tripod fell apart and I lost some pieces that would have helped repair it, so we were off to a good start.

When I began filming, I started shooting shots that came near the end of the video, as well as a number of shots that are used throughout the video of the scenery and the dog. This is because the forest in which I was shooting was the most difficult to get to. It is not a regular forest with a path, but one that isn't visited by people. This meant that to reach it I had to go through a large field which would occasionally have cows. Of course if there were cows in the field I would not be able to get to the forest, and so I had to wait for days in which it was possible.

Once in the forest, it was a point not to get lost (as I may have a few times before). I had to make sure I always knew where I was, and when caught up with filming I found that it was common for me to get carried away and lose my place. Again, however, I did not run into any major issues apart from somehow managing to break my tripod immediately before filming. This meant I would have to find more creative ways to prop up my camera.

After this, I next filmed all the areas that take place inside. This took much less time, although I often found it more difficult to find places that I can place my camera, and had to really utilize my brilliant box stacking skills.

Lastly, I shot the beginning of the video a few days later. I was able to have someone else help me with the camera work, which was incredibly useful and sped up the shooting time a lot. I also found that it gave way for some better looking shots and more creative freedom with the fewer restrictions. Scout was again still very well behaved, but we found he was more likely to listen to me than my camerawoman, so it was sometimes tricky to work out exactly how some of the shots could be taken.

Finally, when compositing the film I had to then create animations for the white stag. This only took a couple days, although I believe that when over laid on top of the footage it sticks out a lot more than I was expecting.

I will most likely re-shoot some sequences inside the house, but for now it's done and I'm quite glad that it is.