PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 10 - May 21st, 2011 | UniSA West Campus, Adelaide.
Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Cinematographer), Sam Cherry (Gaffer), Amber McBride (Camera Assist/Focus Puller), Jordan Agutter (Gaffer/Best Boy) Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (D.A./Sound Recorder), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader), Paul Larsen(Grip/Runner). Cast in attendance: Kate Englefield (Jess). Lending a hand: Gigi D'angelo (Costumes) & Aliante Youngdino (The Agent).
Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Scenes 12b, 15b & 16.
And we're back! It's the last night before Judgement Day so we've only got a few hours in which to film the remaining coverage of the lovely Ms. Englefield.
We are back, once more, at the ever versatile UniSA Campus in the city. Once again, a huge thanks to Mark, Christine and Gordon for allowing us to film in the Yungondi Building which has stood in for a wide variety of locations for OMEGA.
Tonight we're filming Kate's coverage of the dialog from her end in Scenes 12 and 15. Adam already filmed his side of this same two conversations on Day 8 at Bonython Park. We edited the footage of his lines together for Kate to review and also had Paul help out by reading Jake's lines with Kate.
Prep for tonights shoot was the standard affair, the three scenes called for a single location which (after some back and forth) we found nearby our base. DTang, Amber, Sam & Jordan started working out lighting for the area using some cool new LED lights DTang bough along from an earlier shoot. They were very bright, but we had heaps of control over their brightness and intensity. Coupled with a redhead, some gels and a make-shift cutter it was looking very spiff.
Scene 12b is Kate's heavy scene, this is where the emotion really starts to boil over for her character. She's just seen the CM gunned just to get to the mysterious Joseph. We started the shot with Kate saying her opening line, then slowly sliding down the wall and dropping to the floor. It was a great shot because it shows Kate's character, Jess, keeping it together but when she hears her boyfriends voice she's lets go and staggers down the wall. Kate played the scene brilliantly, with plenty of raw, visceral emotion. The fake blood on her hands, the tired drained expression all came together to make us sympathize with her character. A bit of extra work for Billy and Jordan as we directed them in between Kate and the camera, they appeared out of focus and casting long shadows just added to the frenetic energy of the scene of people rushing about the hospital. The scene was played through a number of times going from a mid shot, to our brilliant close ups.
Scene 15b was up next. 15b in the script is two lines of dialog from Jess as a voice over, the scene is really focused on Jake as he's nearing the thrilling conclusion of the film, this is when the stakes are getting higher and we're nearing bursting point as OMEGA rockets closer. Even though it's a voice over scene I still wanted to film Kate acting out the lines on the same set, I figure it's good to have the footage on hand for when we're editing we may find the scene could benefit from quick cuts in between both characters, who knows! It's more for safety then anything else. As always Kate played the dialog perfectly.
Scene 16 was last up for the night (wow, and it's still before midnight!). Scene 16 is a quick shot, no dialog and will be a quiet cut away near the end of the film as the haunting blue light of OMEGA washes over our characters. DTang and I had two different ideas how to play the scene, one with Kate just looking out of the window towards the light and the other with Kate moving out from her position to get an even closer look at the light. Both were equally interesting shots, so we filmed them both and we'll see what looks the best in the editing room.
Finished filming early for a change! Woo! After we'd wrapped filming on Day 10 for OMEGA we managed to get some other stuff shot for side projects. Firstly we filmed a special On-Set Episode of REEL FX (to air next week) where we discussed lighting and the operation of the clapper board. And secondly We filmed some absolute comedy gold "mockumentary" interviews for the OMEGA Behind the Scenes DVD. This is one seriously funny group of people we have working on this filming and our DV Cameras are chock full of one hilarious "interview" after the other.
Day 10 was an awesome night of filming, we had great help from our two newest members of the crew Amber McBride and Sam Cherry, both did a fantastic job first day on OMEGA. Jordan joining us for the second time was also very helpful and provided us with some of more funnier fake interviews. Gigi and Frenk we good enough to visit us on set and even helped out by filming a whole load of Behind the Scenes footage. Trent, Teena, Billy, Paul and of course DTang once again bought their A-Games.
Lastly Day 10 also marks the wonderful Kate Englefield's last day of shooting for OMEGA. Kate has been a joy to work with, volunteering her time and energy and bringing us an amazing and engaging performance that she so skillfully bought to life. Aside from Team Ninos Kate has been with the film the longest (a week before DTang), we first met Kate in 2009 where we instantly found ourselves with a talented and versatile actress.
Thanks so much Kate, I know I speak for everyone on the cast and crew when I say it's been an absolute pleasure, OMEGA is going to rock thanks to you!Huge thanks to Kate, DTang, Amber, Sam, Jordan, Trent, Teena, Billy, Paul, Gigi & Frenk! Another great shoot, and the world didn't end! Sweeeet.
