Heartsfelled: Day One - What a Film Crew!

It really was the very best day's filming for Heartsfelled.

Zak Holland and Patricia Buck working on the design of a shot.

There's a great deal to be said for good preparation.  In our case this meant that Pete Buzzsaw Holland (Director) and Zak Holland (Director of Photography) of Zak Wylde Productions  came and met me  on location at Ayscoughfee five days before the shoot.   
Consummate professionals that they are, they spend a careful, patient day walking through the shots, identifying potential issues and preparing for what was to come.  It was fun - but more importantly it meant that the big day, the real shoot, was both fun and fantastically well executed.
The locals were highly entertained as we paced out, sometimes acting out the sequences to see how they would go.  We walked all around Ayscoughfee's gardens talking about 'ghosts' here and supernatural people there!  Highly imaginative but possibly a quite amusing to the people who did not know what we were doing.

Then came the big day - Day One on location:

Pete and Zak take a well earned break - Zak is dreaming of chips!

Pete is one of the most patient, clear and calming directors I've ever watched.  Although most of my prior experience is with live events - I have been present on quite a few tv and film shoots in the past and am just knocked out with how smoothly this day went.  

The sun shone all day!

I've come to learn that clear sunshine sky does not simply mean that we had a nice sunny day together - it means that we had good, strong, consistent light with no cloud to vary the light levels and not even little drifts to cast annoying shadows!

Patricia observes as Zak lines up and frames his next sequence

As for Zak - cinematography is an art and Zak has a true artist's eye.  His signature shots, the framing, depth and composition and his understanding of how to bring a flat script to life all come together to mean that this film is already a product I am deeply proud of.  The Heartsfelled project has demands of its own, being fantasy, myth ridden and a little fantastical - it needs a particular set of skills to make it work.

Now we can't forget to mention Tina Holland - she is the organisational glue that holds this team together.  Heartsfelled could not be in better hands.  Here we see her and Zak in the quiet Crew Room at Ayscoughfee . . . . once again it's all about the careful preparation.  No chips in here Zak!!

Quiet crew room - no chips in here Zak!