Charlie Productions : Storyboard

Jo and Simon were fairly easy to get right - Ben and Chris had used them before. For the others I had their B+W CV Photos to work from. I found Keely trickiest, hadn't seen her smile, otherwise it would have been a lot easier....
Sc1: Bathroom

Chris writes:

Simple scene with the camera panning from Tony to Sophie and her hare.

Not much to say really. This is one of the few times the storyboard is almost exactly the same as the film.

Which is really cos it was quite easy to shoot - slight problems with sunshine coming and going, burning out the bath occasionally, but the rabbit behaved itself and the scene went swimmingly.

Ok, so the rabbit doesn't look as pissed off in the film as the storyboard.

Perhaps Pepper was having too much fun.

Perhaps we should have gone to Kubrickian lengths to get the requisite shot of annoyed bunny.

Once more Pepper, this time with feeling.

Sc2: Living Room

Long scene but not that tricky - sightlines are easy, all looking at Tony, and really once you've established where they're looking you can put the camera anywhere.

The line 'did you hear anything just then?' got cut from the final film - kind of a shame cos Mark and Anna turning in was one of my favourite shots. Bit poncy really.
One thing you can see between G and the reality of the film is that the shot didn't work - too many faces cut out, not far enough back, better to keep on the actors.

Notice that K doesn't happen in the film - we use M instead, no point in having shaky POV shot which is on for too short a time.

Extra shots of Bunny reaction and dropped cheese grater were thought of on the day. I just liked the bunny hand puppet, alright?

Sc3: Dining Room

Trickiest scene we've ever attempted really, and we weren't totally successful.

Thing is it seemed very important to work out sightlines. Plus there was meant to be camera movement every time the conversation started flowing.

We got a bit too caught up in the storyboard because of this.

Took a very long time to work out where to place the camera for sightlines, and then with the heat in the flat from the lighting we shot rather quickly.

Should have done longer takes from fewer camera positions. Let the actors act, rather than trying to get them doing what the storyboard says they should.

Cow pie.

Sc4: Outside

This scene didn't quite come off originally - hence the shots of Susie and Bernard in her car.

A taxi worked well for Mark and Anna, and with Susie and Bernard now in a car it gives a much nicer contrast than if both couples had both been in a car.

Even if it'd been shot in a car, the ending would still have seemed flat without Susie and Bernard

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.
admin | sitemap | fresh look media