Diary of a Smartphone Filmmaker: October 2019

Today, we begin filming Silent Eye Episode 5: Sleep House. We will be using Samsung S9 smartphones. Indeed, so far all episodes have been shot using recent Samsung models.

We have some funds to make shooting possible. This is all down to our amazing backers, who broke the record for Silent Eye on Kickstarter. So we’ll have a few hundred extra to spend this time.

Which is lucky, as we’ll be filming in a different country! While the previous episodes were all shot in London, this time we’ll be in Switzerland. To film here means transporting cast, crew and kit from London to Zürich, so why go to that trouble?

The main reason is location. We considered various places in or nearby London, but here in Switzerland we have been offered a spacious ground floor apartment. Plus, the basement and corridors below will provide the impression of a sinister government facility.

So we will be able to film in one location, which saves quite a bit of time. In the end, the cost and effort of transporting everything from London is worth it because the location fits our needs perfectly.

New Kit

While trying to keep everything as small and transportable as possible, I’ve added a few small items. Namely, some small lights and wireless microphones.

This is what I started with:

Unfortunately, I had to leave behind the Rode Blimp and Pistol Grip.

This is what I’ve added:

So, all this had to be transported on a plane. And to save money I wanted to fit it all into my carry on luggage. For that reason, I had to leave behind the Rode Blimp and Pistol Grip as it was too big to fit in with everything else.

Well, we probably aren’t going to be filming outside, so I figured we won’t need too much wind-protection for the 416 shotgun mic. But we would need a shockmount for the 416, so I bought a cheap small one (the ZRAMO) that would fit easily in the bag.

I also didn’t want to risk trying to take the Ride boom pole onto the plane, so we bought one in Switzerland.

New Cast, New Director

Once more, we have an entirely new cast: new story, new characters. We are lucky to have a very talented group, with Sophie Brooke and Louis Bernard playing the leads. We also have David Thackeray stepping in for his film director debut.

This means, I will be director of photography for this one (as well as writer/producer). Andrea will be doing sound again, as Barnaby was booked up for another shoot during our filming dates.

Jacks and Jaquelines of All Trades

But of course, at this budget level, nobody has a single role. If we were assigned traditional film job titles, we’d be sharing roles such as 1st AD, production manager, prop master, catering, script assistant and so on.

Yesterday, Andrea and I went to the supermarket in Germany to buy food for props as well as food for cast and crew to eat. We also added some lighting props and batteries for the wireless mics.

Then we went to the basement to construct the set. To make the room a bit more “scifi” looking, we bought some lights which come rolled in strip. So we stuck them in lines around a sun lounger, where the main actor will sit. We also used the ring light, which will be a kind of interrogation lamp and “eye”.

There’s a debate on whether shooting on a smartphone is a style in itself. Certainly, filming with small budgets carries unique challenges. Everyone involved has to cover many skills and it’s a more collaborative process where pretty much anyone has a say in everything.

In contrast, on a regular film set where each job is assigned a crew member, it’s more like an army with a defined hierarchy. Information has to travel along a set path, and this is simply down to the size of the crew. You can’t have 50 people chiming in on every decision, but with 5 there’s usually space to hear everyone’s suggestions.

That’s it for today’s update. Before any filming, there’s always a healthy mixture of excitement and nerves. So wish us luck!

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