The shoot here in France is very intense, so apologies for the lack of updates. Here are a couple of brief video blogs I shot on set showing how some scenes were lit and shot.
Month: September 2013
Know Your Lights
Whilst prepping for The First Musketeer here in the south of France I was able to record this video blog showing the lighting kit we’ll be using and what it all does. If you don’t know your kinos from your dedos, or can’t can understand why a 2.5K HMI is SO much better than a 2K blonde, this vlog will shed some light [groan].
The first week of the adventure is drawing to a close, although we only started shooting two days ago, the rest of the week having been taken up by travel and prep.
After picking up the lighting kit from Panalux and Filmscape on Monday, we set off in a convoy of five vehicles first thing on Tuesday morning from High Wycombe. After a noon crossing from Dover to Dunkirk we drove all afternoon and most of Wednesday to get to Puy L’eveque, the medieval town in which we’re based.
The main task on Wednesday was to test the workflow of the Black Magic Cinema Camera kindly lent to us by gaffer Richard. This is my first time working with the BMCC and I’ll share my thoughts on it in a forthcoming vlog.
Shooting began on Thursday, coinciding with a storm which broke the sweltering hot spell and has seen pretty much continuous rain become the dominant weather since then. There were challenges with horses, generators and (as ever) time, but as of this writing we’re on schedule and everyone seems to be very happy with the footage acquired.
I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to reveal about the series and the details of what we’ve been shooting, so I’ll leave it there. Stay tuned for more video blogs.
The First Musketeer
This week I’m off to France for a month to lens Harriet Sams’ ambitious web series The First Musketeer. The show is a prequel to the famous Alexandre Dumas novel, and as such features horses, candlelight and swordfights galore, all against a gorgeous backdrop of historical locations. As Athos arrives in Paris, on the run from his tragic past, a chain of events leads him to the other Musketeers, and into an adventure that will seal their fates as brothers and heroes for the rest of their lives.
I doubt I’ll have time while there to do much other than shoot and sleep, but I’ll try my best to do a few video blogs. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss them, and for general updates on the project visit The First Musketeer’s Facebook page.