CCFL 3D Test Shoot
Gaëlle and I are back from our 3D test shoot in Brignogan, where we shot 4 scenes from our feature script La Fille De L'Estuaire with the help of the Cross Channel Film Lab team. Fabienne Tsaï and her team put together an amazing crew of professionals including Joséphine Derobe and Thierry Pouffary who are pioneers in 3D stereographic work, collaborating on auteur driven films, art installations as well as blockbusters. They have worked alongside Wim Wenders on the breathtaking Pina film as well as his latest 3D ventures Cathedral Of Culture and Everything Will Be Fine - which is coming out soon.
Neither Gaëlle nor I have shot 3D before so it has been a great learning curve and so far the prep and shoot process doesn't seem as cumbersome as we had anticipated, which has been reassuring based on our budget level expectations for our film. Obviously a lot of prep up front and getting the right people on board helps a lot. Watching the monitors with 3D glasses all the time probably would do your head in eventually too! We shot on Canon C300s and shot a lot on steadicam with veteran steadicam op Philippe Bordelais. This made the overall equipment seem pretty flexible and light.We had two really great grips on board too (Patrick Chizallet and Augustin De Vaumas - an ex-banker!), so we did make good use of the dolly too.
The first day, we shot two exterior scenes, Marnie carrying a dead rabbit she found through the cauliflower fields and then discovering Nathalie's body in the estuary. It was fun doing Nathalie's glamorous make up! And our stagiaire Aline Rougnant made a big pot of fake blood using honey, nesquik and food colouring. Poor Marine (who played Nathalie) not only had to lie in the mud all afternoon, but also had to have this blood smeared all over her. Marnie was played by our régisseur Benoît Maline's gorgeous daughter Eugénie. She was a natural, despite it being long hard days for her. I think by the end though, she will never want to have anything to do with rabbits ever again!
On the second day we shot interiors, Marnie introducing her dead rabbit to her taxidermy family and we also shot a scene of Marnie joining her dad to watch The Big Sleep. These two scenes worked particularly well and look absolutely mesmerising in 3D.
It has been really interesting to learn how differently a scene can be experienced when you are looking at a 'boîte scenique' rather than a flat surface. It certainly affects the design and orchestration of each scene which in turn affects the delivery of dialogue and information.
We were able to try out different lenses, depths of field and different stereoscopic settings. We tried versions running scenes through continuously and making them cutty. We tried positioning actors in different ways and in different situations within our 'boîte scénique' to see how distracting or strengthening the effect was, and discovered how overwhelming elements tastefully placed in foreground became. The purpose of these tests will be to go back to the screenplay once we have edited the scenes together, viewed them on the big screen, and learned how this will affect Gaëlle's story and her mise en scene.
As ever it's been a pleasure being out in Brignogan with Le Groupe Ouest and CCFL team. I also had the pleasure to meet Ann Owen from Falmouth University who is both an expert animator and neuroscientist. She has studied so many amazing facts about the mind (and particularly how it connects with the audio visual & 3D processing) which we chatted about with Augustin for most of the evening at the CCFL celebration drinks at Brignogan's only bar - Le café du port.
Find out more
We're in production and development so things are always changing. Ohna will be keeping the news page and Twitter feed up to date. But if you want to know more please do get in touch!
