Filming for Our Lockdown – Saul

I was a little nervous about filming that day as we’d not been in the office for over a year, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about social distancing and wearing a mask although I was excited about seeing the others on the project and getting back to doing some work for the film outside my home.

I had an early start to get to the BTM office for filming, so I’d packed my tripod and copy of my script the previous night.

David greeted me at the top floor and Simon was already there. Luke joined soon after.

Once everyone had arrived my nerves quickly eased, and I was ready to get on with recording our introductions. I took a few pictures for the blog.

David suggested we sit in a circle with the camera in the middle. The camera would swing round between us as we talked. This was to allow for social distancing and to add interest to the film.

It was a new way of working for me, but I soon got the idea.

David, Simon, Luke and I know each other well and have worked together on other projects so the day went quickly and smoothly.

We each did our introduction as David filmed us and gave each other constructive feedback where necessary. We each did two takes and I think the feedback helped us all improve on the second take.

After lunch we filmed a piece where we discussed the lockdown, any issues we’d faced and any positives we’d found. We prepared five questions to answer as topics for the discussion. We used the same filming technique we’d used for the introductions.

It was a great day’s work and having a chance to get back to the office has eased some of my anxiety about returning fully when the restrictions are lifted.

It wasn’t quite ‘back to normal’ but it was great to be working back at the BTM office again.