Joel.Simone

For several days, I focused on location planning. This included two trips to Antioch for test shots. Before I go into further details, I posted an ad on Craig’s List for a room needed in the production, Craig’s List Ad. We will shoot Antioch locations first, however, the sooner we find our setting for the room based on the parable, the better.

First Day - Monday

So, I traveled to Antioch on Monday to take my first set of pictures. The purpose of this trip was to feel out the time of day, to analyze the angle of light, and to go over general locations. I also wanted to test my primary depth of field lense, the Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4, and I mounted it to my Nikon D40 for trials.

This is a general amtmosphere shot of a street Jordan will walk, taken with the 50mm lens:

The 50mm lens is a very old 35mm film lens with a shallow depth of field, so it has a soft look in comparison to my Nikkor 18-200mm VR Digital lens. Here is an atmospheric more shot of the theatre, note the direct lighting will contribute to the sharpness too:

I am more interested in the look of the first image, and I will likely play with the wide angle shots to match that feel. To test how the light cast, I pointed the camera into a store window:

…and snapped pictures to preview the angle of light on a subject, my self. This is around 1pm, so the sun is higher then what’s considered attractive light, could be called harsh, but I think this may contribute to the rawness of these particular scenes. I would like to switch to a prettier light further into the piece. Here is an image of how the light fills the face:

…and the body:

Second Day - Wednesday

The second day’s objective was to further location planning and narrow down the choices. I was searching for parking lots, and I liked this spot near the entrance of downtown:

The ground of that parking location was very rough, so this is debatable. I was also fascinated with this building around the corner:

In front of this building was a huge dirt lot. A nice park would be beautiful here. Antioch reminds me of an underdeveloped Pasadena CA. There is a lot of character in this stage. Maybe we can find something to do with this area:

Most notably, I found a location I’m considering near the beginning. Possibly after he walks the streets with his cup of coffee. We could say he is heading to a mid-day interview, and he has a bit of time, so he strolls to the dock. Maybe at this time he calls Clare, his girlfriend, and we introduce the conflict. I love the bridge in the background, what it could signify. This is a look I’m looking forward to capturing:

…and here is several atmospheric shots:

For the complete list of location shots from this shoot, visit The Doorway Location Scouting on Flickr.

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to do Math homework all day, so I may not get back into additional test shots till Friday. I still have to test the Nikkor Digital Lenses on my 35mm lens to video adapter and video in the harsh light conditions around 1 pm. In addition, on Friday I will finalize the schedule for the shoot on Saturday.