Scene Deconstruction with Mark Patten BSC

In part of the scene, Helen and Sam have to run through a large glass window before jumping off the apartment balcony. Stunt doubles were used for this and the breaking window glass was added as a post-production visual effect. The large blue screen outside the apartment set was then replaced with shots of the nighttime cityscape in post-production.

The first takes were locked off shots of the stunt actors jumping out of the apartment amongst a cloud of dust and debris fired out of the set by an air cannon. Mark says that a key part of making the final shot believable is getting the lighting right for these shots.

To do this flame and fire effects were programmed into the LED lighting fixtures to mimic the bright flash of light from a real explosion and fire. Then in separate, locked off shots, the fire ball itself is filmed.

In post-production, the shots with the stunt performers are blended with the fire ball shots. It’s critical to the effect that there are no joins visible to the audience so they can believe the actors are almost caught in the blast of a large explosion.

For a big exterior wide shot of the actors falling, the stunt doubles jumped from a platform in a blue screen studio that was almost 50ft (15m) high. This could then be composited into the exterior plate shots to show Helen and Sam falling through the air.

The final part of the scene was shot in a water tank for the actors to fall into. On screen the whole sequence only lasts a few seconds, yet the scene took many days to shoot.

Mark created a lighting plan for the location to speed up the setup and the crew used Vortex LED light fixtures which are waterproof full colour panel lights. This allowed any colour to be dialled in and remotely controlled from a lighting desk.

To get a bird’s eye view of the scene, and give a sense of Sam’s soul elevating above the scene, the camera was mounted on a Technocrane 45, a telescoping camera crane with a reach of up to 45ft(14m).

To add to the drama most of the scene is shot handheld. The modified Panaspeed lenses allowed Mark to shoot with apertures as wide as t1.3 which really separates the characters from each other or the background. The VENICE Extension System 2 allows the camera’s sensor unit to be separated from the main body of the camera, creating a very compact and light camera head. This can be particularly useful for dynamic handheld shots.

By over cranking the camera, shooting at 48 frames per second, double the normal play back speed in post-production, they were able to choose when to jump in and out of slow motion.

In recent years it has become easier to shoot these types of shots in an LED volume, a studio with a large LED wall that wraps around and above the car. A crew shoots footage of the streets and backgrounds needed and then these plates are then played back on the LED wall. The light from the LED wall falls on the car helping to give the impression that the car is outside and driving around. Mark added additional lights controlled by a desk, to compliment to the light from the wall creating a multi layered look that was easy to control.

Mark found this to be a much more practical and affordable way to shoot the car scenes for Black Doves, giving him greater control over the lighting and bypassing the restrictions associated with the use of a process trailer in a city like London such as traffic management or speed limits.