On Tuesday, I drove Javier, Amelia, Jamie (Elisabeth Miller) and Jasmin (Linda West) to Fitties Beach in Humberston to shoot the beach scenes in which Elisabeth reveals she knows Linda is the murderer and that James was having an affair.
As this scene is vital to the narrative of Murder at Curtain Call and is our only major scene in an exterior setting, I was extremely stressed about getting it right. Prior to the shoot, in the morning, I spent time researching how to alter the settings on the Sony A7Sii camera to suit the weather settings most appropriately. Luckily, the weather worked in our favour. It was a warm day, albeit ruined slightly by the wind. Due to it being overcast, the sun rarely shone through the clouds – this made things much easier in terms of ensuring continuity between shots. It was still quite bright, however, and it was necessary to use a neutral density filter along with the smallest aperture possible on the Sony A7Sii. This restricted the amount of light hitting the sensor and allowed me to play around with the depth of field. Being able to change between a deep and shallow depth of field ensured the shots remained interesting and dynamic, which was especially important considering the lighting was quite flat. I added a single LED light to the set-up to try and add more depth, but it made little to no difference.
We were well on schedule throughout the shoot, which allowed Javier and I to collect some shots that weren’t originally in the shot list. My inspirations for the cinematography within this scene came from Little Women (2019) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) – I really wanted to infuse the setting with a period drama feel, which meant showcasing Emma’s brilliant costume design as much as possible. As a result, I made sure to incorporate a balanced combination of long shots, two shots and close-ups within the scene.
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