Needle & Thread

Needle & Thread

UTS Capstone Project 2022

Directed by David Sherlock.

Crew Roles: Director of Photography, Camera Operator, and Co-Producer.

Logline: A date between two strangers leaves the two permanently intertwined as socially frowned upon habits are revealed.

Synopsis: Needle and Thread explores the expression of art - both performative and physical - stretching the limits of both to shock and confuse the audience. Who will you trust as two unreliable narrators dictate their own perspective of the night as it unfolds?

Pre-Production

Throughout the pre-production process, I worked very closely with David to ensure we were both on the same page regarding how we could best bring his story and vision to life. I constructed mood boards to represent each act of his three part story, which helped me to establish a colour palette, shooting style, and overall feel for how I could be representing each character.

After breaking down the script, I had initially begun to create a series of storyboards, but after spending a significant amount of time drawing and using an online storyboarding program, I found that my time was more productively spent establishing shot lists. Prioritising the shot lists allowed me to map out all camera technicalities, and I found that it allowed other crew members to understand the shots better than the previous storyboards had let them.

With David, I helped to create an equipment list, making sure we had included all lighting and camera necessities. As we had planned to shoot a number of contrastingly lit scenes, we realised upon booking equipment that we had left out a few pieces of sound equipment when booking, which emphasised to us the importance of ensuring all HODs are present in preparing the booking list in the future.

Also doubling as a co-Producer, I was in charge of creating shoot schedules, helping to secure crew, organising production necessities, and ensuring that crew were meeting deadlines outside of the shoot.

Mood Boards: 1: Act 1 (Tobi) 2: Act 2 (Vic)

Shooting Schedule for Day 1

Day 1 Shot Lists

Day 2 Shot Lists

Day 3 Shot Lists

Production

Our shoot, as it often is, was a very chaotic period of time. In order to make sure were adequately prepared for each day of our shoot, we decided to split our production period into four days over two weeks, separated by a week in the middle.

Despite having a smaller crew than we would’ve liked, I was super impressed with the way we were able to work together so cohesively. There were moments where people became overwhelmed and visibly stressed on set, but our team always found a way to ensure we took time to break and provide support when needed.

I was very proud of my cinematography work on set. I operated the camera on a project with significant camera movement, including handheld, tracking, and whipping pans, and whilst I found it very physically and mentally demanding, it was incredibly rewarding to see the shots form into works I was really proud of. There were absolutely times, especially on the longer shoot days, where the work involving the holding of the camera became incredibly tiring. The support I received from my crew allowed me to take time to manage my exhaustion and come back as a better crew member.

Post Production

As part of post production, I participated in the colour grade with our editor Kurt. Whilst he did the majority of the work to make it what it is now, I provided guidance and direction for colours and tones in relation to our mood board for each character and their vibe.

We wanted our colour grade to be very distinct from its original form, and often we exaggerated certain colours and tones to add to the absurdity of the narrative’s content.

I also sat in on various edit sessions to provide any assistance and regular feedback for our editor.