Working on my scene recreation

We were tasked with creating a conversation scene from a film and recreating it as accurately as we can focusing on the lighting. This was a challenge. We decided to recreate the pub scene from Shaun of the dead (2004) so we got to work finding the script, writing up a shot list and finding and creating props we needed.

Day 1: 

The first day of shooting was a mess, we decided to shoot on a Thursday we had free and contacted Ember Lounge to get permission to work in there to shoot which would have made the project look really good as it has a bar, pool tables and a nice atmosphere. However we really misjudged out time setting up and shooting the first scene alone took over 2 hours before the place started filling up because of customers. Reviewing the footage we very quickly realized we couldn't use any of the footage due to the fact that it was way too bright compared to the original. We decided that we knew how to set up and decided to re shoot on the Sunday.

Day 2: 

Ember turned us away so in light of the new events decided to shoot in a flat which took about 2 hours to rearrange and set up the lighting. It was long day shoot moving lights and camera positions. We should have created a floor plan and stuck to the lighting we had because in the video our lighting moves a little bit and looks slightly odd. Also our camera op didn't check focus on a few shots so it looks crappy, so next time I want to be on camera but I also want a camera assistant just to make sure everything is right.

Day 3: 

We only had a few pick up shots to do here and everything went alright, we used two people on camera to make sure everything was focused and the lighting was on point. 

What I learnt from this experience was that, you always need to be prepared to suddenly change and adapt in case you lose your location or actors.

Check what your camera op is shooting in case they are struggling and need help.  

And lastly work out plans before shooting instead of general ideas as it helps speed up set up time and makes sure everything matches.

Here's a link to the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93fDmh6XKo
And here's the link to our version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg3QU-yp18c