The second set was the kitchen / dining area. First, I filmed Amelia drawing her bird comic page. I shot footage of her picking up pencils and switching between shades of blue which all added to the realness as I was the one who really drew the page. I shot a front view to capture Amelia’s expression and an over the shoulder shot to see the graphic being drawn. For the front view, I framed the shot so Amelia was on the left of the screen, not central and sat her on the far side of the big sofa, all to convey her loneliness.
Lastly, we moved over to the kitchen area for the final shot of Amelia reading her letter to Tristan and then leaving. I first shot an over the shoulder close up view to see Amelia holding the letter and putting it back in the envelope. At the end of this shot, I thought it would be cool to move the camera around and zoom in on to the letter. This impulse was a really good directing choice and gave a perfect ending to my film. I then filmed a close up shot of Amelia’s face to get her feelings and emotions. I got her to perform the actions of reading, putting the letter in the envelope, kissing it and walking away. I would then cut her expression in-between shots of the letter itself.
It was brilliant working with an actor as the timing and pauses Poppy made for Amelia were perfect and we all really felt we were on a set during this final scene. Adding to this feeling was Stuckey who amazingly helped with lighting, he lit the letter and Poppy’s face during the final two shots using a lamp. I shot everything either straight on or over Amelia’s left shoulder, so the camera wouldn’t be jumping to different sides of her body in the edit. This would make the final video feel natural and smooth. I did the best with what I had and the time I had to do it in and I’m happy with the final footage.