When me and Joe began pre-production on this, we quickly decided it would suit a ‘well-shot-documentary’ style. Joe had recently seen the film Boiling Point and liked the fact that everything had the same focal length, due to it’s single-shot nature. For this reason, we decided to shoot almost everything on a Sigma 24mm prime, with the exception of one or two shots. On my super 35 sensor, this gave us a natural field of view without feeling too much like a wide angle. We also decided that each of the characters needed their own cinematic language, with Michael’s shots being less stable using mostly shoulder rig, and Alan’s remaining grounded and locked off on sticks.

This film felt like a big step up for me in terms of lighting, having a bit of hire budget was a real luxury. We used an Aputure 600d with 1/2 CTO gel outside the kitchen window to act as the morning sunlight. This helped enormously with continuity and I could move its position as the day progressed in the narrative. We shot the house stuff over two days, the first of which was bright and sunny and the second overcast. With the kitchen window being south-facing we got a lot of direct sunlight, so I flagged it with a set of black drapes, then doubled up with some white ones on the house side to look less jarring in the masters. Although not entirely realistic, it gave the impression of soft blown out highlights, so we decided to stick with it.