3rd Day of Filming - 18/01/14

Preparation: To prepare for our second and main day of filming, we created a Facebook group in which we advertised and invited friends to our day of filming and outlined their roles as extras. Some RSVP'd, many did not.
Before the arrival of most of our cast we set up the equipment and organised our travelling equipment bags, making sure to charge our two cameras as previous experience had taught us that technology has its definite limitations.
In order to to achieve maximum output in the shortest possible time schedule, it was agreed that each film-maker would film certain scenes separately, one having the tennis scenes and the other documenting social scenes. We organised the crew into two groups that would participate in either one of these filming sequences, the plan of action conveyed by a written presentation at the start of filming, along with some ideas of themes and characters.
Furthermore in this initial preparation stage, costume was important to establish. There was a descriptive 'street' dress code on the Facebook event, and the cast adhered to this to the best of their abilities. Knowing there might be some limitations, we supplied choice garments in order to maximise their 'street' look, as well as catering to the sports element with gym wear and tennis rackets. When all were assembled and dressed appropriately, we left for Dulwich Park.

Location: We chose Dulwich park because of its close proximity, sense of local community and availability of public facilities such as tennis courts. We were able to use these courts for our full advantage in shooting the sports scenes, as they matched our preconceived ideas of the slightly run-down, definitely not state-of-the-art or moneyed aesthetic. This was a nice contrast to the image of tennis as an exceedingly middle-class pursuit, played in spotless whites upon a freshly manicured astro-turf. Ours we gravelly, grey and bedraggled, but that added to its rough charm.
The social, 'human interest' scenes were shot in and around the Dulwich Picture Gallery grounds, which posses an timelessly beautiful and other-worldly quality that juxtaposed with our motley crew of extras milling about it.



Filming: A key element of filming was the use of candid camera; as a documentary we want our subjects to act as naturally as possible, particularly in a situation they may not be wholly comfortable in, such as filming. Thus many of our 'socialising' shots were recorded unbeknownst to the subjects, and I feel this was pivotal in securing the feeling naturalness and familiarity 'Backhand' achieves. Many of the cast were never even given direct instructions on how to act, and so instead made conversation with their friends to pass the time, yet unknowing using our time well.

SL.