How to direct and shoot remotely? My Lockdown experience

  • Ilya Polyakov

During the lockdown I wrote and directed a short film about the self-isolation. All the work was done remotely - me staying in one city and the actress Varvara Shmykova and the DOP Evgeny Kozlov in another. It was an unusual experience - to make it possible I first shot a full pre-viz by myself, then we did a couple of rehearsals via Zoom. During the principal photography we a ran a Zoom chat with two devices on set and me in Moscow. All the shots, angles etc. were locked in advance, we did the blocking and camera tests, then the Zoom camera was placed on a wide angle so I could control a take and see the actress' performance. I could only see the performance during the take, but the actual footage Zhenya the DOP showed me after every take - he placed phone's camera with the Zoom on it on top of the actual camera's screen so I could watch it. Quite an experience, I would say. But I think it turned out to be a nice short, what do you think?