From the Big Mead we drove up to Luccombe, and you can see in some of the shots that the sun is starting to set, but this left an idyllic glow over the setting of the clifftops which benefited the tone of the scene well. The first problem that I encountered once I got there was choosing where to park the car for the Father and Son to walk to, and from there also choosing where to have them emerge, since on screen this needs to look as though they have just left the Big Mead.
I have added about 3 extra minutes to my timeline, which isn't as much footage as some of the other scenes because I wanted it to be a climatic summation of the scenes at the Big Mead, and so this was an attempt to conclude the journey in a concise but thought-provoking finale, before the epilogue at the roadside.
The screenshots above highlight some of the continuity problems that I encountered with this scene. During filming the van in the first shot left the area, and so when edited together this would look inconsistent if the van was in one shot but absent in the next. Consequently I filmed this again with just our car so that I could maintain the seamless flow I had tried to keep throughout.
The arc shot which circles my character beautifully captured the coast in the backdrop. The fading light complements the sequence because this is the scene that brings this part of the story to a close, and is fitting because the day is coming to a close as well.
The out of focus blur on this shot was entirely unintentional and was in fact supposed to be a push focus to me in the distance. However when I watched this back I felt that it added something deeper to the film, about how Dylan had become redundant when looking at the bond between the Father and Son. The blur contributes to how Dylan's presence has become irrelevant and undermined by the familial relationship he sees before him. So I have decided to leave this shot in my timeline. It reminds me of the 2014 Christmas Special of Black Mirror, White Christmas, featuring Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall. The concept of that episode was about how you have the capacity, using technology, to 'block' other humans, which results in you seeing only a silhouette of their figure and being unable to communicate with them. I felt that the blurred effect here seemed to recreate that visual metaphor of physical detachment, where Dylan's importance was fading.
The most integral part of this scene is where Dylan and the Father finally lock eyes, albeit at a distance, but this culminates their characters' relationship in a way that doesn't involve any dialogue or even being in close proximity. Inspired by the ending to Sicario, which also doesn't use dialogue but uses the lingering stare between two characters to elicit suspense, this scene is designed to show the forgiveness and acceptance of both Dylan and the Father. It was important to film from both character's perspectives in order to demonstrate how the moment was significant for the both of them. I have filmed close ups of both characters but I like how the screenshots above frame the characters at a distance where they can't work out what the other is thinking.
I only reduced this sequence by 1 minute, which shows how by this point I had become quite efficient at capturing the shots in a single take.
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