Shoot Schedule

A Second Chance — Music Video · BlueForest Studios

Day 1 · Thu Aug 20 · Panic Point · 3:30 PM–1:30 AM Day 2 · Sat Aug 22 · Trailblazer · 8 AM–6 PM 46 units

Proposed schedule — for review. Individual shots are timed only where a setup is unique. Dance sections are budgeted by song section, not by shot: the section plays back, the performers dance it through, and we cover the whole section from two angles rather than resetting for each storyboard frame.

The two-angle rule for dance. Every dance section gets a minimum of two distinct passes: A-cam gimbal, medium (the primary — this is what the edit lives on) and B-cam slider, wide (the section in full, for scale and cutaways). Sections marked 2 angles below have that time built in. If a section is running long, the wide is the pass to shorten — never the medium.

On this page

The light — what the built beam does and doesn't depend on
Day 1 — Thu Aug 20 · Panic Point (graveyard) · 3:30 PM–1:30 AM
Day 2 — Sat Aug 22 · Trailblazer (studio, then coffin) · 8 AM–6 PM
Ten-hour days & the overtime reserve
Where this schedule is tight — and the pressure valves

The light — what the built beam does and doesn't depend on

The beam is ours. We're building the sunrise shaft as a lamp rather than waiting on a real one, so the beam itself is on a dimmer, not on a clock. What the sun still controls is the sky behind it — and that's the only part of Day 1 that can't be rescheduled.

Sunset · Aug 20

7:58 PM

Civil twilight ends

8:25 PM

Safety pass

7:30–7:58

★ Primary pass

7:58–8:25

Two passes, and the second one is the keeper.

7:30–7:58 — safety pass, real sun still up. Get one usable take of each beam shot in the can while there's guaranteed warm sky. Insurance, not the hero take.
7:58–8:25 — primary pass, civil twilight. Ambient has dropped far enough that the built beam actually reads as a beam. This is where the money take lives.

Why civil twilight beats real sunset for a built beam. A shaft of light only reads when it is meaningfully brighter than everything around it. Competing against direct sun, a practical lamp is effectively invisible — you'd be pointing a light at a scene the sun is already lighting. As ambient falls through twilight, the same fixture at the same output gains contrast for free, and the beam separates. Nothing about the rig changes; the background gets out of its way.

The beam also needs something to travel through. Haze or fog has to be running for a shaft to be visible at all — dial the atmosphere in during the safety pass so it's already right when the good light arrives.

8:25 is still a hard out — for the sky, not the beam. Once civil twilight ends the sky goes properly black, and a black sky reads as night, not dawn. Every Chorus 3 shot that shows sky has to be finished by 8:25. The beam could run all night; the dawn cannot.

S11-02 splits into two shots — recommend making this official. As flagged: S11-02a Gustav releases Brianna from the spell, and S11-02b Gustav falls back into the coffin with the sunrise light around him. Different sizes, different rigs (02b is the reverse trick), and cramming both into one slate inside a 27-minute window is how you lose one of them. Both are on the schedule below as separate units — 45 shots becomes 46.

Blocking rehearsal happens before the light is precious. Neither window is long enough to figure anything out inside it. Gustav is on his marks at 7:15 for a dry run with no camera roll, straight off the meal — which means the gold-skeleton HMU starts at 3:30 PM, at crew call, not later.

Day 1 — Thu Aug 20 · Panic Point3:30 PM call · camera wrap 12:30 AM · out 1:30 AM · night exterior graveyard · 28 of the 31 graveyard units (the 3 woods-path shots move to a separate pickup)

The day is built to a 10-hour clock: 3:30 PM to 1:30 AM. Camera wraps at 12:30 AM and the last hour is teardown, so the crew leaves at ten hours rather than running teardown as overtime on top of a 1:00 AM wrap. That only works because the coffin stays in the grave overnight — a 2-person crew returns Aug 21 to pull it and fill the hole, instead of holding the full unit for the heaviest strike of the night.

Time	Block	Shots	Unit / angles	Notes
3:30 PM30 min	Crew call · unloadSetup	—	All hands	Stage carts, generator, fog units. Gustav HMU begins now — gold skeleton, allow 3 hrs, ready by 6:30.
4:00 PM75 min	Set dress the graveSetup	—	Art / grip	Grave already open from Aug 19 prep. Coffin seated to grade, gravestone plumbed and guy-lined to a stake out of frame. No launcher to rig — the lid is pushed open by hand from inside, so this block is shorter than it was.
5:15 PM60 min	Lighting · beam rig · cameraSetup	—	Gaffer / cam	Moonlight key and tree backlight, then build and test the sunrise beam — angle, flare, and haze density all dialled now, in daylight, so nothing is being invented at 7:58. Gimbal (A) and slider (B) both built before the meal.
6:15 PM30 min	Talent ready · final marksSetup	—	All hands	Brianna wardrobe/HMU complete, Gustav out of makeup by 6:30. Company move to the hero grave and set marks.
6:45 PM30 min	Meal	—	—	Eaten early and deliberately — the crew goes into the two light passes fed, and there is no break again until wrap.
7:15 PM15 min	Rehearse Chorus 3 — dryNo roll	S11-01 · S11-02a/b	Both cams standing by	Walk the release beat and the fall-back-into-coffin. Sun is still up — do not burn either pass on blocking.
7:30 PM28 min	Safety pass — real sunChorus 3 · 3:21–3:53	S11-01 S11-02a S11-02b	A: gimbal MS B: slider WS	One usable take of each, banked. Warm sky is guaranteed here, so this is the insurance policy — if anything goes wrong in the primary pass, the day is still covered. Beam is up but fighting the sun; don't chase it yet.
7:58 PM27 min	★ Primary pass — civil twilightChorus 3 · 3:21–3:53Hard out 8:25	S11-02b S11-02a S11-04 · S11-05	A: gimbal MS B: slider WS	The keeper takes. Ambient has dropped and the built beam finally separates — 02b (beam strikes Gustav, reverse trick into the coffin) goes first while the contrast is best, then 02a. Brianna's dazed exit follows on the same fading sky. Roll both cameras on everything.
8:25 PM20 min	Relight to full nightSetup	—	Gaffer / grip	Swing from the dawn look to moonlit night, fog units up to full. Crew already ate at 6:45, so this is a working turnaround, not a break.
8:45 PM40 min	The resurrectionPre-Chorus · 1:08–1:25	S4-02 · S4-03 S4-04	A: locked B: handheld	The lid bursts open, then Gustav rises (shot in reverse). Lid is pushed hard from inside — no launcher, no reset between takes beyond closing it again. If hands catch the frame for a few frames, that's a paint-out, not a retake. Simplification buys back 20 minutes here.
9:25 PM40 min	Chorus 1 Pt 1 — spell1:25–1:412 angles	S5-01 · S5-02 S5-03 · S5-04	A: gimbal MS B: slider WS	Whole section per pass. Gustav advances, draws the baton, casts; Brianna's hands rise on the marionette beat. Grab the baton macro insert while the section is lit.
10:05 PM40 min	Chorus 1 Pt 2 — puppet dance1:41–1:572 angles	S6-01 · S6-02 S6-03	A: gimbal MS B: slider WS	Conducting into full puppet control, ending on the world-tear whip. Same lighting as Pt 1 — this is why the two sit back to back.
10:45 PM35 min	Chorus 2 + Bridge — graveyard2:33–3:04 · 3:05–3:202 angles	S9-02 · S9-04 S10-01 · S10-03	A: gimbal orbit B: locked	The counter-swirl: performers circle one way, camera orbits the other. Run the orbit in both directions so the edit can pick. Lightning insert (S9-04) is a locked-off plate — B-cam grabs it during an A-cam reset.
11:20 PM30 min	Intro + Verse 1 at the stone0:35–0:52 · 0:52–1:08	S2-02 · S2-03 · S2-04 S3-03 · S3-04	A: static / macro	Brianna only — Gustav goes to wrap here, pulling in a long day in prosthetics. Kneeling at the stone, clearing the inscription, the incantation, the ground glow.
11:50 PM20 min	Pre-Intro — graveyard edge0:00–0:35	S1-04 · S1-05 S1-06	A: slow push / static	Hero stone in heavy fog, Brianna's face in the fog, her step into the graveyard. Fog-dependent, so it stays at Panic Point.
12:10 AM10 min	Final wideChorus 3 outro · 3:53–4:00	S11-06	A: slow pull back	Wide graveyard, quiet again, hero grave still. Sky is fully black by now, so this one gets the sky replacement — which is exactly why it moved out of the twilight window and freed those minutes for the beam.
12:20 AM10 min	Slack · pickupsContingency	—	As needed	The only float on Day 1. If the night held, spend it on a second pass at whatever felt thin.
12:30 AM60 min	Camera wrap · teardown	—	All hands	Lighting, grip, fog and gravestone struck; coffin stays in the grave overnight, hole fenced or covered and made safe. Out at 1:30 AM — ten hours from call.
Aug 212 crew	Return · coffin + fillNext day	—	2-person crew	Pull the coffin, backfill the grave, final site check with Panic Point. A fraction of the cost of holding the full unit past 1:30 AM to do the same work tired.
FLEX15 min	Pre-Intro — woods path0:00–0:35Off the day	S1-01 · S1-02 S1-03	A: dolly forward	Up-angle branches, jogging tracking shot, the earbud reverse. Not location-locked — any wooded path matches, so these come off Day 1 entirely and get picked up separately with a 2-person crew. This is what bought the schedule its breathing room.

◆ dance section, timed by song section 2 angles gimbal MS + slider WS built in Hard out sky-locked, cannot slip Off the day moved to a separate pickup

Day 2 — Sat Aug 22 · Trailblazer Studios, Raleigh8:00 AM call · camera wrap 5:05 PM · out 6:00 PM · studio dance world first, then coffin interior · 15 shots

Coffin goes last — makeup drives the order. Phillip wears intricate bones glued to his face for the coffin work, and taking them off can leave red marks on the skin. Anything shot after that removal risks not matching, so the coffin block sits at the end of the day and the makeup comes off at wrap. The studio dance world is lit first thing and shot through the middle of the day; the coffin interior is built and lit during the afternoon buffer while the studio is still running.

The consequence to plan around: the tightest shot in the film lands on the least-fresh makeup. S11-03 is a macro ECU — one eye opening, the wink — and it now shoots around 4:20 PM, six hours into the prosthetic. That's the right call for the skin, but it means a dedicated HMU touch-up pass before the coffin block is not optional. It's scheduled at 3:05 PM, in parallel with the relight, so it costs nothing.

Time	Block	Shots	Unit / angles	Notes
8:00 AM120 min	Crew call · studio world buildSetup	—	All hands	Light the studio world in the main space — window rig, hard shafts, haze, magenta/cyan/gold. Gustav HMU begins 8:00, bones glued, ready by 11:00. Coffin set stays in its crate until the afternoon.
10:00 AM30 min	Choreo rehearsal — BriannaNo roll	—	Playback	Brianna runs Verse 2, Pre-Chorus 2 and Chorus 2 to playback while Gustav is still in makeup. Free rehearsal time — use all of it.
10:30 AM30 min	Verse 2 opener — Brianna solo1:58–2:14	S7-01	A: static wide	The frozen mid-pose establishing wide. Brianna only — the one studio shot that doesn't need Gustav, so it fills the gap before he's out of makeup instead of idling the unit.
11:00 AM45 min	Verse 2 — she wakes for real1:58–2:142 angles	S7-02 · S7-03	A: gimbal MS B: slider WS	The re-awakening, then dancing by choice. First block with both performers — build in a take or two of margin while everyone finds the room.
11:45 AM30 min	Meal	—	—	Gustav stays in makeup through the break.
12:15 PM50 min	Pre-Chorus 2 — full choreo2:15–2:322 angles	S8-01 · S8-02 S8-03 · S8-04	A: gimbal orbit B: slider WS	Faces in saturated colour, the pair hitting the beat, the orbit through window shafts, Mahler at peak charisma. Densest section of the film — four storyboard frames, one continuous section pass.
1:05 PM55 min	Chorus 2 — the peak2:33–3:042 angles	S9-01 · S9-03	A: gimbal WS B: whip / handheld	The biggest dance moment in the video and the longest section (31 sec). Two shots on the board, but it earns the most time on the day — light exploding, then the whip into abstract colour. Do not let this one absorb an earlier overrun.
2:00 PM35 min	Bridge — counter-swirl3:05–3:202 angles	S10-02	A: gimbal orbit B: slider WS	The studio half of the circling bridge — must match the orbit direction and speed shot on Day 1 (S10-01/03). Pull those files up on set before rolling.
2:35 PM30 min	Studio buffer · cutawaysContingency	—	As needed	Last chance at the studio world before it's struck — retakes on whichever section felt weakest, plus cheap cutaways: hands, feet, trumpet, light through haze.
3:05 PM30 min	Coffin set · relight · HMU touch-upSetup	—	Gaffer / grip / HMU	Build and light the coffin interior; strike what's needed of the studio. In parallel: full makeup touch-up on Phillip before the tightest framing in the film — six hours into the prosthetic, this is the pass that saves S11-03.
3:35 PM45 min	Coffin — Intro + Verse 10:35–0:52 · 0:52–1:08	S2-01 · S3-01 S3-02	A: static, tight	Gustav only, sealed-coffin framing. Fingers tapping, eyes snap open, singing from under the earth. Playback through a single speaker so he can perform to it inside the box.
4:20 PM30 min	Coffin — Pre-Chorus + the wink1:08–1:25 · 3:21–3:53	S4-01 · S11-03	A: locked, high-speed	Lid punching on the beat (high-speed), then the macro ECU wink — the last frame of the film and the tightest shot in it. Shoot the wink while the touch-up is freshest.
4:50 PM15 min	Coffin safety · pickupsContingency	—	A: locked	Extra takes on the wink and the lid punches. Nothing after this needs the bones on — makeup comes off at wrap.
5:05 PM55 min	Camera wrap · strike	—	All hands	Full 55 minutes to strike the studio and the coffin set and clear Trailblazer. Out at 6:00 — ten hours from call. Phillip out of makeup during strike.

Ten-hour days & the overtime reserve

Both days are now built to land inside ten hours rather than planning to run past it. OT stays available, but it's the reserve, not the plan.

Why OT still beats a pickup day. Both locations rent for over $1,000 per day before a single crew member is paid. A pickup day means paying that location fee again, plus a full day rate for everyone, plus a second round of the three-hour gold-skeleton makeup, plus re-dressing the grave. Paying the existing crew an overtime rate for an extra hour — set already built, lit, and in makeup — is dramatically cheaper for the same footage.

Day	Call → out	Reserve	What changed / what it buys
Day 1	3:30 PM → 1:30 AM camera wrap 12:30 AM	to 2:00 AM	Exactly ten hours, teardown included. Three changes bought that: the later 3:30 call, the lid launcher removed (−20 min on the resurrection block and less to rig), and the coffin left in the grave overnight, which turns the heaviest part of strike into a 2-person visit on Aug 21. The half-hour of float at 12:20 AM is the first thing OT would extend.
Day 2	8:00 AM → 6:00 PM camera wrap 5:05 PM	to 8:00 PM	Ten hours with a full 55-minute strike protected at the end. The studio is the cheaper room to hold, so anything lost on Day 1 that isn't graveyard-locked should land here — but note OT here also means more hours in prosthetics for Phillip, not just more hours on the clock.

Still to confirm before Aug 20, or the reserve isn't real:

Panic Point occupancy to 1:30 AM as the baseline — the plan now needs the site until 1:30, not 1:00. Confirm that first, then confirm what a run to 2:00 AM would cost.
Aug 21 site access for the 2-person return to pull the coffin and backfill — the whole ten-hour Day 1 depends on it.
Each crew member's OT rate and threshold, agreed in writing at booking. Ethan Ramirez is booked at $650/10, and this day is now exactly 10 — so any slip at all starts the OT clock. Better to have that conversation now than at 12:45 AM.

Where this schedule is tight — and the pressure valves

Both days now fit inside ten hours, but the margins are thin and unevenly distributed: Day 1 holds 10 minutes of float, Day 2 holds 30. That asymmetry is deliberate — the graveyard work is sky-locked and location-locked, and the studio isn't.

Day 1's float is 10 minutes, and one block is doing the heavy lifting

Moving the three woods-path shots off the day entirely is what made a 12:30 AM camera wrap possible. They need bare branches and a path — not a graveyard — so they can be picked up at any wooded location, any day, with the same 2-person crew already returning on Aug 21. That valve is now spent, so if the night runs long the remaining moves are:

1 · Take the 10-minute float at 12:20 AM.
2 · Shorten the B-cam wide on Chorus 1 Pt 2. Pt 1 and Pt 2 share a lighting setup and a location; if Pt 1's wide is good, Pt 2 can lean on it. Worth 10–15 minutes.
3 · Push S11-06 to the Aug 21 return. It's a locked-off wide of an empty graveyard with no performers and a sky replacement coming anyway — the 2-person crew can shoot it before they pull the coffin. Worth another 10.
4 · Then, and only then, go into OT past 1:30 AM.

The simplified lid is a real gain — confirm it against the build

Dropping the spring launcher for a hard push from inside takes roughly 20 minutes off the resurrection block and a chunk off the 4:00 PM set-dress, and it removes the one mechanism on the day that could fail mid-take and cost a reset. Visible hands for a few frames are a straightforward paint-out. The set-build guide still documents the extension-spring and cable launcher, including its cut sheets — that needs updating before anyone builds to it.

The gold-skeleton makeup is on the critical path both days

Three hours of HMU means Gustav is unavailable until 6:30 PM on Day 1 and 11:00 AM on Day 2, with the unit needing him almost immediately after each. Day 1 has no recovery if makeup runs over — twilight doesn't wait. Worth a full timed makeup test before the shoot day so the three-hour figure is measured rather than assumed.

Day 2 now asks more of it: with the coffin last, Phillip is in the bones from 11:00 AM to roughly 5:05 PM. That's the correct trade for his skin, but it's a long stretch in prosthetics and the touch-up pass at 3:05 PM is what keeps the closest shot in the film usable.

Solo blocks are deliberately at the edges

Day 1 ends with Brianna-only work (Intro/Verse 1, then the Pre-Intro fog shots), so Gustav goes to wrap around 11:20 PM instead of standing by in full makeup until camera wrap. Day 2 opens with the one Brianna-only studio shot while Gustav is still being glued. Keeping those at the edges is what makes two ten-hour days survivable for the performers.

The biggest single dependency on Day 1: the schedule assumes the grave is dug and the coffin placed on Aug 19. If that prep day slips, the 4:00 PM set-dress block has to absorb a grave dig — and at 75 minutes, it can't. Everything downstream is light-locked, so a slip there doesn't cost an hour, it costs the twilight window.