Fuji come through with forty percent discount on stock. Decide on shooting around 4,000 feet (approx 100 minutes) of daylight stock rated 250 ASA. Cost around £560.

Camera kit decisions made with camera assistant, Jon. Decide on Arri SR2 or SR3 with Canon T2.4 zoom and a set of Zeiss T1.3 Distagon primes. Talking to another camera operator reveals that these actually have quite a shallow depth of focus so opt for not using any 64 ASA film. Too much light? Add ND filters and keep the aperture wide, methinks. Not that too much light is likely in October in the UK.

Other decisions: no dolly and track. This gives nice effects but it’s a heavy piece of kit to transport, takes time to carry and rig and could be improvised with alternatives. Better to concentrate on actors instead and keep kit light. Support will be from tall legs, baby legs, turtle plus gib arm.

Filters: set of Tiffen ND’s, black and white promists. Promists spread contrast which means more options during grading. No colour correction needed as I’ll be shooting on daylight stock and using HMI’s instead of tungsten lighting for keys. Tungsten fills can be gelled.

Various outrageous requests: video assist with miniDV, variable speed unit and intervalometer for doing time-lapse stuff at night. Tell Jon of plan to shoot 16 by 9 (approx 1:1.85) but with a 4:3 (open) gate. He is able to inform me this will mean a ground glass will have to be marked up by hand with the correct proportions on it.

Hire company says: should be okay. But insurance for up to £100k might not be enough. But I’m first in line for freebie (thanks to Jon) but to call back on October 2nd just in case they get a paid booking. That means I won’t know if I have the camera until just two days before filming. Music cue: David Bowie/Queen Under Pressure.

But me no buts.