Tuesday, the 11th of July – The detail Shekhar chooses to incorporate into his shots always impresses me. Today there was an intimate scene between Raleigh and the Queen, however Raleigh couldn’t get too close too soon. It took quite some time for him to feel confident to stand close to Her Majesty…

In order to emphasise this ‘temporary blockage’ in emotion between them, Shekhar chose to shoot the first half of the scene through a very detailed and heavy wooden bed-head. The result was engaging – it felt as if both the Queen and Raleigh were caged in, restricted and unable to get close to each other, even if they wanted to.
What was also great about shooting through the bed-head was that the audience caught only flickers of the Queen’s and Raleigh’s face in the beginning of the scene. As the scene progressed however the audience could see more and more of the pair as the camera tracked across and away from the bed-head. This ‘reveal’ was very compelling. As you can imagine, it was very satisfying when we were finally able to see the Queen and Raleigh in full and hence, powerful.