Production Diary: DAY FOUR (11/01/17)
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| (For more information on the fourth day, click on the image to see my diary entry on the group blog |
On the fourth and FINAL day, we managed to reshoot all the bathroom scenes again, this time with barely any mistakes (which I'm thankful for due to the fact that the steadicam was unavailable again and holding the camera still was a real workout for me).
While we filmed in the bathroom with NO INTERRUPTIONS!! (since one of the dancers suggested we put a 'filming in progress' sign on the door in case anyone disturbs us), the dancers had plenty of time to practice and perfect their routine, checking for studio availability at the same time, so we move in as fast as it clears up. It was stressful and fast-paced, but we got all the bathroom scenes shot in half an hour, including some angles to play with in case of emergency.
As soon as the dance studio was free, we shot the scenes of Eleanor and Tory walking in, with panning shot, high angle and tracking shot behind her as all the dancers gather around to stat dancing. We did a couple of versions of that as we had different ideas which we could choose between in post-production. We also managed to record some background noise, by making the dancers talk continuously during the scene which we will use to increase the realism of the situation in the third scene.
In the last 25 minutes, we brought the shutter speed of the camera up, so we avoid any blurriness of the shots, as well as white balancing to adjust to the new light in the room and we shot the dance scenes back to back. This was very tiring for both the dancers and me and Erika, since they were forced to repeat the routine over and over again, while me and Erika struggled with the technicality of the shots, smoothness with no steadicam and helping to compliment the moves through camera work. The only reason we were able to organise all of this in such a short amount of time is because we had made a shot list for that day, researched on ways to film dace scenes and had had a practice during the failure the third day was.
Production Diary: DAY THREE (04/01/17)
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| (For more information on the third day, click on the image to see my diary entry on the group blog) |
Day Three! FINAL DAY IF FILMING!! ... or so we thought.
Although we might look happy and excited to film on the image above, we seriously went through hell while filming. Not only was the filming moved to 18 days later, due to the college closing early for Christmas, but we also had other problems such as:
1) Studio Availability (constant change of location with bad lighting, until we only moved to our first location 20 minutes before the time to go.
2) Short amount of time to teach the dance and practice before filming.
3) Reshooting bathroom the scenes, since both Eliza (Eleanor) and Erika (Tory) wore different clothes which wouldn't make sense for continuity
4) A lot of people to work with and not enough time to manage and organise properly
5) Unavailable steadicam and blurry footage due to very low shutter speed mode on the camera.
Overall, the day was pretty unproductive and stressful, with barely any footage to use and the need of reshooting. Me and Erika took turns in filming, which was definitely a challenge with no steadicam (pretty sure I'm going to be sore for awhile now), but the footage is not as good as we expected it to be,
However, on the positive side, we got to practice things once more and get an idea of the way we need to plan ahead for busy shooting days like this one. The footage from this day can be mainly used for 'Behind the scenes', background noise to add in post - production and any backup shots if they are needed. Now, we only have one more day left to film - let's hope everything goes smooth and it is our last day of shooting!
Production Diary: DAY TWO (14/12/16)
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| (For more information on the second day, click on the image to see the group diary blog post) |
Unlike what we predicted, the second day - where we filmed the bathroom scene seems to be the most stressful so far, as it had to be rescheduled a few times and there were a lot of problems to overcome.
For instance, the main prop - Eleanor's bag belonged to one of the actors, who unfortunately wasn't able to make it on the second day of shooting, so I had to buy the same bag to avoid reshooting the big alleyway scene. (Yay!! How's that for wasting money??) It a very exhausting day, since we had to cramp all the filming in 2 hours, without having any previous practice run of lines or having thought about angles as mush as we had for the alleyway scene.
Another thing we struggled with was the difficult location - A bathroom on the the first floor of Kingston College - secluded and smart location, right? What can go wrong? Except ... for people continuously coming in and out of the bathroom, disturbing both the actors and the set.
On that day, I was the one operating the camera and directing, along with Liyjan who took the Behind the Scenes pictures and Videos, while Erika made sure to practice her lines with Eliza. However, we could say that overall, the day was productive, as we technically filmed all the scenes we needed and have yet to look through them and decide if any reshoots are needed. Using the steadicam was definitely my favourite part of filming this scene, as it allowed me to shoot stable shot in difficult positions and an awkwardly long time.
But the point is, So far, we have two scenes and all that is left to film is one more day of the dancers! Exciting!!
Production Diary: DAY ONE (11/12/16)
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| (For more information on the first day, click on the image to see the group diary blog post) |
First day of filming is done! Yay! The hardest part is finally done (or at least I hope it is). Overall filming took two hours (including one hour preparation), despite all the difficulties and even with some major distractions such as people walking past, loud noises, and a couple of mess ups and interruptions.
Since we knew we wanted to film in the dark, we arranged to meet an hour before the sun sets, and practice all the lines and make sure everyone knows what they're doing, so we are ready to shoot as soon as it gets dark. We filmed a variety of shots in order to have more flexibility during edit, and shot variations of improvisations from the cast, in order to set the tone of the scene.
As I was in this scene for the whole time, Erika had to film and direct most of it, while I ran lines with the actors and made sure everyone is CALM and ready.
During filming, some of the cast took the initiative to vlog 'Behind the Scenes' footage (while me and Erika were trying to keep calm), as well doing fake interviews at the end to lighten up the mood (which will be shown later on). Although this has only been one of the three days of filming, we have one scene down and ready to be edited and we look forward to shooting the next one - the bathroom scene!
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