Shooting Day THREE - The Wrap Up

Today turned out to be the longest day, and we probably should have scheduled in another day - but since we were dependent on our actors, and when they were available to shoot, we had to get all the footage on this day. 
By now, we all had found our roles on set, even though we changed them around. Laura was great at keeping track with the camera log sheets and making sure that we had the right tale slates; Ben was a great audio man; and all of us always made sure to swap directing, filming and so on. 
The scenes with Hank and Roslyn together took the longest to shoot, as dialogues require not only one person to act and react, but they also need to connect and know their lines so they can interact. Since Mrs Robson (as Mrs Esper) had no experience with acting or play, she was quite nervous at the beginning and had trouble remembering the lines. But the better she got to know the routine and her co-actor Luis (as Hank), the shots we filmed became really good. We also realized that it was helping if as fewer people were standing around and trying to "help", the better it worked. We had a lot of fun filming as well, and I hope that our actors, too, enjoyed the day. We tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible, and luckily had lots of drinks, chocolates and other snacks to offer, to keep the energy up and take little breaks in between. 
As soon as all scenes with Mrs Esper were done, we needed to hurry to shoot our final scenes with Hank and the students as they were supposed to be outside and we were running out of daylight. We had to change some locations slightly so that the setting sun was not visible on camera. It helped to change some of the settings and white balance the camera several times in order to have enough light. We were not able to use the red heads as that would have seemed even more fake on screen. Luckily those scenes worked out well, and we were all relieved when we were able to say "CUT" for the last time, and wrap it up. As a thank you we had some presents for our actors and helpers such as movie tickets, and pralines. 
All in all, it worked out great and I am really happy with how effectively and creative our group worked together. Everybody was making sure that we did not forget about some shots, or different angles, and that the post production group had enough material to work with. I am very excited to see the end product of this short film! 


I learned a lot during this hands-on project. Although I am not sure if I ever become a producer or director, it was very interesting and challenging to learn about those positions in the filmmaking industry. When watching some Hollywood productions now, I appreciate the organizational work as well as the shooting way more, and I also envy them for being able to shoot with several cameras at the same time, and a budget to back them up... I enjoyed the organizational part the most and tried to always be on top of things and inform the other group members of what we had to do and who will be responsible for the different things. I am happy how well it worked out in the end - we overcame some obstacles, but still enjoyed the process.  

Shooting Day TWO

We faced quite a few challenges along the way, but today everything seemed to fall into place. We got access to an office that we could use the next day, and were also allowed in the same tute room for a few hours in the morning to finish off the "classroom" scenes. We reshot some scenes because when replaying our material from our first shooting day, we realized that some of the shots were out of focus or did not apply the rule of thirds. 

Other problems we needed to consider: 

- What time does the clock show? We tried to not have the clock in the shots we did when the time was "wrong"

- We needed to cover or take off any Griffith Uni signs that were visible in the frame

- When setting up the classroom scenes again, we needed to make sure that everything was at the same spot, so that the postproduction team could cut together different shots

While we were shooting we had some more ideas for some scenes, thus changing the script or shooting list along the way. This allowed us to be a bit creative and also make some scenes easier. We cut out a few shots as well, as we realized that they were unnecessary. For example, the scene were two school boys talk about a former petition in order to chose a school mascot, we first thought about leaving the scene out, but then decided to still shoot it in 'interview style', but left out the posters, as it would be unrealistic that they have them at  that moment. 

All in all, it was a long and successful day. We all were very happy with our main actor who played Hank - he was very concentrated and quickly found his way into the role.

Shooting Day ONE

We have our actors! Thanks to my friend Luis (who will be our Hank), and Jacquelin's mum (who will be our Roslyn), we have that weight off our shoulders.. Since both of their schedules need to be met, we had to postpone our other shooting days, but since we had planned in enough time that is manageable. It also gives us enough time to book the rooms, and find an office where we can shoot the scenes with Roslyn.

After some trouble of how to book the equipment in order to have it with us for an early start, we all made it on time at 8am - and the shooting began. We started with the establishing scenes and were very lucky with the weather. Blue skies, not too sunny yet and our chosen spot was in a nice, natural light. Everybody in the group contributed with ideas, props and preparation, and some snacks to keep us energized. 

We quickly discovered the importance that everybody has to stick to their defined roles, e.g. camera man, director, or audio. At the beginning we all kind of tried to do everything at once, but then found our responsibilities within the team.

Another problem turned out to be our "classroom". We were not able to book a tute room during uni hours, so we tried to find a room that was free for at least a couple of hours. Unfortunately we had to leave the room before we finished the scenes in that location, which puts more pressure on our future shooting days. 

 

Week 10: We need to get started!

It was good to receive feedback on our previous assignments in order to judge whether we are on the right track. 
The production schedule helped a lot to put into perspective how much time we need. I think we did a good job at dividing the production according to the characters involved as well as the locations that we need to shoot at. 
We decided to shoot all the scenes where we would not need any of our characters that are played by friends on the first day. That assured us a whole day of getting more routine on set and also to see if our time frames were realistic. All of us from 58percentforeign will play a small (or bigger) role in the production, but our main characters are yet to be found... 

Week 9: On Set Routine

This week we got a great overview of what to do and think of on set. I printed out a check-list which we will use when shooting or film. 

Pre-Shooting

RECON the location

DRESS the set

SET lights

TEST setups (mark or photograph setups) & WHITE BALANCE camera

RUN audio & TEST levels

CALL actors

REHEARSE scene with camera (DOUBLE CHECK setups, lighting & audio)

On Set Rountine

QUIET on set

CALL (DIRECTOR): "Camera"

CALL (CAMERA): "Rolling"

HEAD SLATE shot (!)

CALL (DIRECTOR): "And Action"

RUN scene

CALL (DIRECTOR): "Cut"

TAIL SLATE shot (!)

CALL (CAMERA): "Clear"

We also talked about how to direct non-actors, and I think it was good to remember that we will have only non-actors on set, which might make the production a bit harder and we have to consider more time in order to rehearse the scenes more often etc. 

Setting up a scene and shooting it from different angles, in short, going through the whole process of shooting one shot/scene, really helped to get a feeling for how long things take and what to think of. 

When we revisited the video material the following week, we could see how easily many mistakes can be prevented (making sure the head/tail slot is visible, turn on the sound, don't leave stuff lying around that doesn't belong in the frame of the shot like waterbottles etc.) 

Our group was also facing a few problems regarding our actors. We "lost" our main character, Hank, as he suddenly decided that it would be too much time that he needed to invest and with other responsibilities he did not want to commit to our project. 

But I am sure we can still find suitable characters for our missing roles. 

Week 8: Audio

The elements of a soundtrack: 
1) Narration / Voice Over: from a character, Voice of God
2) Music
3) Sound effects: Location sounds, Edit sound in afterwards
4) Dialogue: Record on location (90% of the time, Audio is recorded on location), or A.D.R (misses atmosphere, sounds easily fake)


We are using so called shotgun microphones which are not picking up too much noise from around them. That means we have to make sure to always point the microphone / boom pole at the sound we are trying to record and make sure that no unwanted noises are audible (always use the headphones etc.!)

Week 7: Lighting

This week was very interesting and important as we learned how to set up the lights on a set. I realized that this part of the process takes more time than I would have thought, and we need to plan accordingly once we start shooting. 

Steps to consider: 

1) Turn off the lights available on location, and change the light bulbs to higher wattage ones

2) Always follow your natural light source if there is one (e.g. window, visible lamp etc.)

3) Remember the "three point set up" (Key Light, Fill Light, Back/Hair Light) 

Especially when filming a dialogue, it is important to get a natural looking light on the characters, so that they neither look too bright (no shade on their face), nor too dark (half of the face is a shade, so that one eye can hardly be seen). Also the shades that the lights create behind the characters or other objects have to be eliminated, which can be a challenge in a small location. 

Due to those lessons we decided as a group to think over the locations for our production in order to either use natural light as much as possible and to use rooms that make it easy to set up lights. 

Week 5: Get to know the Camera

There was no lecture this week, but we had the chance to get used to the cameras by filming a few things, in and outside. We realized how important it is to always white balance the camera before every shot. Whenever we did not do it properly, we found the image to be slightly grainy or off color. 

In our group, we also continued our assignments and worked on our script - we had to change a fair bit in order to take out the large number of characters as well as shortening it. Cassie had a great idea to change the scenes that take place in an assembly hall full of students to an audio announcement. That way we only needed a few students and their reactions and our main character could say his speech through an announcement speaker.  We also tried to figure out, who our characters could be and what props we will need.