Production day 1

Dealing with the weather

It was the first time filming a movie and it was a learning experience. The day started with a very nice sunny weather.  It was very surprising to have such a bright day, because compare to the weather of the other days did not match. This caused a big worry for everybody in the group as our first conversation was about what would happen if today is an outlier and the next day we film, it goes back to cloudy weather. We decided to take advantage of the weather by filming the more calm shots that suited the sunny weather. We also had to change our location to a bench near by. The original location had one side in which was too dark compared to the rest.

 

The original location with the normal weather we expected while we were location scouting

 

The day of filming with the new location and the sunny lighting

 Changing the plan

 

This was the first of many deviations of the plan, which was something I wasn’t very happy about. In paper our shots made sense and they worked well together but in practice things weren't working. We had to change some shots because of the new location or the sun getting in the way.

 

For example this shot didn’t look right, with the camera being too shaky and it was hard to follow, so we changed it to be a over the shoulder shot instead of a pov.

 

Little details

A lot of us didn’t know how to play chess but as our story relies on a character noticeably knowing about chess and one who didn’t, we tried to set it up the best way we could, this took a bit of time to familiarize with the chess moves we wanted the characters to made. The other thing that took up a chunk of the time was the lack of confidence and knowledge of the equipment and that it was the first time the actors had acted in something.

 

We knew about this beforehand and the actors were still very good. But In hindsight there were some extreme faces and actions that were needed but caused trouble for the actors as it took time for them be comfortable doing them.

In general this day was all about getting comfortable with what we were doing and adapting, A lot of thing didn't go as planned, it was slow to figure things out and it wasn't as productive as I would have liked. But what we did do today were important necessary things that will help us go faster the 2nd day.

Planning before

 

Now that our film portfolio was submitted and our location was chosen, it was time to make sure that everything was ready. We definitely did not want to be at the location ready to film and then have something important missing, so our director made a nice list through text messages about clothing, accessories and objects needed. It was important to remember about the clothing as there is a big chance that we will be in the film as extras, and we can't clash against the main characters when it comes to how we look. So, the most casual boring clothing for everyone. 

For our accessories our director was the only one who has a chess set and they also decided to bring the makeup needed. A bandanna was needed, and I already have some so I'm in charge of bringing it. We wanted to add more props like poms poms but though I thought I had ones, in the end I couldn't find them. I also have the phone that we are going to use to record the movie, so I am making sure that it has space and is fully charged for filming. 

To prepare for filming, I downloaded adobe premiere rush on my phone, and I have been playing around with it. Figuring out focuses, options and the menus so when it comes today of filming it won't be the first time looking at the app. I did a lot of messing around with the focus as that will be an important part of our film, and I wanted to understand a bit how it worked in the app. then I went into the more fun parts like random transitions or titles, just trying everything I could do. 

one of my tests.

Finalizing the details is an exciting idea because it means we are almost there to film, but it can also be kind of boring going through a checklist, its similar to a rocket launch. We have to make sure everything is in order before, so it doesn’t end in catastrophe after. 

 

Film portfolio

The film portfolio was definitely the hardest part to work on. The decision making was easy, we had a plan, but the problem was execution of the plan. For the most part it went well, on my side I did all my things without any problems. Our editor didn't have too much to do right now but did help when they could, our cinematographer had all the ideas ready, and our director was really organized and tried to make sure everything went as planned. 

The problem zone happened when it came to actually putting all the cinematography in the portfolio. Our cinematographer got locked of their account as they forgot to change their password. And though we already had talked about all the types of shots we wanted and there was a pretty clear idea on what we were going to do, our cinematographer couldn't actually put anything in the official document. 

We figured out how to get over that by them doing the shot list in their notes app and doing the story board in paper based on the notes and then taking a photo of it. The ones who had access to the document would type in what they did, which worked but it took a long time and parts were missing. But then we ran into another problem which was the formatting of the original version of the shot list was all messed up.  The formatting caused even more time delays as weird stuff kept happening. 

Old format

We were on a time crunch and our director decided that we couldn't continue fighting against the weird formatting issues. So, a decision was made, and we made our own format that was easier for us to understand and work with. We didn't want to stop using the original document as that was what was given to us to use, and we had already put so much time into it but changing it was better overall. It took extra time to copy everything again into the new format, but we knew it was going to be worth it as the new personalized format will let us work faster when filming. 

New format

In the end even with everybody working together, we turned the portfolio late. It was a sad thing but at least we turned in something we were happy with and one we would use. 

Scouting locations

Last class, we went on an adventure outside to scout a location for the film.  We are limited to our school's patio as a general location, but the patio is so big, we are able to choose specific areas for our group to record at. 

Before going in, my group already had an idea of where we were going to film. We wanted one of the picnic tables near the garden area because it was one of the prettier and more isolated areas in the patio. When we got there, we came across some possible problems that we could have while filming so we started searching for another option. For option 2 we chose an area that was closer to buildings. With the two options decided on, we had to weigh the pros and cons for our final decision. 

This was our first option and what we pictured when we were working on the movie. We loved the fact that it had a garden in the background and a lot of plants surrounding the area. The foliage gave a very lively and calm atmosphere but was also one of the negatives of this location. The plants, especially the tree, can be very distracting if a windy day happens. And the fact that if we wanted to do a shot that showed the side opposite to the garden, there could be random people there that were not planned. 

This was the second location, one that countered all the cons of the first one but had cons of itself. This location didn't have any moving parts, or people filming close by so there weren't any possible distractions. But one of the biggest cons of this location is that it didn't have a table to put the chess set, so if we wanted to film, we would have needed to get a table, move one of picnic benches, or use the little walls as our table. The other con was that it was a pretty boring background as it was just the white building. 

We ended up choosing option 1, as we figured out how to overcome most of the cons. For people walking in shots that don't feature the garden we will use shallow focus, to make sure the background doesn't stand out. The tree won't be too much of a worried as a lot of our shots won't have the tree and the character action in the film would be too over-the-top that it will keep the audience focus on them. To make sure that the attention stays on the character instead of the background, the characters will wear out of place costumes that won't blend.