Going through the Footage

           I’m so glad that we finished filming, and now it’s time to put it all together! Before we can edit we need to go through all of the footage that was taken. We knew this was going to be a lot longer process than it has been in the past. This short film is the longest project yet that we have done. My group and I plan on meeting up soon to review our footage and go through it. However, I thought it would be a good idea to look through it and pick the clips that I thought were the best. This way, I can show my group mates the clips and see what they think. This will make it a faster process and more efficient. Since I filmed, I have all the footage on my phone which allows me to have access to all of it. I had to see which clips came out the best, but also put into consideration the audio in the background.

         I started off by looking at the first set of clips that I took for the first scene. Each clip from this scenes looked pretty good so I just favorited the one I thought was overall the best. I continued to do this for the rest of the scenes. I tried to pick the clips with the best shots and angles. While filming, I was moving a lot to create tracking shots. So, I also chose the clip that looked the smoothest and most professional. I had just gotten a new phone right before filming so it was perfect timing. The camera quality is very good and doesn’t show much movement which allowed the footage to look very smooth. I continued to go through the clips for each scene favoriting the best one. For some, I favorited multiple which I will show my group mates to come to a decision of which one we will use. Now that I have gone through the footage, I can meet up with my group mates and picking our clips will be a lot easier. 

Filming: part two

           Once they were both inside, Jeffery walked around snooping. Paige then opened up a box and pulled out the picture of her and her ex. Jeffery then proceeded to ask questions about the picture. Paiges brushes it off and then Jefferey leaves. This was our second scene of dialogue. Later, I realized that I didn’t get a close up shot of the picture, so I did that at the end. It was now time for an outfit change. This scene was of Paige on a run so she changed into athletic clothing. I filmed her running and when she was coming back, she noticed a letter in her mailbox. This is when she looks around and sees Jeffery, her neighbor looking at her and waving. 

          Paige grabs the letter and runs inside to open it. It was then time for another clothing change. Both Paige and Jeffery put on a different outfit for the next scene to show there has been a time change. Then I film the next scene where it cuts to Paige installing a camera using tools. Jeffery comes up to her while she’s doing this and they have another conversation. I filmed over the shoulder shots during the conversation and took multiple takes. It was now time to start filming another scene where Paige is in the car. I filmed her driving up to the house and then stopping when she sees another letter in the mailbox and took a POV shot walking towards the mailbox. Then I film the next scenes where she goes inside to call her friend and then confronts the neighbor. Once the neighbor denies that it is him, she goes inside and I film the last scene of the ex. We were finally finished filming our short film! 

Filming: part one

          Once I had felt that I filmed enough takes of the first clip, we moved on to the next. In this clip, Paige opened the car door, got out, and went to the trunk of the car. First I stood at the front of the car and took shots of her getting out of the car. I then realized that my reflection was shown in the car of me filming. I went to the back of the car and starting filming from this spot. Luckily, my reflection was no longer in the car so I then took a few takes from there. Next, Paige was supposed to open the trunk. I thought that a trunk shot would be a great idea for this clip. I went in the back seat of the car and opened up the little trunk access window. This way, I could hold the camera and get a good trunk shot. 

           Once I found a good position, Paige opened the trunk and grabbed out a box. Then our next clip was of Paige walking into the house to set the box down. I took a few takes of this as well. Now this is where Jeffery, the creepy neighbor comes into the film. I filmed Paige walking back to the car where Jeffery pops up. This is the first scene where there is dialogue. I had our script up on my phone which allowed me to read their lines to them and help them remember. I filmed this scene multiple times to make sure that we had at least one really good take of this scene. Jeffery offers to help Paige bring boxes inside, so I film them both grabbing boxes and walking inside. I filmed this a couple of times and this scene was now over. 

Filming Day!

           My group and I finally filmed today! I picked up my friends Paige and Kelly and then went to Leo’s house. We all met up here because this is where our filming location was. Once we were all there, we got all of our props together. I got the boxes I had brought out of my car and we taped the boxes closed. Then we wrote on the boxes words like “kitchen” and “office”. We did this to help the audience understand that the girl is moving in. Next, we had to get the letters set up. We got the envelops and paper to put inside of them. Kelly wrote on the envelops with a red marker and weird handwriting. Then she wrote a couple of creepy letters to put in the envelopes. 

              Once we had all of this done, I had to get the picture printed that we needed. The printed photo that we needed had to be of the girl and her ex together. I brought Paige and Leo over to a good place and took a picture of them siting together. Then, I sent the picture to my mom to have her print it. She said she would drop the picture off which helped us so that we could start filming. Once we finished with all of this, we got to filming right away.  The first scene that I needed to film was Paige pulling up to the driveway in the car. I filmed this a couple times to make sure that I was could get the best shot possible. I always film multiple takes to try and avoid having to re-film later. Each time she would pull into the driveway, I would stop filming so that this was one clip. 

Preparing for Filming

           Tomorrow is now our official filming day! I’m so happy to finally be filming now. We’ve had a couple setbacks but we’re finally ready to start filming our short film. It is important to make sure we have a smooth filming experience and are prepared. To ensure this, I thought it would be a good idea to create a checklist. I made a list of everything we need to film. I included things like props, the clothing the actors need to wear, and more. One of the main props that we need are boxes. Luckily, I have plenty of boxes that I have been keeping for when we would film. We need multiple boxes to create the setting that the girl is moving into a new home. I also included tape on the list that we will use to seal the boxes.

          Another important prop that we need is a printed photo of the girl and her ex together. This will be used in a part of the film. The girl will pull the picture out of a box and then the neighbor will proceed to ask questions. We won’t be able to get the picture until we film. This is because we need to take a picture of them together first. Once we take the picture, I will go back to my house to print it. Luckily I live really close to Leo’s house which is where we are filming. We also need some tools and a camera for a certain scene. Kelly will be bringing these things for us. I also informed our actors of how many outfits they would need. Since our film is acting like it’s over a series of days, they need a few outfits to help the audience understand this. Now that everything is planned out and a checklist was made, we are more than prepared to start filming. 

Covid Delays

          My group and I were prepared and ready to film today. However, we ran into some problems and have to postpone our filming date. One of our main actors Aaron, can no longer be apart of our film. He was playing the part as the neighbor. Sadly, his mom was possibly exposed to the Corona Virus. She is going to get tested but since we won’t know the results in time, we didn’t want to take any chances. It is important that we all stay safe during these times. We quickly had to find another actor. We couldn’t lose anymore time so it was important that we find someone as quickly as possible. Luckily we were able to do this. Once we knew Aaron couldn’t play the part we asked another friend. 

           Our other friend Jeffery, agreed to playing the part. We had mentioned something to Jeffery about the film prior. This helped us a lot because we had him as a backup plan. This really worked out in our favor and helped to not cost us anymore time. Finding someone to replace Aaron so quickly made everything a lot easier. Realizing how much the virus spreads, it made us want to take extra precautions. Since we know had a new actor, he had to learn the lines for his part. Right away I sent him the script so he could get an idea of his part. Since we are no longer filming today, we needed to find a new filming day. Luckily, we are now on winter break so this made it easy for us. So now we are filming on Monday the 21st. 

Filming Soon

          We’re finally filming tomorrow and I can’t wait! Since we are getting ready to film, it is important to make sure everything will go smoothly. We also need to be prepared so we can film efficiently. The first thing I did was review the script. I wanted to get a better idea of what was going to be filmed. Since I am the one that will be filming and directing, it is important that I know what is going on. Going into filming, I will know what needs to be filmed and how I need to film it. I also thought it would be a good idea to review our storyboard. That way I know what angles we planned on doing. I want to be as prepared as possible so that everything goes smoothly and I know how everything needs to be done. 

           Another very important thing to consider before filming is safety. With the Corona virus still going on, we have to be very cautious and make sure we are staying safe. We will make sure that we will be wearing masks and our actors will only take them off when we are filming. This will help us stay as safe as possible. We will also be using hand sanitizer and washing our hands often. With the virus, filming and production has changed greatly. It is so important that we stay safe when we’re together to keep everyone safe. We also want to keep our family’s safe and everyone else around us. It’s good to cover all the safety before filming so that we have a plan and can all stay safe. Now we’re ready to film tomorrow and make our film come to life.  

Plan for December

          It’s finally December and we’re ready to make our short film come to life! Our plan for this month is to be productive and get everything done efficiently. We plan on filming during winter break which is coming up. Filming during break was a good idea for us since we have midterms coming up. We will also have more time during break and will be able to focus on our film. A very important part before we can start filming is getting the actors. I personally feel that I am not a good actor. Since I am not the best actor, I always stick to directing and filming. My group mates Kelly and Leo didn’t really want to act either. This called for finding other actors. 

         I instantly thought of my friend Paige who I feel would play the part really well. I also texted our friend Aaron to play the part of the neighbor. I was really excited when they both agreed to be in our short film. We still needed someone to play the short part of the Ex. This person would only be in the film at the very end for a short period of time. Leo decided that he would play this part since it was only a small part. Leo has usually always played parts in our previous films and he was always a great actor. Now that we have our actors we are ready to start filming. I texted my group members and we decided that we would film next Saturday on the 19th. I’m so excited to film and see how it turns out.