🎊 15. Preparing to Film 🎊

 

LOOK AT MY NEW BUNNY AHHHHHHHHH. His name is Leo (he's a lions head rabbit + we gave him the name Leo since Lionel Messi won the World Cup so yeah). He's only a month and a half old, but he has sooooo much energy, loves to run and jump, and is obsessed with food. He's still very shy, but hopefully it won't last too long!

        As Rebecca and I are preparing to film our blockbuster, 5-star, critic-raved movie opener, we've had several conversations on how we can efficiently manage this project together and organize our schedules, camera equipment, shooting locations, costumes, and props. Since we're both high schoolers with jobs (she works during the weekdays and I work on the weekends), finding available time is difficult, as well with the school clubs we're in, the gym, and other inconveniences. We're aware that life can be extremely unpredictable and frantic, so our plan is to get the majority of filming done as soon as possible and use as many hours together as we can, rather than filming on several different days. 

Actors:

        Just like I mentioned in the paragraph above, life can be very unpredictable, and this is pretty much what happened with our selected actor. My cousin Salma, who attends a local high school called West Broward, is a student that is passionate about acting and loves theater. However, due to the strain in our family and several heated arguments between them, it wasn't possible to have her be our main character. 

        So, we quickly had to improvise and decide what would be the most convenient. In the end, we decided that I would be the one acting (even though I've never even attempted at acting or anything like that). While I can be slightly camera shy, I would push aside my feelings and just do it, since I know that involving another actor might end up hindering our project. Looking back now, I feel like if we tried to film with a third person, such as my cousin, it would pretty much be impossible to get our schedules to coincide and be practical. If Rebecca and I decide that we want to include background characters or something like that, then we'll probably call up all our friends to join us and I really don't think they'll mind. 

Costumes:

        For the first few shots of our main character waking up, we decided we would have her (or should I say myself) wear a black tank top, black shorts, black socks, and have her hair be all messy. Later on, when she gets dressed, she'll wear some stiff jeans and a hoodie. Ideally, we would like her jeans to be stiff so that we could include some classic diegetic sound, rather than having some skinny jeans made out of an elastic or stretchy fabric (I'm a fan of classic denim jeans, even though they feel uncomfortable when you have to sit down lol). Later on, when she's ready to head out the door, we want her to slip on some crusty, dirty black and white Converse. Converse are the typical teenager or young adult shoe, and Rebecca and I felt like it would suit the character well, due to the fact that she's kind of all over the place. 

        We both agreed that we would use our clothes for the costumes (my tank top, shorts, and socks, Rebecca's jeans, hoodie, and Converse). The main character is not really much of a fancy or fashionable person, so it felt right to have her dress pretty casual and messy, since she's heading to school and running late.

Props:

        If you couldn't tell by the description of our character, me and Rebecca said that we should have her room be as messy and disorganized as possible to represent how chaotic her life is and dysfunctional she feels. In our storyboard, we included shots of clothes and shoes and socks all over the floor, along with messy bedsheets. Some other props we wanted to include were the alarm clock for the opening and closing shot, some takeout food or bags of food (such as McDonalds) on the floor, and possibly a pill bottle for the bathroom scene. There may be some props included or taken out if we decide in the end that we want to slightly change or improve our story somehow.

Location:

        Regarding the locations of filming, we plan to film at least half of the shots in Rebecca's house, specifically her room, and film at my house in my bathroom. I feel as though Rebecca's room is aesthetically pleasing for this film opening and the layout of her room is a lot more practical and spacious compared to my own bedroom. In her room, Rebecca has these large, long mirror on the doors of her closet and Christmas lights that hang along her wall and ceiling, which provide a beautiful and sleepy atmosphere. 

        In my bathroom, it's a lot more modern with a small mirror above the sink and it suits our character more, since there is a light directly above the sink that will match the atmosphere and mood, whereas Rebecca's bathroom has a slightly dimmer and golden-ish light with a suuuuper wide mirror and long counters. We agreed that Rebecca's bathroom mirror would slightly hinder the angle that we want to film from, and it just wouldn't be as practical.

        For later scenes, if we happen to have some extra time to drive our storyline a little more, then we may have to include another filming location such as a car, a driveway, perhaps the school, or something like that (it's pretty much just up in the air as of right now).

Dates and Times:

        Since our main character is waking up in the morning, obviously it will take place in the morning, however, at the time that we want to film, it will be dark outside. Rebecca and I usually wake up at around 6:30 AM, and it basically looks dark outside, so we'll basically just close all the blinds, block out the light, and boom, problem solved. If we end up with the extra time left over, then we could film her outside, in which the sun will start to rise and possibly there will be a slight breeze... idk.

Scripts:

        Well, in the beginning we decided we want little-to-no dialogue in our film so that we wouldn't risk the quality of the film itself. Basically, instead of having a script, it's basically just choreography that we're using and diegetic sounds, but almost zero talking. Even if we had a good microphone, I don't know if we want to include any narration, but again, it's possible that we could change our mind. I pretty much just wanna use the dialogue with just facial expressions or symbolism to show her emotions and thought process.

Film Equipment:

        Rebecca has a photography class that includes a bunch of professional and expensive cameras, so Rebecca is planning on asking her photography teacher, Mrs. Perez, if she can use one of the cameras (which we'll most likely be able to use since Mrs. Perez trusts her). However, if the whole fancy camera thing doesn't work out, then we'll just use our iPhones to record since Rebecca and I have an iPhone 13 and 14. For some still shots, we might also use a tripod or platform or maybe just our hands to keep it steady I don't really know lol.

        As for things such as lighting, we'll probably just use some lamps or use one of our phones as lighting. If we decide that we want to record some high quality audio, then we'll either use our phones or some professional quality microphones from Mrs. Perez or Mrs. Woz.

But yeah! As always, thank you guys for joining me and I'm super excited for you guys to see our first shooting day. Stay tuned!!