Shoot Day Reflection
When on set for the filming of our Thriller 'DAMMIA' I personally found the whole process very hard work but both extremely enjoyable and rewarding. What I felt went well when filming was that we were able to get many more shots that I thought I would be able to achieve during the time we were given, which also gives us an advantage as we now have numerous options of shots when editing, including shots that weren't initially in our Shot List as Luke (one of our Teachers) said there is no harm, when waiting for others in the team, to film extra shots if you know you're not going to cause any delay. Overall I felt the whole team worked well together making the whole experience utterly exhausting but still with us achieving all of our goals.
When filming, one nuisance we ran into numerous times was that unwanted hands were unintentionally making it into the shots, making the filming process occasionally very repetitive especially during the applying of the eye make-up as we had to film more than one shot to be on the safe side when it comes to the editing. Another problem we also found was that during the scenes where Mia, our actresses, had to look directly into the camera she occasionally found it difficult to not blink her eyes and so we came up with a system. We would give her the que point and shout 'action' and Mia would then open her eyes meaning we were able to get a lot more footage without her blinking or twitching.
For the one shot of the light switch being 'switched off' we also found it difficult as we also had to turn off the day light lamp which we were also using, meaning we found the timing very difficult to turn both off into darkness at the same exact time.
For one experimental shot we attempted to put Mia's hair into a jar without showing any hands but when attempting this shot the hair accidentally missed the jar and fell out on top of a nearby candle. Luckily though we removed it from it before it caught alight.
When on set we all assigned ourselves individual roles to speed up the process of the day so as Natasha was supervising our make-up artist with our actress to make sure everything looked as we wanted, I was with Amr, our director, as we began to film the establishing shots that didn't involve any of our actors. During this entire process, Ollie followed us around and filmed the 'behind the scenes' jumping between Natasha, Amr and I.
As our set for our Thriller was located in my dorm at School, the night before our shoot I personally made sure all the surfaces which we were going to use were all clear and also wiped down to make sure they were clean. I had the responsibility for ensuring we had the majority of the props and our actresses costume. I also double checked the night before that everything was in order ready for filming the next day. The rest of my group pre-prepared a printed copy of the Shot List to help the day go smoothly as possible. The night before, Ollie also ensured that he had all of his personal belongings ready to bring into School to film the behind the scenes process of us creating 'DAMMIA'.
In the morning of the shoot we still had to go collect the chair which we had stored previously in the studio in the theatre. We also had to make sure our make-up artist had remembered what time she was required to be on set. At 8:45am we met at our agreed destination of the classroom before being introduced to Tom who supplied all of our filming equipment for the day. After a brief introduction we set off, beginning with taking all our equipment up to our location which meant everyone had to carry at least one piece of equipment.
Before filming we had to move a lot of furniture around and out of the room especially behind the door to create the space we needed to film, when moving the chest of drawers to reveal the fireplace it was covered in cobwebs and dust so I had to hoover it out.
On set prior to filming we took a good amount of time arranging our props on the shelf to make it look as realistic as possible and also laid out the make-up products over the two chests of drawers which we had pushed together. The empty vase which I found in my house common room kitchen was filled with odd looking flowers from outside my window.
At the start of the shoot we took our time in preparing the room making sure everything was just how we imagined it to be whilst we also waited for make-up to be completed on our actress as our make-up artist was slightly late. We decided to use the time to take the shots of the set for our establishing shots.
I feel the most difficult element of the shoot was that our actor, Mike, had only limited time to film meaning I personally couldn't get the shots I initially wanted. I also personally struggled when getting the shots of our actresses feet; I had to take the camera off of the tripod so I found it hard to keep the camera still.
Throughout the entire process I loved handling the camera as I really felt I was in my element which I haven't really experienced before. I was determined to achieve the best I could. As a group I felt we worked well as we all had our own individual roles making the day run as smoothly as possible.
When filming, one nuisance we ran into numerous times was that unwanted hands were unintentionally making it into the shots, making the filming process occasionally very repetitive especially during the applying of the eye make-up as we had to film more than one shot to be on the safe side when it comes to the editing. Another problem we also found was that during the scenes where Mia, our actresses, had to look directly into the camera she occasionally found it difficult to not blink her eyes and so we came up with a system. We would give her the que point and shout 'action' and Mia would then open her eyes meaning we were able to get a lot more footage without her blinking or twitching.
For the one shot of the light switch being 'switched off' we also found it difficult as we also had to turn off the day light lamp which we were also using, meaning we found the timing very difficult to turn both off into darkness at the same exact time.
For one experimental shot we attempted to put Mia's hair into a jar without showing any hands but when attempting this shot the hair accidentally missed the jar and fell out on top of a nearby candle. Luckily though we removed it from it before it caught alight.
When on set we all assigned ourselves individual roles to speed up the process of the day so as Natasha was supervising our make-up artist with our actress to make sure everything looked as we wanted, I was with Amr, our director, as we began to film the establishing shots that didn't involve any of our actors. During this entire process, Ollie followed us around and filmed the 'behind the scenes' jumping between Natasha, Amr and I.
As our set for our Thriller was located in my dorm at School, the night before our shoot I personally made sure all the surfaces which we were going to use were all clear and also wiped down to make sure they were clean. I had the responsibility for ensuring we had the majority of the props and our actresses costume. I also double checked the night before that everything was in order ready for filming the next day. The rest of my group pre-prepared a printed copy of the Shot List to help the day go smoothly as possible. The night before, Ollie also ensured that he had all of his personal belongings ready to bring into School to film the behind the scenes process of us creating 'DAMMIA'.
In the morning of the shoot we still had to go collect the chair which we had stored previously in the studio in the theatre. We also had to make sure our make-up artist had remembered what time she was required to be on set. At 8:45am we met at our agreed destination of the classroom before being introduced to Tom who supplied all of our filming equipment for the day. After a brief introduction we set off, beginning with taking all our equipment up to our location which meant everyone had to carry at least one piece of equipment.
Before filming we had to move a lot of furniture around and out of the room especially behind the door to create the space we needed to film, when moving the chest of drawers to reveal the fireplace it was covered in cobwebs and dust so I had to hoover it out.
On set prior to filming we took a good amount of time arranging our props on the shelf to make it look as realistic as possible and also laid out the make-up products over the two chests of drawers which we had pushed together. The empty vase which I found in my house common room kitchen was filled with odd looking flowers from outside my window.
At the start of the shoot we took our time in preparing the room making sure everything was just how we imagined it to be whilst we also waited for make-up to be completed on our actress as our make-up artist was slightly late. We decided to use the time to take the shots of the set for our establishing shots.
I feel the most difficult element of the shoot was that our actor, Mike, had only limited time to film meaning I personally couldn't get the shots I initially wanted. I also personally struggled when getting the shots of our actresses feet; I had to take the camera off of the tripod so I found it hard to keep the camera still.
Throughout the entire process I loved handling the camera as I really felt I was in my element which I haven't really experienced before. I was determined to achieve the best I could. As a group I felt we worked well as we all had our own individual roles making the day run as smoothly as possible.
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