This past Saturday was my first day of shooting. I think it went really well! I learned a lot about the filming process and some obstacles I’m going to need to overcome for my second day of filming. I started to make my preliminary rough cut as well.
Filming Process Reflection
Before filming, I was super nervous that something would go wrong and I wouldn’t have enough footage when the editing process began. However, I ended up being really satisfied with the end result. I had originally scheduled 4 hours to film at my shooting location and ended up only needing an hour and a half. My actress, Taylor, was great and super cooperative; she listened to all of my directions and even helped me when I needed assistance determining what shots looked better. She’s my best friend so we work pretty well together.
I learned a lot about aspects of cinematography as well. When I first learned about cinematography and all the different shots that cinematographers use, it was kind of hard to fully understand what their job entailed. Yeah sure, they’re responsible for filming the movie and recording all the close ups, mid shots, long shots, push-ins/outs, tracking shots, and many more, but I didn’t quite know how they accomplished those things. Through the process of filming, I learned a lot about how insightful cinematographers must be. They have to adapt to certain situations, lighting conditions, and orders from the director. They also have to make decisions concerning camera angles and shot types in the moment. Thankfully, I’m my own director so that was one less thing I had to concern myself with. Other than that, these were all challenges I faced when filming. There were a few shots I filmed where the lighting was weird, so in order to avoid this in the future I will have to adjust the camera angles and the focus.
Production Design Reflection
My first shooting location worked really well too! I love the decor elements in Taylor’s room; they make it look very teenager-y, which is exactly the vibe I’m going for. I also love how the rest of her house has super simple decor that doesn’t draw attention away from my main character, Aspen. I used Taylor’s clothes for the costuming, which was a great choice. She has some funky pieces that I used to create the disorganized look of Aspen, including gray cheetah print leggings and mismatched socks. More information on the mise-en-scene of my title sequence can be found here.
Raw Footage
Here is some raw, unedited footage from my first say of shooting. Notice how a lot of the clips are labelled “Take 2”. This is because there was a previous take that I plan to include in a bloopers reel at a later date.
In the above video, I had to use a really strange camera technique. The shot was supposed to be from the mirror’s point of view and in order to do that I had to hold my phone on the mirror and flip the camera to be front-facing. This resulted in the footage being really shaky, but that’s okay because I can stabilize it in post production.
Preliminary Rough Cut
This is my preliminary rough cut. It only includes the footage I shot on this day, so it isn’t an all-inclusive look of my title sequence. However it is a start and I think it will be beneficial to see it as I get further along in this process.
A Lot To Learn 