🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Last minute pre-production

The day before the shoot, Jazz and I met before class to procure our props & separately Binbin bought food as props for the shoot but also as snacks for the cast (duel purpose…). Jazz and I then finalised Georgia’s monologue and sent out the script to the cast & crew, which admittedly was quite last minute but given that most people only had one line it felt feasible. I then printed out all the required paper work for our shoot the next day; the call sheet, the shot list, multiple scripts, and the release forms for the cast. All preparation had been done to make the shoot as smooth as possible.

Shoot day!!!!!!! <3 

At 1:30, I met Jazz at RMIT to load all the equipment into my car. We then drove together to location (my house) and unloaded all the gear, setting it up as we went. It was a little hard to prepare for the shoot during the day, as we knew the lighting would change when the sunset, so we just set up equipment as much as we could, putting lights on stands and in the positions we assumed they’d be in. We then tested staging for the camera, seeing what positions it would need to be in using the storyboards we’d drawn out. Krissten and Binbin arrived and prepared some of the prop beers & snacks.

The shoot started on schedule around 5:15pm, beginning the scenes with AJ, Ollie and Georgia first, as the rest of the cast started to arrive. The beginning of the shoot was definitely the most laborious, as cast was getting into the swing of shooting, as was crew, and these scenes also had the most dialogue. Throughout the shoot, Jazz and I worked very closely together, making sure we both liked every shot, adjusting the lighting and directing the cast. It was a very collaborative approach, and I really appreciated having Jazz as a co-creator, it felt like we always wanted the same thing and were on the same page.

Upon reflection, I’ve realised that I underestimated the pressure of a loose script/improv approach to filmmaking. As this is something I’ve never tried before — having a film based on my friends staring my friends — I don’t think I anticipated a degree of awkwardness or accounted for how people would feel being in front of the camera (spooky). I know now that just because I cast my friends to play themselves it doesn’t make them actors. In future I would definitely schedule a rehearsal with all the cast, to walk them through what I expect of them and just practice setting a comfortable and chill environment even when their under lights and on camera. Even though it sometimes took 10+ takes to get one line (mainly because of the giggles), I am really proud of how everyone performed and I think everyone genuinely had a good time and enjoyed each others company and creating art, and I think thats central to the point of the film.

On Thursday, we went through all the footage in the edit suites and discovered we had some missing pieces… We were missing one scene and quite a bit of audio, namely from the monologue scene, and most audio clips were missing the “roll, scene, take” at the start, so we didn’t really know what we were listening to. This was quite a disappointing development because the monologue scene was the one we worked the hardest on and it is a fun point of difference in the film; it was my favourite scene. We did discuss as a group how we could go about resolving this in the edit (e.g. cutting the clip up with group reactions because we had the audio from bad takes, etc.) but they stated it was up to me and how I wanted it to look in the final edit. I considered using what footage we already had but I had a vision for the film and I wanted it to come to life, so I decided I would reshoot the scene myself next week (Jazz is unavailable).

<3