Shoot day reflection

 We started our shoot by meeting the actors and the crew members next to our media classroom. Then Tegan, Adrianna, and I have looked at the things we brought, such as props we did so in case somebody forgot something, so we could do something about it before the filming. Our group was lucky enough to bring everything that was needed and we also were lucky enough that our cast has arrived at the exact time as we said them to.  Actors also brought everything that we asked them to bring from their personal belongings. Then everyone went to the studio where our production group left some of the things that we did not need on the set. We also took all of the equipment needed for the filming in order to set it up upstairs, in the school canteen, near the lift. Talking about lighting, our group clashed with the problem that we could not use the lighting that the rest of the groups used -- the long stick-lighting. We could not use it due to the fact that the doors of the lift were constantly closing and also the fact that the lighting source was too long to fit in the lift. So instead of this type, we used the big boxed lights that were even on the special tripods.  We used a usual wide-angle lens for the camera and the black magic 4k camera in order to get a sense of naturalistic opening sequence and acting. 

To set up the equipment and lighting especially it took us about an hour. After setting up the equipment we decided to take a break it was due to both factors first,  we were already tired and second, the most important is the fact that because we were filming in the school canteen we had to rely on the school timetable. That was the other difficulty that we faced that day, on the shoot day. The good thing that really helped us as a production group and as a group of people who were filming on a Friday afternoon is the fact that our actors were professional enough to feel confident with cameras in front of them, to act in front of the other people, to not being able to look at the footage again.

And all of the other things that normally people are insecure about.  So, as I listed above, after the setting up of equipment our work went a lot quicker than we thought. We started at 9 am and finished at half to one pm, and that is including the time when we were wrapping up and setting up the equipment and getting everything ready. 

Throughout the shoot day, most of the time Tegan was the camera person, Adrianna was the director and I was helping with other, smaller things, such as holding the mic. 

 At some point, I was also directing a little and at some point, Tegan took my and Adrianna's job and Adrianna took our jobs as well. My group and I were trying to split the work as even as possible, and we also were not making somebody do any of the jobs. As my contribution to the shooting, I also brought the sequence outline shot by shot and the shoot day schedule. It was very useful on the set because towards the end of the filming my group and we were going through the shots that we already did and the shots that were left. The trickiest part of the shoot day apart from setting up and making sure that the lighting is good and the other things that are to do with setting up. The other tricky thing in my opinion was the part in the end when we were trying to film the part of the sequence that was filmed on the GoPro. It was tricky because we had to put it right up on the top corner of the lift. 

At some point at the beginning of the shoot, Tegan also had to stand very tight and uncomfortable(because the lift was very small and tight) in order to shoot the sequence from a higher angle.   

During the filming, we have applied numerous skills that we have learned in the workshops. Most of the time we were using skills that we learned in the second camera workshop, but also from the first camera workshop such as bubbling the camera, that is what I did at the beginning of the shoot. 

Due to the fact that I am an editor for my group, I am excited about editing all of the parts together, but one of the biggest parts that I am excited to edit is the CCTV camera and when the main girl character is walking out from a lift. It will be interesting to edit because we were using a different camera for that exact shot.                                                                                                                                                      

Concluding, I believe that for the next project in order to be more organized as a group we have to look at the area where we would film in order to understand what type of equipment we will need to use in our filming in order to reduce the time on set for both actors and the crew.  During the shoot day, I have also learned how and with what angle I should point the mic, how it is better to do it so that the mic would catch the sound we need and it would not catch the sound we do not need.  If I had to do that exact shoot again I would have done more practice on how to apply fake blood, so it looks realistic because in my opinion my group.