Filming Day

The Big Day

Today was finally the day that Leandro and I meet up to film our opener. The good news is that filming went pretty smoothly. The bad news is that besides this project, a lot has been going on. School has be temporarily cancelled due to the corona virus becoming a larger issue. This is somewhat stressful because that means we have less time to meet up and edit the project together. However, we are going to try and stay optimistic.

How the day went?

Well Leandro and I kept our decision to film today. We did not let the virus or school cancellation alter our plan. However, we did decide to push our filming time earlier and also switched locations. Originally we had wanted to film around 1 pm. However a couple of days ago, we decided to start around 10 (a little ambitious looking back at it) because we wanted to make sure we got a lot of sun and had enough time to film. We actually ended up starting at 11 because we had to gather some last minute props. In terms of location, we were debating going to film at a church, however, it is Sunday and we were unsure how crowded it may be. Instead we filmed at the Home Depot parking lot which was perfect. Not many people were out due to the virus and the Chick-Fil-A next door was empty because it was a Sunday (a blessing because that Chick-Fil-A is always crowded).

Filming Obstacles

Overall, I would say Leandro and I did not face many obstacles while filming. We were able to film it all relatively quickly. Setting up the set design took slightly longer than expected. We had to ensure the car looked lived-in so we spent extra time debating where to put everything. In the end, we were satisfied with the look.

Leandro and I setting up the car.

Probably the main issue we faced was trying to film in the car. My car is pretty small so it was difficult to get Leandro in the frame at times (especially when I had to film him driving). Additionally, it was hard to get a variety of shots in the small car. We are hoping that we filmed enough for the 2 minutes and that the shots don't look redundant.

We even had to push the seats forward to even get some of the shots.

Our last issue was trying to get the final shot. We want to incorporate a shot of the homeless man closing the trunk. The only issue with this is that my reflection kept showing up on the side. We know that if the "cinematographer" is visible in the film it will seem unprofessional. We are pretty sure we got a good shot without me in it, however, sometimes we don't notice mistakes until editing.

Filming in One Day?

Yes I know it sounds crazy but Leandro and I were able to film in one day. In just a couple hours we were able to get every shot we needed. We thought this was a smart idea because it ensured the set design was consistent throughout. We also found that it was simple to film all in one day. We did not have to change location or costume so it was simple to do it all.

Now onto editing...