30th October
Today was the shooting day for our film. We met at 9.30 (ish) at my house, had a team meeting and camera check, and did our first shot around 10.30. We had expected rain, so had come prepared with umbrellas, raincoats and the like. Fortunately, the rain held off for the day, which made shooting much quicker and easier. We mainly stuck to the shooting schedule and storyboard, although we sometimes played around with the shots and angles to see what would work best. We also changed the schedule order to do all of the rich man's scenes first, so Reuel only had to change once, speeding up the shoot.
We started out with Reuel as the rich man, filming on the streets. Our locations were quite vague, so we spent about 5 minutes wandering around and looking for locations. Once we chose our first location, we had to spend another 10 or so minutes setting up the equipment and positioning the camera. At around 10.30, half an hour after we had planned to start, we took our first shot of the day. I had not realised how long it would take to set up the equipment, and I worried that we would not have enough time to film everything. As we got used to setting up, however, we became quicker and more efficient, preparing to shoot in around 3 minutes.
One factor that we had not considered enough was the public. As well as the obvious problems of members of public/cars walking in front of camera, we also had to deal with other issues. One of the locations we shot at was a bus stop, where, unsurprisingly, buses stopped. This caused an issue for filming, and we were lucky that we were filming at a quieter time of day. Whilst we were filming at the bus stop we also got honked at twice, which was rather off-putting. The worst problem for me to face was when we were filming the homeless scenes on the main road. The people walking past were giving us incredibly dirty looks, which was very uncomfortable and off-putting. However, we continued filming through all of that, getting all the shots we needed before moving on.
One very successful element of our film was the props and costumes. Kiira did wonderfully with the props, especially with the newspapers and cardboard for the homeless man. The costumes as well really added to the effect, with there being a very obvious difference between rich Reuel and poor Reuel. Tascha also added make-up for the homeless man, which made Reuel look very grubby and dirty, adding to his character.
During the production, I did the sound at the beginning of the day and assistant directing at the end. I learnt a lot about setting up the sound, as at the beginning of the day I had no idea how to do it but by the end I could do it quite proficiently. The only problem came around 1pm when the sound completely disappeared. After a lot of fiddling around, Nick managed to sort it out, and it worked successfully until the day ended. After lunch I swapped roles with Tascha and became the assistant director. I was in charge of doing the clapper-board and writing down which shots worked. However, due to a lack of communication and a sense of rush, this was very difficult to do. In the end, I did what Tascha had done after about 10 takes and abandoned the cataloguing. This made shooting a lot easier, but I'm sure it will cause problems during editing.
Overall, the day was good. It was tiring, frustrating, patience testing and trying, but the group worked together well and got everything we needed to get done before 4pm. It was a very successful day, and I have learnt many skills and experienced many things that I am sure will be useful in making future films.
The first thing on my plan is finish sixth form. Depending on what I enjoy the most, and what I get the best grades in, I will either go into acting or film production. In terms of film-making, I am still not sure what area, although I am thinking about going into production design or directing, as these are two areas that I enjoy a lot. There is an arrow between acting and directing because I may switch between the two areas, or jump from one to the other. In terms of how I will get there, I am still unsure which path is right for me. University/college would be a good bridge between school and the real world, and it would give me a chance to further my skills and meet new people. However, it is very expensive, and I am not sure that it is actually worth it, as skill is more important than degrees in the industry. Going straight into the industry would mean that I would be gaining invaluable experience and meeting new people, but it may be difficult to jump straight from school into the real world. I am also thinking about apprenticeships, or a similar program that would allow me to learn new skills whilst earning money. However, these are rare, and incredibly competitive, so I wonder whether it would actually be feasible. At the same time, I may decide that film/TV simply isn't for me, and that I would be better off doing something else, like psychology or teaching. Basically, I don't really know what I am going to do, and I am unsure what the right path and job is for me.
One factor that we had not considered enough was the public. As well as the obvious problems of members of public/cars walking in front of camera, we also had to deal with other issues. One of the locations we shot at was a bus stop, where, unsurprisingly, buses stopped. This caused an issue for filming, and we were lucky that we were filming at a quieter time of day. Whilst we were filming at the bus stop we also got honked at twice, which was rather off-putting. The worst problem for me to face was when we were filming the homeless scenes on the main road. The people walking past were giving us incredibly dirty looks, which was very uncomfortable and off-putting. However, we continued filming through all of that, getting all the shots we needed before moving on.
One very successful element of our film was the props and costumes. Kiira did wonderfully with the props, especially with the newspapers and cardboard for the homeless man. The costumes as well really added to the effect, with there being a very obvious difference between rich Reuel and poor Reuel. Tascha also added make-up for the homeless man, which made Reuel look very grubby and dirty, adding to his character.
