Filming in Wilton Manors

    Hey guys, I wanted to write to you all today to explain the filming process for our commercial.   On Monday, October 4, me and my group met together after-school to film our commercial. I had brought the camera that we needed to use as a prop. Originally, Giulia was supposed to bring the camera, but since she forgot, I wen to my Media Studies teacher and was able to borrow one. After school, we walked to our first location to film the last three scenes. I made the decision to film the scenes out of order because the second location, the arch, was closer to us than the first location, Wilton Creamery. To me, it made sense to start with the closer location and then finish at Wilton Creamery, so that we could all get ice cream once we finished. 

    We first walked to the arch, where I analyzed the storyboard and began to envision where I wanted the actors to stand for the scene. I had filmed all of the scenes that day and worked on positioning the actors in the scenes. For the first scene,  I ensured that the actors were centered in the camera view, and I actually laid on my back to get the perfect shot. This first scene took me a few tries to get the hang of filming, but once I started, it became easier. For the next scene I directed Giulia to stand on the skateboard so that the two actors would be at the same height for the over the shoulder shot. This allowed them to be centered in the scene. For the last scene at that location we had an extreme close-up of the Extra-gum pack and Andres rolled by on his skateboard in the background. I was the one who let Andres know when to stark skating, and after about 5 takes, was satisfied with how it looked. 

    Next, I had to film the actors walking on the sidewalk. In order to film this tacking shot I had to walk backwards while the actors walked towards me. I then had to direct the 2 actors on how to use their body language to show that they were awkward and uncomfortable with one another. I then got us all to cross the street to the corner where I filmed the next scene. We lastly went to Wilton Creamery to film the last scene, and I organized the props, the phone and the boba drink. I only had to do about 2 takes of this last scene, and then we were finished. 

    In total, we spent about 2 hours filming. This is because we had to travel to multiple locations and we often had to film multiple takes of each scene in order to get the perfect take. I filmed all of the scenes in the commercial, so the only thing left to do is to edit the commercial. We still have to edit all of the scenes into one continuous video and then edit the video further to add non-diegetic sounds and any other finishing touches. See you next time!