Lights, Camera, Production!

    Hey guys! It's that time again, time to start the production process! I decided that it was best to split the filming into 3 days, one day filming the car scene, one day the bedroom scene, and one day the park scene. I felt that this would be best because last time we filmed a project, the filming took much longer than expected and was very tiring. By splitting up the filming this way, I thought that we would be able to film quality content and not feel overworked. 

    The first day of filming was on Wednesday, November 23rd. Giulia came over to my house to film, and my bedroom was used as our set. I was in charge of setting up the camera and tripod and making sure the lighting was perfect. I had gotten the camera and tripod from my Media Studies teacher the week prior so that the shots would be high quality. 

    Trying to properly set up the camera for the first scene took a few tries. This is because I had originally planned to film this scene at Giulia's house, where she had a bed that was low to the floor. This would have made it easier for me to shoot the low angle, but because the filming location was later moved to my house, I had to readjust the camera to account for the height of my bed. I first had tried setting up the camera from the side of the bed, but I soon realized that it would be better to place it at the foot of the bed instead. 

    The next thing I had to adjust was the lighting. At first I had a lamp and overhead lights set up, but the shadows they created made it hard to see Giulia's face. I then had the idea of using my LED lights to light the room, and this made the lighting much better. After fixing the lighting, I set up the bed to make it look neat and fill up the space. I arranged the pillows in the background to do just that, and I also made sure that Giulia had enough space to fall backwards for the next scene. The last thing I did was ensure that Giulia was centered in the camera view, and then, I was ready to begin filming. 

    It took about 4 or 5 different takes to get the ideal shot. With each take, I was able to help Giulia with her facial expressions while filming, which is an important part of making the music video seem more realistic. I directed her on how to make the emotion of the song present itself through her facial expressions, and after a few tries, I filmed the perfect take.  

    With one more scene to film, I had to figure out how to re-adjust the camera to get a medium long shot of Giulia at a high angle. To do this, I had to stand on top of the bed and extend the tripod over Giulia. This scene took less takes, about 2 or 3. For this scene, I had to help position Giulia so that her phone was covering her face completely and I had to ensure that Giulia was centered in the view at all times.  

    Once I finished filming the second scene, we were done with day one of filming. In total, the process took about an hour and a half to complete. We won't continue the production process until after Thanksgiving break, but don't worry, I'll be sure to update you as soon as we do.