4/1/09

After a hectic session of planning, we finally began to shoot today. I was happy (a debut incorporation of positive words in my blog posts!) that we were finally getting things done.

Before I get to positive things, there definitely were a couple of hiccups during pre-production. Planning was frustrating; quick changes to our ever-evolving plan were made. I couldn't find anyone to act as the masked figure in our film because I thought it would be easy to get a person to act in our film last minute. So Andy was cast to play as the masked figure. A safe choice as he is part of our group and would definitely be obliged to act in it. But it is not a good choice because Andy is the cinematographer and in small groups like this, cinematographers tend to assume the role of cameramen. So again, like in the previous project, I will be assuming the role of the cameraperson. But this time, Andy storyboarded ninety five percent of the film and I drew a neater version of it so I can follow his storyboard when I film. So in a way it's all good.

As a producer, I made a schedule and handed it to my group members (and Alec) this morning. We were to film today and on Saturday and Sunday. The schedule is bound to change because it has been extremely difficult to negotiate with Alec. His days are laden with activities like Big Band and tutor(s). Also, it is difficult to convince him to cancel tutor on Saturday because there is actually an upcoming math assessment next monday. Persuading him to revise for the math test by himself and pay attention during class instead of relying on a tutor did not work. Getting people who are not involved in film to act is not a good idea, because they won't be as committed. Besides, what kind of incentive will they have? Doing something for us but getting nothing in return? I guess altruism is hiding in a cave.

I dedicated two whole days on planning (that's five hours of sleep per day). I wanted things to be well planned so that filming will be quick. I wanted the storyboard to be comprehensible so I numbered the shots and did all sorts of things (like including a legend complete with color-codes). As a sound editor, I also thought of the incorporation of voiceovers (which I had written to complement the script) into certain shots. In those certain shots, I would either prolong or freeze the frames. As for looking for sound effects: I will do that once we're done with filming. Kudos to Andy anyway for storyboarding.

Making schedules and casting people like what producers should do? Check. Re-drawing the storyboard so I can easily follow it as a cameraperson? Check. My role as the sound editor? Check. Having all mentioned these, I'll move on to talk about the first day of shooting.

April fools' day. We originally planned to film in the Grimm's Tales set in the auditorium at lunch, as it was available at that time. But we were stuck in a two and a half hour performance of Hamlet. Lunchtime was over by the time we arrived school and we had to go straight to class. Quick change of plans: we'll be filming tomorrow at lunch. To keep things safer, I told Ella to ask Paul, the drama department technician, to give us permission to access the lighting room during filming in the auditorium. Hopefully, we'll be able to light up the set tomorrow so the shots will look nicer.

I was supposed to be the one asking Paul since I am the producer, but to him, I am an unfamiliar face. Ella is a familiar face to him so telling her to ask Paul for permission is the best option.

But it is a producer's responsibility to ask people for permission after all! It is his job to step into unfamiliar territory and put his persuasion skills into good use!

But getting Ella, who knows the technician, to ask for permission decreases the chances of declination. I wouldn't be a risk-taker and ask Paul myself and risk getting a "no" from him. After all, members of the faculty tend to have erratic mood swings!

But it is a producer's responsibility to ask people for permission after all! It is his job to step into unfamiliar territory and put his persuasion skills into good use!

And so it goes on...

Postponing filming in the auditorium until Thursday lunchtime, we filmed the scene in the art corridor and the scene in the long staircase near Pacific Palisades after school. With Alec promising me that he would be willing to sacrifice Big Band (a co-curricular activity) for helping our group out, the original plan was to film immediately after school. But when he went to the music room to tell Ms Neil about how he would be involved in a film project and would therefore skip a session of Big Band jamming, Ms Neil's response was "No, you're stuck in Big Band for another hour... then you can join your friends and work on your film project" (These aren't exact words but that's basically her message to Alec. And yes, I have taken the liberty to demonize teachers.). So I stayed at school for another hour doing homework. And then we filmed.

Filming took a lot longer than expected. We spent nearly fifteen minutes filming two shots in the art corridor. Two shots! This was mainly because Alec was not very well informed of what he should do in those shots. After filming and en route to Causeway Bay, I explained to him how actors should perform the same actions between different shots so that match on action cuts can be achieved in Final Cut Pro. After filming in the art corridor, we filmed in the staircase near Pacific Palisades. The location wasn't really a decent one because there weren't really any bushes for the actors to run into. But then we improvised and they went over a railing and ran down a slope with bushes. Albeit a little dangerous, we got that filmed.

More filming tomorrow.