1. Problems Faced on the 28th
January
The firstmain issue thatwe encounteredonthe seconddayof filmingwasthe factthat one of our
groupmemberscouldn’tmake the shootonshortnotice due to a commitmenttoanothersubjectat
sixthform.Asthiswas suchshort notice,itwasimpossibleforusto rearrange the filmingsession
because we hadalreadyscheduledtoborrow the equipmentfromschool andtohave our actor,
Dougie Rooks,andactressEsther Drake,presentforthe whole daywhichwasdifficultdue toother
commitmentsintheirlives,suchasholidaysandfamilyoccasionsandsowe decidedtogoahead
withthe shootdespite beingamandown.The reasonwhyit wasdifficultwithHamzamissingis
because he isthe memberof the group that wasdesignatedtopayspecial attentiontolearninghow
to use the jiband the Go Proproperlyandeffectivelyforourshortfilm – two piecesof kitwhichwe
were usingforthe firsttime that day.The rest of the group,includingmyself,hadlearnedhow to
use the equipmentaswell incase of a situationlike thisone,butwe hadn’ttestedthe equipmentfor
our purpose asthoroughlyasHamza had, meaningthatittook longerforus toset the equipment
up,leavinglesstime forotherthingssuchasstylingEstherbefore Dougie arrived,sothatwe didn’t
waste histime.
Anotherproblemwe facedwasgettingthe song,NotFade AwaybyBuddyHolly,intoanappropriate
formatto playin Dougie’scampervan.Initially,we downloadedthe singleoff iTunesandtriedto
burn itonto a disk,butthisdidn’tworkand sowe had to finditon an existingCD,asthisis the only
methodof playingmusicinthe campervan,withthe exceptionof the radio,because of itsage –
there wasno AUX cord or wirelessspeaker.Noneof usalreadyhada CD withthe song on it,so I
askedmygrandparentsif theyhad the songon CD, and fortunatelytheydidandIwasable to go and
pickit up priorto the filmingsession.Furthermore,despite pre-warningDougieaboutoursong
choice forhim to sing alongto inthe van as he is drivingdownthe countryroad,he wasn’t
completelycomfortablewiththe songandhe askedto take the CD we providedhimwithtopractice
singingalongtowhilstdriving,whichtookupsome of our filmingtime,butwe decided itwasbetter
that he knewthe lyricssothat we could achieve the outcome we wantedto.Inadditiontothis,the
musiccausedus furtherissuesbecause we wantedthe musicactuallyplayinginthe campervanso
we couldcapture Dougie singingoverthe top, butit wasdifficulttomake the musicmatchup in
each differentshotwe didof Dougie singing.We hadto do our bestto start the musicfromthe
same pointeachtime before callingaction,butasthe shotswere drivingones,itdependedon
several factorsincludingtrafficandspeedasto whatpointthe musicgot up to inany particularshot.
It was alsodifficulttostart the musicinthe same place eachtime because the CDplayerinDougie’s
campervanwasfairlyoldand itdidn’thave a screendisplayingthe time tostartfrom.
However,the biggestproblemwe facedthatdaywasto do withEstherwhowas playingEve forus.
She had volunteeredtobe inour filmandcame to the auditionslike everyone else whovolunteered
to playEve and we deemedhertobe the bestfromreplayingthe footage we tookof the auditions.
We commencedfilmingandshe actedbrilliantlyinthe firstcouple of shots/takes,butbefore the
thirdtake she came overto speakto us andshe beganto cry. We calleda timeoutandtookEstherto
sitin the back of Dougie’scampervanwithablanketandsome snacksand a drinkso that she could
warm upand talkto us. It turnedoutshe was havingan unexpectedanxietyattackandaftera long
discussionandthink,she decidedthatshe didn’twanttoplaythe role of Eve anymore andwas
extremelyapologetic.Althoughcompletelyunderstandable,ourfilminggroupwasleftinadifficult
position,aswe hadalreadydone all the planningandorganisingforthe shootandwe had the time
2. to use,butwe couldn’tfilmthe sceneswithoutanEve.We thenhadthe ideaof Lucy fromour group
fulfillingthe role of Eve as she hasa similarappearance –blonde hairandfairlypale complexion,and
she knewmostof the linesof the scriptalreadyfrombeingapart of the planningstages.Although
Lucy feltslightlyuncomfortable doingthis,she steppedupbecause itwasthe onlywaywe couldsee
of continuing.We thendroppedEstheroff athome sothat she didn’thave towaitwithus all day
doingnothing,andalsoso thatshe could swapcostumeswithLucy.However,Lucywouldn’thave fit
intoEsther’swhite shoesandshe thereforehadtowearher ownblackonesbecause we couldn’tget
any otherwhite shoesinhersize.ThismeantthatEve’scostume detractedfrom the mise-en-scene
we were tryingto achieve anditalsowastedsome time,butitcouldnot be helped.However,this
was the onlypossible outcomeatthispoint.
Whenwe returnedwithLucyin costume,we were able tobeginfilming,butwe hadalreadywasted
almosttwohours of the filmingtime andhadto start fromthe beginningagainforcontinuity
reasons.Filmingwaseventrickiernowdue toa furtherreductioninthe membersof the groupable
to film.Iwas onone camera filming,whilstEmanwascapturingthe actionfromanotherangle so
that we can include bothangleswhenwe are editingtoshow differentaspectsof the mise-en-scene
and keepouraudience’sattention.
The nextproblemwe facedwasto do withfilmingwiththe GoPro.As the Go Pro had to be put into
a case witha suckerpad to stickit to the windscreenof the campervan,the qualityof the soundit
recordedwaspoor.We expectedandplannedforthis,andusedaseparate camerato put inthe
back of the campervanpurelytorecordthe soundto lay underneaththe visual footage inthe editing
stages,butthisrequiredsomeone holdingthe camerasoit didn’tpickupany noise of itmoving
around,and as little of the noise the campervan’sengineproducedaspossible.Thismade things
difficultbecauseif someone wassatinthe back seatof the campervan,theywere visible inthe Go
Pro shot,and soone memberof the group had to crouch behindthe chairEve wassat on to holdthe
camera.
Filminginside the campervanwasalsoproblematicbecause tomake the scene realistic,Dougie
actuallyhadto drive the campervanso the scenerycouldbe seenflashingpastinthe windows.Ashe
was concentratingondrivingandotherroadusers,he oftenveeredoff scriptdependingonwhat
was happeningonthe road.It wasalsoapparentthat he didn’tknow hislinesverywell,makingit
difficultforustocover all the contentinthe script withinthe scene.Asthe dialogueisextremely
longinthisscene for Richard’scharacter,we explainedtoDougie thatwe wouldbe happyforhimto
improvise becausehe wasdoingthisunpaidinhisfree time,aslongashe stayedincharacter and
the keyideaswere covered,buthe wasn’talwaysaware of all of the keyideas,whichwasdifficult
for Lucy to go off as she didn’t have time tolearnherlinesproperlyeitherdue toherfillingthe role
at such shortnotice.
Furthermore,we were onlyable tofilmfromone angle withthe GoProas the way we positionedit
was the onlywayit feltsafe todo so,so that Mr Rookscould see outof the window ashe was
driving.We plannedtodoan overthe shouldershotof Richard anda shotfromEve’sPOV but this
was impossible because the characterswithinthe scene veeredsofaroff the script thatit wouldn’t
have fittogether.So,we hadto thinkof otherwaysto breakup the longscene,suchas through
close upsand transitionshots.
3. The campervanis alsoverynoisywhenitisbeingdrivendue toitsage and engine size,andthis
causedsome problemswhenthe actorswere tryingto speakoverthe engine,andI’msure itwill
cause furtherproblemswhenwe come toeditthe soundtobe at the same level throughoutour
short.
Despite all these issues,Ifeltthe daywassuccessful aswe managedtocome up witha solutionfor
themall on the day,eliminatingmanyfurtherproblemsthatwe couldhave encounteredlateron.
