Hey readers! Last night, I finally got around to filming my brief. As much as I would like to say it went well, it seemed as though for me, the entire project turned upside-down, and all my expectations crashed. In today's post, I will be sharing with all of you what exactly happened, and what had to have been changed for the sake of just getting the film done, as well as future plans as I prepare to film the final scene today.
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Finding a New Officer
As I previously stressed in the last few posts, I would have to fill in Zach's role as mayor and would have to look towards somebody else to play the officer.
Thankfully, I was able to find another friend to cover the officer. Prior to the meet-up, I actually went to their house to discuss some things, and showed them a picture of Templar in his original cop costume as a reference for what they should wear. Their final outfit turned out great and, combined with the fedora and badge, gave off the same impression as Templar's.
Up until then things were going great, until I got a text close to 8:00 from Chase saying he could not make it, because me and the others were not able to make it to the Cultural Center before the previously stated time.
This is the moment when I felt most of the project fell apart.
Big Problem
Now with the absence of Chase, I not only had to find yet another person to help film the night of, but I also had no access to Guise's pin, the most IMPORTANT prop of the opening. At that point, I had to change just about every aspect of the opening aside from the antagonists weapon (the metallic pen) with whatever was in my friend's house.
Changes
For me, finding another person to now play the antagonist and Guise was the most important thing I needed. Fortunately for me, my friend had some family over, and one of their cousins said that they could help. For them, I did not bother with getting their wardrobe situated, as they were already wearing a black hoodie, which was just what I needed.
After they were on board, I had to find a replacement pin for them to wear. Most of what my friend had at their house were Disney pins. While I know I could have just used one of those, I still wanted to go for something that was more "work appropriate" that can be worn both at work and in somebody's daily life, which is when I stumbled upon a tiny pin of the Canadian flag. I am not sure why I went for that instead of just going for something larger and more "unique".
Now that I had finished scrambling for replacements, I had a talk with the two new actors where we should go to film, because my friend's house was about 45 minutes away as opposed to the 18 minute drive from mine, and there was sure to be somewhere nearby where we can film instead. That is when we agreed to go to Miami Lakes Veterans Park, relying on a nearby building as the setting instead of just calling it a "city" like I was planning on doing with the Cultural Center.
Conditions
The conditions we faced with to film were exactly what I had hoped for with the Cultural Center. Because parks are mostly empty at night, the entire area was practically empty, aside for a few people hanging out at the other side of the parking lot. These people can be heard in some of the early shots, but I plan to drown them out with music and other sound elements.
As for weather, it was only partly cloudy. In hindsight, I am glad it did not because I did not want to mess up my formal clothes.
Experience
We wasted no time working on the opening. I brought the storyboard with my as well as referred to script throughout most of the process, but unfortunately had to have someone else film the scenes in which I was in, so I mostly only gave directions on how to film, so some of the takes did not turn out as well as I hoped, but still worked.
We did not take too many takes for each individual shot, only re-doing something if it was done at a pace that was too slow or if we wanted something to change.
One of these changes was the part where the antagonist runs away with the mayor. Instead of simply running away, we had the idea to have the mayor pushed into the next scene, in which he will be shown holding onto the building and getting snatched once again. This change was made to accommodate for the antagonist bumping all over the alleyway, as we did not have one anymore.
For the scene with the graphic match into Guise getting his mugshot taken, we had to use another building right next to it to film, because it was late and we could not go inside anywhere to film. Additionally, because re-casting was done so late, it was not possible to get a change of clothes for the actor playing Guise, so I just had him take off his sweater.
Other than these, some other shots were changed slightly, such as the mayor being driven into the location. We also included some extra frames such as for when the antagonist draws the weapon to the mayor, because the pin was so small.
Overall, for what has happened regarding previous plans, I would say that filming still went fairly well, and I hope that my effort to salvage the situation is shown in the final product.
Mistakes
I had made one crucial oversight when filming. Before filming the mayor riding in (or after), I was supposed to get an establishing shot of the building. This was completely overlooked by me, even after writing so in the storyboard.
Thankfully, tonight I will be going back to my friend's house, so I believe I still have another change to get a quick few seconds of the building, if the conditions (such as weather) were like last night.
Plans for Scene with Protagonist
Today I plan to shoot the scene of the protagonist at home. The area in my house where I initially thought of filming has not enough room for my original idea of having the protagonist rise and walk away from his seat, so I thought of something else. Instead, I plan on altering the scene completely and using the "home" setting as the basis.
Now, instead of the protagonist flipping through filing cabinets, I plan to have them simply reading the paper, though he will still rise from his seat now at the sound of a telephone ringing. Instead of the name tag showing his name, I will have a stack of "business cards" on a table nearby where he is sitting. This will help conceal my face so that it is less obvious that I am playing two roles and should still hopefully be enough to immerse the audience.
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Looking back at this entire experience, I am quite down about the fact that most of what me and my friends planned did not come into fruition, as almost every aspect was changed on the fly. But as I said before, I am happy for what I accomplished with the new group despite the many mishaps, and I hope to improve upon what we did with my editing, which I will begin very soon, as I have the rest of next week to solely focus on my brief.
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The road of planning and production has been a wild ride, and I am interested to see what the final product will look like. Next post, I will begin editing, and will be breaking the process into parts which I can each talk about individually. Thank you for sticking with me as always and I will see you next post!
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