The New and Improved Plan

      We've faced many obstacles trying to situate our filming schedule and script. As previously discussed, many of our actors had to miss out on the original filming week. Some also weren't available to film in general. My partner and I went through many tasks trying to recruit new actors and change our script to fit the number of people we had. Our original filming day was set for Saturday, December 5th. Due to all of these circumstances, we decided to change the filming day. We talked with our cast and decided that Saturday, December 12th was better to film. However, that day many of our actors failed to show due to personal issues. We've decided to film as much as we could that day. After that, we've edited the scenes and decided on what we still need to film. However, we didn't want to film over winter break so we can rest from school. I've been talking with my partner and we've concluded to film possibly on January 3rd 2021. We thought this day was good since its after all of the holidays. We've contacted out actors in advance to see if they're available to film. Currently, we're waiting for their response to the new filming schedule. This gives us an idea of what we can film that day. We've also planned to film one of the scenes on a school day since the setting is close to our school. Many of our actors are also attending school in person after winter break. However, that plan is very vague and only an alternative if we do need another filming day. Hopefully this improved schedule will happen smoothly with less problems occurring.

Scenes That We Still Need

     After our editing, we've concluded the scenes we're going to film next shoot. Our opening scene is one of our biggest challenges. For that scene, we have three of our actors talking to each other on the phone about school. We had the vision of doing the iconic Mean Girls phone call split screen. We were originally planning for each of the actors to film that scene separately in their own room. However, we decided to do it together to ensure it comes out the right way. It's also easier to help our actors film the scene as well instead of doing their own thing at home. We were planning to film one of the scene in the bedroom, another one in the bathroom and the last one in the living room, to give the illusion of the characters being in different houses. Our other scenes is this sidewalk scene where most of our characters are having a confrontation interaction with each other. We were going to film this scene outside of one of our crew members houses. Their sidewalk is mainly secluded and open to allow all of our characters to comfortably film. We didn't want a place with many cars to pass by to distract our actors or mess with the audio. Our last scene is at Dairy Queen where four of our actors are talking and confessing the love for the two main characters. We've changed the scene to be easier to film for our crew. We took out the main characters friends in the scene. We didn't want to keep them there filming when they didn't need to. Their characters in that scene aren't that important especially since it's where the plot twist happens. We created a new scene to have more dialogue for our other actors. This helps even out the importance of the other characters so none of our actors feel excluded. We hope we can film all of the scenes in one day.

Editing Blog

      I'm going to be editing the scene that we have. We've filmed on December 15th, but came across many obstacles. I will be editing the scenes to see if we need to reshoot. I have the editing software iMovies on my computer since I don't have a school desktop. I will be using iMovies to edit the rest of the film. The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the major difficulties that we've faced this year. In order to be able to edit the film with my partners input, we need to be on call or FaceTime to communicate with each other. First, we tried to cut out any of the long pauses or lines that we didn’t need. We wanted each scene to roughly be a minute long to match the five minute time limit. We had two scenes from the shoot to edit. Each one was roughly 1:45-2:00 minutes long. This wasn’t short enough to match the time limit. We then decided to cut out any long lines that over-exaggerated the scene, since it was also not needed. This cut the scene down to about 1 minute and 30 seconds long. We replayed the scene to see how the outcome was. There was many cuts throughout the scene and we didn’t prefer it since we wanted the scene to flow nicely. With all the cuts, it effected the camera movement and sometimes the audio. My partner and I decided to try and reshoot that scene on the next filming day. If we don’t have enough time then we can try and salvage one of the scenes we’ve already filmed. Hopefully the scenes that we get next shoot can flow nicely with what we already have.

Why We Won't Be Filming Over Break

     Before break started, there was many stresses happening at school. Midterms was one of the main focuses during December. Many of our cast were busy studying and working. We didn't want to put any more pressure on them during break. Winter break is a time for every student to relax and rest from school. We didn't want our film project to be a burden on them, especially since it's not their assignment. We are just going to work with what we've already filmed. First, we're going to edit the clips we've filmed from the first shoot. Then, we're going to document the scenes we still need. I've been planning with my other partner what our schedule will be once we get back. We've contacted our actors about our new schedule. We're trying to take precautions so no inconveniences happen the next time we film. We asked if they can be available to film. We were thinking about filming after the holidays or when break ends. This gives us an idea of what we're working with. It also can help us with what we can film and if we need to have another filming day. However, for now it's a time for us to relax and enjoy the holiday season. We decided not to do much work over break. Especially since we know how stressful school has been lately. We hope our new plan will continue flawlessly.

Script Changes

      In our script, we had a different group of people we were originally working with. One of our members had to move away due to some personal problems. We didn't think it was much of a difference since it was just a side character. We tried to find a replacement actor for that one specific person. We had other people as an option but it wasn't confirmed that they are definitely able to film with us. We decided to change our script since we would have to anyway. We first had to rearrange our crew and the different characters they were playing. We went back into the script and just changed the names of the actors to be easier during filming. We changed it to the crew that was available for the original planning.We decided to make a backup script in case one of our actors wasn't available. We had to change the location of a scene to be outside since it was more convenient during filming. We also had to tweak parts of a scene to remove a side character. Also at the end of the film, we changed the scene so two of the girl friends are out of the scene. Everyone we're filming with has a different schedule to film. We didn't want to have to rely on the actors that weren't needed in a certain scene. After our first filming day, we decided to change some lines in the script. We wanted the lines to match the personality and humor of our actors in real life. We also altered some scenes to fit more in later. Some of the lines were too detailed that weren't necessary for the film. We're planning to reshoot to correct and fit our script.

Day 1 of Filming

      Today is December 12 of 2020. We decided to meet early at 11 A.M. to start our shoot. Each of us had some plans already that day. Which is why we decided to start so early so we can also finish early. We decided to change our scene to be outside near the pool. There was no one around to keep us safe from exposure to any germs or virus. The pool also had more space and less distractions for our actors. We had to test shoot to see if the audio could be picked up. We didn't have the opportunity to use the school camera so we improvised and shot on our iPhone. We decided to film the scene several times for time management so we wouldn't have to film again. We also wanted extra precaution incase the original shoot didn't was too long or short. We filmed one completed scene for the script. We went through many obstacles during our shoot. Our male actors weren't able to come that day. We decided to just reschedule to film their scenes at another time. We decided to film as much as we could without the boys in the scene. Overall, there was 2 mains scenes we could film. When we were filming, we went off script but still along the lines of the original script. We wanted our actors to be able to express themselves but still get the point across in the film. As we kept shooting, we realized we couldn't film much since our other actors weren't available.

Replacement Actors

      We've had many difficulties trying to find replacement actors for two members of our crew. One of our actors unfortunately had to move away due to personal issues. We as a crew supported this person and understood their struggles. We just thought we could do the movie without this one character since they were a side actor. We just planned to change the script without that one character because the story would still work without them. We gathered our crew and tried to schedule when to plan. We originally planned to film on December 5th, which is a Saturday. Due to the pandemic, many of our parental guardians aren't comfortable with this gathering to film. This leads to one of the main actors not be able to come that weekend to shoot. Most of our members decided to get tested to ensure our health and safety. Also, a few of our members were occupied with their own personal life such as practice and work. This caused two of our other actors to also miss out on the shoot that weekend. Overall, we decided that it wasn't the best time for any of us to film. We rescheduled the filming week. We also decided to find some backup actors in case any of the main actors weren't available to shoot when we rescheduled. We reached out to some of our mutual friends and asked if they would be interested in filling in those positions. We had a person that was confirmed able to come to shoot when we rescheduled. We didn't have anyone else to reach out to replace. We thought we could edit the script to fit with the number of actors we have. We will plan out our schedule for future occurrences.

Music Choices

     After we finished marketing and planning out our scenes, we decided to figure out more aspects of our film. One of the main categories we had to figure out was the music in our film. We didn't want to reach out to any mainstream artists for our film. Due to the fact that it would take a while to get their permission for copyright or might not even answer at all. We didn't want to risk that occurrence so we decided to choose copyright free music that you can find online. It would be more efficient and easier overall in the editing process. However, we still managed to run into some problems with copyright free music. We wanted different music to fit in with the characters of our movie. Most of the free copyright music online is mainly basic or not what we really expected in a modern film. We experienced a similar problem for one of our previous film projects. In one of our AICE Media Studies AS Level projects, we had to find music for this film. We went with a piece of copyright-free music at the time because we were warned about the same problem I previously mentioned. We thought about putting the same music into this short film. We also are going o add different songs that matched the tone of the scene. For example, in the fun and happy scenes we were going to add upbeat pop songs for those specific parts. While in our sad scenes we were thinking about adding dramatic music to emphasize the mood. We didn't choose any specific genre for each scene. We mainly just want to have a more creative way to provoke feelings into the audience that included music. We are still searching for music that would enhance our short film. We hope to find the perfect fit for our movie.