Behind the Scenes

 This section of my blog will detail the behind the scenes for our documentary project

Day 1

Today we shot the scenes for the nurse. I was the cameraman while Regine and Beatrice assisted by directing the scene. Regine took notes for the shots while Beatrice took pictures for the behind the scenes.

Originally we had Ms. Laras as our actor but as she was busy teaching an elective, Ms. Permata stood in for her. Despite the sudden change she did excellently anyways and was an amazing actor. She was really nice to work with.

Day 2

Today we shot our first scenes for the investigator. At first, we weren't sure where to shoot the scene. We had the biology class and the laboratory as options but in the end we went with the laboratory as the biology class was too dark and we just felt that the laboratory suited the scene better as it was neater so felt more professional.

Overall everything went pretty well but we had to cut our recording session short we all had somewhere to go after.

Day 3

Today we shot our final scenes. We started with the interview scene with the perpetrator's friend. We tried out shots at different places, angles and lighting to see what worked best. 

After that we took some of the extra scenes we needed (establishing shots, reenactment, still shots)

Day 4

We took our final scenes involving the investigator & the student.

We shot scenes for the student first but since our original actor, Kanaya, was sick we had to replace her with Lana. We could've waited until she got better but we were really getting closer to the deadline so we wanted to get as much done as fast as possible. Lana was a pleasure to work with anways and she did great.

For this scene, we recorded during our free time in PE lesson so only Regine and I were available to shoot since we were in the same class but everything went pretty well overall. Our only issues were noise and people as we were shooting in the canteen

We then continued shooting for the investigator next after school. We didn't have much time for it though since Mr. Bram had to attend a meeting not long after but we were able to get what we needed regardless.

Day 5 (extra)

After reviewing the footage, Regine discovered that the scene shot for Lana was way too noisy so had to be reshot. We did that today and since Kanaya is better now, we were able to keep her as an actor instead of having to find another actor (like Lana). Having learned our lesson, we shot the scene at the preschool's canteen as it is used much less often therefore quieter. In the end, we were able to get what we need.

Beatrice and I also shot some pictures for our thumbnail. My camera had some technical issues at this time so it slowed us down but all went well in the end

Reflection:

• This blog post helped us keep track of our progress which helped us focus on what needed to be done next
• During the shooting, my hands often started hurting after holding a position for long which caused some shots to become shaky so Regine had a lot to fix in the editing process. I should've communicated this with my team more and tried to find a solution (such as getting a tripod)
• For the scene we originally shot with Lana, we made the mistake of not testing the audio beforehand which caused us to have to reshoot it later on with Kanaya. We should've paid more attention to the environment of our scenes to ensure how suitable it is and start making a habit of regularly checking
• I feel like we should've paid more attention to mise-en-scene. I think at the time I underestimated how important it was and how much mise-en-scene could contribute to bringing a scene to life so I didn't consider it much beyond just the basics.