Film Opening - Blog Post #14

Prepping for the Big Day

        Hello everyone! In approximately twelve hours, my teammates and I will be on our way to our filming location to finally produce our film opening. Because of this, we are making sure that we have absolutely everything ready, that way we can use our time effectively and avoid any setbacks or delays. Since I have been updating you guys on my progress so far, I thought it would be a great idea to document this last stage of pre-production. Let's get into it!

Equipment

        One of the most important things to bring for filming is, of course, video equipment! Because every member of my group is a part of the same television program at our school, we were able to borrow some better equipment (in addition to using our own). Since Kimberly is currently out of town, only Sabrina, Logan and I will be filming tomorrow, meaning we will have to split up our responsibilities evenly. This is what we came up with:

What I need to bring:

- Canon T7i with lens 

- Camera battery (with charger)

- Rode microphone

- Small light kit

- Tripod

What Logan needs to bring:

- Canon T7i with two lenses 

- Camera battery (with charger)

- 128 GB SD card 

What Sabrina needs to bring:

- Extra SD cards (just in case)

- Lighting equipment

- Camera battery

        We decided to bring two cameras for two reasons: to have a back-up camera in case anything goes wrong, and to be able to document the filming process. Having this footage available to us will help us when creating our CCRs, or Creative Critical Reflections, at the end of this project. This is a video in which we answer four main questions about our project and talk about the production process. Because of this, the footage of us producing our film opening will serve as b-roll in our CCRs. In addition to filming with the extra camera, we will also have our phones nearby to take pictures if necessary. 

Mise-en-Scene Elements

        Aside from equipment, there are a handful of other items we must bring to the filming site. This includes the character's clothing that Sabrina will be wearing when acting (boots, cargo pants, a beanie, a belt, etc.), make-up, a backpack (also for Sabrina), Twinkies (for the kitchen scene), and more. Sabrina will be bringing her clothing, the backpack, her makeup (as well as some red velvet emulsion for fake blood), and will be buying the Twinkies tomorrow at a grocery store before picking Logan and I up. In terms of other props, I am in charge of printing out "missing person" posters for the first couple shots. I found some royalty free ones on stock photo websites, so those are the ones I will be printing out.

This is an example of what the missing posters will look like.
This is one of the ones I found online.

Last Few Things

        Now that I explained the equipment and props, I wanted to discuss two other very important things that our group has to do before tomorrow. One of those things is ensuring that the filming location is still available and ready for us to use in the morning. Though we had a quick scare, we managed to get this done today in order to have everything ready for tomorrow. The last thing may not seem important, but getting enough sleep before a big shoot is imperative! Filming can be very draining, especially when you only have one day to get the footage you need (which is true in our case). We also have to wake up pretty early tomorrow, since Sabrina is picking both Logan and I up around 8:00 AM. I plan on going to sleep before midnight tonight and waking up around 7:30 AM to not only get everything ready, but also to make sure I have enough time to eat and fully wake up. 

        Alright everyone! Looks like we have everything prepared for tomorrow's shoot. I will be back tomorrow to update you guys on how it went and how we will be moving forward with this film opening. Wish us luck!