Day 1 of filming- Reflection

Filming Our Bedroom Scene

The first day of filming focused on a scene where Claire shows Lena Michael’s dating profile on her phone. This moment is important because it introduces the connection that leads Lena to meet Michael later in the story. To capture this interaction, we planned to having the friends chill over lena's house conversation about boys, then leading to my favorite shot the over the shoulder shot. This type of shot helps place the viewer in the moment with the characters and allows them to experience Lena’s reaction in a more personal way.

Before filming, we had created a storyboard that mapped out each shot for the scene so we could stay organized and efficient during production.

Changes to the Storyboard

Once filming began, we realized that some of the storyboarded scenes were longer than they needed to be. Because of this, we decided to make adjustments on set. A few shots were shortened and simplified so the pacing of the scene would feel more natural.

Changing the storyboard was necessary to keep the filming process moving smoothly and to make sure the scene did not feel dragged out. Instead of filming every single planned angle, we focused on the most important shots that clearly showed the interaction between Lena and Claire. This allowed us to stay on schedule while still capturing the key emotional moment of Lena deciding to message Michael.

Our StoryBoard

Our StoryBoard

We took off some seconds from the first 2 scenes and we took out scenes like Claire watching Lena scene. It was unecessary to keep.

Working With Natural Lighting

Another challenge we faced on our first day of filming was lighting. Our film was designed to rely mostly on natural light to give it a realistic and casual atmosphere. At the beginning of filming, the lighting conditions were perfect. The sunlight created a soft and natural look that matched the tone we wanted for the scene.

However, as we continued filming, the lighting slowly started to change. The sky began to get darker, which caused some issues with maintaining consistent lighting in our shots. This made it difficult to keep the scene looking the same from shot to shot. Fortunately, the weather shifted again and the sun came back out, allowing us to continue filming with better lighting.

Reflecting on the First Day

Even though we faced some unexpected challenges, the first day of filming was still a productive experience. Adjusting the storyboard and dealing with changing natural lighting taught us how important it is to stay flexible during production. Not everything will go exactly as planned, but being able to adapt helped us continue filming and capture the scenes we needed.

Overall, the process went well, and we were able to successfully film an important part of the story that introduces Lena and Michael’s connection.