Finishing and exporting

    Today we finished filming. We shot the scenes with Stephanie, Olga, and me. We filmed at Stephanie and Olga's house. It was the last footage we needed before editing. I went over to Stephanie's house to film the majority of the clips. Dominic went to Europe so we have to work without him. We still include him in decisions. However, he can't work with us in person so we have to work around it. We had the storyboard and script to follow. Everything went smooth because we only needed to be 3 people.

   Now that we finished filming we need to go to the next step. We had to export the footage. It was easy because we filmed on a phone and will be editing on the same one. We filmed with an iPhone and will edit with iMovie. We did the same thing last year. Since it worked for us then we know how it will work for this year. We haven't started editing. We just wanted to export it and make sure all the footage was there. Last time we tried exporting we lost footage and had to film again. We wanted to make sure we had enough time if that happened again. Now we need to start the editing process. 

Filming the main part

    Today we filmed the climax of the story. It was Stephanie, Mats, and I. Dominic went to Europe so we have to film without him. He is still involved in the decisions about the movie. He just can't be with us physically. Today we filmed the part where Stephanie gets killed. There was not a lot to film so it went pretty fast. Since we only needed 3 people we could find time easily and get it done. We all met up at my house first. We then drove to the location where we were going to film. 

   We already knew the location where we were going to film. Since we had filmed prior scenes for the movie we already had a spot. We drove to the same park we were at last time to continue filming. We are filming on a separate day because the people that were in the movie on the first filming day does not have to be there for this part. We wanted to make sure we didn't use anyone's time if we didn't have to. Also, Mats didn't have to be there for the first part so it wouldn't make sense to waste everyone's time. We went back to the same spot we found and recorded the last time. We filmed the last scenes we needed outside. We made sure to film each scene multiple times just in case. We don't want to go back if we don't absolutely have to.

Having to refilm

    Today we had to refilm. We were starting to put the footage into the editing software when we realized some footage was gone. Everything we filmed the first time at Stephanie's house was gone. This meant we had to go back and refilm everything for that scene. We were mad at first. We had spent so much time on getting it right the first time. We were disappointed, to say the least. We looked through our phones to see if we could find it. After we looked through our camera rolls and recently deleted we gave up. We couldn't find the footage anywhere.

   We realized that the only thing left to do was refilm. We all met up at Stephanie's house where we were going to film. We looked over the storyboard and script once again. After that, we talked and tried to remember what we changed. Last time we filmed we changed certain angles and movements as we went along. We wanted to use the same changes again. We tried remembering as much as we could and just followed the storyboard. Dominic was the person filming most of it because both Stephanie and I had to be in the same shot. This time we knew better how to act and say certain things. It set us back a little bit but I am happy that we realized it on time and were able to film again.

Not filming

   The last time we filmed was Tuesday. Since then it was been Christmas. We decided not to film these past few days. We all celebrate Christmas so we were unable to film. We all had different things going on so we couldn't find the time. We also just wanted a break and had other things to think about. Since it's a holiday we just wanted to relax. We didn't feel like thinking about filming. We decided to continue filming once Christmas was over. People were also out of town so we would've had to adjust. 

   We will start filming again as soon as we can. We will try and find a day next week to continue. Now, however, we don't need the entire group. All we need now is Stephanie, Dominic, Olga, Mats, and I which will not be an issue. We still need to film the scene where Stephanie gets killed and found. We also need time in case we need to refilm. We always have to think a step ahead just in case. We learned from last year to always think a step ahead and plan for anything. We also need time to edit. This will happen once we are done filming. By transferring the clips to the editing software and starting to edit we will see if there is anything that needs to be refilmed.

Filming our next scenes

    On Tuesday we started filming with our larger group. We started by filming in my apartment and getting those scenes. After we were done filming inside we needed to film outside. We decided on a park near us to film at. We all got into the same car and drove over there. It wasn't far from where I live but it also wasn't walking distance. When we got there we got out of the car and paid for parking. We then walked around the area to see where we wanted to film which scenes. It wasn't that big so we walked around the neighborhood as well to see if there were any good places. We found another small park down the road which we decided we could use.

   After we observed the area we went to where we wanted to film. We talked about the scenes that we needed to film. The actors went over their scripts to know their lines. We couldn't exactly stick with the storyboard because the surroundings were different. We just had to go with and do the best we could. Dominic and I took turns directing and being the cameraman because Stephanie had a role in the scenes. We did angles like eye-level and tracking shots. We filmed each scene at least twice. We wanted to make sure we got something we could use. This would also reduce the number of scenes we would need to refilm.

Filming as a group

    Yesterday we started to film our movie. We all met up at my house at about 10:30 in the morning. We were going to be 6 people but one person didn't show up. We had to reschedule the role last minute to one of our other friends. This set us back a few hours. Our friend came over and we started filming the scenes we needed inside of my apartment. We set up the props and went over what we needed to do. Each of the actors went over their lines to make sure they knew them. We referred back to our storyboard to see which angles and movements we needed to use. We shot everything in order so that we knew how the storyline would work.

   We decided to shoot each scene at least 2 times. We wanted to make sure we had something we could work with. We wanted to think ahead in case we later noticed a flaw or if we didn't like something in the clip. This will reduce the risk of having to reshoot these scenes. We especially wanted to limit the reshooting risk since for these scenes we needed a group of people. We don't want to use other people's time if we really don't need to. We also tried different angles and movements from what we originally decided on. We realized that certain scenes could be filmed from a better angle and we wanted different options. The filming process in my apartment took about 2 hours because at first we couldn't take it seriously and kept laughing. After a while, the actors became more comfortable and it went better. Everyone worked well together to get the job done.

Making changes

    In the past week, we have made several changes to our plan and film. The first change was the filming days. At first, we had a plan to film last Wednesday. We had that plan since the weekend before but something came up so we had to reschedule. We decided to reschedule the filming to Monday the following week. We thought this would be a good idea because we have our winter break. On Sunday, the day before we were going to film, something came up once again. We decided to just move the time to later in the day instead. When Monday came around something new happened and we had to reschedule once again. We decided to reschedule for Tuesday because no one had any plans so we were going to meet up in the morning.

   Tuesday came around and everyone gathered at my house to film. We were all supposed to meet up at 10:30 in the morning. Everyone got there except one person. We tried calling but had no luck. We waited around for a while to see if he would call or show up. After about an hour we decided to give the role to someone else. We called a few friends and found someone that was able to do it. We later got a call that the other person couldn't be in the film anymore. In a way, it was a good thing that we had to reschedule the filming because if he was in previous scenes we would have to refilm everything since he couldn't finish his scenes. Even though we had several changes it worked out for us in the end.

Starting to film

    My group and I have started filming. We decided to meet up on a weekday because that was when everyone was available. Since it was a weekday and we had school the next day we did not film the entire movie. We decided to only film the start of the movie. In the beginning, we didn't need the entire cast there. We only needed the 3 of us who are in the group as well as Olga. We decided this was the best idea because everyone else was studying for finals and we did not want to take up their time. The scenes only required Stephanie, her mom, and me. Since Dominic did not have to be in the scenes he filmed. We want to make the groups as small as possible due to COVID.

   We all met up at Stephanie's house and talked about what we were going to do. We decided to print out the script and the storyboard. We used the printed out a storyboard to be able to set up the scenes and angles right so that we knew what we needed to do. We also looked over the script to make sure we didn't need to make any changes before filming. Once we were done proofreading everything it was time to start. Stephanie and I changed into the clothes we were going to wear and touched up our hair and makeup. We started filming and everything went smooth and well. We were nervous in the beginning but as filming went on we became more comfortable in front of the camera. Printing out the script and storyboard was definitely a smart idea and it made filming much easier. We need to talk to the others in the film now to continue shooting the rest of the movie.