QUIET ON THE SET

The making of our class movie went almost exactly as expected: manic madcap. Due to my missing the double-period filming session for work, I knew we were gonna have a hectic filming pace ahead of us. That wasn't helped by the train holding me up for 10 minutes as well as the stars taking cell phone calls while we were trying to set up scenes.

Overall, I pretty much knew what to expect going in for the filming process. I watched enough behind the scenes documentaries and featurettes to know what goes into film making. The unexpected delays and lack of rehearsal is what ended up making a simple shoot more complicated. We aren't experienced at this, after all, so there were many errors there was just no margin for.

We tried to get creative by forming a dolly from a skateboard and FedEx tubes, but that proved to work worse than just holding the camera and walking. Due to lack of prep-time and practice, a couple scenes didn't quite come out like we planned them, such as the monster scare scene. I could've given better direction to our help on the camera angles needed and what the scene entailed. The camera work was completely off in that one as a result. We also ran out of time to do one scene since everyone had to go to a class, so that ended up filled in after the fact. That also meant we didn't get a chance to re-record the audio to dub it into the film. Surprisingly, though, outtakes were kept at a nice reasonable number. The majority of the scenes we were able to do in one take to perfection.

The editing process was a bit harrowing. We were already behind a day, and put further behind thanks to the cameras not keeping anything in shooting order. So our first editing day was spent trying to find a computer that will run Final Cut and organizing the shots. Then, somehow, when we spliced everything together, the finished producted ended up with much quicker cuts than we had tested and done. Although, I can't be entirely sure if that's because we screwed up in cutting, or because the background audio isn't synched between the shots. Since my partner had to work on his own for an additional day, we also didn't get to do any music or sound effects.

What I would've done differently was filming not quite as linear as we ended up doing. In a set between Hunter and Central Park, we started at Hunter and ended up in the park. Since everyone had a class when we were finished, it might've worked out better to start in the park and work backwards so the threat of being late to class would be eliminated. I also would've taken greater care to get all our actress' scenes done first since we lost her first and then do pick-ups and alternate takes with my partner. However, a lot would have worked much better if filming didn't take place during my busiest month of the year. That loss of a day is what cost us.

Overall, it was fun and for all intents and purposes ran a lot smoother than it had a right to. The end result, while no perfect, is pretty close to what we wanted. All it needs are those last few finishing touches and it would improve significantly.