First Day of Shooting: A Success!

I just got back from today's shoot and while we ran into several problems (broken tripod, forgotten lines, patron interruptions, accidental pressing of buttons that influence received light), it was overall a major success. We shot about ninety-nine percent of what I had planned in the storyboards.

Due to the weather being crappy, we couldn't shoot outside at Delaware Park because the swings weren't up, and it was fairly dark and cloudy and too many people were outside to shoot the flowers scene.

I also realized that I can't have the guy who plays Simon play the person who pops up in Cassandra's thoughts after each clue, so I'll need to find someone else to go through the motions of the three short scenes.

The quality of the camerawork isn't as good as I'd have liked, but I believe I grew from the experience. Joe, unfortunately, had to work today, which is why I was stuck doing the camerawork, but Ryan (actor who played Nick) and Julia (actress who played Cassandra) alternated with me to get the sound recorded correctly.

We had a few instances where the microphone wasn't turned on and we had to reshoot three scenes due to bad audio and poor lighting. It took me about an hour to figure out how to use the camera in the first place, and we didn't start shooting until about ten, but we finished around two.

The opening credits I shot last night, and they're beautiful. I just hope my other credits and my actual footage isn't awful, 'cause we spent a lot of time working on scenes and I really would be upset if the quality isn't as good onscreen as it was on the camera.

As I see it, I'll rent the equipment for a Monday or Tuesday afternoon in April, when the weather is nicer, and I'll shoot the final scenes then.

As for editing, I booked the editing suite at school for Monday night from four to six, though I'll stay until about nine to see how much I can get edited. I need to download the music from No Time to Think's website (their permission has already been given) and move the songs to either a jump drive or e-mail them to myself. I also need to find some more music to use for the introduction and/or conclusion credits.