Week 10 – Shootin’

­Today was the all important first shoot day. After delaying our shoot by one week, we were pleasantly welcomed by the 18 degree day with an overcast atmosphere that we were looking for out in Warrandyte. Our call time was 10am. After picking Alex and our actress Christina up from the station we made our way out to Warrandyte where we were met by Sarah, Laura and our actor Chris at our first location which was down Everard Drive by the river and along the walking track.

Scene One took us upwards of two hours to film. This was way longer than I think any of us had anticipated. I think it was most likely due to us trying our best to comply to the constraints of our shot list, which would make it easier in the editing process if we knew exactly what shots would match up with what audio. I was camerawoman for this portion of the day which was a really good experience, however I was keen to let others have a go of it because it’s something that’s best experienced or judged by different eyes. Our actor Chris was great for his scene, and he proved to be quite the good “Boyfriend” for someone who had never acted before, and was just Laura’s mate!

We wrapped this scene at around 12:30 when we broke for lunch and sat outside. We then drove onto scene 2, out at location #2 where we met Scott, who was playing Ted. Again for someone who was not an actor, and who had not seen the script prior to this day, he was really good for someone who had been thrown in the deep end. We can all agree that he definitely embodied the creepiness of Ted especially when he said “sweetness”.

While still adhering to the shot list, we found that we wanted to adventure with the gorilla tripod that Laura had brought along, which we rested on our shoulders and used it as a way of stabilizing Laura as she ran backwards up the hill while filming.

We were pressed for time in this scene, knowing that we would have to wrap the shoot in order to make it back to RMIT wit the equipment before 4:30. It felt like we were on the Amazing Race, trying to decide the quickest way there. We wrapped at 3 and had the content imported to two hard drives by 3:15 when Sarah’s mum kindly offered to drive into the city in order to make it there. They made it by 4:25. Phew.

Had this day been different we would have allowed far more time for our shoot in the morning, and we also would have given the scripts to the two guys who were not professional actors. On that note, we were absolutely wrapt with Christina’s performance throughout the day and I can’t wait to see what Laura and Jackson do with the footage!