First shooting commenced on the 29th of November. It was a long and hot day. The weather went to 34°C and everyone was sweating under the sun. As scheduled on our production timetable, actors would arrive at 12pm and we were expecting to finish by 10pm. Grace, Chloe and I met at 10am discussing and modifying our storyboards and then we met our actors at 12pm.

12.00-12.30pm

Actors arrive at 12 and we had a brief introduction with each other. We explained the story to the actors so they knew what to do before shooting while Chloe helped Paola to get the red nail polish on. We also provided food and drink to the actors and the crews as it was going to be a long shooting day. Later the actors had their outfits ready for Spa scene.

 

12.30-3.00pm Spa scene

Since the spa is a public area, we chose to do the spa scene first so that we wouldn’t bother others. (We found that there were less people during this period) Fortunately, there were no one using the spa when we got there. We started our filming, however due to lack of shot lists, we spent a longer time discussing about the angles and getting several different shots. Initially we expected to finish the spa scene by 2pm, but when it came to 2, we found out that we did not have many footages done. Worse and worse there were people coming to use the spa and we had to apologise them for occupying the spa for another half an hour. Everyone started to get lost at this time and we just tried our best on what we could do here. Another challenge here was that we did not have a speaker so we had to use our phone to play the music. However, the volume from the phone was too low for the actors to listen, resulted in NeuMark couldn’t follow the lyrics while doing the lip sync.

3.00-3.30pm

After the spa scene, the actors got a quick shower and changed outfits for the car park scene. I was fortunate that my friend as a hair stylist was willing to help us for hair styling. Hence, the actors also got their hair style done during this period.

 

3.30-5.00pm Car park Scene

We spent a time to find an empty parking space on the street and we started filming. This scene was relatively easy and smooth. We first filmed the the part outside the car in which Paola opened the car bonnet fixing the engines while NeuMark appeared to sing around her. I really loved the part where NeuMark leant on the car cutely and sang straight to Paola and I think this was one of the most successful shot. Then Paola moved into the car for another transition shot. Primarily, we filmed from outside the car with the window closed and we discovered that the camera operator aka myself appeared in the frame as well. Then we decided to change the camera position into the car, yet Paola gave us a really smart suggestion of opening the window. We were laughing at each other on not realising this.

5.00-5.30pm

After the car park scene, we had a small break. Everyone was hungry and tired after a few hours shooting. Later the actors changed their outfits and got the hair style on for the next scene.

 

5.30-7.00pm Street Scene

The weather was extremely hot by the dock, so we provided small fans for the actor to cool down. We first filmed the introduction part which Paola walked on the streets and put her earphone on. Next we moved to the bench where NeuMark sat next to Paola and sang to there. There was a challenge here. We were filming in a public place, so there were many people passing by in front of the camera. Therefore, we had to try several times to get the best shots. We also asked the passers-by to walk from another way or wait for a few second. Fortunately, people were really friendly and respect. Another challenge was the strong light from the sun in the result of over exposure. To solve this problem, we moved to another place and also changed the camera setting.

7.00-8.00pm

We spent time traveling from Docklands to the karaoke on La Trobe Street. We were asking for sponsorship with the karaoke but we failed (at least we tried). Instead they provided us some high-priced drink for free. During this time, the actors changed their outfits, had the make-up on and had the hair style done.

 

 

8.00-10.30pm Karaoke Scene

The main challenge we faced in karaoke scene was the lack of light. The light was really dark in the karaoke and we did not borrow the lighting equipment. (We did not have experiment in karaoke because we wanted to keep our budget low) To solve the problem, NeuMark suggested us to turn on the flashlight on our phone and placed it beside the objects. The result came not bad and we had no other choice so yea most of our shots were using the phone flashlight as support. We had a two and half hour filming here and we sent Paola and NeuMark home.

10.30-11.30pm

After Paola and NeuMark left, our team remained in karaoke for filming detail shots and also transferring the footages to our laptops.

We packed up and finished at around 11.30pm. It was a long and tiring day but I was so happy and fortunate to work with these girls and the actors. Gratefully thanks to their hard work and dedication. Overall, we had a successful shoot even though we stuck a bit in the beginning. It was a great experience 🙂