After shooting and editing the green screen scenes last week, there was a general air of greater confidence in the group. This partly had to do with the fact that we finally settled on an idea to base our scripts around.

The group project project was born last week after we got sick of throwing around the ‘bad date idea’. After going round in circles, and generally just not getting anything done, Michael commented that ‘maybe this should be our project’. And so now we are writing and shooting scripts based around a uni group project; genius and maybe a little bit lazy.

This week we shot our mockumentary scene. We had a great script, written by Michael, and an idea of how we were going to film it. This fell apart within five seconds of entering the room. We cut Tahni out of the script completely, so that she could be our sole camera operator. We also lengthened some jokes, and changed lines to suit memory and delivery.

My annotated mocku script

The actual process of shooting the scene was relatively easy. We used plain walls and whiteboards as backdrops for the talking heads segments, which were filmed using a tripod. The format of mockumentary also made it very easy for Tahni to simply hold the camera and move around as she pleased. As we rehearsed, she was able to pick up who to film, when to use a wide-shot or when to be close in. Since we didn’t really repeat takes to get more coverage, we have really created a documentary ‘feel’. We also utilised the zoom function perhaps a little to liberally, but it was fun to get those direct-to-camera shots.

This was our first time working as a complete group, and it worked well. Everyone was able to get their ideas out, and we were able to try out different lines and styles of shooting. We figured out who is a good actor (Kyle), and who isn’t (me). It helped that Michael wasn’t too protective of his script, and was happy to make changes as we worked.