I chose the script of ‘That’s My Jam’ and shoot the first scene in it. Also I did some changes on the script. I planned shooting in my friend’s apartment. The location is picked, my friend’s apartment. Then I need my support team which is made up by a camera assistant, Lisa, a sound person, Niel, one of my friends, and two actors, Tan and Phoebe. I bring the jar of jam and a mop as stage property. Phoebe talked with her roommate about using their chicken in advance to make sure they are agree with our shooting. The film camera, tripod and audio kit are also ready to go.

In pre-production, I did sufficient preparation to make the shooting process smoother. For example, I wrote down the shoot list one by one, then wrote everything could occur in this shot and different ways to shoot this one. Also I tried to draw some storyboard, but it turns out that storyboard doesn’t really work for me and I was confused by myself’s drawing ^^”. So I give up the storyboard and make my shooting list more detailed and specific.

Even though I did sufficient preparation, but still I kept bumping into some problems. The location, turns out the location is much smaller than I expected. There is not enough room for a big tripod and actors moving around. Because of that, I cannot get the angles and framings I wanted originally. So next time, check the location more carefully. Also I ran into some camera setting problems which is pretty silly. When I look back, I thought of that we’ve gone through that in class. The answer to it is on the sheet of Z7 instruction. However we struggled with it for a long time, even think about shooting the scene with my own camera, canon 700D. In the end, I called my tutor and he asked me to turn up the Z7 instruction and finally I found the answer. So next time check all the settings first, not sure about some? go to the instruction first.

The shooting process is effective in general, everyone was doing their job well. And we finished the shooting in exactly four hours. Because of the small space, I found that handheld is much easier and more convenient than using a tripod. You can be more flexible about the height level. For example, when I was shooting the conversation, camera should be at their eye level, the chicken is very crowded and it’s impossible to put a tripod there, so I handheld the camera and sit on the table, in this way the height level seems alright. Also I learned something about camera movement, do not hesitate, be prompt!