This week we got to participate in an activity that requires the participation of the whole class, as one team. As in a previous reflection post, I mentioned that occasionally Robin would give us a sneak peek experience of what an actual film set would look like, this time the experience is even more vivid and than usual. before. We were given the script, divided up the tasks, set up the filming set, measured and created important marks for the actors and cameramen to move and adjust accordingly. We experienced the feeling of working at a filming site, with assigned tools and tasks, how to keep pace with each other, understand each other and act on orders in the most efficient way.

I was introduced to the process of rehearsing, and of course, the purpose was to pay attention to every little detail to produce the most perfect shot possible, and to minimize the amount of blemishes in the finished scenes. For example, in this set up, when connecting the camera to the classroom screen to monitor, Em’s face was accidentally shown on one of the televisions and entered the frame, creating an endless loop and we only recognized it when we looked at the camera screen after the first or second attempt of rehearsing. We then turned off those TV screens right after releasing. This shows that paying attention and being able to spot what is wrong is a very important skill in filmmaking that will come in handy quite often, because there have been many cases where unnecessary and completely preventable errors appeared during the filmmaking process.

What is filmed is a conversation between two characters sitting opposite each other. The class therefore had two different filming sets, one shot focusing on Em, and one focusing on Marlow. While observing, I also had some thoughts. In particular I was thinking and wondering about the fact that if repeating a dialog in different shoots like we were doing, there will still be some small differences – in the tone of voice, in the speaking speed – then how do we harmonize all the shots to create the smoothest footage? I have tried to think of possible ways, the post production process will of course be very essential. I’m also very excited and willing to experiment with editing the plowing scenes, maybe it won’t be smooth in the first few attempts. Or maybe it’s completely simpler than I thought, because filming this way has been utilized countless times in countless movies.