Production: The First Scene

In my last blogs, I discussed the plans my partner an I had for filming the different scenes.  I mentioned how the first scene would be the most technically complicated one.  But, I neglected to mention it is the only one we could do in our homes.  So, since it didn't require any major coordination, we decided that the first scene could be filmed at a separate time than the rest of the scenes because of its location. Not only that, this was filmed on a separate date. So, we changed the script to compensate for this. The camping trip was scheduled for a later date rather than later that day in the story to maintain continuity. All group members and cast members were not together for this shoot, as we didn't need to be. There are no group parts in this scene besides ones that will be edited in. We got in a voice call together for the audio as the first shot was filmed. There needed to be two phones utilized for this shot, as the shot consisted of a phone on a table. Only phone cameras will be recording every scene, and this was no different, which is where the second phone comes in. The camera wouldn't move, as it captures a top-down shot of the table with a phone in its center. The phone would then ring and be picked up by an off-screen arm after a considerable amount of ringing. The phone will be rang by one of us, and the timing will have to be right. The contact will be changed to a generic name, as I don't believe the characters will receive names other than this. We debated on how this part should be created, as if the person were to pick up the phone and be recording with their other hand, it would look obvious. It was decided that a second person will hold the camera still at a high angle during the shot, to allow the off-screen hand to grab the phone from a different side of the table. 

This is an example of what the first scene's editing will look like.  This isn't us but, once the editing is complete it will look like this.