A2-20. Major Task – Making of – behind the scene

Overall organisation & logistics

LISTING RESOURCES NEEDED

As soon as I decided upon the structure of my project, I listed the resources needed for each task.

T1 – magazine article

• equipment: laptop  -> ok
• SW/apps knowhow: Canva (for the editing)  & Lightroom (for editing photos) -> ok
• Character: my mother for the written interview -> got her confirmation.

T2 – Instagram page

• equipment: phone (for filming & photoshooting) & laptop (for editing & posting) -> ok
• SW/apps knowhow: Canva (for posters & logo) + Lightroom (photo editing) + Instagram account set-up & administration -> ok
• Character: my mother for filming/ photographing while shadowing her -> got her confirmation.
• Locations access:
  • for home and outdoor -> not needed
  • for Pilates studio -> confirmation received
• HR assistance -> not needed (I was going to make all filming and photoshootings myself)

T3 – Documentary

• equipment: phone (for filming & audio recording) & laptop (for editing+ overall montaj) -> ok
• SW/apps knowhow: Premier Pro -> basic expertise gained during the making of the preliminary project
• Character: my mother -> got her confirmation.
• Locations access:
  • for home and outdoor -> not needed
  • for Pilates studio -> confirmation received
• HR assistance -> needed (making a Performative Documentary, I needed to be part of the footage, so someone else was supposed to film me).

FINDING THE LACKING RESOURCES 

The good news:  I only needed a cameraman.

The bad news: I did not know many people providing the fact that I had only lived in Alba Iulia for 2 years and my time was very limited due to my studies and my full time job. A further limitation to expanding my pool of acquaintances was due to the fact that my studies are made online, so no class fellows available either.

Choice #1: I asked my colleague from work to help.

I work in a facility management small company, so my colleague are specialized in construction and cleaning. I though: what could be so tricky in holding a phone and filming upon instructions? … yet, you do not want to see the footage obtained from the testing organised! Conclusion for choice #1: abort!

Choice #2: I search and met a marketing person from Alba Iulia.

She was very happy to help and she praised herself with her side work of filming and preparing digipack for different event? I was thrilled! I kindly asked her to follow my Mom at her workout to fim and make photos as many as possible, hoping I could get enough material for my preliminary project and for my instagram page too.  … Yet, the material received was not eligible :(. Photos were mainly made contre-jour and from angles not advantaging my Mom at all (so to speak). Footage was irrelevant: long footage from following my Mom on empty hallways, while the footage from workout included very short clips (8-10 seconds, not allowing for cropping and transitions)! Conclusion for choice #2: abort!

Choice #3: Mariana, the physical therapist taking care of my Mom offered to help.

Having my script already done, we made a test by filming me while reading part of it. She had excellent input regarding the placement of the furniture, of myself and I could feel my trust in her building on the spot. Conclusion for choice #3: BINGO!

PLANNING & MAKING THE SHOOTINGS

As all 3 of us (Mariana, my mother and myself) are working, we decided to meet every Sunday morning at the Citadel park for the outdoor shooting. We had 3 sessions: 1 for testing and 2 others in order to have enough material to select from.

We chose a less crowded and we tried shooting the same scene from different angles and different camera movements.

Except went smoothly, except for the normal disruptions from a park: the crying of a baby in the middle of  your speech, a happy dog begging for attention exactly the moment the shooting started, a kid falling from his bike and landing on my cameraman, or simply forgetting the line because something funny was happening next to us, etc. :))

The interview with my Mom was supposed to be at our own place. We only planned for one evening shooting. We both rehearsed many times the script. We were comfortable in our safe place. What could go wrong? (famous last words! :)). Actually, it took almost all night to make it!

It turned out that my Mom is suffering from stage fright. Once the filming button was on, my mother was losing all her focus and couldn’t remember her lines! I was in shock, as I knew her as an excellent communicator, talking in front of hundreds of employees and board members. It seems she can only do that when wearing her leadership hat while educating or informing professional stakeholders. After 2 years from unplugging her from the adrenaline filled corporate life, she uncovered her vulnerable self. And I simply love this sensible self… but this is another story 🙂

Coming back to our shooting scene, as it became very late, all of us were really tired, so we decided to print our lines and position ourselves in such a way that we could mask the print.

The print was quit far for our sight, so reading was not very easy, but at least we could make it through the whole interview. The footage is not ideal, as the audience could tell that the person talking was not looking into the eyes of his/ her companion, but well… we are only beginners and the focus should be on the structure of the project and the montage itself.

Other challenges we needed to overcome during this shooting experience:

• getting really hungry and no catering was available late at night;
• our 2 dogs barking at noises from the street or begging the cameraman for attention or chasing their friends cats who simply didn’t feel like playing with a stranger in the house.

Overall, the entire shooting process was an interesting and funny experience.