During last weekend, our group sent more than 25 emails to each other, talking about when we should be shooting the other incomplete half of our film. We did not get much of the shooting process done during mid-term break, even though it was the best time for us to get it done since our schedules were more flexible. Since one of our group members wasn't free to film during the weekend, we made an immediate change in our plan. The only thing we could do is film the auditorium scenes during break and lunch on Monday and then film on the beach after school. The deadline was very close and we knew that we don't have much time left. It was crystal clear that we did not manage our time well. Since we had to film after school, I had to make a choice to not attend badminton training.
On Monday, our last filming day, things did not turn out to be very pleasant. Many sudden changes were made. The auditorium, which was where we were going to shoot our fair sideshow scenes, was being occupied by some music instruments, as there was going to be a music recital after school on that day. Not only did we 'lose' our filming location, our director, who had some of the props, was sick and did not come to school until lunch, so we didn't have all the props that we need for filming. Our director came back at lunch and we had to film everything after school. One of the major sudden changes was the location for the fair sideshow scenes. As I mentioned before, we could not use the auditorium, so we went to the drama studio on the 4th floor instead.
In the drama studio, we planned to shoot for around an hour to make sure that there will be enough time for us to shoot on the beach. There were some black blocks in the studio, and we find them to be very useful for building a tiny "stage" for our scene. The set dressing (eg. the backdrop) in the drama studio ended up looking decent, but if it was in the auditorium it would have been better. Before we started shooting, I almost forgot to turn off the air conditioner, as they were making loud noises that would affect the audio of our film. Also, the microphone cord was in the way of the camera, but luckily I found that out after a short time. After an hour of filming in the drama studio, we quickly headed towards Stanley beach. The sun began to set while the sky gets darker, so the quality of lighting in our film was very bad. We lost one of our props - the Old West star badge, and had to remake a new one immediately. The deadline for the film was originally Tuesday (the day after our final shooting day), so Tung Tung and I hurried back to school to edit our film.
After this experience, I think that our group could have done a lot better, but we had extremely poor organization (time management as one of the main issues). I think that our production plan was not detailed enough. The dates and time weren't specific or accurate, as not everyone is sure if they are actually free or not on that day. What our group did was plan when we would film a few days before the shoot, and suddenly cancel the shoot because someone was not free. Therefore, not everyone in our team is able to make sacrifices and postpone / not attend their activities since they all have their own plans. We were very unorganized and what we actually did was not similar to our original plan at all. We didn't have a clear detailed plan and we were rushing to finish shooting our film, so many minor details were overlooked. I found out that each and every detail is very important (even the minor ones), not only in the planning process, but also during the shoot. For example, the air conditioners. If we didn't turn them off, I am sure that the audio of our film would be terrible. The lighting of our film was not that good and I realized that I made a huge mistake afterwards - I didn't reset the white balance after we turned off the lights in the drama studio. Thus, everything appeared to be very dark in our film. I think that I could have done a better job in the planning process and I am quite disappointed in myself. Nonetheless, I learnt a lot through this experience. I would be more attentive when making plans to avoid mistakes.
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