From Script to Screen, my first film breakdown Part 2: Shooting and Directing
With the script more or less finalised, we bring it on to the next stage, filming. Honestly I was really fortunate to be able to collaborate with a friend, Zhang Chi, who can speak mandarin being from China. And the community has been so supportive to really help out and bring the best.
Filming
We took a day to shoot, honestly the weather was really against us and it was not ideal, but I am grateful to have Zhang Chi be patient with me. We both took the time to be clear on the ideas and instructions to bring this film to life showing my mood boards and the ideation process for him to get a better understanding of what I want to achieve. With Zhang Chi being a first time actor, it also took some time to guide him.
During takes I tried my best to assure him that he is doing a good job, and he really was. There were also a few cues that were times to the monologue and in the edit which was hard to predict, so I had to keep track of my watch to the second to give him a cue to make sure that. It was a true demonstration of shooting for the edit in mind. With the overcast and the strong winds, we worked with what we have and focused on the best performance we can, trying our best to bring the film to life and to bring what we envision together on screen.
On set screen of the shot setting up.
Recording the Monologue
After we had the shots done, some small reviews and we heading back to record the audio for the monologue. With the strong winds, we had to move out and audio was no ideal for recording on set. (That would mean a lot of work in post!). We went back and got to sit down and recorded the audio of the monologue separately in a controlled space.
We went through a few rehearsals before doing a few takes. One of the challenges was the ensure that we do not rush each sentences and have enough space between each phrase to pace it out. We had multiple variations of the script and we had them with different emotions, we also took the time to record a rehearsal just to let Zhang Chi get comfortable with the microphone and recording audio. Honestly he was amazing and he made this project so easy to work on and I am so appreciative of him for being so easygoing and willing to try something different.
With the shoot done and all the footage we need. We will now head into editing and all things Post Production as we bring this film into the edit.
Till the next entry
Winston Tjia
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