Our filming took place between January & March 2022. We divided our filming into three days in correspondence with our plot, which required three settings.
The first day of filming took place on Jan.21st, 2022 in Bobby’s apartment, where we used his bedroom & bathroom as the set for our morning scenes in the opening. The filming was done in the afternoon, so we made use of handheld lighting devices to imitate the effects of natural sunlight on the room, which I operated while Richard was filming Bobby. We spent roughly 2 hours on filming the required shots on the storyboard, and the process was overall smooth and successful. Completing shot planning prior to filming ensured that we had a clear direction and greatly increased our efficiency.
During filming, we accidentally filmed a shot of Bobby’s pet cat meowing on camera, and we decided to include the shot into our film opening because it added a sense of realism and would make the story more believable for the audience. A minor issue which we identified was the red colour of Bobby’s shorts worn during the filming process which seemed slightly out-of-place during playback, but it ultimately remained unchanged because it did not come across as a big issue during internal screenings.
The second day of filming took place on Feb.16th during late afternoon in my garage, in order to film the car scenes. The timing was coordinated because all three of us were quite busy during the period, but it turned out nicely because the sky was relatively dimmer during late afternoon and thus did not impact our in-car shots. We decided to use my car because it was a small, practical family hatchback which fitted with Bobby’s character. Also, the large boot made it easier for us to film shots from the back. Most shots took place on the back seats of the car, so we opened either the front doors or the boot depending on the shots in order to improve natural lighting in the garage. I placed artificial lighting on the centre console of the car facing the rear, so that Bobby’s face would be adequately lit.
During beforehand planning, we considered that my mother needed to be present in order to operate and park the car, so I asked her to play the role of Bobby’s mother, starting the car and interacting with Bobby during the car scenes. Initially, we wanted to film the car scene in motion, but after some attempts and experimenting we decided that the available camera positions while in motion were not ideal, and there were also potential road safety issues which led us to film the entire scene while the car was parked. This allowed us to have more control over lighting, also giving us more freedom to position our shots stably without having to deal with camera shake. Our second day of filming was highly efficient and we were able to finish all our shots in around 1 hour, which avoided interference with our evening plans.
We decided that I could play the devil so that Richard, who was more professional concerning camera techniques, could stay in charge of filming. The original idea for the devil to wear a formal suit was temporarily changed to a silver down jacket because the outdoors temperature was quite low. We also made the significant change from using a gun to a baseball bat. The main reason behind this decision was a law which made it difficult for us to obtain a realistic-looking prop handgun for filming. I found a red metal baseball bat in my home, which I thought would be appropriate both in terms of colour association and symbolic violence. Through discussions we also determined that it would be less out-of-place in a school setting. The decision was effective and helped us produce some nicely-framed shots.
The final day of filming took place on Apr.14th at school for the hallway, and most importantly, elevator scenes. The two months between filming were spent on editing and producing a working rough cut of the opening using available footage. The time and rough cut gave us a good grasp over how the characters should act and what the remaining shots should look like, and we also made adjustments according to the amount of unused time left in our 2.5-minute opening, allowing us to complete our filming during break-time and the following media lesson. As a result, we had better control over the pace of the film and also how the shots connected with each other.
My role in our group was the producer & screenplay writer, and I played the role of the devil in our film opening. During filming, I also took the role of camera, set & lighting assistant to help improve footage quality. During planning stage, I led the group in terms of brainstorming and developing direction for our plot, I also wrote multiple versions of scripts for the opening and worked with Richard to decide suitable shots for storyboarding and filming. During filming, I removed unsuitable items from the set to exclude potentially distracting details, and rearranged prop positions to increase coherence of mise en scene. I helped Richard find suitable lighting angles and positions in order to assist his filming. I did not receive prior drama training, but still tried my best in order to provide a believable performance for the devil character.
Overall, many time limitations made it relatively difficult to find time for filming. However, I helped complete most of our planning work ahead of schedule, which gave us detailed instructions and greater freedom timewise. The professional expertise of my fellow group members also played a significant role in our successful filming experience: Bobby was a long-time drama student who was accustomed to delivering high-quality acting, and Richard was highly familiar with filming equipment because he had abundant experiences of photography and filming. These factors allowed us to carry out work at a high efficiency, which gave us ample time to adjust our footage and conduct editing.