Location (reflection) 34

        With this entire process coming to a close, a vital aspect I need to reflect on is how we implemented our two locations and what advice I would like to take into the future. To review, we filmed in two vital locations; the Coral Springs High School auditorium and my personal bedroom. 

Scene 1: CSHS auditorium

As seen throughout my previous location planning + implementation posts, filming in the auditorium was sort of a rollercoaster. I won't bore you with the same details about finding a plan B and getting in contact with the theater teacher, but I will discuss a problem that arose on filming day. As you can see from the image below, there is a large screen hanging behind Lily.. this was not intentional. When we got to the auditorium, everything was going as plan, that was until the theater teacher informed us that the projector screen was stuck down and could not be moved. At first I brushed this off, however as filming progressed, this became more of an issue. Me and my crew described the screen background as sort of an interview style, it just wasn't.. right. Overall, obtaining and getting to this location worked out in the end, but the little things (like not checking to see if the screen was broken!!) can wreck the project.

Snap shot of Lily acting in front of broken screen

Scene 2: My bedroom

Before we even started to develop the plot, I knew my room would be a good filming location due to my availability. Thus, when the collaboration process came, we agreed that my own room would represent Annie's personal thoughts and mind. And as I discussed in my directing reflection post, I made the decision to film here first, so my cinematographer and I could find our momentum while not being under a time crunch. However, there was still a major issue. Just because I knew the size of my room, that didn't mean my group did. When Miley (cinematographer) arrived at my house, she told me her concerns with the shot list/storyboard due to her misperception of how much of room we would have to film. As a result, we had to make last minute changes to the shots to fit the size of my room. Overall, not even some wide angle example pictures could of given the same detail as an in-person visit could have.

In summary, there are a few things I learned throughout the entire location process that I will take with me in the future, the main one being to check first!! Though it may seem relatively simple, as a group we failed to have a test run with the locations. As director and as the group leader, I picked which locations to use and initially thought that they were fine and ready to use! In retrospect I was completely wrong. No matter how sure you might be, directors should always take initiative and test the locations to ensure they are fit to film.