Filming: Day 1

 Today we began the filming process for the opening of our movie Dear Diary; We filmed the first couple of shots of Maddie walking in the school hallway where sadness is seen. As she walks by, the audience will see a poster indicating that it’s the last day of school, then the bell will ring, and the hallway will get flooded with excited students. 

We filmed this during class so the night before my group members and I decided on what Maddie would be wearing. We landed on a pair of dark grey sweatpants and a black hoodie, the comfiness of these pieces of clothing would show how unmotivated she is due to her depression, and the dark colors enhance Maddie’s sorrow. We also agreed that Fatima (my team member playing Maddie) would take her Canon digital camera to school so we could use it for filming. 

Here are some behind the scenes videos of how we filmed the shots: 

We filmed the last 10 minutes of class, and we encountered a couple of issues. First, was the time constraint. We only had a couple of minutes to film the scenes, which made them very rushed and not exactly perfect. The other problem was that during the middle of shooting Maddie walking down the hallway, the camera ran out of battery. Due to this, we decided to continue filming the next class when we have more time and are more prepared. Until then, this weekend we will go the Fatima's house to record all the scenes that occur in Maddie’s home.  

Here is this funny clip of the moment the camera ran out of battery:

 

 

Set Design

 One of our props is this poster that is seen in the school hallway. The poster can be seen while Maddie is walking down the hallway minutes before the dismissal bell rings. The poster is a key part of the mise-en-scene for these scenes since it establishes context. 

Some posters for inspiration: 

 

Since it is the last day of school everyone is excited and is talking about their plans for the summer. Obviously, teenagers are always super excited for summer since now they get to spend time with their friends and have lots of fun. But for Maddie, who has no friends and is struggling with depression, summer is the opposite of fun. She just spends hours alone with no homework to distract her from the fact that other than school she has nothing to do. 

We made the poster very simple so it would be realistic of what would be seen in a normal school hallway, and we took inspiration from our own school. I used bright colors that would go with the summery and happy vibe that is usually represented when it comes to the last day of school and the start of summer. 

Here is the final product: