Production day 3

 

I had to shoot the first 5 shots of the film opening in old Lahore as it had old buildings, old and ancient apartments where people were living. I had to shoot in daylight as mentioned before this is the time I was showing in the film opening, could not do it in the afternoon as then sun rays are too strong in my city, neither could go after that as it starts getting dark after some time. First I planned to go there at 5pm but in the evening people start coming back to their houses from jobs and tourists visit that place mostly so that would be nearly impossible to shoot. I decided to go there at 8am because that was the perfect time to go there as I did not want too many people to be there to interrupt my shooting. It is a 1-hour drive from my house so I woke up at 5am, quite difficult for me as I am a night owl, not to mention my parents were shocked to see me have breakfast with them at that time. Anyways, I reached there on time and took the shots I wanted to take. 

 

I got the shots I wanted and was contented as the whole shoot for the film opening was now complete. I stayed there till 9am to get shots of both the dark and sunny morning so I get then analyze both and see which one fits more in the film.

Production day 2

 

I knew this day is going to be very hectic for me as we had to shoot the scenes left from Day 1 too and for the ones planned for this day too. I, again, needed both my actors on Day 2 so I asked them to reach there till 2pm. My actors reached on time this day, (ah thank god). So we started on time this day

 We first went to the park to shoot the first scene planned for the day, It was a 10 minute walk from the house we were shooting in so we walked to the park together and found the perfect location in the park for the scene.A problem that we faced here was that the guard stopped us and did not allow us to shoot there. He said they do not allow non-residents to enter and specially shoot in the park.

 

 We went to the society’s head office and asked them to if we could shoot there for our project but we never allowed us so we had to cancel that scene. I couldn't take any pictures inside of the office obviously so asked the mean security guard to take a selfie with me so I could add it on my blog but as expected he refused. Still took one though when he was not looking (Avg. Gen Z Kid I know)

 

 Can you guys please take a picture of me here for my blog?

 

 The only thing I was worried about was that my film opening might become short after excluding that scene so we shot some extra scenes inside the house just in case, (though our film opening turned out to be of the right duration without them so did not use them).

 

 

 

Now we came back home to shot the 2 scenes left. First one was the lounge one where they were watching the TV.

The only task was to arrange the setting of the TV lounge, I had to move the sofa so the TV could be at front and Also the TV was to be put in place. After arranging the setting, It was time to shoot.

I put on some random Pakistan-India Cricket Match and explained my actors the whole scene so they act accordingly. This shoot was done within some minutes without any complications Ah, thank god

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three shots above shows the TV lounge before and after I set it for the scene.

 

As soon as that scene was done, my actors got very tired and hungry so we took a break and I ordered some food for them. Now was the time to spend my budget on my actor's food, I also ordered some extra food for the owners of the house as I felt like they deserved it too as they let me shoot at their house.

 

 

 After they were done eating, we shot the scene we had to shoot on Day 1. As I was making it, all by my lonesome I had to do all the work WITHOUT ANY HELP. I had to set the location, explain my actors everything, shoot the video, make notes with it, keep looking at my planning notes to see if I was forgetting anything(problems of having ADHD, nevermind) While my actors were changing their outfits, I set the ludo game, explained the whole scene to them and shot it. It was time for pack up as all the scenes were shot.

 

 

END TO DAY 2!

 

Production Day 1

 On day 1, I wanted to complete half of the film opening: the shots that were to be shown as the present and another scene that was to be shot in the same room too. I asked both my actors to gather at the house we were shooting in. We were shooting at 1:00pm as I wanted to shoot in natural light that would be coming from the curtains as the time shown was morning. I reached there at 12:00pm to first set everything according to what I wanted. I set up the side table with my props, set up the room a little bit, checked the lighting and made a mind map with the help of the story board I had made(everything that was in the planning section). I was doing everything by my own so I had to make sure everything is properly set before shoot.

A part of setting my location: 

 

After the location was set, I went to the kitchen to make the fake blood. I already had all the ingredients as I brought them from my house already. The owner of the house was very sweet and was bearing with me though-out as I was calling her again and again to give me spoons and bowls etc to make the blood. This was done within 15-20 minutes.

 

 

 

Me making the blood

 

My actors reached pretty late, I almost had to wait for an extra hour because of them. To utilize my time, I started taking shots of the clock, the tap, the fan: basically all the shots that could be shot without the actor’s presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as they both of my actor's arrived, they wore their outfits, and we started shooting the scene that was to be shot indoors. I turned off the lights of the room and let the natural light from the curtains come as the time shown was morning.

We shot the entire scene at that time. This stage was a bit challenging for my male actor as He was laying on the bed and I was taking close-ups of his face so I had to explain him before every shot what expressions he has to give. Also, As I planned on shooting the whole scene in one go, it was a bit tiring for my male actor and for me too.

 

 

 

 

 

Now was the time to shoot the blood scene which was also a bit arduous as firstly, the actress was feeling very disgusted by the blood, I did mention it at first when I asked her to be a part of my project, But according to her, As she has never seen a fake blood, She never knew it could be so disgusting. Anyways I still managed to convince her so it was a win I guess!? I spread blood all over her neck and hands and asked her to lay on the bed.

      First I had to take the shot we had to add before this scene, the phone call scene which would wake my actor up. Don't even get me started on how many shots I took of that specific scene. I needed someone to call on the phone that I put besides the actor and I was shooting the scene so I needed someone else to call on that phone (I mean obviously, I can't do both, I have two hands). Now there was some problem with the phone as well, because it was not receiving calls and when it luckily did, my actor did not respond to it at time so It was a task honestly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After the scene was shot, the actress immediately wanted to change her outfit and clean her up so We went to the washroom to do it but the thing is, that blood was sticky and I had no idea it would stick to her hair. When I applied the blood on her neck it not only went down to her body but also stick to her hair and it was so difficult to clean it up afterwards specially without damaging her hair. (Let's not talk about how scared I was because I know how much she loves her curly long hair and my friendship was at stake). After spending 30 minutes trying to figure out how to remove that blood from her body, I asked her to take a shower and get it off her. and happy to tell, it actually worked!

 

Actress covered in Blood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, after the blood scene was shot, another problem was that the bed sheet got ruined so I changed the bed sheet immediately as I definitely didn’t want aunty (owner of the house) to kick me and my actors out of the house. Note: The aunty was not comfortable with me taking pictures of her so don't have any of them.

As soon as this scene was done, I started setting up for my other scene, the ludo one I set the ludo and asked my actors to change their outfits.*The picture also shows the changed bed sheet and look of my female actor as she had to take a quick shower to get rid of the blood on her body*

 

As I was explaining them what they had to do in the scene at 4:00pm, electricity went off (it was very expected as despite of load shedding being quite common in Pakistan, in these days it hardly happens) Anyways it was clearly a bad day for me as, they did not have any UPS and generator so in 35C we were sitting there with no fans at all, so we were sweating like crazy(if I say making this video took my sweat and tears,I mean it) 

To utilize the time, I decided to shoot the terrace scene shoot the terrace scene as it was outdoors and we did not require any bulb in it. We rushed to the terrace with cups, my storyboards, my notes and a pen in my hand. All the shots were taken here with the help of my storyboard(posted in the planning part) so this was done quickly.

Also It is important to mention how making a Log sheet really helped me during my shoot as I was doing my project alone, I marked on my notes every time I took a shot to keep a record of them which would later help me in my editing process. It really helped me at times when I forgot which Shot/Take I was on and which scenes were left. This way I knew exactly which shots were extra and which ones I have to choose. My story Boards also helped me a lot during shoot, I knew exactly my shot is supposed to look and what type of shot will come after this.

Note: These includes notes of all three days of production.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               I huge shout-out to my actors who did not complain and were suffering from the hot weather with me. More-over and it was all dark in the house so we could not shoot the scene that were supposed to be shot inside the room.

We waited till 5pm but then decided to shoot the rest tomorrow as first of all, there was no light so there was no point in waiting as I had no idea as to when the electricity will be back. My actors and I went back to our houses and prepared for the next day.