Film Production Diary: Day 3.

Had a few bumps today. It pretty much started with this one girl, who has been there every day after school this week just to tag along, and whose scene finally comes up today, tells me she can't stay after school. Then I find out that 3 people I needed tomorrow won't be able to be there, but I can at least film around/without them, so that's fine. One good thing, at least, was that I was supposed to be in a parent conference today after school, and the conference was canceled, so I was able to get right to the filming.

I filmed a couple scenes during my seventh period class. One, I had to run my main guy down to the bathroom and film some filler I forgot to film yesterday. Then I re-shot a scene we did yesterday, but just his perspective, as it was supposed to take place during a class period... and yesterday, every shot of my main guy showed every desk behind him empty. So I had to re-film his lines with kids in their desks. Of course, THAT was interesting, with them doing crazy stuff in the background.

Then after school was all crazy. We were all over the place. We had to go to the gym to shoot a scene, but the gym was locked, and then we were followed by these three guys (2 of them my students, the other just hangs with them). So we had to wait until the basketball players (including those 3) started practice so we could use the gym. So while we were waiting, I saw a couple of my students walking by and decided to do a scene I had forgotten to film with them yesterday. But I needed this other guy who I didn't have, so I had to put my main guy in the other guy's place, but hidden behind a tree.

So we go back to the gym and realize we couldn't do what I had planned because of the basketball players, so we had to improvise. We used a back patio instead, after doing a shot crossing the outskirts of the gym.

But before we could use the back patio, we had to get rid of a group of students (3 of which were also mine, two of them being the aforementioned 2 I had just filmed with before the gym thing) who were talking back there. So I decided to do another shot using the group, as I needed a crowd of students walking by. Then from there, we went back to the patio before one of my students decides to tell me he has to leave soon. So then we cross to the front of the school to do a couple entrances for the beginning of the movie, and then I could let him leave.

Then, back at the patio, my main guy and this other girl have to do their scene that was originally in the gym. We get through that and then do a few random filming bits for a montage before going in for the big 'awkward' scene. The girl has to lean in to kiss the guy, who ducks out of the way all freaked out because he sees his girlfriend (the girl who couldn't be here today). But I actually think it worked out for the better, because I like how the reactions are without her in the immediate shot.

And that was pretty much it. We went back to my classroom for a while, and I had to wait around with one student until her ride showed up.

Then I went out and bought some things for set building tomorrow... nearly 30 bucks for a scene that's gonna be 5-10 seconds. Crazy things I do for my students. I know I'm not gonna finish filming before the break, but at least I'll have the majority of it done. Maybe it's for the better, anyway, because I could sense them (particularly my main guy) getting tired of staying after school so much. But we'll get it done, God help me.