Embedded Files
Centre Number: 136 | Syllabus Code: 9607
Centre Name: Singapore National Academy
Day 1
3 September -- For the first day of filming, we decided to meet at 1:00pm at Caylee's house. Our plan for the day was to take the polaroid pictures of Caylee (our main protagonist) and Angelo (the cheating boyfriend) as well as filming the park scene. We decided to film these scenes first as it was hard to get the cast's schedule to align due to the fact that it was the scene with the most actors involved.
Unfortunately our meeting time had to be delayed as some of our team members and actors needed to go to the airport to send off their friend for college, so i decided to change the meeting time to 2pm. Angelo and I arrived at 1:30 and waited for the rest of the crew for 30 minutes before receiving notice that there has been a heavy traffic jam. So we decided to start prepping for the shoot first. I helped with Caylee's makeup, opting for a natural look, and picked some of the costumes for the different scenes we were planning to shoot. When the rest of the crew arrived, Kimberly helped me select the best outfits i chose.
Shooting Pictures for Polaroids
Initially, I was worried that the photos would look stiff and unnatural since our actors were not very close, however I was pleasantly surprised that they were very professional about the whole shoot and managed to make the photos look believable and natural.
We chose matching outfits (clothes that coordinate with each other) for Caylee and Angelo, ensuring that they have the same color palette or style of clothing to convey a feeling that they are in a seemingly loving relationship. I also chose to shoot these pictures in various different locations in various outfits to give a sense that they had a long relationship filled with different dates at different locations. This took around 2 hours to shoot due to the various costume and set changes.
Shooting the Park Scene
At 4:00 pm we were preparing to leave Caylee's house and head off to the park, however Nixon's car (our mode of transport) broke down as there was an issue with the engine. This took around half an hour for Nixon to fix and we were able to head towards the park at 4:30pm to film the scene where Caylee catches her boyfriend cheating on her.
Us travelling to the park
Since this was the first day of filming, the cast was still very awkward with one another, especially Allyson (The other girlfriend) and Angelo, since they were strangers that had to perform many romantic scenes with one another, this caused us to reshoot the same scenes many times. Moreover, our filming had to be cut short as the park unexpectedly closed at 5pm that day and the security guard asked us to leave. Due to our lack of footage, we were forced to reshoot the footage on a different day. However this day's footage was not completely useless as we learned some valuable insight on the best places in the park to film, as well as different scenes that worked and did not work.
Day 2
16 September -- Due to the number of people in the cast and crew, it was very hard arranging a schedule and we had to delay the date several times. In the end we settled on a date two weeks ahead and I ensured no one had plans on filming date and emphasized the importance of coming on time as I did not want us to be rushed during filming.
Re-shooting the park scenes
Today's plan was to reshoot the park scenes and shoot extra footage if we had the time. Fortunately, everyone came on time, and we all met up at the park at approximately 3:00pm. Today the filming process went much more smoothly as Angelo and Allyson were more acquainted with one another. We finished the "date" scene at around 4:15 pm and moved onto filming Caylee's POV of the date. We decided to shoot Caylee's reaction to seeing the couple whilst in the car and we finished this by 5:00pm.
Extra footage
After the filming we decided to take more polaroid pictures of Caylee and Angelo as Angelo's schedule will be full from this point forward hence we took the opportunity to film as many scenes of them together as possible. For the setting we chose Allyson's house as it was walking distance from the park and it provided a whole different aesthetic and vibe than other pictures in the polaroids, which gives more variations to the polaroids and further emphasizes the length of the relationship.
After that we also filmed the first draft of our bedroom scene in Allyson's guest room to practice that kind of shots and framing we wanted to use. At first we considered using the guest room as the filming location for the bedroom scenes, however it had too harsh lighting to make the shots look good, and it did not fit the overall theme of our music video.
Day 3
Shooting the bedroom scene
17 October -- We had to push back the filming date for a month as our team had Summative Exams and thus, we were busy studying. So, we planned to film as soon as possible and resume the filming right after we finished our last summative exam. Me and Kimberly carpooled from school to Caylee's house, and we arrived at around 1:00pm. Unfortunately, on this day Nixon and Jeanie were busy so Kimberly and I were in charge of filming Caylee.
Kimberly and I reviewing the plan for the day
I brought all the polaroid pictures (of Caylee and Angelo) that I had commissioned to be printed out and we pasted it on her wall to aid in the set design as well as to be used as a prop when Caylee tears them down.
We had also shown some of the results of our MV so far to our actress:
We filmed some scenes however filming had to be cut short as Kimberly felt ill, so we decided to continue film on another day.
Day 4
Continuing with the bedroom scenes
13 January -- Since we were extremely busy with internships, university applications, and student council events, we had to carefully plan our schedules and carve out a day when all of us could come together. After being informed that Caylee would be leaving for university in the near future, we made sure to take as many scenes as humanly possible so we could pick and choose the best ones in the editing process. Today we planned to shoot a montage of Caylee being in a depressive state after knowing that her boyfriend is cheating on her.
Us talking about the plans for today:
Us finding places in Caylee's room to shoot the scenes of the montage. Most of the scenes were in tight spaces as we wanted to make use of "tight' framing.
Kimberly, Nixon, and I met up at around 1pm and we finished the photoshoot at Caylee's house at 3pm, and we finished the bedroom scene at 6pm.
Day 5
Shooting the bathtub scene
16 January -- Today's plan was to film the bathtub scene as I felt as though it was the hardest scene to film.
My team and I were extremely excited for this shoot as it was the most pivotal moment of our media text. Kimberly and I had planned this shoot in great detail, hence we thought we were prepared to face every obstacle that came our way.
I woke up at 5:00am to head towards the flower market so that I was able to have the flowers fresh for the shoot later in the day. This process took me around 1 hour and I promptly left to go to school.
After getting permission from our media studies teacher to use the class time to film the music video, Kimberly and I carpooled to the hotel, where we met up with the rest of the cast. We arrived at the hotel at around 1:30 pm, and I had brought the dress, flowers, lighter, gloves, stockings and other items that I thought would look good for the shoot.
Me cleaning the bathtub
However, when we arrived at the "Country Heritage Hotel" our high expectations were brutally shattered. The gorgeous pictures we had seen online had no resemblance to the reality of the hotel. The bathroom was in the worst condition imaginable, no matter how we tried to clean the murky waters, the dirt seemed insurmountable. We decided not to shoot the scene as we were scared about the adverse effects that the dirt would give our actress.
This was how the hotel was advertised:
These are the real pictures:
The Building
The view from the balcony is filled with litter and cigarette packets
The King Bedroom
The bathwater still had black particles floating even after our 10th rinse
The Sink
The "Balcony"
Shooting the parking lot scene
However, since I was the director, I could not show the team that I was devastated and disappointed, instead we pivoted our plans.
We quickly realized that we did not have another location to film the bathtub scene as none of our homes had a bathtub, so we decided to film an entirely different scene.
We ended up choosing to do the parking lot scene, however this would need prior notice to the security guards of the parking lot, hence we adapted and remembered that there was a closed neighborhood that rarely had any visitors, which meant that the roads would be empty and perfect for filming. We also chose that location as there was a lot of empty space which would also give "loose framing" which gives an air of freedom, which fits as she is now free from her relationship.
To our dismay, a downpour of rain occurred so we had to run and seek shelter and a nearby cafe. We used this to our advantage by planning out the scene right then and there.
Coincidentally, when we finished our planning, the rain cleared up. So, we left the cafe and started shooting. One hour into filming, Nixon had to go home because of urgent matters, so Kimberly and I were left to shoot the scene along with Caylee.
We finished the shoot at around 6:30pm.
Shooting digipak photos
After that, we decided to make use of the dress and roses that I brought and went to a professional photo studio to take pictures for the digipak. We had a time limit of around an hour so we finished day 5's shoot at around 8pm
Day 6
Reshooting the bathtub scene
18 January -- Today we planned to reshoot the bathtub scene in a brand-new hotel. This time I chose a 4-star hotel as I did not want the previous occurrence to happen again.
I arrived at the hotel at 8am and bringing all the flowers, dress, food dye, gloves, fake blood, candles, and more, which took many trips from the car to the hotel room. This whole process took me around 30 minutes which was just in time for the rest of the crew to arrive. After seeing the beautiful hotel room, we were extremely relieved and this further motivated us to do the shoot.
Some of the materials I brought
I had planned for the crew to meet at the hotel at 8:30am and Caylee to come at 9:30am. So we could prep the set design and review the plan before she came in order to make the filming process more efficient and effective.
We also scoped the hotel bathroom for more locations we could film in, such as the wardrobe, however we felt that it was too repetitive since we had already filmed a scene of Caylee in the wardrobe of her bedroom.
We chose to not use the stockings and to choose the bracelet accessory rather than the gloves as we felt that it made it too messy and diverted the audience's attention away from Caylee.
Caylee creating the "smudged mascara" look
We felt like using the red LED lamp we had was way too harsh and bright to fit the aesthetic, so Nixon and I came up with the idea of putting red dye in a water bottle and shining a phone's flashlight through it. This caused the perfect red lighting, not too harsh yet not soft at all.
We also wanted to take high angle shots of Caylee in the bathtub so I decided to get up on a chair to be able to get a very high angle shot.
The whole filming process of that went smoothly and took around 4 hours and this was the aftermath:
It took us 30 minutes in cleaning the hotel room as we did not want to cause the hotel staff much trouble.
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