Lights, Camera...Challenges: The Adventures of Days 2 & 3 Filming

Hey blog!! I'm going to recap over our shooting process and include fun little clips to really bring the process to life.

 Day 2 of Filming (Wednesday, 3/5/25)

Day 2 Revision

So, Wednesday was officially Day 2 of filming! We started with the scene where Ethan finds the "help wanted" poster and follows it all the way to Lilly's house. This shoot actually took us two hours because we were overshooting everything to make editing later so much easier. 

Golden Hour Problems: Lighting Challenges

Anyway, we used an iPhone camera to film, and it was going great until golden hour. And let me just say, golden hour can be a blessing, but also... a bit of a problem. The lighting changed so drastically that we had to call it a wrap earlier than planned. School gets out around 3, but unfortunately, we all had other commitments that day, so there just wasn’t enough time to continue. Oh, and to top it off, another problem popped up. Since we’re heavily relying on our actors, it’s been hard to figure out a filming schedule that works for everyone. Our actors aren’t available on the weekend and most of next week. 

Thankfully, after some back-and-forth, we settled on Friday for Day 3 of filming!

This picture beautifully shows the perfect lighting of golden hour that created a serene environment. 

Small clip from filming of Ethan walking towards the "help wanted" poster!

This is a clip of the close up we did for the "help wanted" poster. We shot this poster from different angles just to see which one we want to use during editing.

The problem! The lighting was too different from when we were filming earlier in golden hour. We were going through frustration between the choice if we should continue filming despite the lighting being different.

Day 3 of Filming (Friday, 3/7/25)

Day 3 of Filming Recap

Friday was Day 3, but I wasn’t there! I had a super mandatory test after school that I couldn’t miss—it was decided months ago. If I tried to drive to my partners house after the test it would be already after sunset since the test was 3 hours long after school. Because of this, my partner had to handle filming all on their own. Our actors weren’t available any other day, so Friday was literally our only option to finish filming. Today, we filmed the rest of the opening with Lilly and Ethan's interactions and smaller details such as Lilly walking down the grand staircase that we couldn't fit into day 2. 

From what I’ve seen, my partner did an amazing job! I went through the footage afterward, and I’m really happy with how everything turned out. 

Small clip of one of our films with a closeup of Lilly looking at Ethan.

Lilly looking at the garden which is one of the scenes we need for the opening.

This clip is supposed to portray the "magical" moment when Lilly walks down the stairs and meets Ethan for the first time. My partner took several shots of this to make editing easier!

What We Learned from Day 3

If there’s one thing this process has taught me, it’s that difficulties will always arise, but with proper and efficient decision-making, they can always be solved. Whether it’s adjusting schedules, relying on teamwork, or making the best out of the time we have, there’s always a way forward. I definitely feel more confident handling setbacks now, knowing we can adapt and stay on track no matter what.