Filming Blog - A Change of Plans

Did you guys miss me? It’s been a whole week and there is a lot I have to catch you up on. 

First, I finally shot my commercial! But, let me tell you it was quite an extensive road to film such a simple video. I’ve decided to gear away from what I had originally planned and make a “get ready with me while getting to know me” style video. I got this idea from TikTok. A lot of creators make these videos and I find them really satisfying and entertaining but also not too long which is perfect for this project. The video is simple, a creator runs through their skincare or makeup while telling random facts about themselves at eye level; sometimes they include some ASMR, fun inserts, or random songs. 

Once I was sure I was going to go through with this plan. I blocked off a production date in my calendar. The plan was to record on Sunday so that I could have the week to edit since it was my first time editing like this. But, as always with Paneet’s productions, mishaps occurred. 

Sunday afternoon: I set out my products to do the get-ready with me, my camera angle was adjusted, but there was so much bad diegetic sound. You could hear the clattering of dishes, the televisions on full blast, and chatter between my parents. I tried to get them to settle down a bit but despite that, Punjabi parents will always be loud. I decided to try to film but it was just too loud. Since I knew I set aside this week for editing, I also knew that I had time to film. So, once again the production process got pushed. 

Monday afternoon: I came home from school and immediately I set up my filming station; which consisted of cleaning my bathroom which is acting as my set and setting out the products I use when getting ready. I started deciding how I wanted to set up my camera at this point. 

I have the option of using my iPhone or iPad to film. My iPhone has better camera quality ideal for videoing but my iPad has a huge screen. Using the iPhone to film was a must so I decided to set it up on top of my faucet so that the video would be filmed at eye level, but it looked more like a low angle. I don’t have a tripod but I did have a flat surface and a whole lot of masking tape. At last, I was tapping my phone up to the mirror in front of me. I wanted to ensure I had a proper eye-level angle for viewers to look at. Once this was done my phone was entangled in masking tape but it looked as if it would hold up. Till the tape started slipping. At this point, I hoped it didn't slip too much to the point it was noticeable in the video. I filmed a couple of practices and everything looked good. So I started with my video and filmed which ended up being 9 minutes total. First I was excited to take the whole video in one take but after looking at the video everything was out of focus and you can barely see my features. So I had to proceed and get unready so that I could film myself getting ready again. Since I couldn’t see myself using the iPhone I decided opting for the iPad would be better in this situation. The iPad would be too heavy to tape up so I just rested it on top of the faucet. I started taking many test clips before actually filming the full get ready with me process. Though it was tedious when the video came out it worked well. Now I have a total of 10 minutes of videos that need to be shortened by a lot but that's what editing is for! 

Today had a lot of challenges, nonetheless, I am proud of myself for filming the main segment of my video. Being able to place a marker on my production process and say that filming is done is extremely rewarding but there is still a lot to go with editing.