2. Main Idea: The original idea was a woman who was having the worst possible day of her life--she gets fired from her job, her electric gets cut off, and she finally loses her house. The end result or combining three different versions of this turned into something much more mild.
3. Source: I suppose the idea originated out of a group discussion between Ashley, Robbie, and myself. We all know what a bad day feels like, and how that can come crashing down on your shoulders. I can't speak for the other two people in my group, but it felt slightly personal in parts. There have been days that all I wanted to do was just go home go to bed and forget that they ever happened.
4. Audience Key Emotion: Even with the content of someone having such a horrible day, perhaps the audience can see humor in it all, as well as the anger and frustration that comes with it. Bad days are a kind of plague of injustices--usually one right after another. Yet on more than one occasion, I found myself laughing, because on some strange level, we feel the humor as well as the anger.
5. Synopsis: A woman has an overwhelming day at work. Attempting to stay on top of the situation, she leaves early, but her bad day doesn't stop there. Various incidents continue even at home. But the "bad" does end with the day, and the next day, she's ready to be back on top of the world.
6. Theme When Finished: People seem to get the most upset over the little things--the stuff we know we can't change. Yet even though we sometimes are plagued with the daily grind, we constantly strive to go forward. Though hard work is not always rewarded, at some point, there comes a limit to how much can be thrown at us, and when we reach that limit, somehow everything lightens up. There can be no dark without light, discomfort without humor, or strength without pain. After all, hasn't it been said, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"?
7. Our Strengths: One great strength of this film, I think, is that it contains some measure of humor. When I looked at the last stack of papers and boxes that was being stacked inside the office for the last office scene, I just had to laugh, because I would have walked out too. It shows us the meaning of being "human." I think that is an area that we succeeded with this film. We took what was good in the original idea (the overall "bad day" concept) and toned it down to relate to the average person. I was also quite pleased with our actress's performance throughout. I think she did quite well, especially knowing her shy personality, so kudos to her.
8. Problems: Lighting was always an issue. Right off the bat, I knew that the actress we had didn't own a pair of contacts, so we were going to have to be as careful as possible about the glare on her glasses. The spaces we were working in often made our lighting sets overpowering. Since some of the scenes I was scheduled to light took up a lot of area and time in shooting, I often found myself looking for alternatives (extra filters, perhaps a way to use a bounce card, subtracting a light source, asking the director time and time again what their preference for the lighting was). Sound was only an issue in my mind because it was always something that I kept forgetting about. I kept forgetting to turn the mic on and off, and on one particular take, I'm still not entirely sure everything was connected correctly. The wind outside this weekend was also atrocious. I've heard countless complaints about the same wind from other students in my sound class, as they recorded sounds outside this weekend. It wasn't something that could be changed, but thank god for the muff. Without that, it would have been even worse. All in all, I got much better with the sound as time went on. I just need more time and experience with that equipment. The only problem with the camera for me seemed to be my zooms. I still need to get the hang of the speed and timing for them, as well as when I actually want to do a close-up. Overall, my main challenges lay mostly in technical things and inspirations to write a version of the script that could be combined later. Scripting challenges, however seemed to be aided by ideas from the other two people in the group.
9. Journal: One thing I learned is that, while the three-light system is probably ideal, it doesn't seem to work well in small spaces. One or two lights is about all a small space can take. I also learned that while the three-light system may be overpowering, a single light can supplement an overhead light or even a built-in side-light. Another thing that I learned by the end of the day was just how long the process takes. The first time setting up with all the equipment, plus props, took nearly two hours. We were trying to help each other remember everything, and so it took forever. Also, in the future, if we plan to shoot in more than one location, I think we should probably plan for more than one day of shooting. There was a lot of waiting for various people throughout, depending on their appointed tasks. Another fantastic discovery is that it's great to have more crew members than just you. :) I wouldn't have made it without the other two members of this group this time.
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