Production: Shooting day 1

Today was the first day of shooting. It was also more like a test shoot as it gave me an idea of what to expect. The shooting was done at Blue Area, Islamabad, near the Metro Bus Station around 5:30 pm as I had to show the late evening in my film opening. I took shots of of the young actor walking by the side of the road and the older actor following him.

A problem that I faced while shooting was that since it was a busy area, a lot of people kept walking in front of the camera even though they could've taken the other route. This caused a lot of shots to be unusable and I had to retake them multiple times. Doing so took a lot of time and I didnt get many shots as it turned dark really quickly.

For the next outdoor shoot which will be in Bahria Town, I'll go a little early so I'll have much more time to get things done.

Here are some of the shots I took today:

Research and planning: Location

For the indoors scenes, I plan on shooting at my uncle's house in the sector F-11. I'll be shooting the outdoor scenes in Bahria Town Phase IV around Arena as in my film opening, I need to show a busy area as well as a deserted one, and in Bahria Town, I can find both. I could do the shooting around my own city as well but I think Bahria Town offers a better misc-en-scene and I don't want to compromise on that.

Research and Planning: Props and equipments

For the hand-prints painting, I had to paint my hands in a way so they looked like that of a young boy. You can see in the picture that only half of them are painted to make the hand-print look smaller. I also sprayed the paper with water so the paper looks as if its very old.

My uncle has a cordless house phone in his house and for the purpose of this film opening I needed one with coiled chord so I took one from my house.

I personally selected the clothes my actors have to wear as its the director's job to be incharge of the creative process.

For the shooting I'll be using a Canon 80D with a 50mm lens, and a tripod.

Research and Planning: Cast

For this film opening task, I've decided to cast my cousin and my uncle. I made them act a scene out to see if they'd be able to perform well and I think they did a fine job!

Irtiza will be playing the role of the young man.

Irtiza Sohail

My uncle will be playing the role of the schizophrenic man.

Sohail Ahmed

Research and planning: Inspirations

I have an idea about what type of shots I want to take for the indoor scenes and for the ending of the film opening as I have the location in mind.  I have them all planned out.  I have planned to take the initial shots in a crowded area and then slowly lead them to a quiet street just to show that the older man has been stalking for a long time.

The opening shots of Make Happy by Bo Burnham are the kind of shots I'm planning to take for my film opening. Though I can't execute them just as well because I don't have the expensive equipment but I shall try my best with what I have. Here's the trailer for it where some of the walking shots are included: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE5WwlwJeDQ

For the stalking sequence I found a Film Opening on youtube made by a student.  I like the shots from 0:35-0:42 and I'll incorporate something similar in my film opening.