Obstacles and Issues While Producing

During the filming and producing of my opening Cadence, I dealt with several challenges and obstacles while filming the running and garage scenes. Filming in real locations made me realize that adjustments were important, even though I had the planning sheet beforehand.

One of the biggest obstacles I faced was filming the running scenes on the trail under the highway, at the New River Greenway. Since my character, Leo, is moving constantly, some of the footage had came out shaky and messy when I was trying to follow his movement. In order to fix this, I changed the way I was going to approach this and filmed more controlled shots, like close-ups of his shoes hitting the ground, his hands clenching, and medium-side shots of him running past the camera instead of following him.

Another issue was the lighting. The running scenes were planned to be filmed with natural lighting, yet the brightness and shadows depended on the weather that day and the time we were filming. Some of the early scenes looked way brighter compared to the ones I filmed later. To maintain a consistent light, I refilmed specific shots at a similar time of the day to it remained more structured.

The garage scenes also produced some challenges. The space was darker than I had anticipated, making it difficult to clearly catch Leo's facial and physical expressions. I opened the garage slightly to allow natural light in while still maintaining a dull, dim setting, instead of adding strong lighting. This aided to convey the moody tone while advancing in the visibility of the camera.

In addition, consistency and continuity was another essential issue. By the garage scenes being separately  filmed from the running scenes, I had to make sure Leo wore the same outfit and appeared in the same amount of sweat and exhaustion so the viewers would acknowledge the connection between the events. 

These obstacles led me to learn that filming can have a different outcome in the way you expect it to. By readjusting camera shots/angles, filming shots a couple of times, and learning to work with the setting I was in, I was able to maintain the emotional tone that I intended to convey while improving the overall quality of the footage.