Filming the Second Scene

Today, Virginia and I filmed a second scene from my short film. We decided to record the bathroom breakdown sequence that occurs during the climax of the piece, and everything went... suspiciously smoothly. 

She was able to get into character very quickly, so after she did her makeup as I set up the boom microphone and camera, it was a painless and easy process. 

Since I want this scene to feature fast-paced editing and depict derangement, I made sure to get many shots from various angles. I took photos of stills from the scene at the park and recreated them as much as I could to allow for clean match-cuts. 

After filming, I took some notes on ideas I have for editing.

The scene will begin with Virginia slowly fading into focus. The bright lights from the windows in the background create a false sense of recovery, especially since this scene follows the therapist asking Lola if she is okay. I want this shot to be slow in comparison to others, as this ethereal view followed by the fast-paced, darker edits will be a great juxtaposition.

This shot of Lola actually starts from the reflective silver lining of the mirror (was the silver lining on purpose? No. Is it a cool reference? Absolutely) and pans toward her. She slowly comes into focus, which would be a great follow-up shot after the first ethereal one. In this shot, she stares at herself in the mirror and begins to wash her hands. The camera tilts down to her hands, and back up to the beginning of her breakdown.

This shot is a composition replicate of the shot at the park, which will allow for a seamless match-cut to serve as an introduction to the flashback scene. She stares at the camera, breathing heavily.

Absolutely love this closeup. It allows the audience to take a closer look on her eye-makeup, which I will emphasize in editing using color correction. It contrasts well with the background and match cuts, continuing the idea of contrasting emotions during healing.

Okay so. Let me explain myself here. When filming, I began with a very shallow focus on the water running from the sink, but I had the sudden urge to tilt down into the drain. The lens on my camera was struggling to find a focus point here due to the movement and shallow depth-of-field, so the focus seems to "blink" a couple of times, which made the camera feel strangely alive. Though this is considered to be a "mistake," I really like this, especially since her character is so deranged at this point that focus is not really my main "focus" (ba dum tss).
Also, I wish to take inspiration from the movie "Psycho," which depicts a drain followed by the closeup of an eye (two shots I have!). Although this wasn't planned, I think making a reference to Psycho would work here, especially since Lola is in a state of peak vulnerability.