Production
HERE IS THE LINK FOR ALL OF OUR FOOTAGE
all the videos in the google drive (link above) are put in order, the ones oldest are all from the middle act bedroom scenes, and the ones after are all from the club scenes we shot on Feb 12th, and the reshoot on March 14th
please refer to those to see all the footage.
Meetings and Visualisation
Most of our theoretical work, such as working out the story and plot and how feasible it would be, required me and Rahmah to meet and talk. We had our first meeting on Jan 26th, where I showed her the first plot I had written in my notes app, and we worked together to rewrite the empty parts in it and make it make more sense. Here is a time-lapse of that important meeting.
After this meeting, we went downstairs to the gym to visualise the karaoke club scenes. Here is a practice video we made of me, trying to figure out the movement and performance space mubashira would need, plus how would it fit in the frame. The light above is the only lighting we used for the club scenes
Shoot Day 1 Feb 7th
The first act we shot is the middle act. We figured that both club scenes, the start and end ones, could be shot on the same day, and that would be logistically good too, so it would be better to get the entire performance which required a different setting, done first. We went to Mubashira's house on 7th of Feb at 2pm till 5pm. It took us 3 hours to do the entire scene with her. We initially wanted to do it in one long shot, and only transition when she falls on the bed and changes her outfit, but then it wasn't feasible and we couldn't shoot without showing in the mirror, and the long takes were getting boring. Still, some of the scenes broke the convention of 3-5 second shots for music videos.
we set these pillows around her for the transition scene. it adds to the sparkle theme and it a good background for the performance/ lipsyncing she does while lying down
safe to say shoot day 1 went perfectly. we didn't need any reshoots for this whole scene and it helped us gain confidence to do the rest of the shooting of the club scenes. But that was the real hard task.
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we even got some good pics for the digipak and social media
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this is the middle scene we made
Shoot Day 2 Feb 12th
Now it was tough part. We started off by paying 5800 for the set up of black sheets all around the room. Then we began to hang streamers around the room and get some establishing shots done before the actors arrived at 4.
me and rahmah hanging streamers
establishing shot of mic with handmade karaoke sign
then we started filming with the actors. Mubashira started in the black outfit, faiz's outfit remained white throughout. His outfit is white throughout because he is the symbol of the confidence Mubashira finds. We filmed the first time they meet at the club, they only meet from afar, as he notices her when she sings. I was the "friend" who pushes her to the stage".
we tried this shot to get them both in the frame
finally the white outfit! the second meeting! We tried this pan and buildup to them finally 'connecting', and then dancing and putting on the necklace
dance dance dance
and the end!
sooo shoot day 2 was very stressful. it may look easy in the small collection of shots, but every simple shot took atleast 6 tries more. the actors did a great job and the chemistry was good too. It was fun to work with them and made the experience worthwhile. We tried different angles for the same shot (refer to drive footage) and when rahmah got home she sat down the edit out a first draft. Only then did we realise that in the stress and hurry (because mocks and finals exam season was about to begin) we forgot some plot points such as the necklace dropping, the scene where he picks it up, the scene where she leaves and enters the venue, we shot the necklace putting on scene too (on black outfit), and other huge gaps (black screens in draft) that needed to be filled ASAP.
The Second Draft (including middle scene now too)
Reshoot Day
the next step was asking the actors to return. But this was difficult, right in finals month. they rejected us at first, on Feb 14th
but Rahmah persisted and called their mothers for permission too. They allowed them for the 14th of March
Rahmah made a loose plan of what we could add in the missing seconds
and now it was time to reshoot. We paid 5800 again for the black sheets, and started putting up streamers again before they arrived. we took different establishing shots this time too, such as the karaoke sign
laptop addition
new sign
we reshot my whole scene with mubashira too, this time showing more of my face, and I dressed in more approriate partywear to fit the vibe too. as we started shootng filler scenes we realised a lot of the first draft stuff was not that good anymore, so we redid whole scenes with a clearer mind. I didn't like mubashira's shy acting in the first draft so I made her re do it, plus we re did faiz's intro and took a shot of him just looking towards her direction, implying that they made eye contact. I didn't like the shot of both of them in the frame it felt too crowded, so we redid that too.
we showed the laptop this time because it didn't seem to clear that this is a karaoke. plus this adds more buildup to the final performance she gives. her acting in the final is more confident now too, and i added the back and forth between them before she steps off stage and dances that is reminiscent of the back and forth in the original music video's start. he lipsyncs with her in this back and forth to cement that they have now joined offically, especially now that she has connected with her confident and best form through him
We got more album cover, CD cover etc pics too
NOW WE WERE FINALLY DONE