From Script to Screen #4 - Filming Begins!

On the dawn of shooting, things were looking positive. However, news reached us that our prop master had dropped out of the course, and by extension our project. This was a cutting blow to us. We relied on him for some of the more specialist equipment, such as ghillie suits and tents, and these were now completely lost to us. We salvaged together what we could, with our leftover budget being allocated to buying two ghillie suits, and various bits of pieces being supplied by the rest of our team, such as a tent, posters and a length of rope.

We began filming some of the easier scenes, setting up a camera in one of the group rooms in the Catalyst. From there, we called our actors in and shot all of the interview scenes, using makeshift props for a pregnant belly and the baby. This seemed to go well, but afterwards we discovered that all of the footage had been corrupted in an unusual video format. Being one of the editing team, I tried my very best to convert and reclaim the shots, downloading countless programs only to find they either cost exorbitant amounts of money or straight-up did not work.

Eventually, when it seemed that we would have to re-shoot the entire thing, we asked at the help-desk where we got the camera from, and the staff member showed us how to access the full, uncorrupted videos from the camera. This was a godsend. With our first footage coming in, albeit after much frustration, we were finally able to start editing...