Production Blog: No Time for Tabling the Table Scenes!

 Hello again! 

     We shot the scenes at the table today. They comprise the singing, the movie title scene, the singing scenes, and the scenes where the husband is waiting at the table. 

When we were setting up for the scene, we noticed we were out of candles. To fix that, Sara and her mother had to go shopping to purchase the candles for the cupcake and the icing.   Nonetheless, everything worked out nicely since we discovered these candles, which would look fantastic on video.

Since we already had all the cupcakes created, filming the cupcake icing was the first thing we did. This was a quick and easy process.

        We started recording Sara's father, our actor for our husband, as he approached the table and sat down. We opted to film this even though we hadn't talked about it during the planning process in case we needed a better segway from the other sequences.

We wanted to sing "happy birthday" in one of two ways. We wanted it to just be the lady singing because the first method produces the suspense that is typically associated with thrillers. We might then have her sing it more slowly than normal, which would make it quieter and give us the suspense and tension we were looking for. Another option is to have several individuals sing at once. To keep with birthday customs, we might sing this with the help of the members of Sara's family. In the end, we chose to only have the wife singing happy birthday because it fits the thriller genre better.

    The happy birthday song was simple for us to film. Yet it was difficult to film the title scene. We wanted the man to blow out the candle and stay visible, but with the room dark and our main light source is gone, he was no longer discernible. First, we attempted to use a flashlight to cast a shadow behind the husband to expose his silhouette, but the location where we were filming had a tall pole, so all that was really visible were his shoulders and the shadow of the pole. The window, which had been hidden by the pole, was then made visible by a modest movement of the table. We drew the drapes so that very little light could pass through; this allowed us to insert the movie's title while also minimally illuminating the performer.

   For the next week, I will not be able to film anything as it is over Spring Break and I am going on a trip! However, after the break, we will film the final scenes!

See you next time!