Shooting Day 1

 18th January, 2024

It was finally our first day of shooting. Since the apartment was a last minute change of plan, and we had limited time, we decided to only shoot a couple of scenes in my house. One of them was the bookshelf scene. Although the lighting wasn't ideal, it also wasn't easy for us to move my entire bookshelf from my house to apartment just for one short scene.

Therefore, both Zuha and I started touring my room to set up the mise-en-scene, and we gathered any and every prop we thought would add positively to the aesthetic appeal of the scene. These props ranged from my 14-year-old toy Garfield, to books, to scented candles and a rose bouquet-shaped lamp. 

We also decided to take pictures for the digipak here. I also recorded a short vertical clip that could be used in the promotional social media page, as Instagram reels recorded in vertical format are most successful lately. Here is a short BTS clip:

       

Then we went upstairs, where I had already prepared a room for all the scenes with lighting as the most prominent part of mise-en-scene. When we went up, I set the camera on the tripod and we recorded the lip-syncing of the entire song. Then we tried some dynamic shots. I used my nephew's walker to record a dolly-in shot, and then an arc shot. Since the arc shot didn't turn out as smooth as we had hoped, I have decided that I would use only a small clip of it during editing. 

During the lip-syncing scenes in which only Haya for performing, I sat by the camera and consistently adjusted the focus each time I felt the focus deteriorated. 

We took a combination of shots, including closeups and mid-closeups, all in lowkey or thematic lighting that helped us capture the melancholic tone of the music video. 

When we went outside, luckily, one of my outdoor cats was around. She demanded us to play with her, so we took advantage of the opportunity and recorded some footage of Haya and I petting the cat. This captured the youthfulness and innocence of the characters' friendship. 

Zuha capturing an opportunity shot of the characters playing with a cat.

Since I am the director as well as the supporting actor, I had to frequently be behind the camera and in front of the camera after every shot. Sometimes, to make sure consistency isn't disrupted, I would ask Zuha to bring the camera to me and then we would both discuss if we can approve the clip or not, and whether we need to retake the scene. Zuha and I have developed this excellent production chemistry that makes working on set fun and creative. 

   Directing Haya to look at my hand to ensure she doesn't break the forth wall and looks into the camera when she's not supposed to.

Maintaining the balance between being the supporting actor and director. 

Picture we took for digipak. 
Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery, so after running home to charge the battery, I returned. Zuha and I were already on a time race with the sunset, so we decided to just take these ones on an iPhone 11. I will edit it to enhance it for the digipak.