1st Feb, Tuesday
Our first day of filming and we were a bit nervous about things going wrong. We took all the equipments required (DV tape, tripod and the video camera) and left college at around half 10 to get to Greenford. When we got to our actress, Lorraine’s house, we were somewhat disappointed to see that she wasn’t ready. After waiting for about 15 minutes or so (we weren’t bored though: we were watching MTV as we waited! But we realized how important it is to be punctual at least when people are expecting something from you), we left to get to our first filming location which was a minute walk from there.
We spent about 30 minutes filming Lorraine in the pathway that leads to the graveyard. Sometimes, we had to wait as there were other pedestrians walking that way and we didn’t want them in our footage. We took extra shots just so that we’d have more footage if we changed our minds while editing. After this, we went to the graveyard and there, we saw a Victorian style carriage and horses which meant: a funeral was about to take place. We thought we might need to reschedule the ‘graveyard shot’ but fortunately, the funeral attendees went inside the church for the ceremony which is when we filmed near the gravestones. We filmed more things than we’d initially planned which seemed to be a good idea because it is always better to have more footage as we’ve been told.
Instead of using the pedestrian crossing shown in the Recce, we decided to use the road near the graveyard and we somewhat changed the plot: Grace (Lorraine) runs away from the scene instead of walking away calmly. It was around quarter to two by the time we packed up and we planned to continue filming on Thursday. Vithujan and I took the equipments back to college while Paris went back with Lorraine.
3rd Feb, Thursday
This time, we met in Harrow Bus Station and from there we took the bus(es) to Lorraine’s house and then to the Greenford High Street. All the equipments had been brought by Vithujan, the cameraperson. We went to the café in Greenford that had agreed to let us film and were disappointed to find that the owner had changed his mind. We went to three other cafes nearby and got refused- one said we’d need to pay them. So we took a bus and went further down the road and went to a Carribean restaurant-café-like place- the lady there kindly agreed and even provided a free cup of tea (our prop) – we still gave her some money as a ‘tip’ when she wasn’t willing to take it!
We were planning to take a few more shots (e.g. bus scenes) if there was more time but because of refusals from all those cafes, that wasn’t likely. At half 2, Lorraine helped Paris take the equipments to her house and we decided to meet at Paris’s or Lorraine’s house on Saturday which we were to confirm via text.
5th Feb, Saturday
We were aiming to finish all the filming by this day! Vithujan and I met Lorraine and Paris in Greenford (- Paris had brought the equipments with her). Then the four of us took Bus Number 92 to Ealing hospital where we filmed the ‘upper-deck’ bus scene. Later we went to Paris’s house and filmed the bits where Lorraine is shown writing on her notebook and later tearing into pieces. We finished filming at around 1. Satisfied with what we’d done in those three days, Vithujan and I went back home leaving the cameras in Paris’s house because she’d agreed on taking them back on Monday.
Though relieved with the filming coming to an end, we were all worried about post-production work where ‘all the magic happens’ or in other words: the tough job!
