Silicon Kingdom (Redemption) - Pestilence
Last day of filming! Today is March 3rd, 2024, it was the longest filming day of all the others in this production. It was also the smoothest one yet but with some compromises. Jaydon got to the set a bit early and started setting up the Tech Store, dubbed "Silicon Kingdom". This part of the filming will go over the store, where Zephyra purchases a phone unaware that Digital Phantom has access to it. Later, we will film outside, where we see that Digital Phantom managed to sneak in a rather unsettling voice message in Japanese to Zephyra's new phone. Zephyra then witnesses the mall's alarm go off, after Digital Phantom gains access to the mall's network and starts to hijack the A/V system. Although the alarm itself is fake, it sounds so real, that Digital Phantom played it over the speakers just to cause panic.
The Tech Store
It turns out there were new set pieces in the Black Box that were available for us to use. That included some round tables and folding tables. We set the chairs and tables up according to our needs. Excess props were cleared out of the way to prevent them from detracting from the overall set illusion and design.
Next, we set up some of the props, which included an iMac and two laptops. One of the laptops just so happens to be the laptop that will be driving the A/V system of the Black Box. The reason why I chose to have that laptop reside on-set was that although we had more props compared to last time, we did not have enough product diversity. By doing that, however, I did not have a way to connect to the equipment from such a far distance away from the A/V booth.
The solution? I bought another laptop for infrastructural use. It was not really suitable for display on the set. It does not have a lid at all. Literally. It, however, is still functional, so I plugged this laptop into the projector and audio mixer and had this laptop wirelessly receive low-latency audio and video feed from the other laptop on set through a Wi-Fi connection. This was all possible thanks to an NDI plugin for OBS and the NDI Studio Monitor program.
Actor Arrival
Our first actor to arrive was Miss V. As soon as she arrived, I set her phone up with Figma so that the fake app would be loaded onto her phone. Afterward, I loaded up the diegetic sound files, which included a playlist of assorted royalty-free lo-fi songs, as well as the background noise of a busy mall. When the audio played over the speakers, the ambiance sounded so realistic on set, that I and the rest of the cast and crew forgot where we really were, and were immersed so much into our set that we almost thought we were at an actual mall filming this.
Then came Sarah and Christian, who each bought props for the set. We did run into some problems, though, but we managed to overcome them:
- Sarah could not stay to film with us for long
- Christian unexpectedly brought another iPad with a different screen resolution.
So, we rehearsed very quickly. We did fluctuate with mistakes with some of the rehearsals, but for the most part, they went well. At the same time, I also did not have time to be able to resize the Point of Sale UI for the iPad with (for the UI itself) a foreign screen resolution, but it didn't look too bad to be presentable. That was one minor compromise that had to be made during the production of this specific scene.
Filming Scene 1
That was another compromise we had to make during filming. We did not secure enough time to take profile pictures for the fake apps. However, one could suppose that the profile picture could be blank for a multitude of reasons inside of the cinematic universe, so maybe this could be an accidental plot twist! Maybe, just maybe, the blank profile pictures on the Point of Sale applications could be the doing of Digital Phantom himself!
To open and close the shots of inside the building, we shot two medium-long tracking shots in which the camera follows Zephyra. In between the tracking shots are a combination of medium long and medium over-the-shoulder shots to display the dialogue between Jessica and Zephyra. Two close-ups of the Point of Sale iPad were also shot.
Minutes before Sarah was about to leave, another group internal to CCFL wanted to use the Black Box. Fortunately, at that time, we were about done with filming the shots for the tech store. Five minutes later, we were able to film the required shots for the tech store, and we were ready to record the outside shots. Sort of.
After we stopped filming, I forgot to record a particular shot in which the camera takes a close-up of one of the laptops where its webcam indicator turns on, which is one of the most crucial shots in this scene that contextually links Digital Phantom to the tech store. Not to worry! I have a space at my house where I can easily recreate this shot since I have a lamp that can reproduce the warm ambiance of the set, plus a black table behind a black wall to film this particular shot.
Outside
After Sarah left, we discussed for a bit what we were going to do for the rest of Scene 1, and the extra clip for Scene 3. There was a space right outside of the CCFL building where we could film. The script calls for an outdoor scene with a bench, and that particular space was perfect since it had a bench, an entrance, and everything we could have asked for. We rehearsed a little bit, and then after, the recording began.
To close Scene 1, a wide tracking pan shot of Zephyra was taken to show her movements, followed by a medium shot to show her interactions with her new phone.
Another compromise that had to be accounted for was the absence of a prop. Sarah actually pitched in the box for the new phone to do an unboxing scene. However, that prop came with Sarah, and we realized that after we finished filming in The Black Box. So, another plot twist?
The extension shot of Scene 3 is just Zephyra reacting to the message and alarm that Digital Phantom plays over the PA.
And that wraps up all of the filming for this production! Maybe except for one shot, but all of the crucial clips are in and ready to be imported into Premiere for post-production editing!
