At first, we recorded Oriana walking down the entire hallway and thought of repeating it for every outfit. However, later when we edited it, it would have been extremely difficult for Oriana to move exactly the same way every single time. If she had her body even an inch off from the previous walk, then the edits would have been rough and too obviously different. To get Oriana to switch outfits as she walked was very difficult and was not turning out the way we wanted. After a while, we decided to switch it up a bit. This time, we told Oriana to spin. I grabbed some colored duct tape and placed it on the three spots on the floor that she had to stop and spin. By spinning on those exact spots every time, it will make the transition to the next outfit that much smoother. Every time she spun, she lifted her arms so that the cuts would match the previous movements. When spinning, clothes and body parts move around everywhere, so it will help make it look much better when she changes clothes.
Although the cool clothes changing effect will make the scene feel more like the imagination/surreal, it was not as 'fantasy land' as we wanted it. I asked Nicolas to bring any lights he had to re-decorate the room and make it feel like time has passed throughout the film, but they were perfect to fix this issue. We also had a smoke machine, making it so much better. Combining the lights, smoke, and clothes transformation... NOW the scene looked more like a girl's imagination- just like we wanted it to.
Nicolas and I were planning on having one person on either side of the longboard to move the camera smoothly. But, after we started recording, we realized that the smoke machine was too low to be seen in the medium shots we were getting of Oriana. This was a problem. We eventually found that the best way for it to be seen is to aim it directly at the camera from the side, at an angle that it would not be shown on camera. This led to Nicolas plugging in the smoke machine into my bathroom and holding it towards the camera, while hiding behind a wall. While this was occurring, I was laying on the floor with my hands on the longboard and starting/stopping the camera. Let's just say, if someone had walked in at that moment, they would have been very confused.
Oriana started her 'strut' and spun right on the duct tape, but forgot to lift her arms. RETAKE! Oriana started her 'strut' and spun too far away from the tape. RETAKE! Oriana started her 'strut' and the smoke machine got overheated, so it did not work. RETAKE! Oriana started her 'strut' and walked too quickly, so she went off-camera. RETAKE! Oriana started her 'strut' and I moved the camera too roughly. RETAKE!
If you didn't get the message, this scene (a 10-20 second scene) took us over an hour and a half to film. Later on, Nicolas and I ended up switching spots to see who could move the camera smoother to make sure it looked the best it could. We then had to switch the smoke machine from the bathroom plug to a different plug with an extension cord we removed from a vacuum we found. I ended up using a luffa on one wheel and a mop on the other wheel to stop it and keep the camera completely still as Oriana changed into her different outfits. This scene brought up some difficulties we had not expected and resulted in a lot of quick thinking. Overall, it worked out pretty well! Hopefully the scene looks smooth when editing... and it was not all for nothing.
However, if that is the case, we have a plan B like everyone should. The scene will remain a fashion show, but will instead be in the room. The girl will appear and disappear in the mirror, strutting back and forth with different outfits as she stares happily at herself. We came up with this before and knew it would be the much easier option, but decided to take the risk and film what we did because although much more challenging, we want this short to be very visually appealing and be the best it can be.
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