FILMING DAY

That's right. Filming DAY. I was thankfully able to do all of the filming in one day. Everything had seemingly worked out. 

Almost.

It was Monday, March 18th, 2024. I had gotten verbal confirmation and confirmation by text that all 11 of my actors could stay after school that day to film. 11 people still wasn't ideal, since a regular chorus class size was usually much greater. Still, I thought the audience could suspend their disbelief for the idea. 11 students could still produce a big sound that could fill an auditorium. 

I had told everyone to meet up in the theater. As I walked into the room (very happily because I had just secured the location with the band kids), I only saw five of my actors. 

Five.    

I instantly contacted the group chat with all of the members and asked where everyone was. Slowly but surely, everyone began to send their excuses. Some of them were valid. Some of them were not. One of my members was feeling very sick with a sore throat and mucus (Valid). Another one of my members completely forgot it was today (Not Valid). 

One person named Santiago had agreed to be the chorus teacher for my film opening. He was the oldest out of the 11 actors I asked to come, and he looked it. He took the Chorus elective at my school with me and I figured he could mimic some of the actual instructor's work as a conductor. That whole plan fell apart when, on filming day, he informed me how he was in the hospital being scanned for a form of retina detachment. It was very scary, but luckily, it did not develop into anything serious. Still, he still had to stay in the hospital all day. I've been talking to him throughout the entire process and he is starting to feel much better now ❤️

I now had only 5 members, and they were all juniors. As the only senior, I decided to take over the role as the conductor. All the actors would wear there regular school clothes so that they were believable high school students. I wore all black in order to try to give off some of the conductor's authority. I needed someone to be the camera operator, and I chose Alex. He had great experience with the camera and I could trust him to follow what I had in mind. That left my film with only 4 people to be the chorus students.

This was the only day we could film. I had reminded everyone many times about how we planned to film on that Monday. Even if only 4 people showed up, I knew that it was the best chance I had. I used what I could. I continued on with filming, and it went pretty well. I didn't worry the present actors about how we were missing six members. That would just cause more stress. I told everyone that the plan had changed to where the film would be about training a student barbershop quartet. It was perfect for the 4 members we had there. It started off as a placeholder plot to get along with filming, but I actually started to like it a lot. 

I made sure Alex closed in more on the chorus so they filmed up the frame when they were showcased. This would help make the audience ignore the small number of students.

The good thing about working with your friends is that you get to goof off.