Filming Blog: Outdoor Toddler Scenes

    Welcome back to another successful day of filming! Today was actually a bit of something I predicted- gloomy skies! Now this wouldn't usually be said with joy, but this is exactly what I was hoping for as a contribution to our gloomy and eerie lighting efforts. I was happy to see that our indoor effects would match the outdoor ones.  

Arriving at the twin’s house on yet another time crunch, we started filming scene three- young Mackena and Riley skipping together down the street. The two changed into their kid costumes from the previous time we filmed and put their hair back up. We went outside onto the sidewalk to begin. I hadn’t yet decided on whether I wanted a shot from the back or front, or if I wanted the camera to track them from the back as they skipped forward. So, what do you do when this happens? Film them all ways of course! I had them start skipping away from me as I held the camera stationary. I didn’t like this way very much, as it seemed a bit plain for a playful type of scene. I then had them skip away from me as I followed them from behind, which I liked way more. I then had them start a little back from where they just ended their skipping and started filming them from the front as they went to make it continuous. This version I liked more than what I previously had in mind. It’s amazing what ideas you come up with during the actual process than during planning. 

We then traveled to a nearby park to film the remaining scenes of the swings and the slide. We arrived and it seemed like we definitely weren't the only ones with plans to attend the park. People were walking their dogs, jogging, playing with their children, and so much more everywhere. We walked up to the playground and there were already quite a few parents with their children there, so we had to wait around quite a while for an opening to film without a toddler running in front of the shot. I personally -to put it lightly- am not the biggest fan of children, so you can only imagine what this filming session was like for me. Needless to say, I wanted to finish as quickly as possible. We started by having them get on the sides and just play around a bit on them with different shots to see what would look best. I followed Riley down the slide with the camera in out shot, having to quickly maneuver around the slides to get to the end. I filmed them from afar and from a medium shot, and then we were able to move on to the next scene.

    The next scene was the swingset, and again, we had to wait for an opening- the swings are quite a hot topic amongst toddlers! I joked around with the idea of having the two get in the baby swings to make it seem more realistic, but in the end that just wasn't going to happen. I had one toddler sit on the swing while the other pushed her and filmed from afar, then with an over the shoulder shot, then I tried to climb on top of the swingset to get an aerial shot, but alas, gravity makes it a bit of a challenge to climb up a slick metal pole as a teenager. It took a few tries to get a shot without so much movement in the background from all of the people, but we eventually got a decent shot and with that, we concluded.

Watching Mackena and Riley walk around their neighborhood in toddler costumes was a bit funny to witness. I’m so happy with the progress we are making!