Filming Blog: Prepping for and Filming Indoor Toddler Scenes

    Today was a blessing from film production heaven, we finally started to make progress! We all met up at Target to buy clothing for Mackena and Riley’s little kid characters. Originally, we were planning on using two little girls that Riley knows to be their younger selves in the flashbacks. Apparently after talking with their mother, Riley said she wasn’t too fond about the idea of her children in a film she was personally involved in. She was also concerned about her children not listening to our directions and said they were overall just going to be a handful, so we ditched that idea. I then offered to try to get my eight-year-old cousin to participate, but that was only going to be one kid, and we needed two. Other than that reason and the fact that my cousin can be a bit unruly at times, we abandoned the whole idea of getting extra children and decided to just get them to look as close to children as possible. At Target, we were able to find younger-looking dresses, accessories, and additional props like squishies and plushies. 

    After this, we all arrived at Marissa and Mackena’s house eager to get the ball rolling. This was the day of the downpour going on outside. To avoid getting whipped around by the wind and rain, we started on scene twenty-five. This is where, on our storyboard, there is a flashback to Riley playing hide and seek in the laundry room. Riley and Mackena get into costume, putting on their Target purchases and throwing their hair up in pigtails for a final touch. 

    We all entered the laundry room to find possible hiding spots for Riley to use and how I would go about filming it, since the room and surrounding hallway right outside of the door made for a tight squeeze. We decided to change the storyboard to include Mackena in the flashback so that it was more obvious it was from their childhood together. We wandered around until Marissa and I jokingly offered for one of them to get into the dryer as a hiding place. Riley and Mackena actually took a liking to this idea and Mackena hopped into the dryer. Unable to fully fit, I offered the idea of Riley finding Mackena as she was trying to get into the dryer, so she wouldn’t have to get in it all the way. This is where we also made tweaks to the script, adding dialogue between younger Riley and Mackena whilst they played the game. This dialogue was along the lines of Riley saying, “I found you!” and Mackena whining about it- as little kids do. I felt that by adding this it would make it even more obvious what they were doing. 

    I assumed my position behind Riley to create an over-the-shoulder shot as she walked into the laundry room and flipped on the light. The first time I filmed it, I wasn’t aware that Riley would be completely covering the dryer where Mackena was when she opened the door. Because of this, I had to refilm it a few times, but I eventually found that if Riley stood further to the side, I was able to get a clear shot of both. It took a few tries to withhold the laughter after they both spoke their lines in toddler voices, but we were well on our way to our next scene. 

    The next scene we filmed was scene five- Mackena and Riley braiding each other's hair on the bed. For this, we had to first decide whose room we would do it in, Marissa's or Mackena’s. We eventually went with Marissa’s since it was pink and the lighting in there felt a bit darker and more suspenseful than Mackena’s. Also on her wall were little wooden figures of music notes, which we thought would add to the feel of a child’s room. I had Riley and Mackena assume their positions seated on the bed, and with a two-shot, I was able to capture the scene. For this, we shot it two different ways with different lighting. The first time, we tried it with the led lights, and ceiling fan light on. The other way, we tried with the ceiling fan light off. We ended up deciding on the one with both sources of light since the latter was too dark, even to be considered suspenseful. 

    We completed these scenes and provisions in just under an hour, giving everyone time to ready themselves and make their scheduled functions afterward. I would say today was a success!