Unexpected Problems, Improvising, and the Many Joys of Filming

There is always something that goes wrong when filming, and sometimes it's something you didn't see coming. What do you do when there is no clear solution? You improvise. Sometimes this is easier said than done. During the filming I was doing for Life and Death Saturday we ran into a problem with lighting. There was a huge glare coming from the highest windows in our circle apartment, where we were about to film a fight sequence. For some reason, there are no curtains on those windows, and they are too high to reach. We decided we would make the adventure to the top of the window with a tapestry to diffuse the harsh light from the sun.

We ended up taking a milk crate, stacked it onto a chair, which was stacked onto our end table, which was stacked on top of our coffee table, which was stacked on our kitchen table, all to fix our lighting issue. With the help of our crew, I was able to successfully put up the make shift scrim, solve our lighting issue and get us back on track to film our fight sequence.

Sometimes you have to work with what you have when you're on set and trying to get things done. When there is no time to waste, you have to improvise, learn from your experiences and keep moving forward. Now we just have to remember to get that tape down off the windows before our next apartment safety checks.