Refraction: Behind The Scenes

Learning Experience

With every project that I take on, I look at it as an opportunity to learn and improve my professional capabilities. Throughout this post, I will use stills from my short film, Refraction, to showcase the trials and tribulations I faced throughout production. From the script to the final product, every aspect of this film was a learning experience. But, before delving into the behind-the-scenes, make sure to have watched Refraction!

Reshoots

Watching the first tape

The first scene in the film was one of many that I needed to reshoot. The angle and the blocking were not satisfactory. In the final version, I added green paper to the TV to project the “80s videotape.”

Learning about Kat

I faced a couple of issues with this scene in the initial version. Firstly, the frame was too busy. There was a lack of focus on Kiara and her conversation with her mom as she discovered things left behind by her late grandmother, Kat. The other problem was that the audio was very muffled due to the mic not being close enough to the actress. I also found a problem in the film’s flow because of the transition from Kiara going through the objects in the box to her sitting at the desk in the bedroom. In the final version, I decided to move the location to the bedroom so Kiara could move right to the desk after going through the box. I also had a less cluttered frame, focusing more on Kiara. This scene was the hardest to film. It needed to be reshot three times to get a result that I was satisfied with.

While Kiara was going through the box, I got closer shots for the audience to see what she was looking at. Version one was scraped when I decided to change locations for the scenes. The lighting was also too dark, and there was a lack of attention to the photo. Version 2 looked good, clear, and focused. The issue was that it crossed the 180-degree rule, making it slightly disorienting when it cuts to it. The final version was less close-up to maintain continuity, with the establishing shot of Kiara looking at it. I also made sure to stay within the 180-degree line to allow the footage to flow together better. The lighting was also improved, making the photo brighter and thus standing out from its background.

Glimpse of the Past

Once Kiara moves to the desk and reads Kat’s letter from the day she died, Kat appears in the mirror writing the letter. The first version was a fail on all accounts. The lighting was terrible, and the green screen did not work. Version 2, I ditched the makeshift green screen and focused the audience’s attention on the mirror as it fades into the past.

Gathering Evidence

When Kiara finds out that Kat was murdered, she begins trying to figure out who did it. The first version was okay in the camera movements but lacked dynamic lighting and angles. The Final version feels much more cinematic and sets the tone of this part of the film much better than its predecessor.

The Lake Scene

The Lake scene was shot in one take and lit by two lights. The tricky part about this shot was finding the perfect lake to film at. I scouted for locations in Acushnet, Dartmouth, and Westport, MA. When I saw this one, it was exactly how I envisioned this scene to play out. We ended up filming this at 1 a.m. Thankfully, it only took one shot because my camera died the second I stopped filming.

Swimming

The problem I ran into with the swimming scene was that the lake we filmed at did not have clean water. The other problem was that I did not have the right equipment to bring into the water to film the actors. With that in mind, I came up with the idea of filming in an indoor pool with a fog machine to hide the surrounding room. Version one was filmed at 3 a.m. Everyone was exhausted, and the fog machine I had was not working. I had to improvise and try to make the background extremely dark. Unfortunately, when I watched the footage again, it was completely dark, even the actors. I hoped brightening the footage would help, but the water slide and window were visible in the background. The next day, we returned to the lake and got the rest of the footage I needed. Once completed, we attempted filming the swimming scene again. In the final version I made a couple adjustments. I fixed the fog machine and moved the actors to the other side of the pool. Just those two changes were enough to improve the original tremendously.

The Final Scene

We filmed this before the pool scene. I discovered the fog machine didn’t work when setting up for this shot. Like the pool scene, I tried making the background very dark. That did not work. When brightening the footage, you could once again see the entire background. The next day, I was able to get the fog machine running and get the shot I wanted.

Final Thoughts

Although the whole process of creating Refraction was stressful, it was also gratifying. It was a great way to practice my abilities in all aspects of filmmaking. Creating this post was gratifying because pulling together all of the variations that I created for the film showed me how much I’ve progressed as a creative. From this short film, I’ve gained so much knowledge that I will take and apply to every project yet to come.