Equipment: Quarantine Shoot

While shooting “Quarantine” I quickly discovered a huge obstacle. I didn’t have any equipment to work with. The most important piece of equipment that I was in need of was a tripod. Working with only myself, I had to be the actress. So, that meant I couldn’t hold the camera and had to rely on a stationary position for the camera. I was challenged a lot due to this, and had to be creative to find a solution. For the shots where I am laying in bed, I propped my phone on my bedroom door handle to get the perfect angle. For the shot of me in the bathroom getting ready, I had to place my phone on one of the door’s hinges and tape it to hold it in place. In the scene where I am looking at old pictures on my computer, I had to tape my phone to my headboard to get the perfect over the shoulder angle. The most creative shot I had to do was the scene of me typing on the computer; I held my phone against my chest with my chin because I had to get both of my hands in the shot and I wanted a POV perspective. The rest of the scenes were shot using household items to hold up my phone. I used stacks of books and even a can of chili to place my phone against.

Also, I was lacking professional equipment including a quality camera and a microphone. I had to use my IPhone camera and the microphone of my headphones. I didn’t record much audio, except for the voiceover and a few raw sounds from my video. I also added non-diegetic music to add to the theme of the film. All in all, this project creatively challenged me and pushed me to use my existing resources.