Achieving the Perfect Camera Angle

On the first day of production, we encountered many issues. This time, it was about getting the perfect camera angle for one of our most important moments in the film. This shot is crucial because it's the closing shot of our film's opening sequence. In this scene, Eva's best friend, Sofia, is in a therapy session, reflecting on the disappearance of her friend. The exchange between Sofia and the therapist reveals how much time has passed since Eva went missing. Here's the dialogue from the scene:

*Time cut and best friend is seen in therapy office zoned out* 

Therapist: How long has it been? *muffled* 

*Sofia is still zoned out*  

Therapist: Sofia?  

Sofia: Sorry, what did you say?  

Therapist: How long has it been... since she’s been missing? 

Sofia: *long pause* 5 months.  

This is a key moment in the film, since it's the emotional climax of the opening scene. The tension in Sofia's voice and the pause before she says "5 months" tells the audience how difficult it is for her to even say how much time has passed. Because of the importance of this moment, we wanted to get the camera angle just right to emphasize the emotion in the scene.

Our first attempt in getting the shot

Our first attempt was to take the smartphone rig off the tripod and have two of us (myself and the editor) hold the rig while trying to film the close-up. We thought this would help give us a steady shot, however it didn't work out. The shot ended up being shaky and awkward, which made it hard to capture the steadiness we were going for. 

Our second attempt in getting the shot

After we realized the smartphone rig was not working, we decided to reattach the rig to the tripod and get more creative. We moved the tripod closer to Sofia's face to capture the intensity of her response. At one point, we tried adjusting the tripod by shortening the front leg and resting it on the couch to get closer to the actor's face, but the height still wasn't right and the angle was still off. After more adjustments, we placed the tripod Infront of Sofia, and this gave us the perfect framing. It let us capture the close-up shot we needed, with a steady camera that was able to focus on Sofia's expression as she said the line "5 months"