PRODUCTION

                                    PRODUCTION

Opening credits and montage ( 13-16 February)

We filmed these shots first since we believed they would offer both easy shooting and grading possibilities. We recorded all the shots throughout both school facilities and my living place. The montage shots turned out simple because I filmed everything with hand-held camera movements although the lighting arrangements proved difficult to manage. The students from various classes participated in creating the opening credits to present a realistic busy campus setting. Natural classroom window illumination served to both respect authenticity and produce a smooth lighting effect without artificial aids. The production design leader in my team advised against ring lights for supplemental illumination after I had already planned to use them. Our decision to replace the ring light with a white lamp enabled the production to maintain a natural appearance along with scene consistency. The decision to replace our ring light with a white lamp enabled us to seamlessly integrate lighting into the room atmosphere thus eliminating disturbing shadows and artificial effects. We first wanted Aimen to reach the knife inside the trash can but finally moved it to her dresser drawer because it served both narrative purposes and created dramatic tension by suggesting she concealed the object herself. The trash can appeared too obvious but using a drawer along with this reveal created a more unsettling effect which suggested that Aimen might have placed the knife there but failed to remember doing so.

The rewrite affected our approach to filming the sequence so the discovery sequence became more meaningful and uncomfortable to watch. The sequence showing her increasing anxiety as she discovers the knife was recorded from various camera views. The tense and eerie quality of the lighting setup succeeded in establishing the right atmosphere for the scene during which Aimen receives the phone call so we reshot it on the same day. The setup included dim lighting because we wanted to reproduce the late-night atmosphere along with Aimen's perplexed state of mind. We arranged the camera movement to reveal the confused expression followed by Aimen's growing fear while she gradually became conscious of the dangerous situation. The establishment of controlled lighting let us properly convey the emotional impact in every shot.

BEHIND THE SCENES 

Day 1: School Shots

Roots International served as the first filming location for classroom footage because these sequences proved simpler to record and colorize. During filming the Sony Alpha 6500 recorded most shots using natural lighting to prevent image overexposure. Static along with handheld camera techniques worked together to provide scenes which isolated and made Aimen experience bullying. Students representing various classes volunteered to occupy the background making the classroom area appear more authentic. All scenes required a tripod to maintain stable footage but the camera operator used handheld techniques for close-ups and medium shots in personal moments. The medium shot showed Aimen's tense posture as the main character while the bully's intimidating words emerged through camera angles from below to highlight his dominance. The combination of background noise and dialogue presented itself as the main technical challenge because the real classroom sometimes experienced unintended disturbances during filming. We devoted attention to blocking the scenes so Fatima and Zainab's bullying activities would seem realistic but Aimen's genuine emotional responses remained untouched.

Our next filming took place in the hallway setting where Hamna delivered news about Fatima's stabbing to Aimen. We combined over-the-shoulder and medium shots to show Aimen's wavering emotions while she discovers and begins to fear the alarming incident. We adjusted camera exposure since the hallway lights were too bright to ensure non-harsh shadows appeared in the footage. Within the hallway sequence we focused on Aimen walking from front to back as one long shot showing her solitude relative to the passing students. Since students kept moving through the crowded hallway we repeated our shots many times to ensure all backgrounds stayed clear of interference. By optimizing our framing technique along with lighting we managed to portray Aimen's burgeoning fear throughout the scene properly.

BTS FOR DAY 2:

The filming began at my house during day 2 due to its perfect script fit along with convenient workflow conditions. Many critical plot moments were filmed here starting with Aimen discovering her knife in her drawer which serves as a major story advancement. Because the room stands as a representation of her internal realm it required an appropriate atmosphere that would create an environment of personal solitude where she could be herself when thinking alone.

Better image quality alongside enhanced focus control became possible through the team's decision to replace their iPhone 13 with a Sony Alpha 6500 camera to achieve a cinematic psychological thriller appearance. They switched to a bright white lamp and warm lamp for lighting instead of a ring light to create vivid contrasts that enhanced specific moments toward achieving their goal of a psychological thriller cinematic appearance.

We used various framing choices to elicit different feelings from Aimen. The fearfulness of Aimen became more prominent through medium close-up shots whereas the extreme close-up shots intensified the appearance of objects like knives and her diary. A strategic camera composition in the knife in the drawer scene ensured the audience would not notice the knife until the exact moment became visible. We explored low-point perspectives to show her vulnerability and used over-the-shoulder camera positioning to let viewers see as she does in her anxious state.

Reviewing our equipment and lighting adjustments showed us they unified the whole production. Various minor changes brought realism and tension to the scenes which matched precisely with our intended movie vision.

PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION:

We identified our responsibilities at an early stage with writing duties along with co-directing responsibilities in addition to camera operation as director of photography. Zainab Shafqat worked with me as the co-director together with holding roles as production designer and responsible for lighting and we shared equal responsibility for editing alongside her.

Our team discovered our first draft had too many demanding elements just one day before production start. Our setup limitations created problems when we tried to film Aimen's bullying sequence through the required complicated camera work with exactifying the lighting. The way the bullying scenes were presented in the film failed to match the psychological thriller mindset which it wanted to project. The story focused on Aimen's psychological distress so we required techniques to intensify her struggles and emotional impact. I executed script alterations for preserving plot emotional intensity along with visual production possibilities in the bullying scenes. The film editing process became simpler because we achieved better understanding of the storytelling through these final modifications.

My post production responsibilities take direction from this specific adjustment. Better continuity structure in the scenes of the film made the editing process more manageable and efficient. Our decisions both during direction phases and post-production steps needed to follow the principal objective of preserving an integrated and engaging psychological thriller narrative.