Heartree: Behind the Scenes (Studio 3 / Professional Preproduction - Week 12)

By Helen Kwok

Some behind-the-scenes photos and videos of the filming for my Studio Three final project: Heartree.

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Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic and all RMIT campuses shut down, filming Heartree onsite at RMIT Brunswick Campus was going to be a major hurdle, with numerous layers of approval needed. Therefore, I had to fallback on my contingency plan of filming on a tree at a local park.

A lot of planning and preparation was done for this film shoot, so even though I was feeling a bit under the weather on the day of the filming, I'm very grateful everything went smoothly. Special thanks to Alex von Hofmann, my filmmaker, for filming Heartree and Chad Toprak for helping out with setting up the installation and being a part of the film.

Some reflections in hindsight:

• I had planned in more time than needed as it was my first time setting Heartree up (an hour for setting up and an hour for my filmmaker to setup, before the actual filming... we each probably only needed half an hour). We ended up waiting quite a bit for the sun to set. Will adjust for next time. :)
• The best time for filming Heartree was just after sunset... when the light has dropped off a bit. About 20 mins after sunset is ideal.
• The Unity + Arduino were playing up at the very beginning... but seemed to fix itself after a while.
• Luckily I had a backup laptop in place, as I needed it about 5 minutes into filming.
• I had to plug in 23 wires in total into the Arduino onsite... so much pressure trying to plug in the right wires in the right slots with my clumsy fingers. xD Would love to learn how to solder for the next iteration of Heartree.
• The lights in the ropes weren't as visible as I had hoped (they show up fine when it's darker, or I have full control over lighting). For the next iteration, I'd like to try braiding the LED lights on the outside, and include more LEDs.
• Due to the 'Stay at Home' restrictions due to the coronavirus global pandemic, I couldn't visit the actual tree which I have designed Heartree for and take any measurements. Therefore, I had to design and create the trunk and rope sensors purely by guesswork. In the future, I would like to take measurements first, and create the sensors proportionate to the tree so they don't look so small in comparison.
• There were continuity issues with some of the shots... due to my poor acting skills, haha (forgetting where I had placed my hand). Oh well, practice makes perfect... will learn from this experience and do better next time.