Director Stefan Buhr goes over a scene with actors Foley and Devvie Miller. 
Buhr was wearing a face mask on set and holding a script.
Ryan Toulouse, who is part of the production crew, prepares for the next scene in front of the production equipment, which includes camera equipment, gaffer equipment and sound equipment.
Actors Foley and Miller pose in their characters’ outfits. 
The slate for the first take and first scene of the production. The production began on Nov. 22, 2020.
“This Year we have been faced with many challenges as filmmakers…No matter how the industry changes we have to find ways to adapt in order to tell our stories. For ‘Cage in A Bird’ I knew I had to keep the crew and actors to a minimum. I wrote with locations in mind that I knew I would have access to… we spent several days rehearsing, a day prelighting, and a day making sure we would have no issues with our equipment. With social distancing, we have to wear many hats and make many decisions on our own. If you look at this as work, you are going to struggle,” Buhr says about film during the pandemic.
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Shadows help filmmakers notice and manipulate the light within their stories. The shadow of a flower plant lays upon a dirt trail. This photo was taken on the hiking trail behind the same apartment. 
A man’s shadow stands alone in the grass patched dirt. This photo was taken on the hiking trail behind an apartment.
The reflection of the ceiling’s light is seen through Jeffrey Rodriguez’s eye. 
Reflections can be a manipulation of reality. The curvy distortion of making hot dogs in the kitchen is created by a pot’s reflection. 
Reflections can be viewed as a shadow version of reality. Through the reflection of the car’s rear view mirror, Rodriguez is seen looking outside his car’s side window.
Eve Moreno’s final project told the story of an artist who falls asleep on a Zoom call with her doctor in a virtual appointment. The story depicts her bizarre dream of learning how to skate with her doctor. Her doctor wakes her up in disappointment and furiously ends the Zoom call.
A different angle showing how the phone tripods helped stabilize the phone in recording the project. Moreno crafted her own doll-life chairs and laptop out of cardboard boxes of recently ordered packages. 
A phone tripod holds an iPhone to record a scene, where the wooden figures are on a Zoom call with each other. 
For this scene, Moreno used books and an iPhone holder shaped as a dog to stabilize the phone and position the shot. 
A still of one of the wooden figures doing a manual on a skateboard. It was difficult filming actors, who can’t balance on their own, especially when skating. 
The phone tripod was prepared for a skating scene. Fingerboard skateboards were used to match their doll-life world. 
Eve Moreno keeping warm while shooting her final film project.
This experience of learning film during a period of time, where remote learning is the only way to learn, (from the COVID-19 Pandemic) Film students have missed out on learning hands on tactical skills like using new film equipment, however, the most important part of this year was completing the required film courses, still engaging in fun film club activities, despite the restrictions of quarantine and social distancing, and learning new skills in film that aren’t restricted by the guidelines. This time being a remote filmmaker has expanded students’ creativity and pushed people in the major to be more flexible filmmakers.
Eve Moreno is a Staff Photographer. She can be reached at eveam@uci.edu.
