Latest Fiasco

Alright, so I managed to raise the money for the insurance and was all set to shoot tonight. Then, my main actor fell sick with the flu. Hopefully I can shoot on Monday, but damnit. Just damnit.

James

Insurance

So, I have gotten approved for a policy, but I have not been able to get the money up in time. So I have had to cancel tonight. I am trying to talk the gentleman to let us sign a waiver instead, but he is being a douche.

James

Panic

So, the owner of the property I am shooting at calls me this morning, asking us for insurance. He won't let us shoot without insurance, and no one has mentioned this to me until now (otherwise I would have it taken care of already). Now I am scrambling to get it.

James

Third Night

So, the third night of shooting went a whole hell of a lot better. Everyone felt good and no one seemed frustrated. The lady playing the prostitute was worried about her car, but thankfully, I was able to get her done and out pretty quickly. The only real problem that seemed to happen was when one of the actor's broke a hole in the wall. (He wasn't supposed to.) I panicked for a moment, but I just walked up to the owner, told them what happened, gave him money for the labor, and promised to come back the next day with a patch. He was cool about it. He could have thrown us out and would have been right to do so. Next time I do this, I am going to plan my budget around half the money I have available just to make sure I have some available for unexpected problems.

Tomorrow I have another shoot, but this time I have planned out what shots was are making and in what order. Also, I have managed to stagger the call times, lastly, I am going to the site tonight to plan out where the lighting is going to need to be. Let's just hope it works. I only have 8 shots, so wish me luck.

James

Second Night

When I got home I wanted to cry. Set up took so long and make-up took forever. We managed to get some stuff in, but I kept getting stopped by having to put out fires. Either the actors weren't happy (understandably so, though them complaining did not help, because dealing with their complaints slowed things down, causing them more discomfort), or the owner of the location wasn't happy. I managed to talk him out of compensation when he realized that no one is making any money off of this thing. The crew was unhappy, and it hurt that work kept them later and so they had to set up later.

Really though, I should have planned it better. I have rescheduled the exteriors, but I will have to work extra hard to get call times set to prevent the fiasco that was the second night of shooting. I know, live and learn, but I should have had the foresight. Thankfully the actors and crew are forgiving.

In fact, for any film you work on, at teh very beginning, walk up to the director, hug them tight, and say "I forgive you". Just go ahead and establish that. The director may be baffled at first, but by the end, they will thank you for it.

James

First Day

So, we wrapped up the first day of shooting an hour late. But it went well. I had a mad scramble for hats and wardrobe, but everyone pitched in and we pulled through. This is despite the manager at Stefan's being a prick. Tomorrow is more difficult, because it is outside, but hopefully it can work out. My crew director has gone AWOL, but I have a gaffer-esque person.

All of the actors were very patient. The lady who is playing Lyn definitely enjoyed her outfit and make-up.

Let us just hope that the weather holds up for tomorrow's shoot.

(Pray it doesn't rain.)

James

First Day of Shooting (Prelude)

So, I am supposed to start shooting this damn thing today. After worrying about make-up for so long, I have gotten that handled, and props are coming along well. Yet still, there are more fires. The sound guy who has been involved since the beginning has disappeared. He is not answering his phone or e-mails. The two wardrobe people have gone incommunicado. Lastly, our gaffer has gone no-show. The last two I can handle, but I don't know what to do about wardrobe. I can only hope that my Crew Director has it handled, but since I cannot get a hold of her, I don't know what is up.

I just hope that when I show up it is taken care of. (hope hope hope).

James

Shooting Schedule

So, I have made the revisions to the script for shooting, at the last second (of course). On top of that, I am redoing the shooting schedule to fit the changes and the needs of my actors. The thing is, I don't know what I am doing. I have made a grid, I have lists, but I don't know which scenes are going to take the longest to shoot. I am breaking up one scene into two parts, but other than that, I am stuck.

I guess I will just have to take a hammer and beat the shit out of it until I come up with something, because no one else is available to tell me what to do.

Hell, I am the one who is supposed to be telling everyone else what to do.

James

Blocking and Storyboards

So, finding a storyboard artist turned out to be impossible. So we decided to make a video storyboard instead. It took us three nights of sitting down and making notes about how each and every scene was going to be broken up, and how each shot was going to be composed.

So then we got a camera and tried to shoot each shot using people to stand in for the actors.

Now, every night that we have been there, the place has been empty, except for the one night we decided to do work that needed people to not be around. So we couldn't do it.

Then the holidays happened. And then the money disappeared. And then I just couldn't get up and do anything. And then I got sick.

Then through some very very fast talking with my relatives and my roommates relatives, we got the money back. I was still sick, but I could get out of bed. Then we got to the bar tonight while it was closed. The people who were standing in could not be there, but I managed to get someone in really quickly. Thankfully, he was one of the cameramen, so he needs to know how it will be shot anyway.

The actual blocking went down really well. We did some tweaking, found out what tables and chairs we could move, and it all worked.

Plus there are these great superhero moments in the film when the G-men spring into action.

Now I just need to get makeup done and the wardrobe and the schedule done and blah blah blah.

I just want the damn thing over so I do not have to schedule any besides me anymore.

James