I began writing about the process in my infrequently updated blog a few weeks ago. I started shooting yesterday, so expect me to post about it more, both in this thread and on my blog.
It started off pretty well yesterday. I'm very happy with the actors I cast. One of them is less experienced, but I feel like by the end of the shoot she will have improved greatly. That being said, I anticipate to re-shoot one of the scenes from yesterday next week. We had some technical difficulties with the device we're recording sound to deal with, but everything else went very smoothly. Normally I get anxious during shooting about whether or not things will go according to plan, but after having a very difficult pre-production process, I'm actually feeling quite calm, and creatively energized at the same time.
If there's one thing I'll need to improve on for the rest of the shoot, it's actually directing the actors. Since I ended up having to operate the camera myself, I spent more time focusing on blocking, framing, lighting, etc. than I had wanted to when I was hoping to have someone else operating the camera at all times.
Unfortunately we had to cancel today's shoot due to weather conditions. I'd had a bit of mis-communication with my lead actress, who left her phone in my car accidentally and we had to communicate through email, but she doesn't seem to be mad at me.
Bomby is making his own movie
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Heroine of the Dragon
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Bomby
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I may have just shot the single best scene I've ever shot today. We spent over four hours on this one scene alone, but I'm very satisfied with what I got, and I'm confident it will turn out well in editing. This would have probably taken days if we had been shooting on film. Overall, we shot for nearly seven hours (of course, that includes a half-hour break). I really couldn't be happier with the job we did today.
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Bomby
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The movie does have a name.
The name involves the names of two characters. There's the main character, and there's a character who doesn't appear until the film's second half, but completely steals the show. The latter had her first scenes today. If the actress playing her didn't already have a boyfriend, I would have asked her to marry me. Not just because she's jaw-dropping gorgeous, but because she can really, really, really act. If the world has any sort of fairness to it, she will somehow be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Oscars. Of course, the likeliness of that happening are so minuscule that it's not even worth mentioning, but still. Maybe I'm just too impressed with the actors I've cast.
The name involves the names of two characters. There's the main character, and there's a character who doesn't appear until the film's second half, but completely steals the show. The latter had her first scenes today. If the actress playing her didn't already have a boyfriend, I would have asked her to marry me. Not just because she's jaw-dropping gorgeous, but because she can really, really, really act. If the world has any sort of fairness to it, she will somehow be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Oscars. Of course, the likeliness of that happening are so minuscule that it's not even worth mentioning, but still. Maybe I'm just too impressed with the actors I've cast.
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SephirothKirby
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CaptHayfever
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Bomby
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Developing a romantic infatuation for one of your actresses is a blessing and a curse. The curse is that, if she has a boyfriend like the one I fell for does, it can add frustration and melancholy to the process. The blessing, however, is that you gain a muse who will keep your investment in your project. The latter was the only thing affecting me last night, but the frustration and melancholy set in today, her last day of shooting.
Alright, I guess I'm just getting a bit into my personal life here, but this is really what my experiences in making this film have been for the past few shoots.
To put it simply, last night's shoot was the most fun I've ever had in making a movie. Even if the footage wasn't quite what I hoped it would be, the experience of shooting it will be a great memory to last a lifetime. One of my high school friends had a short appearance as a minor character, and picking on each other was part of the fun, but laughing and joking with the other aforementioned actress was the highlight of the night. Right, once again I'm writing an open love letter instead of talking about the filming itself.
We shot the scene in the kitchen of my old place, where my friends still live. Lighting was a bit difficult, considering the somewhat shoddy lighting in the place. It's hard to believe we were able to get the whole thing done in three hours. Honestly, I would have been fine if the night lasted forever. Too much fun.
This morning's shoot was kind of an up and down experience, both in terms of me dealing with this infatuation and in terms of the shooting itself. The first scene was frustrating for both me and my actors. We shot in a park by a river, which caused a decent number of problems in and of itself. I was also kind of distracted by the fact that this was to be her last day of shooting. But I did get to shoot my first action sequence. That was fun. Also, I got a hug from that actress after we finished her last shot of the production. I'm sad that she's done and I probably won't see her until the film is finished, but at the same time it will be nice to not have to find myself needing to avert my eyes from her so she doesn't catch me looking at her the wrong way or something.
Alright, I guess I'm just getting a bit into my personal life here, but this is really what my experiences in making this film have been for the past few shoots.
To put it simply, last night's shoot was the most fun I've ever had in making a movie. Even if the footage wasn't quite what I hoped it would be, the experience of shooting it will be a great memory to last a lifetime. One of my high school friends had a short appearance as a minor character, and picking on each other was part of the fun, but laughing and joking with the other aforementioned actress was the highlight of the night. Right, once again I'm writing an open love letter instead of talking about the filming itself.
We shot the scene in the kitchen of my old place, where my friends still live. Lighting was a bit difficult, considering the somewhat shoddy lighting in the place. It's hard to believe we were able to get the whole thing done in three hours. Honestly, I would have been fine if the night lasted forever. Too much fun.
This morning's shoot was kind of an up and down experience, both in terms of me dealing with this infatuation and in terms of the shooting itself. The first scene was frustrating for both me and my actors. We shot in a park by a river, which caused a decent number of problems in and of itself. I was also kind of distracted by the fact that this was to be her last day of shooting. But I did get to shoot my first action sequence. That was fun. Also, I got a hug from that actress after we finished her last shot of the production. I'm sad that she's done and I probably won't see her until the film is finished, but at the same time it will be nice to not have to find myself needing to avert my eyes from her so she doesn't catch me looking at her the wrong way or something.
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1-up Salesman
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Bomby
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I guess now's as good a time as any to get into detail about the last four days of production.
Last week Tuesday was the quintessential "get in/get out" day of shooting. This was a chase sequence. I had originally wanted to shoot it on the University of Wisconsin campus, my beloved alma mater and favorite place on in the world, but considering the schedule of the guy who was playing the man being chased, it would have been unfeasible to pull it off at that time of day without either getting in trouble or running into too much human traffic. Instead, we moved the shoot to an alleyway behind a Chinese restaurant, which still caused some problems due to one of the owners of said restaurant sitting behind the restaurant, watching our every move for a while. To seem less conspicuous, we had to walk around for a while to avoid having the police called on us. The results weren't what I had hoped to achieve, but they still made for an interesting little sequence, to say the least.
Wednesday was a fun, but rather unremarkable day. We shot the majority of the scenes in the house that belonged to three of the characters, with the lead character pretty much constantly visiting.
Thursday was supposed to be our last day of shooting, but one of our actors contracted food poisoning and was unable to show up. Given our actors' schedules, we couldn't reschedule everything for Friday, but at the last minute, I was able to think of a way to shoot around him in his scenes, and shoot his portions of those scenes later. It also gave me a chance to re-shoot a scene from the first day of shooting that I was unhappy with, which was nice. Maybe it worked out better that way.
So yeah, Friday we shot his portions of the scenes he was supposed to appear in on Thursday, but there was also one major scene that we needed everybody back for, this one in a graveyard. Two of my actors made the mistake of wearing the wrong sets of clothing they were supposed to be wearing in that scene, so I had to come up with a line at the last minute about them insisting on changing clothes at the last minute. Otherwise, a rather unremarkable day.
So yeah, the actress I was infatuated with was gone for those last four days of production, which didn't really affect me as much as I thought. I didn't get to point my camera at her and banter with her as I had been enjoying doing, but I also didn't have to cringe every time she mentioned her boyfriend. Really, I actually didn't think about her all that much.
Last week Tuesday was the quintessential "get in/get out" day of shooting. This was a chase sequence. I had originally wanted to shoot it on the University of Wisconsin campus, my beloved alma mater and favorite place on in the world, but considering the schedule of the guy who was playing the man being chased, it would have been unfeasible to pull it off at that time of day without either getting in trouble or running into too much human traffic. Instead, we moved the shoot to an alleyway behind a Chinese restaurant, which still caused some problems due to one of the owners of said restaurant sitting behind the restaurant, watching our every move for a while. To seem less conspicuous, we had to walk around for a while to avoid having the police called on us. The results weren't what I had hoped to achieve, but they still made for an interesting little sequence, to say the least.
Wednesday was a fun, but rather unremarkable day. We shot the majority of the scenes in the house that belonged to three of the characters, with the lead character pretty much constantly visiting.
Thursday was supposed to be our last day of shooting, but one of our actors contracted food poisoning and was unable to show up. Given our actors' schedules, we couldn't reschedule everything for Friday, but at the last minute, I was able to think of a way to shoot around him in his scenes, and shoot his portions of those scenes later. It also gave me a chance to re-shoot a scene from the first day of shooting that I was unhappy with, which was nice. Maybe it worked out better that way.
So yeah, Friday we shot his portions of the scenes he was supposed to appear in on Thursday, but there was also one major scene that we needed everybody back for, this one in a graveyard. Two of my actors made the mistake of wearing the wrong sets of clothing they were supposed to be wearing in that scene, so I had to come up with a line at the last minute about them insisting on changing clothes at the last minute. Otherwise, a rather unremarkable day.
So yeah, the actress I was infatuated with was gone for those last four days of production, which didn't really affect me as much as I thought. I didn't get to point my camera at her and banter with her as I had been enjoying doing, but I also didn't have to cringe every time she mentioned her boyfriend. Really, I actually didn't think about her all that much.
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Bomby
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I edited a rough cut of the action sequence this evening. While it's not exactly as good as something from my heroes Tsui Hark or Jackie Chan, or even this silly pop star vehicle I feel like linking to, I'm quite happy with what I got, especially considering that it's my very first ever action sequence and we only had a few hours to shoot it.