All Pro!

Somebody in my crew posted this on the door to the stage where I was shooting... obviously it's film school not grammar school.

The Lost Weekend....

I woke up the day after my shoot and it felt like I had ran a mini-marathon the day before. Not that I know what it feels like to run a mini-marathon, but I imagined that's what it would feel like. I was on my feet all day long, running from point a to point b or sometimes just running around lost... I did a lot of pre-production work and midday we realized we were running so short on time, due to my actress having to leave earlier than expected, we ended up throwing out most of my pre-production material . The shot list was the first to go, then we took the camera off the tri-pod and went hand held, then I starting removing scenes from the script on the fly. Hopefully this will add to the overall urgency of the film. Hopefully...

What was crazy about this weekend was that I began assembling my set at 1 o'clock on Thursday (furniture from home, carpets from the prop room down the street, etc.) and once that was completed we built a restaurant scene (see above) for Tyler's Friday shoot. We had to build walls (flats) and everything from the ground up. It actually ended up looking very believable. We did this on stage A which also contains the green screen. After a late night of building we shot Tyler's short on Friday. We started off the day with a skeleton crew due to everyone's works schedules so at one point I was setting up camera, lights, and audio. Tyler got a lot of coverage in his shoot and we even got to play with the jib arm. (see the above pic with the camera/crane). The jib makes camera movement look seamless.

That brings us to Saturday. My intense all day long shoot followed by a nice celebratory dinner at Serpentine with my lovely wife. Many Whiskey Smashes were consumed. Waking up early on Sunday was not fun. Why did I have to wake up early? I was DP for Adi's shoot. Another 12 hour day at school. Adi shot in black & white and was going for a Hitchcock-esque feel. The DP or Director of Photography works the camera as you can tell from the above pic of me and the camera. It was a cool shoot and we once again battled time.

I would love to say the we get a break after filming our shorts, but no, we start editing and learning Final Cut Pro tomorrow...

Long days on the set...

What it do? What it do? I finally got to do what I came out here to do. Make a movie. In between prepping for my shoot, I crewed on three of my classmates films. Anne, Ephantus, & Nitin. I did sound for two and was DP for another. DP is Director of Photography. Sound is okay but kind of boring after a while. Basically with sound you stand off to the side of the actors and hold a pole with a microphone attached to it. Always wearing headphones you let the director know if you captured sound or any other unwanted noises during a take. It's super easy to zone out so I kept reminding myself to stay in the present. DP is another story altogether. You are the camera man all day and it is incredibly collaborative with the Director. You are always communicating his needs/wants and your response. It's your job then to let the actors know when they are in frame and what you need from lighting on the set. I had a blast being the DP and it was a great learning experience. I definitely need to train my eye for capturing a shot. Where's the best place to set the camera, should you move the camera during a shoot, what angle should you use, etcetera, etcetera??? I had a blast running sound as well. Hell, it was just cool to be around a movie being made.

The days were definitely long. On average, close to eleven hours for three days in a row. By wrap on day three I was tired as all hell.

When I wasn't shooting wasn't crewing or working or sleeping, I was at work on my upcoming shoot. Picking crew members, planning props and room layout, talking to my actors, choosing food, emailing my instructor constantly with questions (which I am sure they adore), rewriting my script... Etc. Lots to do in little amounts of time. It will be here in just a few days.

*the two pics of above were from Nitin & Ephantus' shoots respectively.

Quiet on the set!!!

After I received my acceptance letter I called to set up my meet and greet with Leah Koppels as soon as possible. I was a little too excited. The meeting was set for Wednesday the 30th of April at 2 PM. After a mental battle as to what to wear (It's film school so no suit and tie but I want to be taken seriously so not shorts and flip flops...) I opted for freshly polished shell tops, jeans, and a long sleeve all-black Ben Sherman button-up. With my Timbuk2 black shoulder bag I felt like I was ready to take on the world or at the very least deliver messages on my bike.

Walking in to SFSDF I was hit with a barrage of "Quiet on the set!!" It started down at the far end of the building and it was relayed down the hall. It was both surreal and comical at the same time. The current class was filming one of their projects and it was interesting to feel the electricity in the air. I'm shown to a seat and in just a few minutes Leah greets me. We move to her office and the paperwork begins. 

We talk tuition. It's a one year intensive program. Class is five days a week with outside classroom work expected. The grand total is right at thirty thousand. They allow a payment program where you break it up into twelve payments or you can apply for a Sallie Mae (damn you dirty whore and your high rates Miss Mae!!) loan. I think we are going to go the payment plan route. In addition to tuition you will also have to spend roughly one thousand dollars on the following: videotape, grip & gaffer tools, craft services, and other materials. 

Grips "move things around, place props, build scaffolds and other rigging for cameras or lights." A gaffer is the senior electrician on set. Craft services is buffet style drinks and snacks for your crew. I was actually happy with this. The day you are directing you are required to feed your cast and crew. Right on!

There are ten people in my program and we will be writing and directing five films. When we aren't working on our own project we will be crew on another students project. Along with student films,  we will also crew on professional films. SFSDF created their own production company, Fog City Films, and they have already completed two films. Whatever films that are in production we will work on and be credited in the film.

While we were working on our paperwork Leah filled out all of her forms in purple ink which I thought was hilarious and moderately cool. You would never see the admissions staff at IU fill out paperwork in purple ink. I like it. We obviously discussed more but it all leaned towards the mundane-everyday aspect of school. I won't bore you. Well, I won't bore you more than I already have.