Production Journal #2: Frustratingly Good Day?

Tuesday, March 17, 2010

Hey all, I thought I'd fill you in on the second official day of film, and what a headache it was. If I've learned anything about a film shoot if would be this: nothing ever goes according to plan. To start the day off, I got a text from Morgan and she was under the weather and that she couldn't film today. This wasn't too bad because we were mainly going to utilize the nice weather to our advantage and shoot some coverage footage for the final scene. Plus, I'd rather have her rest up then work while she's sick. I know how it feel to work while being sick; it sucks, so I told her it was fine.

Next I had to text Greg and fill him in. One good thing did some from Morgan being ill. I no longer had to go and check out my laundry list of equipment. I had so much. No sore arms and no annoyances on the bus. Fabuleux!

Once math ended I jumped on a shuttle bus to Riverview to meet up with Greg and his girlfriend Vanessa to help him with his project The Woman in Black. This was truly a fun experience. It was actually one of the first time Greg and I filmed together. We both planned out shots, gave in put and tried to find the best angle for everything. This was great, plus his girlfriend is fun. So, everything went great! After that, we went back to his dorm to re-load the camera with film so I could film... which is where things went bad.

We were in such a great mood we went to Ma Fisher's to grab some grub before shooting and had a delightful conversation with a nice waitress about hollandaise sauce and why shooting a film about harlequins is perfect for black and white silent film. She then tried to get a bigger tip by rocking cleavage, but I missed it as I was trying to get the bottle of ketchup to work. Pity.

We then went to this incredibly dank alley behind the restaurant that was amazing looking! I knew from the beginning the shoot for me would be coverage footage that I didn't need, but would be nice to have. Evidence of this when I was using a shopping cart to do a dolly shot. Ha. In this alley we met a homeless man and some weird smells and found a beautiful sub alley that we need to remember. We got to filming and I was doing different shots that utilized the sunset and was doing different close-up and was playing with the focus. I was happy with my shots! Then, the camera stopped shooting. Greg somehow fixed it and we continued it. It Then stopped again... we didn't know why. We found a darkish alley and opened it up and the filmed was a jammed clusterfuck in the camera! Oh jeez!

We bolted back to Greg's to fix it. We somehow salvaged what we could and we're hoping it turns out. We aren't sure yet. I was upset, but Greg thought it would cheer us all up if we watched some of his embarrassing old videos he made. I won't mention the names or post the links to save him from some embarrassment.

Greg then donned his Mr. Pesti costume (long story for another time) and we went out and filmed an art project and have a very great encounter with a homeless man who really changed the mood of everything. He was amazing.

So yeah, as you can see, things didn't go right, but it wasn't a bad day, which is sweet. I'll let you all know how the film turns out, if it turns out, once I get it back after break. This was all stream of conscience, so sorry. Also, hopefully I'll have some pics to post next time.