Breakin'

Filming = done
editing = done

I actually turned my rough cut in on Tuesday... I can't say that I'm completely content with it, but I know there are things I need to reshoot and at the time I didn't feel it was necessary to reshoot those things before rough cut. I don't know, I guess the script/plot wasn't extremely thrilling to me in the first place, which made it a little difficult to like my semi-final product. I've already gotten feedback from Tim and I'm taking this weekend as a break (finally!) and I'm home in Ohio, but still trying to coordinate reshoot schedules with my crew and actors. My theatre partner, Stephanie, began rehearsals for a cave show this week, so unfortunately getting her to be available might be an issue, but we'll see. I'm keeping positive because she's been so easy to work with.

I really hope everyone's doing well on their rough cut. It'll be interesting to see what people have come Monday afternoon.

Well I like it...

Well, we finished up our filming Tuesday night... filming from 8:30pm till 2:30am. It was a little crazy shooting that late, but the actors and the audio guys worked really hard even when we all got a little stir crazy....

I just finished my rough cut of the project, and I actually really like it a lot. I say actually because to be honest I didn't even like the script when we started. But now that it's put together I really like how it turned out, and I hope you will too.

Good luck everyone!

Timecode trouble

So filming went better than could have been expected. With a day and a half of shooting, and no real run-ins, I couldn't have been happier. The only scare my team had was the second day of editing, we ran into some trouble with capturing and timecode errors. I know we played back about 3 to 4 takes on the camera for each tape during our shoot, which can often lead to these timecode breaks. However, when we went to capture, more breaks appeared than expected; around every 5-10 seconds or so. After one bad night editing, and one helpful meeting with our prof, we had worked out the errors and was able to rescue the footage without having to reshoot. My team was able to put together a decent roughcut in the end. I am looking forward to watching everyone else's Monday.

Late FIlming

Finally got around to filming this past Thursday.  I had 4 audio guys because I guess there were more audio groups than there are video groups.  The ones who weren't working were just kind of standing around until I needed something moved or needed someone to hold the camera while I positioned myself on the floor or something.  That didn't really make much sense, so next shooting the date is Monday (yes, the due date) and only two of them are showing up for that one.  

Shooting was kind of frustrating. The dog didn't show up so we're going to have to shoot that stuff on Monday.  I hope we can get the light for the scene with the neighbor too.  Schedules are still unpleasant and I haven't yet figured out exactly how I want to take the grinding scene, but it'll happen...however that happens.

Production Hell

Well, the post is late, but I feel the need to do it anyway.  Locations have fallen through, and ended up using my apartment for one of the locations--which works, but requires a lot of moving furniture and angles.  The storyboard calls for 167 shots.  We filmed a good portion this weekend, leaving about half of the scenes for the crucial "creepy" location I secured after much negotiation.  I receive a phone call from the coordinating personnel at the location, and can only use it Fri or Sun.  Major blow: principal actress is out of town Sat night through Sun, and unable to travel (location is 2 hours south) on Fri.  Looks like we'll have to go with a much less atmospheric location, much to my great displeasure.  Another blow: we're going for a very dark, claustrophobic feel, and I, in my brilliance, managed to get the dark part down...TOO dark.  Going to have to reshoot several major scenes.  Also having trouble securing the dog again for the remainder of filming (Thurs. and Fri., with some Sat. morning).  Add in two jobs and the CMD/IDEE Webisode project picking up, shit's getting deep.  This is my first priority though, and if necessary, I will BUILD a location and STEAL a dog (relax, I'll probably give it back.)  The greatest notion I am taking from this experience is that I cannot wait to do this in a situation in which everyone involved does this for a living and this is their only priority.  (That statement is not directed at Geoff or Lyss--who have been and are outstanding to work with--but a general statement referring to scheduling,  securing locations, equipment, etc.  It's so much more difficult to pull off a quality project with minimal time, few personnel, even less resources and no money, especially when you must divide those resources and time among other endeavours.)

Finally Filming

Well, we filmed all of the flashbacks on Thursday. Planning to film the rest tonight. I got lucky with the student from the audio class. Not only is he doing everything needed for audio, he's helping to setup lights, pulling a dolly, and a bunch of other random tasks, that in result, take some pressure off me. Filming the "execution" scene was interesting. I may have made it a little too gruesome, but nothing like "Saw." More like Hitchcock's Psycho. I used a small plastic syringe to shoot blood on the forearms of the lead actress, while filming at an angle so you cannot see her hands. As if the dog is being ground up and spraying blood and what not... Tonight should be another steady-paced, easy, shoot. I have used a combination of storyboards and a shot list to keep me focused. As usual I expect to film something in two hours and it takes five, but even so, I think tonight is our last night of filming... Hopefully.

So much for being on schedule....

Well, things must have been going too well last week, because this week was not quite so great. On Tuesday night we were going to be finishing our filming, but my co-producer called me and said she had bronchitis. So, we weren't able to film. We've rescheduled for this Tuesday and given ourselves plenty of time to film, so hopefully this won't cause any problems in the long run. I'm just planning on pretty much editing non stop this weekend... and I'm guessing I'll end up seeing most of your in either VIA or the downstairs lab this weekend...

Juggling Schedules

I would say at this point we have roughly 75% of filming completely finished with one scene from Saturday still to reshoot. The biggest problem up to now has been scheduling conflicts with my actress and her rehearsals for the theatre show. Also, it didn’t help much that she was sick last week too. In a strange way her sickness has added a new dimension to her character – giving her a more raspy voice which is creepy. For continuity purposes, I find myself now telling her to talk like she’s still sick. Of course she has to take a few breaks for tea. That kind of speech can be hard on anyone’s voice.

The location audio help has been great and consistent. We have all agreed that ADR will be essential for our opening scene – too much reverb in a small apartment hallway. We are planning to film again this Tuesday afternoon and maybe after 10:30 when theatre rehearsal is finished.

Shooting is Taking Longer Than Expected

My team and I had hoped to get filming done by the end of the weekened, but that wasn't the case. We got a late start on Friday night, which kept us from completing the scenes that were on the schedule. We scheduled to finish on Sunday, but at the last minute the location was not the available. The person who lives in the house was out of town. So, for right now, things are going pretty slow. I wanted to get the rough cut done early, so I would have more time to fix the problems needed. Also, the movie is going to need some extensive after effects work. Every project has its little problems... We only have two scenes left to shoot. I have been editing the piece as we go along, so I am not behind on that aspect. We are shooting again this Friday. It won't be long now before our filming is completed. As of right now, I am about 80% satisfied with what we have shot. One of the scenes ended up being a little too dark for my taste. I will try some color correction to fix that -- I'll probably have to reshoot that scene. Despite the slow pace, I will still be schedule with the due date for the rough cut.

Moving along

This week was a very productive week for my group. Wednesday night we got the video shot and I have begun the editing process. Since I had so many people volunteer to help with the shoot, it moved along quickly and we managed to get it all shot in one night. I was really surprised because I was worried that the "too many cooks in the kitchen" effect would become a factor, but turns out everyone was a huge help and I don't know what I would've done without them. Now my job is to finish the editing and get it ready to be shown as a rough-cut.

Up and Moving

Well we finally got filming on Wednesday and Thursday. Everything went well. Once we saw eye to eye on the character it all went smoothly. Thanks to Desiree (Sorry if I spelled it wrong), I was able to get an amazing dog for the shooting. I'm glad the other one didn't work out. I'm a little worried about one shot but if I have to reshoot it I'll just have to reshoot it. I'm also concerned about the webcam shots. I just don't know how smooth they have to be. The shots we have are pretty choppy so I'm a little worried how they'll translate in the sequence. The music is still up in the air for me. I don't really know what kind of music I'm wanting yet. Everything should come together soon. I guess it has to by next Monday anyway.

On another topic I got in contact with my audio member Ben. He was wanting to come and watch on Thursday but something ended up coming up where he couldn't make it. It was cool having someone so interested in getting experience to where he would just come and stand around and watch. Hopefullly things keep progressing as they have. If it does everything will be pretty easy.

Well... I guess that's all I have to say...Bye.

Squeaky hedgehog.

Done filming, have been since... Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday. I've captured and started piecing together the footage while the person assisting me with editing has been unable to meet up. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, although we do have to reshoot one teeny tiny thing due to a wardrobe foul-up. Oh well.

Editing should continue/almost be complete by Tuesday, other than the reshoot and any others that might pop up. I'm relatively confident that the finished product will be good, although in comparison to what I've heard/read from the other directors, I'm wondering how my film will stack up to the others. I'm not using HD, or a high amount of filters/gels/artistic symbolism yada yada yada. I don't really care about those sorts of things either. Call it minimalist, call it crap... I figure as long as myself, my actors, and my crew like our final product, I'm a happy girl.