I was selfishly hoping that we could wrap today. I hoped (not quite prayed, but came close) that what coverage/shots we’d got for the montage would be sufficient.
Mr Meikle, through harsh and bitter experience, knows better than to take the hints of a tiring and decreasingly coherent multi-hyphenate. So we’re shooting tomorrow.
Oh well.
If yesterday afternoon‘s lesson about light-chasing wasn’t enough, today’s shooting certainly drove the point home. You want two people talking outside? Shoot the two of them both in frame (a ‘two-shot’). Then shoot each one individually (‘singles’). Then when you’re in a dark room with just you and a monitor and your awfully precious raw footage, you – and your end audience – are going to expect all those two-shots and singles to be lit exactly the same. Even though you shot them over a four-hour period.
A lot can happen in the Auckland sky in four hours when the forecast is for clouds clearing with possible light showers. Heaps. Bucket loads.
Am buggered so shan’t stay long.
This morning’s set-ups were delayed by technical issues: a car-rig that had to be adjusted for changing light, then compounded by a lens adaptor that wasn’t as rock solid as expected. After five hours of rigging, it was all ditched for hand-held coverage from within the car. The DOP was not happy. I told everyone who’d listen that my next film would consist of two people in a room and nothing else.
As you’d expect, time spent on the morning’s set-ups meant that there was less time for the afternoon’s set-ups. Mr Meikle and his gaffer, Mr Eversden, raced not only the fading light, but spotty clouds, big clouds, clouds with frustratingly uneven breaks of blue, and so forth. Add to that being on the Auckland Airport flightpath, and soundman Mr Rea was forced to pause proceedings when necessary.
No fun at the time. But fun in retrospect ’cause we still met our day (well, I think we ran ten minutes over). So a pretty rockin’ day, atcherly.
Time for noddy land.
I really should be in bed. I’ve got to be up and about in seven hours. This is rather irresponsible.
Despite a slow start to the day due to the late arrival of camera gear, we met our day with an hour to spare. Back-slaps and handshakes abounded. There was no shouting, no kicking of actors, no beatings of assistants. Today, I believe, was a Good Day.
On-set workflow was set up by the very capable (and available only for one day) Mr Heron the Camera Assist. Once we’d wrapped for the day, I took the footage (external hard-drive, actually), and passed it under the very discerning eyes of our post-production consultant who pronounced it “useable”. Post-production workflow, courtesy of the choice of camera, is also under control.
In short: the chances of a finished film making it out to those hardy souls who watch short films, have increased that little bit more. (As per my last post: if a no-budget feature crashes after shooting wraps, who truly sees it? No one.)
Onwards to Day Two.
One sleep. Don’t know if it’ll be fitful like the last few. Hope not. Maybe. Probably.
Mr Power had to gently talk me down from an incipient nervous breakdown earlier in the day (“Don’t be ridiculous”) (it was better than “Don’t be a drama queen” ’cause I would’ve clocked him) (not that I’ve anything ag-,… never mind). He’s a good man.
I thought today would be relatively cruisey but an assistant who became unavailable meant a whole lot of scrambling during the day. A nice reminder of how truly collaborative filmmaking is – regardless of how ‘low’ one’s job might be, everyone is essential.
Not all wrinkles had been ironed out when I last saw Mr Power late this afternoon but I’m not going to worry about it any more. He’ll sort things out. ‘S what a good producer does.
Noddy time.
(I don’t know if I’ll have the energy to blog during the shoot. If things go quiet, you’ll certainly know why. If I continue blogging, don’t tell the cast and crew – I should be prepping for the next day.)
Holy crap. Two days to go – not even that: a mere two sleeps. Oh dear.
Mr Power the producer is on the case working through all the things I’m unable to do, or have run out of time to do, or am too chicken to do, or that are his job anyway.
Crew? Check.
Schedule? Being finalised.
Script? Which version we talking here? Production, shooting, or a revised version of either? Let’s say… in progress. Any minute now.
Gear? Audio – check. Video – arrives in town tomorrow for check, prep and test by Mr Meikle‘s minion.
Cast? Check.
Reluctant multi-hyphenate? Dreading every minute of pre-prod. But knowing how essential it is to a reasonably drama-free shoot. Oscillating wildly from little-boy excitement to full-blown terror.
This will end. In two sleeps plus five shoot days.
And then there will be post.
Today’s magic word is work-flow.
As in ”post work-flow”.
As in, up until three days ago, I had no post work-flow. We had a camera, but I hadn’t an inkling what to do with it. (Which is the DOP’s job, of course, but… oh you know what I mean.) Well, I knew that it was one of those flash new jobbies that, instead of recording to magnetic tape, recorded onto solid state memory or some such malarkey. (For those techies out there: we’re shooting on a Sony PMW EX-1.)
Had it been tape, I would only have needed to worry about storing the days’ tapes In A Very Safe Place until I got them to a post-production house to convert into something for me to play with.
But with the solid-state stuff, I need a laptop on-set. And an external hard-drive. And someone who knows what they’re doing.
That’s right: another bleeding mouth to feed. And pay.
Hm. Time to consult with my friendly neighbourhood post-production consultant.
Storyboardingstoryboardingstoryboarding.
I strongly suspect this is something I should’ve done, like, ages ago. After yesterday’s technical recce, I think Mr Forster noticed how much I kept deferring to Mr Meikle and recommended I do some. Sure, I’d blocked some of the action with the actors during the workshops, but I’d avoided thinking about angles and coverage and owing reverses. ’S what a DOP does, innit? (I think it’s what a continuity person does – and it’s a role we can’t afford on this film.)
So I’m storyboarding. This is the most drawing I’ve done in years. Trying to relax and not over-focus on heads being in proportion to bodies. Trying not to freak out over perspective.
The important thing about storyboards is the time they save. Instead of waving your hands about and trying to describe a camera move you want to steal from a favourite De Palma film, just a couple of chicken scratchings reasonably clear and simple pictures puts everyone literally on the same page at the same time.
Until that cathartic moment, I’m storyboarding. And grateful for the practice, decades ago, of countless pictures of alien invaders being greeted by human soldiers backed up by tanks, jet fighters and a death star.
This is the spirit: five adult males squeeze into a family station-wagon and travel the general Auckland area on a technical recce. (Reality check: it wasn’t always five, mostly it was four; and by ‘general Auckland area’ I mean from Mangere Bridge to Grey Lynn and some in between.)
You know those pics they show of directors squinting through a viewfinder? Got introduced to one today. They’re called a ‘chewey’ (phonetic – no idea how they spell it normally) (best guess from the pros on its etymology was that it helps the director and DP ‘choose’ lenses). I felt rather directorly as I gingerly held it and squinted through it.
Six hours of driving and looking and talking. But as Mr Forster pointed out, the hard yards that are put in during pre-production means less headaches, surprises and drama during actual production. Being the lazy-arse that I am, I just wish someone else could do it on my behalf.
I don’t remember any of this kind of stuff being shown in the making-of shows of my distant youth. You just saw the director arrive on set in a supercar, given a coffee as he strolled to the set-up where everyone’s dutifully waiting, taking his personalised seat, and yelling ‘action!’.
Maybe on the next production.
‘S late and I’m bone tired.
Two items of note today -
HODs’ MEETING – Wow. So this is what happens when pre-prod goes the way it’s supposed to. Our 1AD has sorted out a tentative schedule where we shoot out the cast members whose availability shrunk when the shoot dates moved. And the various HODs got to say what they needed, find out what their fellow HODs needed, and more often than not, through the two degrees of separation because of the small industry here, provide solutions to problems, concerns or needs. I want to hug everyone; I refrain.
WORKSHOP – Blocked some scenes with the actors. Didn’t have time in the forty-eight hours since the reading/workshop to revise the script like I’d hoped but the blocking and workshop was just brill’. ”Ah,” I nodded to myself in whatever scene, “so that’s why she does that.” It was nice to see the pages brought to life – even at half-energy ’cause we’re just workshopping, y’know – and to have the opportunity to shape the scenes. And always find new things that the actors bring to the roles and the story.
Not that it was all sweetness and light. Some scenes turned out to be exceedingly short. Some snippets of dialogue were painfully long.
But it’s fine – I’ve got a bit of time to revise the script. Maybe not work the revisions through with the actors before the cameras roll. But when they’re done, they’ll be an improvement on what I think were already pretty strong bones.
Okay: optimism is high but measured.
High because I’ll admit I’m a little bit excited by this venture. (The moment’ll pass.)
Measured because I’ve just realised that I’m overdue to sort out post-production workflow. We shoot in six days. Four of those are the long Easter weekend.
I think it’s time to start delegating.
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