Rock n Roll Will Never Die: Production Journal: Entry 2
If you haven't guessed already, the working title for this is Rock n Roll Will Never Die. It is Act I of a much longer script, but I'm producing it as a short for now.
Let's start with Day 1.
The first scene we shot was what I anticipated to be one of the hardest, but turned out to be one of the easiest. It was a string of dialogue that takes place in a moving car, which is still almost always a challenge. This went well, though. It doesn't look quite as great as I'd hope, but it's certainly passable.
Unfortunately, being my own worst critic, I hate my performance. Where i was supposed to come off angsty and annoyed, I just sound whiny and annoying. I rewrote some of the dialogue shortly after and made plans to shoot it over.
Day 2
This is the second day of shooting, but keep in mind, these are not consecutive days. This was the following week from Day 1.
I had secured the East Side Red Door Saloon to shoot a scene that takes place in a bar. The owner said it was cool, to just let him know i was coming. Turns out there was only one day i could do it, a Tuesday, and he could not be reached. We showed up anyway to find it was not a good time. We wound up walking next door to The 5 Spot and it was not a problem. Things turned out much better.
- i did all the shots myself on a tripod, positioning it just so, then stepping in front of the camera to at my parts.
- found a great scary tough-looking bartender on craigslist
- this is by far my favorite looking scene so far and I can't help but believe it's because I shot it all myself (other shoots have all been by different camera persons -- whoever i can get for the job that day-- with mixed results).
- this is probably one of the only scenes I'm not going to reshoot.
Day 3.
This scene takes place at an AA meeting.
The Good:
I secured the breakroom at the Nashville Scene office, which looks perfect. I got all kinds of random extras from Craigslist who look like the most random, ordinary group of sad alcoholics you've ever seen. I got Jack Silverman from the Nashville Scene to play "Gary" the group counselor -- who so happened to be a recovering addict and knew the lingo and protocol better than I ever could.
The Bad:
Noise. Lots of vending machines, refrigerators and central air mean unwanted noise polluting your dialog track. I unplugged most of the machines, but the AC was impossible to kill. It shows on the tape. It sounds like shit.
Again, my performance is whiny and way too cool. My character doesn't seem vulnerable or awkward enough. There needs to be a dimension to him that's more accessible instead of entirely shut off from the world.
There were a few close up shots I should have gotten, but it's so hard to remember every little thing when you're doing so much at once. everything is either a medium or wide shot, and there's nothing really close up to show the kind of introspection my character is supposed to be conducting.
Conclusion:
Going to shoot some of this over again -- minus the extras -- in hopes i can tie it together with better replacement audio and some better-looking shots.
Let's start with Day 1.
The first scene we shot was what I anticipated to be one of the hardest, but turned out to be one of the easiest. It was a string of dialogue that takes place in a moving car, which is still almost always a challenge. This went well, though. It doesn't look quite as great as I'd hope, but it's certainly passable.
Unfortunately, being my own worst critic, I hate my performance. Where i was supposed to come off angsty and annoyed, I just sound whiny and annoying. I rewrote some of the dialogue shortly after and made plans to shoot it over.
Day 2
This is the second day of shooting, but keep in mind, these are not consecutive days. This was the following week from Day 1.
I had secured the East Side Red Door Saloon to shoot a scene that takes place in a bar. The owner said it was cool, to just let him know i was coming. Turns out there was only one day i could do it, a Tuesday, and he could not be reached. We showed up anyway to find it was not a good time. We wound up walking next door to The 5 Spot and it was not a problem. Things turned out much better.
- i did all the shots myself on a tripod, positioning it just so, then stepping in front of the camera to at my parts.
- found a great scary tough-looking bartender on craigslist
- this is by far my favorite looking scene so far and I can't help but believe it's because I shot it all myself (other shoots have all been by different camera persons -- whoever i can get for the job that day-- with mixed results).
- this is probably one of the only scenes I'm not going to reshoot.
Day 3.
This scene takes place at an AA meeting.
The Good:
I secured the breakroom at the Nashville Scene office, which looks perfect. I got all kinds of random extras from Craigslist who look like the most random, ordinary group of sad alcoholics you've ever seen. I got Jack Silverman from the Nashville Scene to play "Gary" the group counselor -- who so happened to be a recovering addict and knew the lingo and protocol better than I ever could.
The Bad:
Noise. Lots of vending machines, refrigerators and central air mean unwanted noise polluting your dialog track. I unplugged most of the machines, but the AC was impossible to kill. It shows on the tape. It sounds like shit.
Again, my performance is whiny and way too cool. My character doesn't seem vulnerable or awkward enough. There needs to be a dimension to him that's more accessible instead of entirely shut off from the world.
There were a few close up shots I should have gotten, but it's so hard to remember every little thing when you're doing so much at once. everything is either a medium or wide shot, and there's nothing really close up to show the kind of introspection my character is supposed to be conducting.
Conclusion:
Going to shoot some of this over again -- minus the extras -- in hopes i can tie it together with better replacement audio and some better-looking shots.