Filming is a Lot of Work
Whew.
That's about all I need to say. With the "On The Lot" reality-filmmaking-show deadline only 13 days away, I finally got out in the world Saturday and filmed my short- "Those Abandoned." Things went great but today's activities were not without problems.
To recap, "On The Lot" is a reality TV show looking for filmmaking submissions from the general public. I first heard about it last April and, to be honest, have been putting off working on it. I'm lazy when it comes to my filmmaking hobby. Filmmaking is a lot of work! It's hard to just... decide one lazy afternoon to pick up a camcorder and go out and shoot something. These projects take planning and setup and people and money and time. Everyone's schedules have to meet up and even the weather needs to cooperate. It's not a hobby you can do alone nor is it a hobby that yields immediate results. In fact, it's a lot like looking at a blank canvas through a peephole and painting one small random square at a time and not being able to see the final image until it's totally complete. Only then can you look at it as a whole and hope it looks like how you initially imagined.
So yea, I decided last week that this weekend would be the best time to shoot the 5-minute short. I've had a script ready since November but I've been more or less waiting for the weather and other factors (Like relatives visiting) to cooperate. This weekend, the sun was supposed to be out and it was supposed to be nearly 60 degrees for the first time since September. But alas, it was a muggy Oregon day. Bryan and I got an early start and shot the first half of the movie in the foothills north of us. It was a smooth shoot outside of the nearly constant ambient noise of traffic in the background. The setting of the movie is 60 years in the future at a time when there's few humans (Let alone cars) anywhere left on Earth. So having a beat-up farm vehicle suddenly enter the frame won't do.
Then, Matt of Matt and Cassandra met up with us to shoot the second half in which my character gets killed by Matt's character. Cassandra came down with a rather nasty virus and, although we'd been looking forward to her participation for months, wasn't able to make it out. So it was just the three of us filming this thing. Ya know, for a simple 5 minute short, it sure did take all day. We shot several angles and repeated scenes over and over. By the time it was all done, I felt relieved. I think there may be a few shots I still need to get, but that can wait. The crap I needed three people for is done. Now, the rest I could technically do on my own.
Ok. Next step is digitizing the video off the camera and editing. It should be a snap but I'm nervous about discovering that something important has been forgotten or that re-shoots will become a necessity because something was messed up. With less than two weeks to go, re-shoots aren't really an option I'd like to consider. Plus, my brother Ryan in Fargo is writing and performing the score, so I need to have a rough edit of the film to him in the next couple days or else. Yea, I pray we did everything right. I'm scared to look at the footage..
So... What else is going on?
That's about all I need to say. With the "On The Lot" reality-filmmaking-show deadline only 13 days away, I finally got out in the world Saturday and filmed my short- "Those Abandoned." Things went great but today's activities were not without problems.
To recap, "On The Lot" is a reality TV show looking for filmmaking submissions from the general public. I first heard about it last April and, to be honest, have been putting off working on it. I'm lazy when it comes to my filmmaking hobby. Filmmaking is a lot of work! It's hard to just... decide one lazy afternoon to pick up a camcorder and go out and shoot something. These projects take planning and setup and people and money and time. Everyone's schedules have to meet up and even the weather needs to cooperate. It's not a hobby you can do alone nor is it a hobby that yields immediate results. In fact, it's a lot like looking at a blank canvas through a peephole and painting one small random square at a time and not being able to see the final image until it's totally complete. Only then can you look at it as a whole and hope it looks like how you initially imagined.
So yea, I decided last week that this weekend would be the best time to shoot the 5-minute short. I've had a script ready since November but I've been more or less waiting for the weather and other factors (Like relatives visiting) to cooperate. This weekend, the sun was supposed to be out and it was supposed to be nearly 60 degrees for the first time since September. But alas, it was a muggy Oregon day. Bryan and I got an early start and shot the first half of the movie in the foothills north of us. It was a smooth shoot outside of the nearly constant ambient noise of traffic in the background. The setting of the movie is 60 years in the future at a time when there's few humans (Let alone cars) anywhere left on Earth. So having a beat-up farm vehicle suddenly enter the frame won't do.
Then, Matt of Matt and Cassandra met up with us to shoot the second half in which my character gets killed by Matt's character. Cassandra came down with a rather nasty virus and, although we'd been looking forward to her participation for months, wasn't able to make it out. So it was just the three of us filming this thing. Ya know, for a simple 5 minute short, it sure did take all day. We shot several angles and repeated scenes over and over. By the time it was all done, I felt relieved. I think there may be a few shots I still need to get, but that can wait. The crap I needed three people for is done. Now, the rest I could technically do on my own.
Ok. Next step is digitizing the video off the camera and editing. It should be a snap but I'm nervous about discovering that something important has been forgotten or that re-shoots will become a necessity because something was messed up. With less than two weeks to go, re-shoots aren't really an option I'd like to consider. Plus, my brother Ryan in Fargo is writing and performing the score, so I need to have a rough edit of the film to him in the next couple days or else. Yea, I pray we did everything right. I'm scared to look at the footage..
So... What else is going on?