filmmaking, guest lectures, and halloween parties
well it’s been a bit since the last post. a lot has happened since then. so… so very much.
casting for the film went smoothly, mostly since i already had an idea of who i wanted for it. got everybody on board, and then we looked at scheduling. given a number of options, my favorite was to blast through with filming on the 5th and 6th of october, leaving me with about three weeks to pull together props, rehearse, and get all the additional equipment i needed for the film. a lot of shit to do.
the weeks were a blur. due to the nature of the film, some of the props required a TON of work to put together, both of the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ variety. it was exhausting, but i managed to get everything i needed with days to spare.
the rehearsals were amazing, really led by the actors themselves. we met twice – once to read through the script together and to get everyone on the same page with backstories and everything, and then once again to nail everything down after the actors got off book. the first meeting was very encouraging, and the second (suggested by the actors) was everything i needed to instill confidence in the production. every step of the way i was reassured that my decision to cast dedicated actors in this was was the right one.
the equipment procurement wasn’t as overwhelming as it could have been, mostly because sam lent me the use of his stuff. that took out the need for a number of big purchases, and opened me up to the possibility of the bigger purchase of a new lens. the thing is awesome; it’s gigantic and smooth and produces a beautiful picture. and luckily sam also supplied the tripod and mounting system necessary to tame such a beast.
all the way up to the last minute, i was working on shit. getting the permits, testing the equipment, aging the props, doing makeup trials. i was up until 3AM the night before our first day of filming finishing up the storyboard. fucking insane.
and then the weekend itself came. we were up at 5 30 each day, prepared lunches and got our stuff ready to go. worked with the actors on makeup. and then set off. on each day we got there a bit after our shooting location opened, which was frustrating but not unexpected. we set up our area, got everything ready, and then set to work.
my crew was the best. sam, nicole, and roy all worked together as a team better than i possibly could have imagined. everyone went above and beyond my expectations and it felt like this crew had been working together in this way for years. it felt like a legit production, with all the pieces in place and everyone functioning as a well-oiled machine.
i don’t know how many shots there are in total. kind of a ton for a 10 minute film. but we worked through them the best we could, and at a good pace. we were filming in a public location, so we did have to deal with people. and kids. insane, screaming kids. also a weird meth head family. but honestly nothing terrible.
as the first day of shooting came to an end, i think everyone was on a high for how well it went. the actors were amazing. every shot was framed better than i had imagined. and we all had worked together, collaboratively, to make something awesome. i couldn’t have asked for a better day of filming.
we went to bed early that night, exhausted from the work. i don’t know that i’ve recovered since.
the second day of shooting also proceeded quite well. everything was going as planned, maybe moving a bit more slowly than the saturday, but still moving well. unfortunately, things came to a halt with the rain. at first the odd sprinkle, but eventually a full-on downpour. we had to call it early. to be fair, we weren’t moving quickly enough to realistically have finished filming that day anyway. but it was so very disappointing to have gotten so far and then have to put everything on hold.
until november.
so that’s where i am right now. in a weird limbo. at this point, it almost feels like the filming occurred in the distant past. the forward momentum came to such a halt that it feels impossible that we could pick back up and get out there again. but we will! it’s just such a long time to wait.
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in the interim, we’ve been busying ourselves with various things. it’s october, so scary movies has been one activity. we had a halloween party this past weekend, which took a bit of effort. and i somehow ended up guest lecturing at the university of tampa last week, which was an incredibly fun and rewarding opportunity that i loved. obviously there’s work work to deal with. and i feel like i’ve been sleeping more since the filming, getting to bed earlier than usual. or maybe just early compared to when i was getting to bed while working on the film. i dunno. it’s hard to feel complete when you’ve been put on hold.
the guest lecturing gig was all about d&d (of course, my area of expertise). our friend is teaching a class and using role playing games both as a learning tool and as actual content for the course, and this discussion about the game was intended as an introduction. i had no idea what i was getting myself into, and i did very little preparation the night before the class to try to figure out what i was going to talk about, which resulted in a rough bullet point outline. i even found a video i could play that we could watch through in the event that i ran out of stuff to talk about. but surprisingly, i had way more than enough content to go over. you don’t realize how ridiculously complex and deep some of this stuff is until you are trying to explain it to a group of kids who (mostly) aren’t familiar with the game. but we didn’t touch on plenty of pieces of the d&d puzzle, and even those i got to talk about were mostly just kind of glossed over. but i think, at the very least, i communicated my excitement and enthusiasm about the game. things maybe started off a bit slow, and i covered some boring stuff at first, but somewhere along the way (pretty quickly) i found my voice and got comfortable, and when i started talking about the things that excite me about the game, i think everything clicked.
the students were awesome and engaged, and a handful of them were pretty willing to talk. one of the students actually plays d&d currently and is planning to DM soon, and she was actually able to speak to some things that i couldn’t. which is exactly the kind of discussion i was hoping to have. it was a lot of fun, and i left the campus feeling good about myself and went on to reward myself with taco bell. i was later told that the kids really liked me and thought it was a fun class. i’d absolutely do this again.
the halloween party was awesome. good turnout, good food, good people. so much to drink. the living room got kind of hot, but that provided us all the impetus to branch out into mini-groups in the kitchen, dining room, and office. so more focused conversations. it was really great, and kind of did hearken back to the parties of oldentimes. having new and old friends there was very nice, and everyone got along really well. i regret not being able to spend more time with everyone there, but there’s only so much you can do. i did make an effort to spend time in each of the various rooms at least. by the time people started trickling out, someone had the idea of bringing out the DDR pads and playing some dance dance revolution. which was an insane and ridiculous and hilarious and exhilarating way to end the evening. everything ended around 2AM, which, for old people like us, is quite good.
it feels like many more things are going on. big night at trattoria pasquale, tim’s birthday, the actual playing of d&d, planning for the marilyn halloween party, planning for the georgia game weekend trip, “planning” for the VET, etc. i distinctly remember myself thinking before, probably back in general cornelius times, that i function best when i’ve got a lot of plates spinning. i don’t know if i’m functioning best right now, but i do feel good about being more productive. i have had a bit of a backslide and am looking at facebook again, but also these are insane times with regards to current events so it’s difficult not to follow these things. whatever the case, i am glad to be working again, and am so very looking forward to completing this fucking film.