Shooting Day 12-14

It's hard to rewind all the way back to friday when we start our marathon of shooting every weekend.  It seems as if fridays shoot was months ago.  We shoot so much everyday it's hard to believe that the footage I'm reviewing was shot only a few days ago.  Everything we shot on friday was at night because classes don't end until around 4.  Overall it was a good night of shooting, we ended on time, which is a rarity for us, but we are getting better.  Cody and I started meeting with Brianne (A.D) Before every shoot so she is even more on the same page as us as to what time we should be finishing each scene. Cody and I have also been drawing up overheads to go along with the shot list so that everyone can more easily understand where the camera will be positioned for each shot.  This helps us all become more efficient.  

The only really memorable moment from fridays shoot came when we were lighting an exterior car shot.  We had 2 stingers running across the road with a power strip resting a foot away from the curb.  We were running our lights and monitor off the power strip.  All night we had been waving cars through, all of them running over the stingers no problem.  Then this women comes down the road with no head lights on and I'm already thinking she must not be the the brightest bulb in the tree. I watch as she slows down when she sees all the lights and the people.  She then proceeds to turn to the right as she crosses the stingers and runs right over the power strip, crushing it to pieces and killing all of our power. I started flipping out and had to walk away for a few minutes.  That power strip was by no means in the middle of the road. This women had about 12 feet to the left of that strip to drive and she still ran over the box.

Saturday we shot from 9:00 A.M to 9:30 P.M. We were on the 12 foot jib for a lot of shots on saturday so that was fun.  We were running behind schedule for one scene that was supposed to be during the day and the sun had already set so we had to shoot night for day.  We had shot day for night plenty of times but not the other way around.  It was changing to light the room the scene took place in because it was a wide shot so their was not much play as to where we could put lights.  Kelly and I's first thought was put 3 lights outside and shine them directly through the window.  Bad idea, lights were too direct and casted harsh shadows all over the place.  Then I thought maybe we could bounce all the lights outside off a reflector inside to throw a softer light on the scene.  This didn't work either because the lights just weren't powerful enough to shine through the window and bounce off the reflector to produce enough soft light.  So then Kelly (gaffer) brought all 3 lights inside the room, lined them up just out of frame and bounced them off the corner off the wall and ceiling so that the bounced soft light filled the room.  Yay, it worked.  Took us a long time but hey we are learning.  Next time we have to shoot night for day, we will know how to do it.   

Sunday we shot from 9 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.  We shot one of my favorite comedic scenes from the film in the morning.  It was a fun scene to shoot not only because it was comedic, but because it was in a new location.  We shot at my friend Dina's house.  Her house is full of colors, hot pinks, purples, greens, reds.  This was a refreshing change from the boring plain white walls of the Aspen Glen apartments (previous interior location).  This scene went pretty smooth.  We had to fake that there was snow on the ground for one exterior shot so Justin (art director) ran around with a purple shovel that Dina game him and shoveled as much snow into the frame from the few remaining mounds scattered about the yard. It was funny to watch him run around with that gay purple shovel.  

Late afternoon we transported back to the white walls of Aspen Glen.  We had some minor scenes here that went smooth but the two major scenes were the "make out" scene and the "after sex talk" scene.  These were both very significant moments in the film and we wanted to make sure we got them right.  Bobby and Jess (male and female leads) were both really nervous about the "make out" scene.  They tried not be but you could easily tell they were.  Cody and I had everyone leave set except for Josh (lead camera) and Aaron (audio).  We hoped this would make it feel less like they were making out for an audience.  Once we were ready Jess and Bobby went out in the hall for 10 minutes.  I think they might have been making out to break the ice but I'm not sure.  Thats what I would have done.  Anyway, they came back and we did the scene.  I think we got it in 6 takes.  It wasn't exactly how I had envisioned it but I did not want to overstep my bounds and try and direct the scene.  Cody had a vision and had went over blocking so I didn't want to step in and change things.  

Next came the "after sex talk" scene.  Bobby and Jess weren't as nervous for this I guess because they didn't have to make out.  We shot this scene from the Jib and a few other angles for coverage.  I really liked how this scene came out visually.  I didn't have an audio hook up so I couldn't hear their lines but I'm assuming they nailed it because Cody was happy. We ended 3 hours late but those scenes were really important so it was okay.  Solid weekend.