So Now What?

So...

In huge contrast to my last post where I was so stressed I made myself sick (more on that shortly), I officially don't know what to do with myself. Yesterday I watched something like 5 movies that I had never seen before. Today I played video games and watched CSI. By today, I mean Saturday...apparently it is now Sunday and I didn't even realize it.

Until we do the supervised transfer and can start going into post, I am done. I directed my production with a few hitches. Major hitches. But we made it through.

I know that I am going to be asked what went wrong, so I might as well divulge and save myself another post.

DAY 1 - Everyone is excited, and ready to go, but we are waiting for the makeup artist who was on the subway headed to the studio. Turns out someone jumped in front of his subway so the train was delayed. He arrived later in the day. We get through the first half of the day not too badly for a student film crew. There were points where we could have picked up the pace, but we were still learning. Anyway, we send the actors to lunch and decide to do a couple insert shots (for you non film people, an insert shot is a shot of a miscellaneous item that is sitting around the set (though there are other kinds of inserts...that's the kind ours was) so if we made a mistake with the filming, we can insert the shot in the hopes that everything will flow a bit better.) So we do the first shot, and the 2nd AC (assistant camera) confesses that he accidentally left his flashlight in the shot (he had to illuminate the slate when we shot it) and that we should redo the shot. I call action on the second shot and...nothing. No beautiful whirr of the film camera starting up, no video feed on my monitor...nothing but the increasingly rapid beat of our hearts as we realize something is very wrong. So we take the magazine out of the camera and determine that something is wrong with the spring that engages the film. You must understand, a film camera is very different than a camera that you would walk into a store and buy off the shelf. It is a mechanical machine with tiny little mechanical parts. Even the tiniest thing messing up will mess up the whole system. So everyone with a cell phone gets on it and tries calling everyone they know in an attempt to either a) reach the teachers for advice on what to do with a broken film camera (please note these cameras are worth thousands, and that the spring mishap was not our fault...the school just supplies us with old cameras) or b) find a replacement camera. For a moment we thought we saw light at the end of the tunnel, and a company was going to rent us one, but that turned out to be a miscommunication. So we have to call it a day, and I am really stressing out, and on top of it all, while I am freaking out, my producer tells me that I should call the actors for the evening and inform them not to come in. Well, I don't want to get into a 'that's not my job' argument, so I do. Anyway, two of them are already in the parking lot when I call, and one of them is highly unimpressed (more on him later.) After I get a hold of them all, we have a meeting and discuss options. My producer then tells me (straight to my tear-ridden face) that I should probably call the actors again to give them a later call time for the next day. I informed him that he was going to call them, and then I went home and went to bed.

DAY 2 - Well it turns out we could actually get a camera for day 2. But it involved our gaffer (not even related to the camera department, just an all around good guy) going downtown, getting the camera, and running a registration test (a test to see if the camera is shooting properly.) We are finally able to start filming by 1:00 (so at this point, we've lost about a day of filming) but we are filming on blind faith that the camera that was rented for us is good because the registration test (once again, shot on film) can't be processed fast enough for us to check, and due to time constraints and actor availability we have to start shooting ASAP. Meanwhile I had gone to the doctors office that morning with a throat that was so sore I couldn't eat or swallow and was having issues breathing. The nurse checked them out, and apparently I had blisters or something on my tonsils that RUPTURED causing a great deal of my pain. She wanted to write me a note getting me out of filming because I was that sick and I told her that even if she did, I was going to be on set. She told me to at least not talk for the day. Right...
So we start filming, and one of our actors is very antsy to get out of there, and it feels like every time I go to ask him to do something, he's wondering if we are going to finish his shots for the day so he won't be required to come back tomorrow. He also made me feel very little as a director...I mean, it's my directorial debut so obviously it isn't going to be a piece of cake, but really. Have some patience! I mean, you took the gig! And to be honest, I have no clue why he did. This guy has a very impressive resume, but an ego to match, so it baffles me why he would want to work on a non-paying student film, and then act like a jerk on set. He would goof off between takes, and then demand perfection from everyone else when we were rehearsing. Needless to say, I was not impressed, and as great an actor he was, I would never want to work with him again. I don't think some people understand that attitude can get you nearly as far along as talent can in the industry. I mean, talent obviously counts for something, but no director wants to work with an ass. So we compress our shooting schedule and get his shots done and wrap him. I hang around on set for about two minutes and then go to the green room to shake his hand only to find he had already bolted. Thanks, buddy...real nice of you to stop by.

DAY 3 - We had a lot to accomplish this day, plus we were only allowed to shoot until 6:00 because then we had to wrap the set and make room for the next crew to move on in. We get our shots done, but the AD (assistant director) and myself get into some arguments about what shots to do. In the end, it's my call, because I am the director, but the AD has a lot of power on a film set, and we couldn't agree on what was important. Plus, when dealing with (very expensive!) film, tensions rise when trying to figure out what the next step should be. Anyway, we construct a new set, film our stuff on it, and try to record room tone for editing purposes. Room tone. That's it. 30 seconds of everyone being quiet. Somehow it took us 10 minutes to do that. Someone would laugh, or we would hear talking in the studio next door, or a door would slam or a cell phone would go off. Finally we got it done, wrapped, tore down the set, and I went back to my room a content and much less stressed director.

So now I'm back to where we were at the beginning of this post: I don't know what to do with myself.

Classes were cancelled until March 6 so we could focus on these productions. Right now we're entering reading week, and even though I'm on call every night, there is absolutely nothing to report other than the unusual sound of dead silence. Plus, I go to Edmonton on March 3, so I miss the first couple days back to class anyway. In any case, the teachers (currently) are going to go on strike, so I might even miss more class. Who knows?

Anyway, off to bed...I'm dead tired. I have no clue why. I sat on my butt all day and did nothing. So there you have it folks: nothing made me tired.

I need to get out of my cell.