production wrap - The Big Black Dark

finished shooting TBBD last night. I had hoped to be better at updating all the steps of the process, from the script to the storyboards to the pre-planning to the shooting and all stations in between but time is a precious commodity when you get into the zone and literally i had zero time to do anything beyond make the movie. which is to say it gets all whirlwind-y and there's no ability for context much less commentary. so then here, post shoot, are some generalization from across the shoot.

birds-eye view: things went exceedingly well. i did some new things on this one, including but not limited to shooting on super 16, using rear-projection, using a jib arm, acting, super long takes. b/c we shot on film (ie, $) i was hyper-concious about how much film we had left and so nearly everything was done in one or two takes. w/ one big exception (jib arm shot #2).

random data: 5 shoot days (2 night, 3 day) spread across 6 days, Thurs-Tues w/ an off-day Mon. we shot in a bar, in a hotel, in a garage, in my basement, wooded property etc. we shot on 7 400 ft rolls of kodak b/w single perf 7222, a total of 2800 ft of exposed film. 7 speaking parts.

things to remember for next time: do tech scout w/ sound for all restaurant/bar locations; rehearse everyone, ie don't presume b/c someone is great that they get what you're going for; don't scrimp or be lax on craft service/food etc; hire a script supervisor and/or AD and, as a corollary, don't print out only one copy of a shot list and then freak out if it goes missing; if using jib and shot starts high and ends low be sure to get a remote camera device so operator can start camera high instead of starting low, running film while jib is raised and then lowered b/c you will run through an entire mag in 10 takes and eventually you'll have to just walk away and hope you got something close; if you have a late night shooting push back the next day's call as long as possible

approaching destination

shooting first part one week from today. one actor flying in from SLC. landing sunday AM. rehearse w/ him and other actor Sunday PM. Start shooting the next AM. Accelerated schedule will either be a boon or an obstacle. TBD. Meeting w/ DP at location on Wed PM to go over shooting approach. I haven't storyboarded anything yet but there's very little to storyboard since it's a 18 min conversation. We can do a master, we can do two singles and that's about it. hoping to refine my approach in the coming days. I am sometimes nervous and jittery, sometimes calm and ready.

motion

less than a month from shooting next project, a 20 min comic piece homage/ripoff of 'my dinner with andre' but here set in portland featuring two friends sharing a brew, titled my beer with bill. Any ideas I had this time last year about how once I finish i'm your man things will be a little easier for me by virtue of the fact that I'll have directed i'm your man went out the window months ago. the same sort of challenges and limitations, some of them identical: lack of budget, difficulty finding location/s, surfeit of self-doubt etc.

However, locked location yesterday, which after weeks of being adrift in an ocean of inactivity was like finding dry land. as with i'm your man i desperately need a producer but since i don't have one i have to do this shit for myself which is good in the long term i suppose but in the short term only makes things more difficult and my inability to do them triggers my vicious interior voice which eviscerates me for not having done them. extremely uncomfortable. in fact the doubt got so loud this past week I actually began considering not doing this project at this point in time because things weren't breaking my way and the stress/strain was too much and, in downward spiral fashion what's the point anyway because the movie will be terrible etc. And then at breaking point I got a random comment from a stranger about i'm your man and it re-invigorated me. And i realized this might be as good as it gets. And that's fine.

eve of shoot

I have the lab coat, friend has the scrubs (i'll retrieve tonight), we've mapped out routes to coffee and lunch, i have everything on the prop list or at least will have it by tomorrow am. been in touch w/ cast for items they're going to bring. oh, procured insurance today! a giant step. further, the insurance covers me (ie the company) for the next 12 months so any further location needs in the productions in the coming year are covered.

intermixed w/ all this planning this week was the strange synchronicity (if that indeed is the correct word for this instance) to receive the final cut from editor of movie i directed - good food - last june. of all weeks. it's allowed me to look at the two films back to back, isolating certain ambitious leaps from that to this, certain directorial approaches from that to this, and so on. very fortuitous. And, i suppose, emboldening. onward.

energy level permitting i'll attempt to put up some notes and thoughts tommorow night

frenzy, whirlwind

shooting in less than 48 hrs. nailed down set of scrubs (i'll p/u tomorrow) and having white lab coat overnighted to me at work tomorrow. yesterday went back to hospital for walkthru w/ facility contact and dp. everything looks solid
except the exam room has one giant blue wall. i'm positive it did not when i first scouted in oct which means we were shown diff exam rm yesterday which means i'll need to try and negotiate that point out on shoot day and see if we can move back to blue wall-less exam rm OR find some way to narratively use a giant wall of concentrated deep blue which thus far i have been coming up empty on.

further, hospital contact is insistent on liability insurance (contrary to what i presumed in last post). i got quote yesterday from local insurer $380. yowza. i cannot afford that. got another quote from insurer $500. finally talked w/ person who does our home insurance and she's able to issue me business insurance but
only in year long increments, for 350$. The good is that i can pay these on a monthly basis. meeting w/ her tomorrow AM and have been assured that i'll leave w/ documentation that I can present to hospital contact.

i was last told that hospital rental fee would be 500$ but yesterday she said the sooner we wrap on sat, the lower the rate we'll be charged. that's good news i think. should have ample time to shoot the scenes we need, giant underline on word 'should'.

made out prop list of needed items for saturday, still have a few i need to procure. tick tock.

closer still...

many things humming now, balls up in the air, train running on the tracks. Hospital location confirmed for shooting next saturday. at first they were going to allow only a 1/2 day of shooting, apparently to offset their generosity at lowering the fee so much but for whatever reason - after i sent the draft of a location agreement to them, praying that they had forgotten about the million dollar insurance policy they wanted me to take out - they said 'we're all set'. perfect. doing a walk thru later this wk w/ hospital facility contact and DP and some things - start time, staging areas etc - will firm up then.

had rehearsal yesterday at house. actually DP came 1st at 11 am. went over storyboards, discussed possible ways to shoot certain things, camera mounts, wide-angle lens for very tight space that has slight distortion around edge of frame etc. we're on the same page on pretty much everything. he allowed that if he has a flaw it's his propensity to take a long time during lighting. i don't think that's an unusual trait among dp's.

2 cast, man and wife characters, arrived an hr later. we went thru script beat by beat and ran a few scenes. i have played this script in my head hundreds of times and am keenly attuned to any variance, for better or worse. hence when they have an idea about how to play something, which may be a perfectly valid instinctual approach, i have to find a way to show them what i'm thinking w/o doing line readings. it can be a challenge, even w/ great actors, but it certainly lays at my feet. further, i'm forced to consider whether my reaction is against what's best for the film or what's in my head. What's in my head is, by now, an empty construct. A blueprint at best. So, I have to allow for actors to find something i hadn't thought of, which may actually improve or better what I thought would happen. further, there will be on set rehearsals, in character, w/ actions most times, which will again, change the shape of the original.

An hr later the Dr character showed. The 4 of us sat around the table and repeated the same process: going thru the scene - the big 5 minute in a room scene - beat by beat, then reading thru. Same thing happened. I had to find ways to explain certain beats and what i was going for w/o line reading. I fear I got sidetracked in clouds of abstraction and may have at times, done the line reading, albeit in a conversational way. that's on me. in any case, we got through it. ran it a few more times
and by the last time it was humming. the actors 'get' it. as does the dp. very excited to shoot now.

funny, an hr before day started i was nervous about it. nothing really to be nervous about but i couldn't wait until it was over. i kept putting my mind toward later in the day when we could watch a movie or go to dinner or anything but rehearse. at some point a strand of thought floated in, if i was meant to direct i would not think this way, i'd be excited to rehearse. Thinking like that, aside from being common to me, can quickly metastasize, threatening to undermine everything as it doubles, triples in size. it's another way for the mind to diminish your own undertakings. During the rehearsals i was able to silence that voice and by 4 pm i was humming and buzzing w/ excitement about the shoot, so much so that i couldn't concentrate while i tried to watch a movie. that earlier strand had all but dissolved. remember this for the next one.

tight space

holy crap. just dawned on me this afternoon that 5 straight min of the movie are in a teeny tiny hospital exam room. 3 actors. plus camera and boom and director. i am suddenly nervous as shit about how to pull this off. going to split the scene into three segments, for narrative sake and for shooting sake, but then need to determine what will distinguish - if anything - shooting approach from one segment to the next. it's a chess match between patients and doctor. triangle. doctor at apex, patients at base - but if we shoot that direction, there is very little to do, very few places for camera to go. consider keeping camera on patient who has little dialogue while doctor and other patient run down a list of informations. what does that get me?

closer

Things tightening. Shooting in less than 2 wks. rehearsing w/ dp and actors this wknd. yesterday i sat down to start storyboarding and immediately hit a snag in my visualization of the opening and started rewriting script. minor changes but it was necessary for me to see it first. i filled the last two speaking roles but i still need to find a couple w/ a newborn willing to let me film them. if you know someone be sure to let me know. still need to get a couple wardrobe items, plan craft service and transport to hospital location. the final shot of the movie is a couple stepping in to an elevator while said couple w/ newborn exit. i know the exact elevator i want and have been toying w/ the idea of merely stealing the shot but this am i called the facility and am now waiting for them to give me a ruling.

bulk of movie features couple talking w/ doctor in exam room. i'm trying something slightly risky in that i'm going to rehearse them separately. that is, i'm rehearsing couple w/ a reader filling in for doc, and rehearsing doc w/ a reader filling in for couple. this is more than a scheduling snarl, well it started as one, but it fits the movie, since the whole scene is a power trip, a chess match between doc and patient, w/ doc having upper hand, that it seems appropriate (if risky) to have them meet for the first time on set. I'm going to tell them to run the scene w/o stopping even if they screw up their lines, and the dp will try and get what he gets. if it - or any part of it works - then it'll really work, at least in theory. it could be an epic disaster but that's on me i guess. the actors are all great. they can handle it.

storyboarding and working w/ sag to get waiver for one sag performer. fortunately they have a low-budget option, unfortunately it's supposed to be in to them 3 wks before production starts. I sent it in anyway, waiting to hear. also, need to get pix developed, matted, framed to hang on wall in couple's house. go, go, go.

photo shoot

had actors over on sunday to take still photos. these will be seen in the opening shots, establishing where they live, who they are. the main focus will be a wedding-day shot of the two, a happy shiny time immediately contrasted by the scenario as the movie begins: a couple running late, a man yelling profanely up that stairs at his wife. The weather was slightly uncooperative, the morning filled w/ icy roads that for a time threatened to prevent the entire thing before it began. but it all worked out. actors and photographer showed on time and we were off.

1st shot, couple in front of xmas tree w/ their dog. we were aided by lennie briscoe who agreed to lend his likeness provided we dealt w/ his bs. 2nd shot, the couple hiking in the woods w/ backpacks, smiling and giving thumbs-up. this we shot in the backyard, cheating the tall trees for a forest w/ a well-selected camera angle. 3rd shot, wedding day. this necessitated costume changes, beard shaving, caravan to mt. tabor park. Instead of driving to the top of the park as planned, the gates were shut, no doubt due to the earlier ice. So 6 of us trudged all the way up winding paths to the top of the park. Once there, cold rain started to fall. Actors were positioned against a tree, giving best happy day smiles, a bouquet, a white dress. A passer-by leaned in and wished sincere congratulations to the happy couple.

we got the shots