Knock on Wood

Today was a very long day. As I type this my eyes are glazed, my fingers to uncertain to type without making constant mistakes, and my brain is a mushy pile of... mush.

But I am riding pretty high. Today was the first day we didn't do primarily interiors and I discovered that we move at pace that definitely slower, is at least comparable to what we've been doing with interiors. Meaning, that (and maybe I shouldn't say this and risk bringing a terrible jinx down upon my head) um, where was I? Oh, yes. I'm pretty darn sure we're going to finish this film. 

That was always my biggest fear with this project- I don't have a safety net if shooting falls through. If I don't get almost all the footage we need, this is screwed. And, yes I do know that in editing I'm gonna look back and swear shooting was the easy part. I'm fully anticipating and prepared for the computer headaches, the unending quality post production has, and of course that little thing where this is about ten times longer than anything I've ever made before.

But production is the dangerous part. It's the part where things go wrong, where things fall apart and projects don't get finished. And obviously that could still happen, but I don't think it will. As huge as this project seems, for the first time I can really see how we are going to make it to the end of shooting. And that, my friends, is grand.

The Easy Part

Shoot big scene today! Is yayness! 

Tragically we went half an hour over... This has happened at least once before, and I'm getting concerned it's becoming a habit. Buuuuut, we got  a very very big scene done today, and I'm optimistic it'll turn out swell. I'm a little nervous about the technical end, perpetually so in fact. It's because I'm working the camera, and that just isn't my area of expertise. But le actors nailed it, hard. We are almost entirely done with scenes in the apartment. That's the good news. The bad news is those were the easy part...

One Week Down...

How many to go? We started production last Monday (06/22), and we've done 3 days of around 6 hours, and 3 days that were less than that. We are making solid time, not jaw drop beautiful time, but certainly not bad. This past week has blurred together in my mind... From now on I am going to update after every shooting day when things are a little more fresh in my mind. But some highlights:

1. My cinematography is unbelievably sketchy- so far there have been 4 people working the camera and setting up shots, depending on who can make it on what day. I actually do think this is going to turn out alright. Think/pray, because frankly this is all kinds of wrong. 

2. I haven't loaded and watched all the footage that we shot yet, but so far everything looks good. Some looks even better then I thought it would.

3. I have to find a better way to mark my sound and visual tracks for synching, cos the way I've been doing it takes for flipping ever. And is really really frustrating.

Yup. That's it for now... More soon!!

Peace