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Sunday, April 01, 2007

"French Toast" Day One

I've now had a chance to breathe...and collect my thoughts.

One week ago, just about now, I wrapped principle photography on my official "first film" as director and screenwriter (that still sounds a bit odd). French Toast is now in the third phase of production..."post production". Good times.

As the next phase begins, I find myself doing research (or turning that over to the other half...he is the internet "research queen" after all) to find editing software and equipment. Without these items, I'm at a bit of a standstill. I feel as though the momentum from the shoot is dwindling as each day passes. Damn financial constraints. I'll be settling for some lesser software, but should still be able to do what I want w/ my footage. About 6 1/2 hours of stuff to go through...for a 15 minute (or so) film.

David (director of House of Black Wings) and Clare (DP/Art director on HOBW) both gave generously of their time for the first three days of shooting, even going so far as to take a vacation day from their day jobs on that first Friday. To say I was grateful would be a major understatement. I rented an SUV for that first weekend; and picked it up @ 6:30am, Friday morning. I was up @ about 4am (as a previous entry noted). I brought the christened "French Toast Mobile" back home to load up my own items; and then headed north to pick up some Dunkin Donuts for myself and crew. I arrived @ Clares, said a quick hello to kitty Cliquot (sp?), packed up Clare's equipment and sleeping bag (as well as Clare herself) and we were on our way to David's. After a bit of trouble getting ahold of him (apparently a new phone connection was left unconnected), we yanked him from his morning rituals and packed up the major equipment for the weekend (which David also generously provided). Clare completed her patented "Tetris" packing and we were on our way. I was hoping for an arrival to the location (near the border of Wisconsin) by 11:30-ish. We actually arrived at just after 9am. Splendid. We unloaded, I gave my crew a quick tour of the location, and let out my cast's dog Piper so she could do her own pressing bits of business. We immediately set out to dress "Margot's" bedroom, adjusting the work I had done a couple of weeks before (thanks to Brit for leaving it much as I had fixed it), and then beginning some nice insert shots of the room. Shots of the door, shots of photographs, cheerleading trophies, etc.

There was a quick trip to Wendy's for a nutritious (ahem) lunch and a bit of time in the front yard getting additional inserts for use in the film (wherever they might be of use).

We got additional shots of "Brit" leaving the upstairs bedroom after the storyline has already revealed that she shouldn't be doing much of anything. Clare and David both filled in for the character's shadow. (Ha, David stood in for a girl!) As the afternoon flew by, our cast started to arrive home from school/work. Johnny (who plays Johnny in the film) and Brit (who plays Brit in the film) were the first to witness the chaos of "Margot's home". You like the names? I searched the inner depths of my tortured writer's sould to find these names. We got to work w/ their voice-overs. This was all so new to me and I praise the Gods that David was there w/ his knowledge of sound. What the hell do I know? Brit and Johnny passed w/ flying colors, and we then had (if I recall) a bit of break as we waited for the remainder of our cast/crew to arrive. We played w/ the pets, watched some TV and set up some lights for the first big scene of the shoot. Lester arrived home (he plays "Lester" in the film--there's that stretch again). He began his preparation of our evening meal. Lester agreed to take on the burden of craft services for the entire shoot. Laugh it up, but the job he did exceeded any expectations I may have had. Lester's a great cook, but it was his presentation that was stunning. He really went all out. For example, our several meals of sandwiches/chips/potato salad (those kinds of items) were displayed w/ a good eye. A large tray of various cheeses, deli meats, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. I felt it made it all seem more professional, and certainly more appetizing. Aren't most meals prepared by others generally more tasty? A heaping help of kudos to Lester for an amazing job over the 5 day shoot!

Back to day one. Dinner was prepped and around the same time, my lead (Johnelle as "Margot") arrived home; as did her mother Serena (she plays "Serena" in the film). Our final crew member, Mr. Jeff (also giving up his own personal time to come create a zombie movie w/ me) came through the door just in time for our meal of burgers/fries/dogs. We ate; and the crew went up to prep for the evening's 5 hours of shooting. I grabbed Brit and Johnelle and we sat down to work through this first scene (about the only "actual" dialogue scene in the film). Now, I'll be perfectly honest, I was pretty apprehensive about this first evening. About a week before the shoot, I talked to Johnelle about how her dialogue/memorization was coming along. Her response? "It's fine." Not the most comforting words I could have heard. I could hear the crew setting up; and I realized how close I was to actually having to deal w/ all of the pieces in one sitting. Earlier in the day, no dialogue; just inserts. We now had the entire crew...the two lead characters in what could be described as the most important scene (hey, if it couldn't be sold, the rest of the film would quickly spiral into a "who the hell cares about this girl" experience for the audience), our first go @ dialogue, and my first time directing in forever (let alone for a film as it was actually happening on the set). Ugh. No pressure. Suffice to say, the girls DID know their lines, and that major part of my stress was able to be detoured to a different piece of stress. Where was it needed?

The first scene we were shooting was the first scene in the film...which introduces us to the two sisters. There is talk of a recently deceased grandmother, a bit of sisterly BS, and some yogurt. Details will be left out, cuz there are alot; and I'm sure plenty I won't remember. The film and outtakes will surely provide more than I can write here. We stayed on schedule and moved to our second scene. It was the "peeing" scene. It's later in the film and "Margot" has been stuck in the room for a while. It was my first moment of "this can be pulled off". Johnelle (as Margot) had a nice glisten in her eyes; I think really selling how pathetic the character's situation was. We wrapped @ about 11:30pm; a half hour ahead of schedule. Myself and the crew were all to share the one bedroom for the weekend..."Margot's" bedroom. I made it akin to the filming and conditions of the original Night of the Living Dead. All of the crew and cast ate, shot and slept in that farmhouse. Of course, they didn't have plumbing. I want to pay homage to that experience and film, but not to that extent. Clare and I took the bed, while David and Jeff braved the floor w/ a sleeping bag and a generous heart. Yes, I did offer my side of the bed...many times. No one would take. But, I did indeed try. The squeaky door of the room made for an off/on night of sleep, but the excitement would have done that anyway. Day one, completed.

For day two, stay tuned to this blog. I'll try and do it before my feature is produced and running in your local theatre. Thanks to all!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Michael did a fantastic job directing his first film! He kept the production moving on time & on task and if something was forgotten, he either fixed the problem or adjusted the script/shot list. I'm excited to work with him again!!!
- Clare Martin DP

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