In the Can!

Yesterday was the big shoot, and it went incredibly well.  Our actors, Joelle Re-Arp Dunham, Brent Maddox, and Chelsea Dunham, were amazing.  Every take, every angle gave us something to use, and more than once, Joelle and Brent carried out the scene further than I had planned.  I let them go as long as they were comfortable, and a few times they did about twice the pages I asked them to do in one take.  I was blown away by their talent and ability to jump into a scene at any point I asked them to.

And my cinematographer, David Smith, was right on the money all day.  We were lucky enough to have two cameras, and David, with much help from Joshua Crisp, gave me exactly what I wanted at all times.  It took a lot of juggling, and David handled it all extremely well.

All of our crew members contributed.  No one took away; everybody added.  I probably had 7 people on the crew who are capable of leading productions of their own.

I’m gushing, but that’s the kind of day it was.  I wanted badly to start looking at footage last night, but I don’t want to tamper with the tapes at all until they are digitized and backed up.  I can’t wait.

Lights! Camera! Action!

We are shooting a short film in 6 days at the Classic Center in Athens!  Woohoo!

The final pieces have fallen into place over the past 3 or 4 days.  We have a sizable, experienced crew – compared to most independent shorts, that is – and great actors.  Joelle Re-Arp Dunham from Rose of Athens and Brent Maddox of the Gainesville Theatre Alliance will take the lead roles.  Joelle’s daughter, Chelsea, who is pretty much already a pro since she is the daughter of two professional theatre people, and I, the lone complete amateur, will play the two minor roles.  (I’m doing it mostly because my part is very small and I can’t imagine asking another actor to work with us all day just to appear in about 45 seconds of screen time.)

The script is an adaptation of a play by Dottie Blais, a colleague of mine who is a fine playwright.  My director of photography is David Smith, another colleague with an intimidating resume.  Joshua Crisp, former GSC student, current advanced film student, and now colleague, will likely be operating the camera or helping to supervise the students on the crew.  In other words, I have lucked out BIG TIME to be able to get all these talented people to work with me. 

Alicia “The Kid Stays in the Picture” Marker has coordinated so, so much of the pre-production and more than earned her executive producer title.

Barring any catastrophe (there’s always one), we all just have to do our jobs and bring the funny. 

Developing…