Shoot Day 8: That's a wrap

I feel like I want to take this team and go shoot a feature. Well, after a few days of sleeping. 8 days without a break was unsustainable over the long haul. But I'll tell you, we had it down. We had a pretty full day to begin with, then half a scene from the rain out day. Then a handful of little things that I woke up in the middle of the night remembering we ought to get. We were originally scheduled to wrap by 10:30 and and be heading home by 11, but everyone agreed, as it was the last night we would power through until we got what we needed. There was a distinct possibility that would mean wrapping at 1am. We were having group hugs and eating birthday cake by midnight. Day 8 was practically flawless.

Now all that's left is returning all the gear, tracking down receipts and making sure everyone has been paid back for out of pocket expenses during pre-production, and maybe making a third back up of all the footage.

And sleep. Lots of sleep.

Shoot Day 7: Big scenes and make up scenes

We had only scheduled 2 scenes for day 7, the two biggest, most emotional scenes of the film. I wanted to be able to take our time and get it right. So even though we also wanted to squeeze in the scene that got rained out the night before I tried very hard not to rush. As a result we ran a bit long, and only managed to get the master shot of the rained out scene. That's better than nothing. Now we know exactly where camera and lights should be, and what coverage we need. Still, we're going to need another long night because it's not like Day 8 was scheduled to be an easy day. We have a dog, and kids, and we've been going to 8 straight days so everyone is tired. On the other hand, it's our last day, we've done such great work so far everyone is well motivated to end strong.

And that big emotional scene we did last night? I can't wait for you to see it.

Shoot Day 6: Rain

Well, it was bound to happen. Now that the cast and crew has really hit our rhythm and can get up and shooting quickly and efficiently it rained. It's very frustrating because over the weekend it was 0-10% chance of rain on any evening this week. And then today suddenly it's 60%. And really, this evening, it was 100%, just a solid block of rain. We did get the afternoon scene done when it was merely cold rather than wet. And we managed the two short scenes in moments of drizzle rather than downpour.

I would like to say how much I love Paige who was such a trooper and never once complained even though she was cold and damp most of the night.

So we'll squeeze in an extra scene tomorrow night. And everyone has agreed that if we have to run a bit over time they're ok with it. So as long as we don't get multiple nights of rain we'll still be all right. Early on when we were securing the location they guys asked us if we could maybe do it in 3 rather than 4 nights. And I said we probably could squeeze it into 3, but that doesn't leave us any room for weather problems.* If we give ourselves 4 it won't be unrecoverable to have a patch of bad weather. Glad I held my ground on that.

Shoot Day 5: beauty shots with the ghosts

We had our first of four days at the brownstone location. About two-thirds of the film takes place on Esther's Front Step so we gave ourselves plenty of time today for figuring out how to deal with the location in terms of blocking and lighting and stuff. Then we did a couple of beauty shots. The very first shot of the film is a reveal of Esther on her front step and a tour coming in. It looks amazing.

One of the things I really wanted to get right was the costumes. If Tim and Esther look fake the whole thing falls apart. The shirt and waistcoat for Tim are vintage. And of course Esther's entire outfit is hand built. It is really stunning and so worth it.

And of course, none of these set pictures were taken by me. Many thanks to Sara Doring, Sarah Schmigdall, Aaron Bland, and all the crew members who donated production photos.

Shoot Day 4: Perfect weather

Today was our pick-ups for the things that got rained out on Thursday. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a gorgeous day. We were doing Sarah around town, mostly lost in her head while the world and life swirls around her. We went to the fountain at Copley and did a time lapse. We didn't try to hide the camera or anything, though it also doesn't look like we're doing much when the actress isn't moving at all and no one is even really looking in the camera for a half an hour. It was very interesting to see how many people noticed the camera and walked around and how many couldn't care less and stood right in front of it. We were running one frame every three seconds. We have quite a few butt shots in there.

We are also officially at the half way point now. That seems crazy to me. I don't want it to be half over. I'm having too much fun.

Shoot Day 3: Ups and downs and ending high

A year from now, a month from now, maybe even a week from now I won't remember the chaos of today, I will only remember the fun and the good footage. If I were a person prone to freaking out today probably would have been a bad day. It started with getting a flat tire on my way to pick up our out of town actress. Then as I was on the phone with the producer confirming that we were finally on our way I got the news that the building we were shooting in is under construction and the classroom we were assigned apparently doesn't exist any more. At one point we had too many lights plugged in and because it's a holiday it took quite a bit of time to find someone who could unlock the fuse box.

The thing is all of these problems are surmountable. Fortunately, I am well versed in how to put on a spare tire, so we only lost about 20 minutes getting to set. We simply moved the walk and talk to a hallway that wasn't under construction, and the classroom to one further down the hall that was open. And eventually we did find a maintenance guy to fix our fuse problem. Our lighting crew is unlikely to ever make that mistake again. And at the end of the day we still wrapped early. So really, none of it matters.

What matters is the moment I expect I will remember most about today: watching my actors perform and feeling really giddy about how well they were all clicking. Then one of them caught me with my "I'm so excited" smile and just laughed. It really was a good day.

Shoot Day 2: hit the ground running

Today was the first day with the full crew, and for many of them it was the first day they had met. We also started the day with a location that we had very limited access to in terms of time. So it was a pretty big challenge. I'll admit it was a little rough at the start. But once we found our speed the day went very well. We ended up finishing early.

All things being equal I would have preferred to have more time at that first location, or else do the location with the time crunch later in the shoot so that the crew was more used to working with each other. By the end of the 8 days of shooting we'll be a well oiled machine and probably could have eked out a few more takes in that amount of time. The thing is though, I liked the footage we got. I didn't leave feeling like "If only..." I would have shot more, but I don't feel like I needed to shoot more. Ask me about it again once I start editing, I suppose.

Shoot Day 1: a mix of rain and sun

It's always best, when possible, to have your first day be an easy one. It gives the team a chance to get to know each other, discover people's personalities, work out the kinks. So for today we were doing all the Sarah walking around stuff. Only one actor, a skeleton crew, and a fine day for walking around the city. That was the theory anyway. We had a fine morning. We got three of our five shots done, and then the rains came. That's ok. We have time in the schedule to do pickups on Sunday, which is forecasted to be a better weather day. And the crew was all, "Yeah, sure, okay." I love my crew. Very hard working while also being very easy going.

Welcome to the team

In a bit of last minute excitement we had to recast Sarah today. Sometimes unexpected challenges lead to wonderful opportunities. Our new Sarah is Paige Friedman. I met Paige when I was a reader during auditions for another project back in February. She was fantastic and I thought, "Someday I'm going to work with her." Today is that day. Well, the day after tomorrow.

Paige Friedman is a recent Acting BFA graduate of Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Some theatre credits include Neoptolemus in Philoctetes, Catherine of Aragon in Women of Henry VIII, and Cassandra in new play Pygmalia. Film credits include Something About Her, Les Miserables College Parody, and Francis and Sally Mae are Missing. Thanks to Aaron, Kris, friends, family, and Boston University.

Creating Costumes

We are two weeks out from the start of shooting and everyone is busy as a bee. Charlotte Dore, who is playing Esther, has taken charge of building her own costume. We got a sneak peek the other day at how it is going.

Hit the ground running

Preproduction is in full swing. Props are being purchased. Costumes are being built. Locations are being secured. Rehearsals are being scheduled. Shot lists and storyboards are being drawn up. Gear is being tested. We are three weeks out from the start of shooting. My to do list is a mile long, but it is full of things I really enjoy doing.

If you would like a little entertainment in the meantime, Killer got accepted into the American Online Film Awards. You can watch and vote for it here.

https://americanonlinefilmawards.org/film/14S85rgdns