Principal photography (finally!) wraps

Ah, what naivete we have going into these things!  For reasons that seemed (and were) quite practical at the time, we'd scheduled Principal Photography over two weeks in January.  For a 30-minute short film, this is not an unreasonable schedule.  It is, in fact, pretty generous compared to your average hour-long TV drama.

But everything takes longer than you think.  I've been a professional software developer for about 14 years, and the same is true in that profession.  As alluded to in previous posts, even the most seasoned software developers and filmmakers sometimes have a hard time knowing how long something will take to do, given a minimum standard of quality to meet, plus all the thousands of variables over which you have little or no actual control.

So we had to shoot a couple of weekends worth of pickups, inserts, and what would, on a bigger production, be considered "second unit" photography.  We have no second unit, but idea is the same: anything that the actors are not in, which is used to, say, establish the location or provide connecting material is usually done separately - at the same time, by another crew - the "second unit" - or (as in our case) by the "main unit" after the pressure of having actors on the set waiting to work has been relieved. In many cases, it was just me and Erik Mayne (http://www.mediafxvideo.com) driving around town, shooting things that looked interesting and which might fit in dramatically. Some of it was carefully planned for use in the film; most was just stuff that looked like it could be useful someplace.  I encouraged Erik to just grab stuff that he thought was cool looking.  A couple of those shots he grabbed are DEFINITELY going in.  They are beautiful.

We also had to mix in work with the principal actors to get some missing material.  Anyone watching the rough cut from a few weeks ago, who had not also read the script, would have been very confused because some key moments were still missing.  I'm happy to report that we have them now, and they look fantastic. Supporting actor Darryl Small played a key part behind the camera, as an honorary crew member, because he happened to live close to one of the locations and could get us a car we needed to make the shots work.

Special thanks to Holly Rose, whose outstanding reading (of a shortened version) of my fake Japanese legend (posted in this very blog a few weeks back) turned out to be the key to making the revamped opening of the film work.  Lisa Sherman's (http://www.mediafxvideo.com) cinematography is at its finest in this scene - a simple tracking shot of a mother reading her son a story. The lighting and composition are spot-on.

Leading man Thurman Kellogg also stepped up to the plate to deliver the goods for some reshoots against green screen of perhaps the most emotionally draining scene in the film for everyone.  The reshoots were not because of anything he or the crew did wrong - it was all me, baby.  I just didn't get everything I needed the first time.  He and Erik graciously committed their time and talent to make it work.  They went 100%, full throttle. I cannot WAIT to get it cut together with the background plates keyed in.

Making a film - any kind of film - is very hard work.  Next time you see a movie, even a bad one, think about the fact that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into making it.  Hats off to anyone who can see the process all the way through.

And a standing ovation for those who manage the trick of making a wonderful film while they're at it.  It's too early to say if Kanashimi will be as good as we all hope, but if it is not, it won't be for lack of effort or dedication!