I should give you a longer explanation: I had my production meetings tonight, and everyone’s extremely pleased with the pace the film’s developing at. I’ve finished my overhead setups, drawn out my storyboards, and listed my shot commands. The DP told me that I made his job extremely painless. We’ve sketched out several locations, and tomorrow the DP will be visiting them and locking down the final location by Sunday. Tomorrow I’ll begin work on the casting. And for the icing on the cake, the art department enjoys my creative pulse, but values the freedom I give them. And yet, there are a few issues I’m worried about.
I feel like such a tramp. I’m in a student filmmaker’s class and already industry politics are factoring into the choices that are being made on the set. It isn’t without reason though. Already, rumblings are circulating amongst my crew that Pantomiming is going to be one ambitious film for a first-year student. I’m not trying to brag, I’m just saying I’ve got a vision. Although a fixed budget has been laid down by the program director, I’ve been utilizing everything at my fingertips to ensure this film has the visual power and impact it deserves.
But like I said, politics have come into play, and I’m not sure I like it.
The majority of these politics center around a little disagreement the teacher and I had about material in my script. I’ll spare you from the full details of this disagreement, but it ended in me changing the script to accommodate the teacher’s wishes. It’s the age-old battle of industry verses art. No big deal. If the film gets shot, then I’m happy. It’s just a few changes, I told myself, no one will mind.
As it turns out, I was wrong.
So far the entire film crew has been extremely dissatisfied with the changes the teacher has asked me to make on my script. Apparently, as I waited outside with the other finalists the night of the competition, the teacher informed the class that they could make any changes they like and polish the script until it suited their means. And even though she hasn’t forced me to do anything I haven’t wanted to do, the ugly word has already begun to circulate among my crew about her changes: censorship. The film program is already buzzing with the feeling of mutiny and most of the students feel I’ve been wronged in some way. I just want the movie to be shot, and I’ve communicated that to them. But the truly scary thing is how unconfident the class feels about their teacher. The thing that gets to me is that it isn’t her class anymore…it’s my crew. I’ve pulled an Ender’s Game so to speak. They’ve all rallied behind me and begun to form a little coalition for my cause. I guess I should be thankful they’re bonding with me. In fact, I should be outright pleased that they want to support me and do everything in their power to see my vision fulfilled. I just hope I can spare the school from an internal conflict in the process. I’ve just got to make it to the 25th. If I can hold the insurrection off until then, things will be peachy.
I just came back from my first two production meetings (smooshed into one), and already the crew is behind me and wants to rebel against the theacher over a few fine points her and I disagree upon. Wuh-oh. "Hold on" I told them, "do your job, and we'll be cool, I'll handle it.".
Heh,
-Brock
So last night I went location scouting with my Location Manager (Lee) for our short film, Pantomiming. We didn’t stay out too long, (I think he was giving me subtle hints that his wife wanted him back home at a decent hour) but we managed to pick out a few locations that were suitable for the film’s backdrop. The thing about Pantomiming is that the story completely unfolds on one location: a grimy little street corner plastered in trash with a brick wall dominating the background. I thought finding a street corner like that in downtown Phoenix would be relatively easy, but once we got down there we weren’t sure where to go to look for it. We ended up just cruising around looking for something suitable. We ended up finding a Bank 1 made completely out of brickwork. Red brickwork. It isn’t a street corner per say, but if you shoot on the side of the building where the bank’s sign is out of the way, and where the automatic tellers aren’t visible, then it looks like one. So shoot me, I’m shooting a bank for a street corner. It’s not like I’m filming in Toronto and then passing it off as New York.
The other location we found in the downtown area was this back alleyway to an art supply store. It wasn’t as perfect as the bank’s brick wall, but it was grimy and edgy looking. In the end I think we’re going to go with the bank back-lot. But I’ve been wracking my brain today trying to think of something that might be as good if not better then the bank. The bank back lot looks exactly like the street corner I see in my head, but you know…always the perfectionist. What about Copper Square? Maybe.
We also went down by the Bank 1 Ballpark, but that was a total loss. I want a brickwork street corner, not a modern street corner.
At any rate, I think I’ve got my camera set-ups figured out for the shoot. (A camera set-up is an overhead view of the location with the various camera positions and cast members mapped out. It’s like a director’s morbid version of Risk.)
Now here’s where things could get interesting: I think I may have to work on a second script to carry over into the rest of the program. Pantomiming will be filmed on September 25th, which means I can’t carry it over into my next class. Thankfully, I’ve got a second idea on the backburner that could work…
The only thing I haven’t had to worry about for the project thus far has been the music. It’s going to be Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl for sure. No other band has the character and personality needed for this film. I think I've even got the song picked out.
