Day 1

I woke up at 6:30am and didn't go back to bed for fear of oversleeping.  I triple-checked everything in the apartment to make sure I had everything I needed, especially my script with directorial notes I made the night before.  These would be especially helpful when giving adjustments with the actors.  Essentially, every night I would read the scenes we'd be shooting the next day and anticipate different adjustments I may use and write them down, so that I wouldn't draw blanks when talking to the actors.  There were times in auditions/rehearsals when I knew what I wanted to change, but it was incredibly hard for me to find the "correct" direction for the actors to use.  This may be Directing 101, but it was foreign to me as a student filmmaker that was usually working more with the camera/lighting side of film.  *Identify the problem or adjustment, and then find the right method to give feedback to the actors so they can organically create it for themselves* Working with a bunch of different actors during auditions for short bursts was a great way for me to practice different techniques.  

52nd St. House Location

I got to set at around 8:00am and sat in the truck to go over the day's schedule and notes.  We had the 1st half of the day scheduled pretty solidly, but the 2nd half was still up in the air.  Due to injury, we lost the actor playing Walt, the protagonist's dad and was in a major scramble to try to find another actor.  Luckily, we were able to cast someone the day before shooting started but it was someone that I had never met before and could only reference to through phone call and facebook photos.  We had dad-son scenes scheduled in the latter part of the day, but I was unsure if I wanted to shoot that scene with an actor I had never met before.  How much rehearsal would he need?  Would he even fit the part?  

Scene List

Beth, one of the line-producers, showed up soon after and we set up a canopy, breakfast, and crafty for crew.  As we hit our 9:00am call time, the crew slowly started to show up!  We had about 20 people each day in cast/crew, so it was a decently sized set for a student short.  After some brief introductions and breakfast, we started our first scene on the walking montage.  As soon as we started rolling those first few takes, everything started to move really really quickly.  Micah, our AD, really kept the momentum and flow of the set moving along so that everyone was always doing their part at a great pace.  Because of his incredible ability to motivate people and his general awesomeness, we managed to stay on schedule (and probably even ahead) as we went into the interiors to shoot.  

2nd AC John Anderson, Sound Mixer Isaac Hammons, and 1st AC Evan Ho's butt setting up.

One major logistical hiccup I had was that I didn't check with the neighbors before approving my gaffer/electrician to making some modifications to the electricity (which happened to share with the adjacent house).  They saw him working with the breaker box, and was immediately unhappy with not being notified.  We had left notices with all the neighbors about us filming, as well as obtained all the necessary location release forms and permissions for shooting house, but I had a mental lapse with that particular house.  They had said that while we were working on the electricity, it may have caused a surge of power and broke their stove.  Their gate was locked and I couldn't talk to them, so I had to simply wait for them to come out so we could work something out.  At this point, I was worried about losing the location.  

Cinematographer Jeffrey Buras and Director Huay-Bing Law.

As we finished the daylight interior scenes, we had to make a decision on how to approach the remainder of the day.  Did we want to shoot the father-son scenes as originally planned or perhaps push it back so that I could have more rehearsal time with the actors.  Clint, the newly cast Dad, arrived on set midway during the day and I sat down with him and Alex, my lead (Ben), to talk to him about the story. We went over the script and read a few lines, before I decided that he was fantastic fit for the part!  We had to black out the windows to recreate a night-time setup, and then rehearsed a little bit more with the actors in place.  Before I knew it, we wrapped on the first day!  It was as smooth as I could've possibly asked for.  There were a few bumps here and there, but we got everything we needed.  I was relieved, but then my attention focused on what to prepare for Day 2.

Clint Hansen and Alex Poncio acting a scene out.