I'M DONE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DONE!
Today was not only the last shoot for my film, Uncover'd, but it was also the last shoot for Inner-City Filmmakers and my team. It went very well and almost sour at the end.
The beginning of the day was a "re-shoot." Our camera broke on us last week and I had to tell my actors to leave so we had to re-shoot the party scene today when my antagonist takes the protagonist from the party. That went very well, and we threw in some comedy as well to keep it light-hearted while something serious was happening in the background, which by the way I love. I was once a background performer. I was in this cell phone commercial, 7th Heaven, Bernie Mac, Clubhouse, and all that other good stuff as a background performer and I must say it's very fun. I know a lot of people just walk on by with no backstory and mine but that's no fine. Each time I came into the background I gave my character a history.
Example, for 7th Heaven, I gave made my character a nerd/geek who constantly got picked on by these two other guys (yeah, I got more people on the act). I start the scene off in the back of a middle school hallway looking at a flier when the two "bullies" come up to me to which I immediately back off and walk further down the hallway where I look at yet another flier, then the bullies tap me on the shoulder and I look and no one is there. I look over my other shoulder and they are there snickering to which I roll my eyes and pounce off pass the lead characters doing there scene.
I just really love background performers, especially when they do a good job. They add atmosphere and flavor :)
So after that shoot we headed to our next location which went smoothly at first. We had to shoot both a day and night scene so of course I did all the day stuff first. When we got there I called Marlene to let me in her house to do a few POV shoots and she made it seem as though I couldn't shoot there at all! Say what!? But it's okay, her dad is the manager and she had a key to a vacant apartment but we had to be out in like ten minutes! Impossible! But I accomplished what I needed. I headed downstairs soon after to get a more coverage and then we had a two hour break until the sun went down.
My team went wild with boredom. They were running in the treats, hitting each other with a prop sword, one of them even bit another one!
Well, when we start shooting. When we START shooting a neighbor decides just then to come out and ask us what we're doing and he definitely implied he was watching us for those two hours being general teenagers. If he had a problem with us then, why not say anything? Why wait we we start shooting!? I don't know, it's beyond me. So I promise him we'll be as quite as can be and any blame should fall to me, the director, and not anyone else if there was too much noise. When he left I turned straight to my team and scold them for their behavior before and told them to essentially to STFU because I couldn't afford for the police to be called.
So we began shooting and about fifteen minutes in I get an in articulate man shooting off at us: "WHO'S CAR IS THAT! WHO'S PARK IN MY SPOT!" I immediately call cut, rolling my eyes and getting angry. I turn to him and and I ask him which car and he points to this silver one that none of us own. I ask my team to double check and we definitely don't know who owns that car. But the guy was determined it was are and I was really in fear he would call the police just to be a jerk. Then his wife, or who I think is his wife, came up to us and asked us the same question more calmly and we give her the same answer and she walks over to her husband to console him and told us it's okay. WHEW! Dodge yet another bullet!
Later on about a hour before we wrapped some lady was coming out of the apartments we were shooting at and was like "Damn! I almost trip over your equipment! What the hell are you guys doing here! Yadda Yadda Yadda!" At first I hear this at a distant and I close my eyes, get up and walk over slowly to her and I'm trying to calm her down "Miss ... Miss". And then her expression changes and she starts laughing, "I was just giving you guys shit, don't worry". Whew! Another bullet dodged!
I think that was the last case we had to deal with although I know the crew came up to me at one point and said the cops were coming to which I said, "Okay, let's beat the cops". I was determined to finish.
All and all, I think I got what I needed but definitely not what was in my head. Not my vision. But a wise mentor once told us to capture what you can get, sure you're going to miss quite a few things, a lot of great things, but capture what you can get. And that's what I did. Thanks Jon Chu!
So we packed up and went to Santa Monica and captured our footage and I was there until four in the morning, organizing my footage.
'Twas a good day.
Here is the information for the graduation ceremony. Please RVSP ASAP!
Peace
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