I had my first real film shoot today, and it was interesting to say the least.  We were split into groups of 4 and given the weekend to shoot 4 short films (one for each of us).  We were told to to create a single shot focusing on Mise en Scene.  The shot was intended to be between 30 and 60 seconds.  Today we shot two of our films, one of my team members, and mine.

We ran into some problems when we were checking out our equipment, we had to trade in our camera twice because they had something wrong with their lenses.  Then when we began shooting the battery they gave us started to lose power in the middle of our first take.  Luckily we just happened to be shooting in the school so we could change it, otherwise we would have been pretty much screwed.  At the end of my team members shot, we weren’t even fully sure if we got the entire shot because we ran out of film as a result of losing a couple takes (because of the battery running out).  We’re hoping that we got the whole shot.

Next we went to my place and dropped off the equipment, then headed out for dinner since my shot needed it to be dark out for the lighting to be right in my apartment.  We finished dinner just before 6:00pm, and started to head back to my apartment, but since it was early and one of the other guys lived nearby I asked if they would mind coming back at 8:00pm instead so I could take a quick nap before we shot my film.  After I took a nap I called the guys to see if they were coming over, but they said they were gonna finish off some beers they had started before they came back.  They ended up coming back at 8:45pm… drunk.

Needless to say they weren’t in the best shape when they got to my place.   I had already set up all the lights since they were 45 minutes late, and had set up the camera and practiced the shot.  After numerous rehearsals with my semi-drunk cameraman, I decided I would shoot the first shot myself to make sure I got it.  I think I got it the first time, so hopefully it will come out alright, but I won’t know until next week when we get the footage back.  After that I let the cameraman do it.

So, it was definitely an interesting night, and should tell you one of the things you need to keep an eye out for if you decide to go to film school.  Watch out for moron classmates.  I think the first real warning sign was when they started talking about getting stoned for the shoot tomorrow, and how one of the guys was going to hook us up with someone who could get us “blow”.  I think it was definitely a good choice to take over and do things myself to make sure I got what I wanted by doing the lights myself, and shooting it myself too.  All I had to rely on was my semi-drunk actor, who did a good enough job.

Posted by Emmet Gibney on Friday, September 22nd, 2006 at 7:28 pm.