We are getting ready to shoot our second project this weekend. We are picking up our equipment Saturday afternoon, and have to return it Tuesday morning. So we have one less day to shoot this time, which is tough considering this project is considerably more complex than the previous one.
This film can be made up of several shots, 10-15 is the guideline they have given us, but isn’t set in stone. We then take these shots and edit them together to make up a short film that is somewhere between 90-120 seconds long. We still do not get to use sound, but I’m sure we could add music if we wanted to.
I wanted to try use a real location this time, but it was REALLY difficult to get one. My story takes place in a restaurant, and not in my apartment. I tried to get this one restaurant secured, but I couldn’t even get a hold of their manager. I walked in at night when it was quiet, and they told me to come in the next day when the manager would be in. Then when I arrived the next day they were busy, and told me to come back later when they weren’t so busy. Then the manager wasn’t in again, so they gave me a card and told me to call the next day. I called the next day, and they said the best they could do was take a message for the manager to call me back later. As you might have guessed, I am still waiting for that phone call (and don’t expect to get it).
In the end it was one of my crew members that helped hook me up with a location. Ironically enough he was also one of my crew who got drunk on my last shoot, so in a small way he managed to redeem himself. Although not fully. Now I need to find three actors (2 guys and a girl) by Monday morning.
My advice to you all, HAVE NO SHAME when trying to get locations. DO NOT BE SHY, or you will end up shooting all of your films in your apartment or a friends apartment. NETWORK as much as you can, MEET AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE so that you can call in favours when needed. You get very little time to do your pre-production for your films (just so you know, pre-production is all the preparations that go on BEFORE you actually start shooting or production, in case you didn’t already know). Make sure you have locations and actors ready to go BEFORE YOU NEED THEM, not when you need them. Have a huge list of back-ups too, that way if (when) something goes wrong, you will be good to go.
After production is finished I’ll let you all know how it went, and I’ll post links to the film when it is complete as well.
