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Shooting is complete - is that all? |
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Written by Andy
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Monday, 07 April 2008 |
 Well, shooting started and wrapped last the Sunday before last - after 16 and a half crazy hours under our belts. That is the longest I've been in contact with the RED ONE camera in my life. It was amazing. I felt like we bonded a little bit. Awh, hell. We bonded a lot!
To tell you the truth, the day started off with low-expectations. By 8:30AM half of my cast had already dropped off the radar, and the rest of them had never met me in person. But, nevertheless, the entire production was a success! Now, I definitely made some mistakes on Sunday - but that's all part of the growing process. Since this is an action-short, I really wanted to focus on lots of camera angles. That's my first mistake. Don't ever schedule 100 camera shots in one day. It's not going to be good for you, your crew, or your wallet - because you'll end up paying for it in the end. Take it slow. Slide in there with 30-40 shots. That will work. That seems like a nice long day as it is. Fuck. 100 shots makes you want to jump out of a building.
 I'm also a big fan of guerrilla filming processes. I usually don't have time for lights and dollies and what-have-yous. Well, I understand now why those things are so important. They can make or break a shot. Just one shot looking like total and utter shit will cost you your dignity. So, make sure you have the lights. And boy did we! There were so many lights on this set that I didn't know what was what! The Dead Workers know how to light things. They can really make your dreams come true when it comes to lighting. If you need a good lighting crew on your movie set, use the Dead Workers.
Since I was having some trouble with getting the full cast to commit, I ended up using some of the set crew in the piece. That ended up being a great advantage. There is the guy who ended up becoming one of the main focuses on the short film who just came by to help light and set up shots. He was perfect! Damn, this guy needs to be in more movies! I'm sure you'll be hearing about him in upcoming years. People will say: HEY, DID YOU SEE THAT CAST/CREW WORKER! IS THERE NOTHING THAT MAN CAN'T DO?!?!?! And they will be talking about Brad. He's really that good. Speaking of great guys, some of the Biggest Letdown staff were in the production. Kevin and Happy both ended up with some great parts - playing the roles of stoners and video-game nerds. I'm glad that I can count on them when the calling process begins.
 So now that the short film is completely shot - what's next? Oh, just the most important parts of all! The editing process starts now. And, when I say editing, I mean there's many different levels to that. There's the rough cuts, the color-correcting, the CGI, the audio-dubbing, etc... There's so much more that needs to be done that I still want to blow my brains out on a daily basis.
I know that this is only meant to be a short film - but for me, it's a start. It's a start to the road of full-length films in the South. This area is still an untapped resource when it comes to film-making. Already in the past 12 months there have been 3 full-length films made in North Alabama. That means that people are starting to look in our direction. Hell, it's cheaper to make movies out here. Independent films can flourish in these parts because there's not so many movie companies in the South. With companies like the DEAD WORKERS PARTY and the BIGGEST LETDOWN we're going to make films - and they're going to be fucking awesome! Long Live Indie Films!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 05 April 2008 )
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