It was a bit weird having no production class this term. After working on 5 films of my own and working on about 15 others since we were all helping each other out all the time over the course of the first year, having nothing to work on was weird. And before school I always had a project on the go at some stage. So when Sam passed my name along to a guy who wanted to produce a short and needed a team I said sure why not.
To be honest, at first the more I learned about the guy and the project the more I though, "Oh this is going to be a train wreck." He's a BU alum, but not a film alum (never make assumptions), he has an MBA. And he's producing, but the film is being written and directed by his 12 year old daughter. But the script went through several revisions and got tighter and better as it went. And they've both been really open to learning about the process and doing the best film possible. One of the things he was very smart about was finding a team who could mentor the both of them.
Today we had our first day of shooting and it went very well. It was a long day. We gave ourselves plenty of time to set up and to do things well. The younger actor is the same age as the director (12) and there are rules about how much she can be on set. For me one of the lessons learned of the day was that those same rules should probably apply to young directors as well. She got tired and had a hard time staying focused toward the end. But over all I was really impressed with how well she did.
And I got to just be a director of photography. I got to try some of the things that I've been learning from Hoover last term and now as a TA. Don't be afraid of the dark. And a lot of this is set at night. So how do you make it look like night but still see enough to know what's going on? I'm happy with how it looks. I'll see if Jim minds if I take some sample stills and post them. Later, after the film has its festival run I'll put it in my reel, but that won't be for a year yet.
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