The shoot.

wow.
well,
let it first be said that acting and directing the same picture is hard.

especially when you have such a small crew.
in this case, the crew was myself as director and Becky as camera.
between us we handled the sound and lights the rest of the time.

we got a room in the Tall Trees hotel,
the region's 4 star hotel, thanks to a friend who works there.

it took us a bit to get going.
i felt under pressure and a bit un-nerved,
partly at being in such expensive surroundings,
but also needing to focus on two quite separate jobs that required quite complete focus and attention.

to be honest, i was finding the acting hard.
i would have found it much much easier to forget the camera and just rapport with Katy, find things in the role i was playing, work on it and bring out the person over the course of the short film.
but, I also had to place the camera, check each shot and take, weigh Katy and my performance, and think of the next shot.

I had something of a new experience, when i realized i was completely outside of the film. i couldn't act, i had to take a few moments and breath deep and remember the lines, the situation, who i was trying to be. i usually took several takes to get it right.

Katy seems to love acting, it's clear. she got into costume, she knew when a take wasn't good, when she needed to repeat a line. what would have helped, me as director and us as actors, would have been a monitor. to have playback for each take would have helped us see things, reflect, adjust.

But all in all, a succesful shoot.
the camera, my Canon XL1S, performed beautifully.
Especially with the brand new wide angle lens adaptor on the front.
the image quality is warm and smooth, not sharp and edgey like video often comes out.
the wide lens is gorgeous. i am looking forward to using it, and the camera, on wider, outdoors, shoots.


we have two more clips to shoot for this film.
we're using my room for the second hotel room - the cheap small, dingy one, natch.
that only involves Katy, in different costume, wig, makeup, checking an email, looking out the window, packing and leaving.
then there's the second, more complex, scene where Katy in the second wig/costume/makeup gets in the car with Katy from the first scene (dressed now, not in bathrobe). that'll require some cunning cutting and angles, and one front-on composite shot.
then edit, and send it to Writer's Block on Friday for screening at the next Concept Film Night.