Oh wow there is so much to tell, and not enough blog to tell it . . . even though blogs can go forever . . . right? Well, yesterday I filmed the last two sonnets of my "Series of Sonnets". I was looking forward to this day because I would meet some new talent, I would have fun making a couple of movies, and I would be wrapping up this project. It has been so fun coming up with different ideas, and discovering new tricks to help illustrate Shakespeare's poetry, but it has also been stressful and sometimes frustrating. I wasn't looking forward to this day because I didn't feel as prepared as I wanted to. And when a director isn't prepared, well, chaos ensues or nothing ensues.
Let's flashback to earlier last week, I had an actress lined up for "Sonnet 116", she was excited to be in it, but it turned out that our schedules never lined up and she would be leaving Austin the day before I would be filming, so I contacted a friend who would be the replacement, but her schedule was packed full all that day and week. It was just a few days from shooting and I was without a cast, I was pretty panicky and I mentioned my dilemna over g-chat with my friend/web designer Zane. He said, well, there's an intern that works in my office that has done some acting, do you want me to contact her? YES!!! I met Lene over g-chat and she was more than willing to step in for the role. Great blessing. Well, Saturday came quickly, and that day was scheduled full of Sonnet filming euphoria. I got up at like 6:45 that morning and started getting my mind set for the day. The crew (Arthur Kendrick and Dan Jones) showed up at 9 am, and we started to set up, Mark Sanderson was playing the love interest and Lene Lay was to play Shakespeare. Lene showed up with a smile and energy that helped the shoot. As a director, one of my worries is the morale of the cast and crew, and it always helps me when they outwardly show that they are having a good time. She was fun and easy to work with and its awesome that she showed up at the last minute to save our butts. As the morning drew towards noon our last section of filming 116 took us to downtown Austin, 6th and Congress. And, I've gotta admit, I always feel cool when I'm operating expensive equipment, and people stop and look to see what you're doing. "Yeah, we're shooting a film, excuse us". There was this funny shot where Mark and Lene had to stay in an embrace on the street corner for like 2 min. straight (was Mark looking forward to it? You'll have to ask him, but yes). I was rather amused, cause people would walk by and not know what was going on. I don't know if that makes me a bad director by being amused when I put my actors in weird situations, but if that's the case, then I'm a bad director.
We finished shooting 116 by lunch, Lene left, Mark stayed on to help with crew and we grabbed some Jamba Juice and Conan's pizza to gear up for the afternoon shoot of "Sonnet 60". This was the one that I felt unprepared for. So the crew and I looked at the sonnet over lunch and discussed some ideas that we could do. One idea Mark had was to shoot on a spinning carousel at a playground. The sonnet's them is about time, and circles come to mind, so that would make sense. We picked up William Jackson, who would be playing Shakespeare, and shot at my house, on a carousel at a local playground (which turned out awesome) and then at another park where I was hoping to shoot at a brook, but when we got to it, the brook was dry! I was greatly disappointed because that really eliminated alot of shots that I had planned. The shoot ended with just William and I taking different shots of him around town, and I'll have to see if I need additional footage when I cut it together, is that okay William?
But overall, a long day yet a successful day, we got a lot done, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel, now we'll see how editing goes!
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