So Close, Yet So Far...

This has probably been our longest week filming.  We have filmed every single day of this week, except I did not come to the shoot on Tuesday.  I trust my producer and editor, though, and they can keep the shoot running perfectly fine.  Everything has been extremely stressful though.

My guy actors are flakes, simple enough, but they managed to work with our schedule so I can't really complain.  I just want to get the job done.  I really appreciate my main actor, Marlin, or showing up to every shoot and for being very dedicated and good with her lines.  I feel bad for taking up so much of her time, but by the end of this week it'll all be over.  Today we'll be finishing up our last scenes and our actors can take a breather.

My sound guy, Roy, is also very dedicated.  He gets what he needs to done, and he is an asset to my crew.  I appreciate his long hours of work, and soon he'll be done too.  However he did have some trouble with the microphone in the middle of the week, but he found a solution for us to shoot with, and he fixed the mistake.

My post sound crew is just starting to work, this week they've been focusing on foley sounds.  Most of them are okay, but some are not totally necessary.  I think Jeanette and Laura need to look for a better score, though.  I'm worried that they aren't looking for a non-copyright song that we can use.  Jeanette has yet to show up, and  I let her know for her benefit even though she's busy.  But we'll have to see.  Laura's boyfriend was also a major help in our film.  I'm glad Laura had him as our "bully" since he really fits the part.  Although he did smile a lot, he got it done and that's all that matters to me.

My D.P. has been doing his job, but it's hard to keep him focused and on task.  He makes minor mistakes, and I really think he should listen to what we're saying.  I had to really start enforcing things on him.  I made sure he was paying attention to focus and his shaky hands.  I am sick of having to keep him on track though, he gets very distracted, and isn't thinking about the fact that everybody else wants to go home.  I'm glad that he's showed up to majority of the shoots though, and he knows exactly what I want.  I also want to thank his mom, Ms. Sylvia, for acting as an administrator in our fight scene.

My editor has been very good too.  Laura Macias has provided us with a lot of help, with actors, locations, and her work as an editor.  On set, Laura showed up and kept track of any inconsistencies and had even helped with minor things, such as holding the boom.  I really appreciate her hard work, especially staying after school on the night of open house to edit.  I think she is doing a good job of editing, and we are pretty much on track.  We just need to finish shooting tonight, get the footage edited, tweak the look of the film, and then boom sound editing and we're done.

Honestly and all-in-all, I am done with this project.  It has been long, strenuous, and stressful.  I'm ready to finish this project.  I personally don't believe I'm fit to be a director, I can't really maintain the control I need to.  I know what I want, and if I lose my patience I will start maintaining total control, but nobody listens really.  I'm just not in the right state of mind to be doing all this right now.  It's too much for me to handle, and I apologize to my group for not being the best director and just hopefully they can look past it.

Production At Last

So we've been about a week into production and, in fact, I am very happy about the progress my crew has made.  Although we may have our flaws, we have gotten so much done.  It wasn't until this week when we began having trouble.

As of our first week, our crew showed, our actors showed, and our shoots were longer than expected but still went as plan.  My main guy actors have been causing a bit of trouble.  My "Ramos" is a good actor and can fit the part, but he's just terrible at memorizing lines.  I've been going over the lines with him though and progress has been made.  My "Andrew" flaked on us for a day, but he's better with his lines.  I think I could of found a better guy to fit the part, but if he was capable of our schedule then all is good.  Our girl actors are dedicated, they have their lines and show up to every shoot so I couldn't be happier.  We need to do some reshoots and we had to reschedule quite a bit, but we'll be able to finish by next week still.  Just later than we expected.

As for my crew, I'm happy with them for the majority.  My producer is very responsible and is capable of organizing everybody.  My D.P. is good at what he does, but we've made sure he pays more attention to the focus of the shots and the steadiness of his hands.  He gets a little distracted here and there, but a firm voice can get him working again.  My on-set sound guy is also dedicated.  He shows up to every shoot even when he wasn't initially needed due to technical difficulties. I am a little worried about my post-production sound crew, but I think since things have become a bit more tight, with attendance sheet and all, they'll be a bit more dedicated to this project.

I think our project has the capability of being one of the best, and I want to make it the best.  All I can hope is the shoots for the next coming week goes as planned.