With dates, actors, crew, locations, and equipment all confirmed it was finally time to do what I wasn't able to achieve prior making it to production. On Saturday March 29th, Sam and I got up bright and early and went to the Dirac library on campus where we would meet our lead Nico. This day was slated to be when we would shoot our "good time" moments at Lake Ella, but before we got there we had to record Nico's VO. Whenever we had to schedule production meetings the FSU libraries website allows for rooms in either of their two libraries to be reserved. Now I'm biased because Dirac was closer to my dorm and has a pretty interior design layout, BUT more importantly Dirac was home to FSU's only public Media Suite, that is also criminally underused. The room comes with a Mac Mini, two monitors, speakers, microphones, stands, soundproofing walls, the Adobe Suite, and countless podcasting/audio programs.
For the session, Sam would be monitoring audio levels and sound quality while Nico and I were working line by line for the best performance. Getting to work one-on-one with Nico Was a privilege, and made me remember how fun it is to fine tune a performance and in general get to know the actor better during the process; the experience definitely reminded me of working with Connor Lirio on What You Watch. Within about an hour and a half we finished recording the VO, and it made me excited for filming later that day in the afternoon. I was truthfully a bit nervous making it to production, since it had been nearly a year since I've had to direct or and oversee a production and I was unsure how it would be working with actors that I was quite frankly unfamiliar with. Thankfully, Nico's VO helped to put my head in the game and made me itching to get to filming.
Soon enough it was 4 PM which meant it was time for Lake Ella. It was discussed prior that this day would be the "simpler" had in terms of us having a looser schedule and shorter production window. There were about a handful of shots we knew we needed so we got those first; these included Asher sitting alone a picnic table, Lev staring into the water, and Asher surprising Lev. The rest of the shoot was described by Marin as an "Eddie Fan-cam". For this portion, I gave Marin permission take the reins to direct and shoot. From what she had described in her storyboards, it was very clear that she had a solid understanding of what the film needed and I trusted her judgement. I would on occasion, suggest a couple different angles or spots to film, but it was for the most part her and the actors just filming what felt right for the story.
Besides the first shot we got being slightly out of focus, I think Saturday was a major success. It was a great way to easy into production, but also was a great opportunity for the cast and crew to mingle and have fun. Throughout filming when I'd check in with everyone, they all seemed happy and excited to be making a film. And through it all getting good material. It was really heart warming seeing the two actors engaging with each other off camera and coming up with ideas. The day I feel also helped us all to prepare for Sunday's shoot which was blocked out for 8 hours and included lunch.
For Sunday, I was finally able to use a setup schedule I made, which I was oddly excited about. As said in a previous posting, Marin made the storyboard and a shot list which allowed me to make the set up schedule. In the past, my shoots would either end when the sunlight vanished or when we either finished or were forced to stop, so it was nice to have actors and crew for a set amount of time. This day more so than the previous was also able to be more tailed for each shot/scene. Especially with the advantage of Chris's lights, we were really able to fine tune lighting and other mise-en-scene elements such as set dressing and costumes.
Something I was really happy with was the energy and motivation from the previous day carrying over. From the start of setup to the last shot, everyone was putting in their A-game. Sam made sure to be an intimidating 1st AD, so when I was told we were behind schedule with the first shot, we all made sure to haul ass and pick up the pace, yet not producing slop; Chris and Saron were really helpful when it came to switching setups, and in one specific case somehow fastening a bounce to a light stand with no mount with nothing but a belt and bag clip. It was also a double edge sword only having to worry about 2 LED; for what they were, they were pretty dang effective and flexible, but that also forced us to use them sparingly on top of the practicals that were already in the apartment. My general ethos when it comes to lighting, is that exaggeration and color is cool, just motivate it. Whether it was a crappy overhead light, lamp on the side of the frame, computer display, or a candle it'd ground the style a little.
One of my favorite setups from the day was for when Lev missed movie night with Asher. For the setup we borrowed Saron's projector to use as the main key for the shot. Throughout the production meetings and during filming the movie La La Land would occasionally be brought up, as it was the film that inspired Nico to peruse acting and was also a favorite among the rest of the crew, so for the movie night we decided Asher would be watching La La Land. Not only was it really funny the idea of watching that specific film alone under the pretense that your significant other is ditching you, but it was also a nice tie back for everyone. It also worked pretty well that the film is very vibrant and had a pretty perfect composition of yellow and blue, which allowed the popcorn to look fairly normal while Nico's face would be washed in blues, though the initial tilt up revealed an issue we had with this set up. Now we were basically be copying the lighting setup I used for What You Watch, but it always included in some form background spill. For What You Watch, we got around it because it was at a specific angle and was just a close up on my face, but for In His Eyes, Nico was sat on a couch right up against the wall. In an almost stupid idea, I took out my printed copy of the set up schedule and blocked a portion of the projector's light.
Another highlight would probably be making the image that was in my head come to life with the bookend. From sketch, to location scouting, to lighting, to filming, it was really cool be as badass as I imagined. We were also able to use the VO from the previous day on set for timing purposes which helped to figure out the timings of the final sequence.
When we finally wrapped, it was kind of bitter sweet and surreal. My roommate helped to make me realize how much of an accomplishment it was getting to production, so now wrapping felt weird. I made sure at the end of packing up, to give my roses to the cast and crew. None of this stuff is possible as a solo endeavor, it takes a team and luck quite honestly. I felt very lucky that I had the chance to meet people like Chris or be in classes with Saron and Marin or that Eddie was down to act even after the casting call closed and that Marin just happen to hear that he missed acting or that Nico had a surprisingly personal connection with the story and the fact that he auditioned or that Saron wasn't working all weekend and allowed us to film in her apartment and that her roommate was fine be out for most of the day, and so much more. And the time everyone took out of their lives in order to work on this project was warming. I've never had this much fun on a film set, and I've never been so excited to put it all in Premiere to edit. There was a lot to say and I hope they understood how much they are responsible for making this film possible.
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