F1 Pre-Production Week

 Just by shear luck the end of traditional classes and start of pre-prodction week was marked by Talloweekend. It was nice seeing friends from out of town and going to parties with friends, but I needed the the Halloween season to end ASAP so I can get prep for prep. I got that chance when my friends from out of town left Sunday morning and my other friends didn't want to go out Sunday since they were either partied out or felt as though they got scammed. 

Neo costume

With time now in my hands I determined that the things I needed to do were as follows:

-Tech Scout Barbie's location -Monday

-ATL Presentation for I Lost What's Mine - Tuesday

-Do my Green light meeting - Thursday

-Rehearse with actors - TBA

That's it, that's all I had to do. Pretty simple stuff.

So I got started on my ATL Presentation with was scheduled for Tuesday at since that seemed like the most extensive, and I had the fun quirk of being the very first ATL Presentation of the entire cohort, so I had no real reference. I had skimmed through the required slides a couple times, but it was only around now that i realized hidden in one of the paragraphs for the assignment it said "completed set-up schedule". At the time I couldn't comprehend that three words could cause such mental torture. Am I being dramatic over an assignment that's been available for over a week yes, but my previous 2 blogs already give my account from the previous 2 weeks plus classes, plus 4 other films, pus  A FUCKING ESSAY that was due on the Sunday of Talloweekend. Luckily for me I finished like 75% of the essay by the previous Wednesday so on the weekend I just had to wrap it up, but I still had that fuck ass set up schedule to make on top of the rest of the presentation.

Now for those who aren't in the production world, a set-up schedule is this super handy piece of paper that lists all the shots for the day along with their set-up time and filming time; with that information the 1st Assistant Director can then determine if the production is running behind or ahead of schedule. Now this isn't just a shot list because those are in the order of the narrative, so a shot list may go from a Close-up to a Medium to an Insert to a Wide. If you want to waste time then yeah, film in that order. Most other people though will start Wide and end Close-up/Insert. Filming in this way will allow for minimal changes for the lighting and camera. Think it about if a production can successfully light a wide shot without any gear showing up in frame, by the time they film the wide and move in for the Close-up, they don't really have to change the lighting. Maybe they add a small eye-light for clarity, but that's about it and that saves time. On the other hand, someone filming a close-up first may curate the lighting to only work for a that shot size, so when they pull back for the wide, all the gear has to be flown out of frame and re-positioned.

Now I know I just dogged on shot lists in terms of their practically on the day, but I needed to make one before I could make the set-up schedule in order to insure I had all the coverage I would need for the edit. Here's the funny thing though, I personally couldn't tell you what coverage I wanted for the edit because I would want to know how those shots would look when juxtaposed together, so to do that I needed to finish storyboarding the film! 

Thankfully I had started work on the story board because I was informed at a scope meeting I had in week 7, that I would need to film the end sequence in a very specific way for the edit in order to avoid have my actor perform a stunt (we're not allowed stunts for F1s). That was about it though, I still hadn't decided which side of the parking lot the car would pull into because the way the store door opened would affect my framing, and I hadn't even thought about the interior since I didn't know where I wanted the Urn to be. None of that mattered anymore though because its now 5:00 PM on Sunday and I still hadn't started anything ATL Presentation related. Great!

I created a Canva presentation with a vintage/antique theme to go along with the film, and started on the slides I already had the information for. Logline, Story Overview, Inspirations, Characters, Production Design, Location info- BOOM! Done. Much of that progress was aided by my priority for visuals over text whenever I make presentations. And any text I did need to include were probably already written for past assignments, so I just had to find and copy them. Having done most* of the work for the ATL Presentation I took the night off, relaxed, played some games, and went to sleep early because the next morning my group and I would be driving off to Barbie's location for a tech scout and for me to make sure everyone knows what to expect since it would be a completely outdoor shoot. I felt this was important to do as well since I had been the only one to visit the location previously.

The next morning, I put on my Producer hat and made sure everyone felt comfortable; Anissa got to gauge the kind of daylight and direction to expect as Gaffer, Ray got a better idea of how the film was going to shot as DP, Eddie got the vibe that the road might be annoying for Sound, and Barbie got to see the location that she would have to work with. Coincidently while we were at the park I had finally received a follow-up email from the State Parks system about the paperwork involved with locking the location followed by a phone call from the Ranger that oversees the park telling me he would not be able to sign the FSU Film Location documentation since he's not high enough up the totem pole to do so. Great! When I got back to my apartment I sent over the paperwork to the ranger's superior to which I was left on delivered since he was apparently out as he was sick. Excellent! 

I had to lock back into the ATL Presentation though because I needed to finish my storyboard to get started on the shot list. This process took about 5 hours with some breaks in-between because I had to both visualize the edit in my head and then successful draw out the framings for each shot in a mostly clear order to later explain to Barbie (my DP). It was very mind numbing, and next time around I will double check the fine print of my assignment to provide sufficient time to work at peace and properly with my DP to come up with shots and frames. Learning experience!

With a shot list made it was at this time I realized the duration of the shoot would be longer than expected. My initial plan was to film interior scenes first followed by exterior shots at end the day with the emotion beat rather than a random insert, but that was not going to work because Barry (the store owner) said he'd unlock the store at 10:00 AM, so we'd be wrapping with filming at 8:00 PM when the Sun sets before 6:00 PM. I spoke to Eddie to confirm if potentially Barry was fine with us arriving earlier to start filming the exterior scenes first before Barry opens at 10:00 AM. Eddie confirmed that it was fine by Barry. Great, but not preferred! By filming the exterior scenes first, we would have to have a back-up Urn, potentially a second since the Interior scenes required an Urn that's intact. The change in shooting plan also was slightly annoying because we'd have to film the most difficult scene within the first half of the day. Splendid!

Anyways I moves the numbers around in a very difficult to edit Excel sheet which alone took like an hour to change and verify that we'd wrap in time. Now it was time to make something call a Bare Essentials List, which is basically the same thing, but highlight the shots that are most important (to min-max filming if need be). So I did that which was kind of annoying because I like all the shots I wanted to include, but alas I understand the exercise and I'm also just annoyed after sitting in front of a laptop for the entire afternoon. You know, but that's fine though because I still have some more work ahead. Fantastic!

Due to the last minute nature of this assignment and the lack of clarity in directions mixed in with my refusal to read absolutely every little detail during my first pass through, I had make the slides for the Producer and DP portions of the presentation. So I took a break, and got back to work and successfully finished everything I needed to do before 2:00 AM. I then laid in bed and set my alarm for 7:15 AM since I had my presentation at 9:00 AM. Wonderful!

The morning soon came and I got ready quick and made my way to the film school a little earlier than usual because I noticed the previous night that the fine print of the assignment mentioned printing out copies of certain documents for the F1 Faculty. I printed my papers and go to the presentation room a minute late with my group to which I was told to hurry up with since they had a lot of presentations to get through. Now on the way up I had explained to Eddie and Barbie their slides, but it was up to them to fill in the time and make it natural. The presentation went well, I got some chuckles at the beginning making a joke reminding everyone that it was Election Day. The presentation essentially was me telling the faculty "Hey I'm making this movie, and this how I'm planning on making it, Thank you" so I felt pretty confident talking about the movie without looking too much at the slides and answering questions and explaining decisions. They provided some advice, some of which I took, some of which I ignored. Like I said, it went well.

Wednesday would follow up with the second half of presentations for my group, two of which involved me speaking as a DP and a Producer, respectively. I felt my performance was good and professional which I'm happy about. When I had to speak as a Producer I brought to light the denial of signatures from the State Park system since I had already acquired a Filming Permit from the state. Even if the State's Film Permit was very thorough and similar to FSU Film's paperwork, I was informed that I would still be required to get the signatures for FSU Film or get a back-up location for a train station back drop a week before filming. Great!

I called up the park ranger I spoke to on Monday further explaining the situation, and trying to calm potential nerves about certain verbiage within the FSU Film documentation. I was then told that the park ranger had specific verbiage from his superior (the one I had gotten the Film Permit from and told me to contact this specific park ranger to coordinate any additional details before the shoot) that he was not allowed to sign ANY other documentation because I had already acquired a Film Permit from the state. PHENOMENAL!!!

Soon after the call, I text the faculty member that told me I needed to get the signatures about said call and the refusal from their end to provide signatures. I had said prior to this day that I have no interest in contacting the State Park system for any future projects from how the process had been thus far, and today's experiences was the Final Fucking Straw. Lines of communication that remain hidden, miscommunication, stale mating paperwork both from government entities from the same State and same city, and worst of all a location with the potential of getting scrapped a week before shooting with little to no available back ups. An entire story, cast, and crew ready to go except for me with the location; it's not great. In the text to the faculty member I detail our conversation and a propose to with on the Film School's Backlot. To which I receive the response:

Okay sure.

Holy Shit. 

I made sure to celebrate this victory, but in a timely manner as I had to still confirm with my actors a rehearsal date. I texted Armesto and Jennifer asking for their availability during the week to best coordinate a time that would work for all of us. It was around this time I ran into a little hiccup that was out of my control, that being Armesto's health. At some point between inviting Armesto onto the project and texting them again for rehearsals, I was informed that they had lost their voice and were a bit under the weather; not the best thing to hear less than a week out from filming. I still wanted to have a conversation with both actors at the very least to talk about their characters, the motivations they have, the tone for the film, and the kind of collaboration that would work best for all three of us. This would also be my time to officially sign them onto the project and confirming last minute details such as dietary restrictions and that sort. So in order to do that I scheduled us for a meeting on Friday morning which would be the latest I could meet with both of them. 

Before then I had my Greenlight meeting on Thursday, where long story short couldn't get my film greenlit during the meeting. Not because of anything terrible, I just didn't have my actors locked in writing. I had calmed my professor's nerves in how I would be avoiding having my actor perform a stunt because I explained how we'd be filming that sequence and how it would come together in the edit. When I got back to my apartment, I confirmed with my actors that they would be good for Friday morning and went to sleep early.

I got to the film school about 30 minutes before our scheduled time to print out copies of the script for my actors to have as well as their performance agreements. Before starting anything I wanted to establish a dynamic that worked best for them; I wanted to make them feel comfortable and emphasize that they have a voice and mind that is worth listening too. I went on to tell them about where the script originated from and what I intended to do with it as a director, so that there was as much transparency as possible. With Armesto still under the weather in terms of their voice, we only did one table read followed by conversations about character motivations, backgrounds, and tone. This is where the majority of our time ended up being used for, just talking about the film and other pieces of media that would serve as reference. Something I was quite surprised about was how seemingly disconnected details about the cinematography and editing would help the actors build their perception of the film in their heads which by proxy would help to immerse them into the world of the film. I also felt this process was a huge benefit for our connection since i provided a time and space away from outside pressures where we can ramble and make jokes free from judgement; I think this more than anything made us excited to make the film with each other.

Following our meeting I texted my professor to inform him that actors were officially locked, and he gave me the green light for Monday. The last remaining days were for redundancy checks, practice, and mediating. I had everything I needed prop wise, I printed what I needed, I felt comfortable with my cast and crew, it was mainly a manner of getting ready for the day emotionally. Weather was still a bit iffy, but all else seemed good. No matter how many movies I've made and how ready I am on paper, it's still very much weird going to sleep knowing tomorrow you make something that didn't exist today. Especially as the first film in my cycle it was odd, and I was hesitant if I still had it after several weeks of no weekend projects and half a year removed from my previous film. It was one heck of a week, but I did everything I had to do to make a movie comfortably**.

* = most of the work on paper

**=without worry of getting kicked out, arrested, docking my grade, satisfying union standards.

(sorry about the delay, the pre-production week blog accidently spilled into the very beginning of pre-production for docs which has so far been a whole thing so yeah.)