when a screenwriter takes production

What a fun ride making this film has been.  For some reason, it seemed to run more smoothly than most (perhaps it’s because I’ve gone through this twice, eh?).  While filming, I was also able to explore Palm Springs, an area I adore and am quite familiar with, so my surroundings made me happier in general on set.  My actor McKenna Taylor was so happy to be involved and she totally understood the process and didn’t mind me telling her to re-do a scene five times plus some, just so I could get a different angle of the same action and that made all the difference.  The only downside to how many different angles I got was spending a lot of time in the editing room deciding which one I liked best or which medley of several shots looked better (and for a severely indecisive woman this was certainly not a small feat).  Films are a team effort, and although I didn’t rally a classmate to join me for a weekend in Palm Springs, I still found a noticeable difference when there were two people excited about a project and not just me.

    Although I know there were comments about her facial expressions being hard to read, I found her reactions telling.  She had actually lived in a condo when she was younger before moving later on to a larger house so being in an empty condo really triggered memories for her and at times she was close to tears.  As I was filming this I couldn’t be happier at her sadness!  Along with that, her eyes really portrayed, at least to me, a girl who was soaking it all in for a final time. A challenge I experienced was finding a location that would serve as my protagonist Casey’s old house.  Although not particularly interesting and without any distinctive character I’d hoped it to have, the condo we shot at was nevertheless the only thing I could make look empty with the amount of time given.  However, it ended up working out as its windows at least allowed me to get shots of her lonely shadow looking out.  

With this film I experimented a lot with sound, as my idea of a girl moving from her old house plays with memory and attachment to physical space and I wanted to demonstrate that abstractly, not in a way that made it seem as though the house was haunted, but in a way that made it seem as though the house was alive to her in some sense.  Within the film I searched for new shots that would be visually interesting such as the mirror shot in her reflection which parallels the reflecting mood she has towards the end of the scene where she reaches some semblance of peace.  Partly due to the fact that I was more comfortable with the camera and less out of my element, and partly because I was looking for ways to use my surroundings, I was able to achieve this.  A particularly favorite shot of mine that occurred by happy chance, was the one where Casey holds her hand up against the wall as she remembers her parents fighting in Spanish.  The light from the window casts a perfect angle of light against the wall which her body fits snugly in line with.

Although the lighting for this scene worked out beautifully, another challenge I encountered was lighting.  Although there was soft ceiling lighting already in the condo, I wanted to manipulate the mood more with the three lights given to me by lighting and grip.  However, it just ended up producing a harsher effect no matter how much I tried to disperse it, and I didn’t have any gels to alter the coloring and make it softer.  In the editing room then, I used the color corrector to create a warmer glow.

Funny side note: I forgot the lights in Palm Springs after the first shooting weekend and then halfway to Palm Springs on the way to do reshoots and pick up the lights, I realize I left the camera at my house in Newport Beach.  Thankfully the good ‘ol grandparents were able to bring it with them when they came down the following day and shooting remained on schedule.  Unfortunately, the weather was hotter and sunnier in the re-takes (shockingly when we first shot it was cloudy in the desert), and Lord knows I can’t control the weather.  I tried to dull the coloring later on in the editing room, but it was still noticeable in the shadows it created.

Comparing my second film to my first, I definitely favor this latest one, for lighting purposes, for acting purposes, and for story purposes.  This film was such a blast to make, and although it took time to stage with the ingredients, and I had scary “this can’t be happening” moments again (which honestly I feel like these things only happen to me), it turned out pretty close to how I had pictured it.  An example, you ask?  I had just bought a 32 GB CF card, the same exact type that I had borrowed from Yoyo last time when I hadn’t purchased one yet, and it didn’t work in the camera once I got to the condo.  Apparently I was sold a faulty one.  Thankfully I had packed my 8 GB one just in case, and for me, it’s always the case.

Learning from last time, lighting was finally on my side and the good lighting was a giant help.  Along with natural lighting, and the warm lighting already within the kitchen, I checked out lights from LMU for the first time and took them on a journey with me.  This then transferred over to the editing room where it left me with a less grainy resolution.

As far as location goes, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the look of the last pie competition scene (we had to morph the bedroom to get a blank wall space big enough for two chairs due to lack of a better option).  Granted, this was spring break so the options within the condo were limiting, but next time I’d really want to nail down just a couple great locations (or locations that can be easily manipulated to look great) to make my film come off as more believable.

Once in the editing room, I had my second “did this really happen to me” moment.  Although I had played back each of the videos after each shoot to make sure I’d gotten everything, I hadn’t noticed that there was no sound.  Apparently, the camera hadn’t captured anything so I assume I unknowingly pressed something to turn off the sound.  I noticed this once editing, and though it made the final film have a little less background noise and life, I tried my best to compensate with sound effects.  Note to self: check videos and sound.  

I mentioned in my first film critique that I’d like to use longer shots instead of a bunch of separate ones, and to some degree I believe I managed that a lot better in this second time around.  For example, I used panning a lot, like the shot of the pie to her crying face, and the shot of her mixing ingredients which quickly shifts to her face.  Originally I was planning to cut from the pie to her reaction, but I ended up keeping the motion in between as I liked the manic feel it carried across.  However, I keep observing in the classroom (or maybe this is just me thinking it) that my peers use less shots than I do.  Perhaps it’s due to the mood of the story or the type of narrative they’re telling (which the longer takes definitely help to set the pace) but I’d like to reach that simplicity down the road; less tells more sometimes.  I nevertheless believe that in this particular film, I used longer and shorter takes in a balance, each working for the different types of scenes I created.  For example, in the more serious moments like after the pie lady hits her hand and she’s staring in the mirror, I just used one shot (besides one close up of the pill bottle).  By letting the shot sit for a longer time, I drew more attention to her face because that was the only thing changing within the frame.  

Although I was really attached to the crazy stylized rough cut, once I removed the constant music and made most of the shots slow down to normal time per the request of classmates, I saw a big difference.  It made the moments when she wasn’t technically “crazy,” more normal in a way.  Plus, it grounded her character and gave the audience time to look at her in her element; her character was allowed to breathe so to speak.  However, not always, as I sped up the scenes when she was getting agitated in the kitchen so as to make the stress she was feeling more actualized.

My first film was definitely a learning adventure and a “what’s the worst that can happen?” happening kind of experience, but it was nevertheless helpful in that I’ll be taking these lessons with me in the next film.

One of the first lessons that is super important is triple checking you have the correct lighting.  Though it’s a humorous story, I went with my friend to Target to pick up lights that create the perfect warm glow for the dorm room (since fluorescents were a clear no no).  However, when we tested them, the lights went out.  We went back and returned them for different lights only to try the new lights in the dorm and have them turn off too.  One new fuse later, and they worked!  However, when we were shooting the scene - the lights blew out again and when we set them down, they literally exploded and glass flew everywhere.  Thus came the emergency scramble for other lighting and, thankfully, we were able to borrow our friend’s lamp that shone enough light that was harsh, but not as harsh as the fluorescents.  For my second film, I’m going to try and use as much natural lighting as possible so we’re not completely dependent on other sources of light for a shot.  

However, I also need to beware of when I use natural lighting.  For example, when we shot the basketball scene where the boyfriend gives her flowers, I wanted to film it near sunset when the lighting was golden.  However, by the time we actually got to shooting, the sun had already slipped down so we had filmed half the scene in daylight and now we were left with darkness.  A quick scramble to do a shorter version of the scene left me with enough footage to get the main point across, but this situation can be avoided in the future by providing enough time for late crew members.  Better yet, to avoid shooting near sunset at all.

Once in the editing room, I realized that a lot of the separate shots I took could have been put into a longer take that played out a larger portion of the scene instead of having it be filmed in a “cut up” manner.  This will allow the actors in future films to “live” in the scene more; plus, it’ll save a lot of time in production and post-production.  It’ll make for a smoother video as well.  When putting together the picnic scene, I realized I lost footage; for the next film, I’ll make sure to check after each shoot that I’ve captured every video I want on camera.

  Since I’m a very easy-going person, I have a tendency to be a people-pleaser, so I was less assertive with my actors than I needed to be.  For example, when I asked my actor to “dance” and she just barely bobbed her head instead of actually dancing, I didn’t say anything because I knew they were tired, didn’t want to sound rude, and thought “maybe that’s the best she can do.”  However, in doing this and by not wanting to stand up for what I wanted, I compromised the clarity and logic of the shot.  Due to actors not being available to re-shoot due to everyone having different schedules, I was able to re-edit it in a way so she didn’t need to be “dancing.”  Nevertheless, in my next film I will definitely be more assertive with my actors and even act it out myself first if I have to in order for them to see what I’m desiring from them.

Creating a flowing sequence that told a logical story wasn’t difficult (when I could explain it along the way) so seeing the project without audio and not being able to include pictures of the student’s facial expressions, caused me to run into a few small challenges along the way.  For example, I wanted the sequence to have rapidity in order to show the building frustration of the student and to build a tense rhythm, however, I couldn’t have the pictures show for as short as I wanted them to because otherwise the first-time viewer wouldn’t know what they were supposed to get from that flash of an image.

However, this being said, the sequence actually turned out okay, and I was able to show the finding of the object as a contemplating moment by increasing the time that the photo of the keys was projected.  Also, by including a black screen break before the student got in the car, it helped to show that she was going to do something completely different from what the house had her doing; she was going to immerse herself in a completely different environment.