The weekend before shooting week, we were given an assignment to shoot a scene. This really prepared us for shooting week - we were split into two teams. Misha directed our film - Jonny did sound, I was assistant director, Ben was camera operator, and Zack and Kane were our actors. We ended up shooting in the boys bathroom, hiding away in shower stalls all of our equipment and ourselves during takes, peaking over the tops. We pulled an all nighter, filming till the birds chirped early in the morning! Not to mention it was my birthday weekend and most birthday plans went out the window for it - but hey, it was fun in itself. Crazy, fun times to be had - what preparation for the wildness ahead.
Directing my own film the first shooting week was an adventure in itself. I learned to plan less, and sleep more. Because sometimes, plans go all out the window anyways.
I shot the second to last day of shooting week, on Monday. It all started when I couldn't find tahini at the store to put in my homemade hummus for set, HA. But hey, God even had grace in that silly little thing, because during morning tea on base, there was leftover hummus we could take with us! Oh the chances. To start the day, Misha became ill with a kidney infection and had to leave set. This caused confusion as team members had to fill in for her role. I then discovered that I lost one of the key costumes - a penguin onesie! This caused me to have to completely re-arrange the shooting schedule until the onesie was FOUND. Jonny just so happened to find it when he wasn't even looking - at the perfect time! Oh the grace of God! We continued shooting, re-arranged schedule and my mind going 10 places at once. Not to mention I hadn't even THOUGHT about how we'd shoot certain scenes that I had in my script, such as men changing in the bedroom. The actors were far too eager to strip down to their boxer shorts (what kind of movie are you MAKING, Heidi?! What have you done?!) Then, THE POWER WENT OUT ON SET. For half the day! WHAT. But this TOO was the grace of God - because I re-arranged the schedule more and shot certain scenes with natural light which probably looked FAR BETTER the way they were than if we actually had had power and used our lighting kit. The power just so happened to come back on, as soon as the sun set and we needed the lights again. Basically, all of my detailed, meticulous planning went all out the window. My scheduled papers were up in the air, torn, and trampled under foot. But it ended up being such a fun day of shooting - a fun day of laughter, of going with the flow, and learning to bend and handle myself in situations under pressure. And alas, amungst all of the craziness, behind the scenes and in them, stories were born.
The first week of shooting our films, we shot all 8 films in 9 days. We watched dreams and visions come to reality - and our minds and bodies were stretched beyond our comprehension. One day we shot for 22 hours! Christian started off our week strong with his film, which was shot in the woods. We stayed on schedule - a perfect first day. We also shot his film later in the week at some pools/waterfalls, which at the time I didn't know that I would be back at very soon to fulfill old prophesies.
For Misha's film, she is a BOSS at getting locations, and we got a free ride on the Brisbane Ferris Wheel for a good 45 minutes (she cleverly said that Jonny, Kim and I were her sound crew... Got us a free ride in a carriage next to her, Christian who operated the camera and her actors), and she had the whole side of a bridge blocked off for our shoot; as well as booking a studio which I got to turn into an art gallery for production design. Girls got skills and really pushed us all to reach for the stars - hey if we fall, we'll land on the moon. Originally she wanted a hot air balloon, but hey, she got a farris wheel which is pretty dang GOOD! GREAT!
I got to make cooking experiments for Alena's movie, where I made sticky cookie dough, colored cookies with charcoal, got to fling cookies across the room attached to strings...Make smiley cupcakes...
I got put on craft services a lot for the first week, simply handling the food and coffee on set - but it humbly taught me to serve the team and be there for them. It also encouraged me to stand up for myself and my abilities and say that I CAN do more. But hey, got to start somewhere, and its often in the humble position of service - and that's a good place to be. Live a life of service to one another! I worked my way up... got a taste of working with the camera for Ben's film, and assist camera for Christian's film.
We all were run RAGED. We all learned to really lean on each other and on God for strength. We learned to manage our time better - and to do our green light paperwork SOONER, rather than during shooting week (bad idea!) I learned how far my body can go and my creative juices without sleep. I learned about the buzz coffee gives (living juice!). I learned not to binge on food just because I'm tired and stressed - to turn to other things like God - which I confess I failed at most times (chocolate man.... So gooood...) I learned that there are different kinds of tiredness - mental, physical, and emotional. Sometimes I get 8 hours of sleep but am just as tired emotionally. Sometimes I get 2 hours of sleep and feel great physically and emotionally - my mind just might be going a little crazy. This first shooting week really bonded us as a team in unity - we became a well oiled machine - to launch us into a successful final shooting week a few weeks later. BOOM. Dynamic teamwork is KEY.
Our roles:
Each of us was given a different role per film set, and with 8 of us total, we made a very well rounded team!
There was the Director/writer - the king of the ship - the first assistant director (1st AD) who helps the directors mind stay sane, handles the schedule and makes sure communication is crystal clear (the bossy one on set) - the director of photography (DP) who handles all the fancy camera stuff, the first assistant camera (1st AC) who deals with the slate and does what the DP tells them to - the sound mixer who makes things hopefully sound crystal clear and who hears every detail going on around, including hearing actors in the bathroom if they forget to turn off their microphones between takes (that's just awkward) - the grip/gaffer who handles the equipment and lights - the production designer/craft services who takes care of making set look like beautiful, well or grusem (depends on the story (; ) as well as feeds us, waters us, and gives us all our much needed coffee intake - then there's the script supervisor who handles continuity errors and writes down the details of each take during shooting. There were other roles outside of production itself, such as the hair and make-up artist (which I did during second shooting week), music composer, editors, producers, etc.
Well, that's all for this chapter. I'll write more later. Dang, I'm long winded. How can I NOT practically write a whole book about SDF?! It was incredible. Alright, peace out from New Zealand, my lovelies.
<3 Heidi
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