Sunday, January 14, 2007

Klepto

A chronic petty thief extends the pain of his affliction to a co-worker who gives him a ride home.

We shot the film today. All thirty-one shots, many of them in a moving vehicle on city streets. Everything takes so much longer when shooting with vehicles. Also it was a sunny day contrary to the weather forecast earlier in the week. So I didn't plan on having to limit our driving with respect to shadows. I was looking forward to an overcast, low-contrast look, but the sunlight gave us some nice flares, interesting shadows and very deep focus.

It was a hectic day as I knew it would be. Things went well - of course there were the usual frustrations, but they were minor and didn't hold us up too much. I overbooked myself as is not uncommon. I did a lot of rigging, producing, dolly gripping, camera assisting, art direction and assistant directing. I guess I was transpo captain as well. I also managed to do a bit of directing. I liked what we shot. I think the actors did a fine job as did our tiny crew which consisted of a make-up artist and a very helpful but inexperienced grip. (I missed Efrem's intuitive multi-tasking abilities, but he was on a paying job.)

In some ways I feel like I'm developing some bad habits by doing so much myself. I was sucessful at letting Jordan frame the shots and keeping my hands off the camera in that sense. I'm afraid that the times that I got frustrated or needed to remind everyone that we had to move it didn't support the actors as well as I think they deserve. I'm not going to be too hard on myself. I didn't yell at anyone and I treated everyone with respect. It's something I always want to improve upon. I really want to be able to say, Great, now let's try it this way. I have a terrible habit of pointing out what didn't go right. Even though I've mananged to reduce the frequency that I do it and do it a kinder tone than in the past, I want to stop doing it altogether.

We were shooting a few shots at a bus stop, which prompted TriMet to issue a 9-1-1 alert. Apparently there's some concern that any filming near public transportation is possibly a terrorist cell at work. It struck me as a bit absurd, however the man that confronted us was very kind and allowed us to continue shooting, so I shouldn't complain too much about it.

One of the things that I really enjoyed today was that my ego didn't seem to be too involved. I was in the process of doing a job that I'm getting better at. I wasn't thinking of the results. Nor was I ever conscious of demonstrating how impressive I am as a filmmaker. I don't like to admit that I've tended toward narcissism all too frequently in the past. Poseur!

Another challenge was being forced to think on my feet about a few shots under extreme pressure. We had limited hours of daylight and we were running a half hour behind after the first hour. In the end we wrapped fifteen minutes early, so we must have been doing something right. Anyway, one of the things that frustrated me on But A Dream was feeling turned around as we moved around the location from shot to shot. Today I was better at keeping things straight. And I let go a bit more. Maybe it had to do with the fact that BAD cost seven thousand dollars to get in the can while Klepto set me back about seventy bucks.

I'm definitely getting better at shooting the films. The next challenge is finishing them.

Exhausted,
Signore Direttore

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dunno if it's cheesy for an actor to post on his director's blog, but what the heck. "Klepto" was a great experience for me. I learned much about film acting and came away feeling considerably less "green" about that skill set. Aside from an extra gig here in P-town, my only other film experience had been in college. I feel better prepared for LA now.

It was great to work with you, Neal. Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to seeing the finished product, which I believe will be great.

Signore Direttore said...

Thanks Sokrates. I enjoyed working with you, too. You did a nice job. You seemed to have a lot of fun with it. It's always a pleasure to work with actors that are having a good time. They say if a director casts well, his work is done. You were a perfect klepto.
I looked at the footage again tonight and I, too, think we have a great little film in the works.