A Month On Set: Producing A Student Film
It’s been over a month now since production began. I don’t think I’ve ever gone for so long with such little sleep or food. And the fact is we still have half the film to shoot and only two weekends to do it in.
This weekend we’ll be on the set from 4 pm until midnight on Friday and then from 6 am to 1 am on Saturday. Our first weekend we were melting at 90-degree temperatures. These days it’s in the low 40‘s to upper 30’s at night, and currently, it’s raining. But I’m excited.
Our first full weekend happened several weeks back. Though most of the footage has turned out well, the process has been absolute chaos. So far, it‘s been obvious that we’re a bunch of inexperienced kids just figuring this process out. For the last few weekends, we didn’t prepare as we should have. On Friday there was a lot of driving back and forth from set to town and town to set, each trip totaling about 40-minutes. There were things missing on-set, we were off schedule, and tempers were simmering.
On top of everything, our Director of Photography (DP), Stephen, and I felt sick as dogs. Once cameras were rolling, magic happened again. This time, the lighting was perfect and the angles beautiful, resulting in amazing footage. But in between takes, tensions kept rising as the night wore on and our energy seeped away.
Saturday brought new surprises, such as unlocked location. That meant we waited out in the countryside while our director and DP chose it. Before we knew it, we were all in water up to our thighs under the burning sun. It was a gorgeous location, with a clear river lined by trees and brilliant green brush, overlooked by a deep blue sky. Our new lead actor was splendid, delivering his lines convincingly and never complaining cold water or heavy loads he had to lift repeatedly. The footage turned out well again, but the stress was still high among us department heads. And now our Assistant Director, Austin, was sick as a dog.
After the river shoot, the production design crew and I rushed to dry the lead’s costume. Then on to find the next location. We forgot more things on this trip too and had to drive back and forth over pathless farmland. The late afternoon sun gave the fluid hills a yellow glow and stretched the lush trees’ shadows over them. This was a drone shoot of our lead trekking through the wilderness and was the best part of the entire day.
Sunday was the hardest day of the weekend. Critical pieces were forgotten off-set, communication among us department heads was the worst it ever had been, exhaustion reigned, and the footage turned out okay but not amazing. We were on a wooded hillside this time, drenched in bug repellent and muggy warmth. We had a fog machine on-set which eventually became a flamethrower due to poor ventilation. The set was panic-stricken for a few moments. And of course, we had forgotten the fire extinguisher. Once the flamethrower returned to being a fog machine and someone stamped out the flames, Austin breathed a sigh of relief. That was the last straw.
We all went home discouraged and weary. Our set had the potential to be a wonderful one. Instead, all we had was disagreement, short tempers, and unnecessary stress.
I will say our crew was incredible again, even throughout this terrible weekend. Even when the department heads, including myself, lost it, at ourselves or each other, even when things were forgotten, or flames burst out of nowhere, or we ended up in a river, I didn’t hear a single complaint. I heard questions and got confused looks, yet this crew continues to be the most forbearing and hardworking people I’ve worked with. I know I’ve said that before, but it amazes me even more now after more than one terrible weekend.
The next shoot went far smoothly, though not without hitches. We still forgot a few major pieces of equipment, but that was all we had to leave set for. We had a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, all the costumes, and even hot coffee. Communication was far better, and the shots turned out beautifully.
Tonight will begin our second-to-last weekend, assuming everything works out as planned. Considering the weather at this moment, this seems rather questionable. But hopefully two weeks from now, I’ll have something new to say.
