"Previously Viewed: 2-Day Rental" - Day Two

Do you know what makes blogging difficult? Well, I'm sure many things, but the one thing I'm talking about is not having Internet access. Yes, yes, my wonderful, gorgeous iPhone can access the Web, but have you tried to type a long blog entry on that little touch-screen keyboard? If so, you know what I'm talking about. If not, try it and then let's talk.

Anyway...

Last Thursday night/Friday morning was day two of the shoot for "Previously Viewed: 2-Day Rental." Originally, this was supposed to be the last night of shooting. But once I started to line the script and storyboard the shots I wanted, there was no way I was going to get everything I wanted. Click here for more about that.

Now it is considered day two of three.

We started setting up promptly at 11 p.m. just as the store closed. This time most cast/crew were on time and we all jumped in to get the first, most important shot of the night off to a good start -- Zack's fight sequence. The plan was to get the entire fight sequence from start to finish in one take. My intention also was to get this shot via steadycam so the camera could move with Zack as he moves toward his "opponent" and proceeds to get his ass kicked. Micah confidently took hold of the steadycam (his first time using the apparatus), Katy (the customer who beats up Zack) stepped in at the last minute for our original actress who as called away at the last minute) proceeded like a professional and Zack was Zack. And we got two very strong takes, in just two takes. What a great way to start the night. We started filming around 11:45/midnight and had that shot in the can in less than 30 minutes.

What a relief. Lori (the AD) and I felt that there was every probability that shot would take a lot longer.

To our greater relief, the rest of the night went just as smoothly. We wrapped the day, having gotten all the shots we wanted to that night, around 4:15 a.m. or so. A lot earlier than expected.

We all felt good about the performances and what we got. However, there were two things that bothered me. One, and I didn't realize this until after all the equipment had been broken down and stored, Zack, who will be directing what would have been "Drop Box 3", asked for an overhead of the fight so that it could be edited to look like security camera footage. We didn't shoot that. I totally forgot because I didn't write it down. The worst part about that is that we had plenty of time to do it.

The second thing didn't occur to me until later in the weekend. There is a scene where a random customer messes up the boxes on the shelves. I didn't like, in retrospect, how he messed up the boxes. Hopefully on night three we'll be able to redo that shot.

All-in-all, it was a good night and I'm very excited to see how the fight sequence edits together. I want this to be very good for me, as a director, but also for Eric, as the writer/actor/producer since he wants to send it to a few film festivals.

I got home around 5:30 a.m. and promptly went to bed. When I got up I drove to Henderson, Ky., for the long weekend. And where I stayed did not have Internet. Thus, the late entry.

Hope you aren't offended, but I promise to keep you up to date on the status of this project more regularly. I know I've said this before, but I also hope to have some video up real soon.

B