Last Saturday, I stepped foot onto a film set for the first time with the title of Director. Weeks of preparation had finally come to fruition on a chilly morning.
The short film, The Broad Brush, was written by Brett Pedersen, who is also the actor in the picture above. Brett was also gracious enough to serve as producer of the film, securing the location (Twigs Bistro at The Village), buying supplies, and helping with so many other aspects all so I could focus on the script and the shots I wanted.
In true filmmaking fashion, the obstacles began right off the bat. The day started off with the camera man reporting to me that his car had broken down the previous night. Working with such a miniscule crew and limited time frame as is, my first thoughts turned to rescheduling the shoot. Problem was, availability was limited so we'd have to move back the shoot an entire month. Not exactly what we wanted.
After arriving on the set and speaking with Brett, we decided to move forward with filming. I let the camera man know of our decision (Go fix your car! That's more important) and we began to set up. At that same time, we noticed the music piped into the entire Village. Sound was going to be nearly impossible with Adele blaring overheard. A security guard happened to come by, though, and agreed to silence the music for a couple of hours. Things were looking up.
Brett had a camera to shoot with, so I took over the role of Cinematographer as well Director. This was also a first for me. Aside from shooting some sketches (setting up a camera, pointing it at the actors, pressing record), this was my first foray into actually filming a movie.
Our actress, Trinity Maye, arrived and we quickly apprised her of the situation. With the aid of Brett's friend Pete (boom operator), we began shooting The Broad Brush.
Despite the early troubles, we were able to shoot most of the four-page script in a little over two hours. We only had the location for a limited amount of time, hence the rush to get it done. While we weren't able to get some of the shots I wanted, I still felt it was a success. The credit for that goes to the talented, hard-working actions of Brett and Trinity. They showed up ready to work, displaying a professionalism that I will take any day of the week.
Brett and Pete are currently editing and scoring the film. I'm grateful for all the hard work those around me are doing and hopefully a finished product will be available soon.
I'm glad I had this experience and am definitely looking forward to directing more in the future. As for the camera work, well, I'll look forward to leaving that to the professionals.