The Lot Shoot, Day 2: A Quiet Evening At Home

I like shooting in closed sets. The controlled atmosphere gives me a little more room to think.

We shot last night at Christopher & Monica's apartment. Monica, Chris' girlfriend, played the part of his...girlfriend. Yes, it was a stretch for her.

We had only planned on shooting a couple of hours, but it quickly stretched to about four hours and change. I enjoy working with Hank, my DP, for several reasons. One, he's really good about working on the fly. With no storyboards or pre-visualizations, we can usually end up on the same page as far as the look and feel of a shot. Two, he's doesn't take the first shot he frames up. He likes to move around and look at the shot from all angles. He's a joy to work with.

Given that the shoot was so impromptu, Monica had a little trouble getting started. I had cast Christopher a while back and he's usually really good about learning his lines. Her role was up in the air for a while, so it was natural for her to stumble a little through the lines. To her credit, she did a great job of getting through it. Looking at the script last night, I kinda made a few sections a bit harder than they should have been. Some parts seemed to be similar and I think that's what caused the problem. But she was impressive in her delivery, especially at the part of the script where she had to be more expressive with her body language and her eyes.

I realized when I got home that we missed one shot, but I don't think it's going to hurt the finished product. If nothing else, it will give me a little extra time I can use to make it really pop.

I begin editing tonight and will look for music as well. Another Chris, a friend from Arkansas, gave me permission to use his band's music for another project, so I may look through the material he's given me to see if it's possible to use one of Blind Punch's songs for the end credits.

I feel good about this shoot. I think it's got a lot of potential. I need to be mindful of letting it lag too much, a mistake that I made with my first offering, "A Matter of Time."

This project has unexpectedly become my sophomore offering, so I have to be sure it's not just gonna cut the mustard for The Lot, but that it shows I'm not a complete hack.

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