guerrilla filmmaking

I finish my shooting around Central today. I was blessed with a good crew, fantastic actors and fabulous weather from God.

it was sunny, not clouding or raining according to the AccuWeather report. it was very nice today, it was sunny but with a nice breeze, and we stayed in the shade.

I was actually late going to UTS. I booked the equipment at 9:30 am but I was still at home making sandwiches for my crew and actors at 8:44 am and realized that I would be late so I texted my crew to meet at 10am. For some strange reasons I thought we were to meet at 10:30am.

So I got there at just a little before 10am and Mojean was there. He forgot to come to the Sunday's rehearsal but he made sure he was early for the shoot. He's 19 or 20. Very young, a kid but a good actor. A good teenage boy actor. He is very devoted to acting. And he was amazing, had his ideas and was great, particularly in the bathroom scenes. He was all him. I admire his endurance and willingness. He never complained. You grow to love your actors despite their short-comings. I feel bad that my sandwich wasn't enough for him.

Kristen came a little late and sick. I had to run and get some Panadol for her at 7 Eleven. Something I learned on this shoot, 7 Eleven is cheaper than most other convenient stores. I checked the prices at 3 convenietn stores and 7 Eleven won both the AA battery and Panadol contests.

Kristen listens and do whatever you tell her to. She was great. I had to tell her to be more happy but i think the sickness was getting to her. I was probably killing her. I hope she gets better real soon. She was getting a headache. Luckily the weather was rather nice today. It was sunny but there was a very nice breeze which kept things cool for us.

When I arrived at UTS, Martin and Thukten were already with their hands going throught the equipments, testing everything. I was impressed, no teasing, just professional and getting the job done. When we work together, I love these guys. There are some culture differences between us but when we work, we are pros.

I think that's one part of filmmaking which I really LOVE, it's the teamwork, the team spirit. Everybody striving for the best possible result is just an amazing thing. No half ass effort, everybody just devoted. I just love that atmosphere, from the actors to the crew to the director. It's like putting a lego set together. I love it.

The shoot was quite relaxing. We had a lot of time actually. The shoot was long, it was originally planned to be 10am to 5pm (which is a bit crazy for a 3 min of script) and we basically finished around 4pm. It was really laid back, we were enjoying ourselves a lot, I guess the crew for most part, it was tougher for the actors. I also wanted to not rush stuff and make it comfortable for the actors.

Mojean was nice to reassure me that he would do anything I want him to do, same goes to Kristen. It was my first time directing trainned actors. They were more experienced than I. I was the idiot and surely if things are shitty, I have no one to blame but myself.

Thukten had a easy day actually and I realized that we actually didn't get a reflector when I returned the reflector back to the store! I got screwed! Crap. Too late.

At the end of the day, we had a group photo. Best to you my actors.

Thanks everybody!

Afterward we moved the equipments to Martin's place. Martin was obviously sunburnt. Thukten, the most tanned one was also the smartest one who put on sunscreen lotion.

I was pretty good all the way until my walk to home from the station when I just felt so tire that I just went into the oval on the way and the grass was just so inviting. I let myself drop on the grass and rolled down, lying there several minutes, taking pictures, watching the cockatoo in the center of the oval eating something off the grass and the two cyclists cylcing around the oval.

I headed back and couldn't wait for dinner. I was exhausted. While taking my clothes off for shower, I realized that I was sunburnt too. My face to my neck were red and so were my arms. Ahhh.


I will probably get a look at the footages tomorrow and I will see what I got. Hopefully good.

how much was the shoot?

Equipment FREE
Pack of 4 AA = $6.95 (because the rechargeable ones were half dead)
Crew = Free (fellow classmates)
Actors = Free!

Lunch for crew and and actors:
600ml x 6 bottle water =$4.00
Roast beef slices =$0.93
Honey Leg Ham slices = $3.50
Bread =$1.80

Miscellaneous

Panadol for Kristen=$4.00 (she was getting a headache)
Mojean's request for change=$0.20 (to get his salad i think, Thukten subsidized 10c)

TOTAL = A$21.38 which is about one hour of labor in Australia. (I need to find a job and make some Australian dollars)