Day One of Filming!

Spring is finally among us; flowers bloom, skies are blue, birds wake me up with their chirping.  The night comes later now, and the sunlight shines over us like a guardian angel.  It's a beautiful season, made even more so with the arrival of spring break.  A week off of school, perfect for day trips to the beach, hangouts with friends, dips in the pool.  A week free from homework and school projects, a week of total rest and relaxation... At least, for students who aren't taking Media Studies.

While most kids right now are enjoying their time off, lazily basking in the sun and sweating in the 90-degree heat, I spend my days crouched over my computer screen, furiously writing blog posts and ignoring the pleading cries of my loved ones to take a break.  The daylight slips away from me, but still, I refuse to take a sabbatical.  I work tirelessly over candlelight into the wee hours of the morning; I work until I forget what I'm working for.  Sometimes, I feel like my labor is fruitless.

But, other times, I see the shining light at the end of the tunnel.  Finally, my hard work has solidified itself into something real, something tangible.  Well... as tangible as a video can be.  

Me and Ale

After days of working to create a schedule -- factoring in work, trips, and overall availability -- we were finally able to film on Wednesday afternoon.  The cast and crew consisted of an odd group of characters.  That is, a series of friends that I never thought would be in the same room together.  My friend Joey Coste, who's playing Joseph Farley, was obviously a given.  However, I also needed a dude to play Joseph's crush, who later turns out to be a bit of a homophobic bully.  Originally, I was going to get my little brother, Lucas, to take on this role.  Yet, after some complications surrounding his schedule, I panicked and called my friend Ale last minute.  I thought Ale worked well for this role, as he's pretty good-looking, and also looks a little older than the rest of us.

Ironically enough, my brothers' plans ended up falling through last minute, and he was able to tag along as Ale's friend.  Finally, my good friend Ren came along with us, as she's helping me with cinematography and teaching me how to use her high-quality camera.

In the end, the filming went great!  I was able to get some incredible footage, and we were able to wrap everything up in under 2 hours.  Additionally, I'm pretty sure that I got all the shots I needed from the restaurant scene, which is relieving, considering that I had to film the music video project over the course of 3 days...  Although filming isn't complete by any means (I still have 2 more scenes to film), I consider today to be a huge success.  Finally, I must admit that as tedious as it was, the storyboard came in clutch.  It was a huge help to have a detailed plan of all the shots I wanted to include, as well as their composition.  Although, perhaps I'll just make a shot list for the next project.

With that aspect now done, I'll dedicate the rest of my week to filming the last two scenes, and to begin editing it all together.  Finally, here's one last picture I got that shows the actors sitting down and Ren setting up the tripod.