October 21st Shoot

This was a long one.

The pre-shoot was from 10AM-2PM. From 2:30PM-8:30PM was the actual shoot. Somewhere in there was supper, which I bought for the remaining crew.

The pre-shoot was broken down into two stages: the planning phase, which is where I organize what gets shot when, and the setup phase, where I get props made and sets readied up. For today, I turned a corner of my basement into a callcenter cubicle. As seen through the camera lens, I’d say the intended effect was achieved.

It was a small crew today: the lead, two main supporting actors, three extras, and my mom. I got tons done today, to the point that I’d say were now 80% done with the shoots. It was simply incredible. The shoot was originally scheduled for yesterday, but rain was in the forecast – so I delayed it. And what a payoff: today it was clear skies, and a full 22*C. A full ten degrees warmer than what we’d expect for this time of the year. Heck it’s almost November, and yet it felt like a day in August.

But none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for my mom. She drove me out to Value Village, to get a series of props. She drove me downtown. She brought a very large, bulky, prop I needed too. She got two critical extras I needed. She figured out how to store the said bulky prop when we needed to store it. She pretty much single-handedly created the callcenter/interview-room sets I used today. She drove us all to my place for an additional shoot. She is always there during a shoot, seeing what she can do to help.

She is incredible. She is my mom.

My step-dad has been the same way with the earlier shoots: bringing me and my stuff down, getting coffee and doughnuts for the staff during those early morning shoots we used to have, waiting there to help. Incredible people, and I’m really fortunate to have them.

If it wasn’t for them, this movie wouldn’t exist. Simple as that.