Like a broken record

Its beginning to get a little ridiculous as to how many setbacks I keep having. I shot very good scenes, the best so far but the camera footage doesn't want to go through onto my computer which there for doesn't allow me to edit it with movie maker. I've tried over and over again to try and convert it to another readable file but it doesn't seem to work. It's very frustrating that the one thing I was able to rely on is the one thing that's ruining my production. My actors including myself are getting restless, I've lost spent countless days and hours shooting over and over. As a result to this unfortunate side track I'm going to have to shoot again. This time I've looked for a camera that's compatible with the computer. Luckily I've found one, thanks to an old friend who has agreed to lend me his, although its of low quality I'll have to make do with it. I've pleaded with the actors, even got on my knees and apologized several times but they being good friends have agreed to meet me again. Hopefully we can get the same shots from before or maybe even better ones. I'm really running out of time here and I'm losing all positive outlook, I'm closing in on panic mode. I've begun to get anxious and I haven't been able to blog lately because my laptop is still out of commission. Maybe with my laptop it would have worked better, being that its more advanced but I'll never know now, stuck with the old desktop. I'll have to cut back on sleep and work extra hard to finish my project, I don't have a choice.

Success

All went well last night, I didn't finish shooting everything but that's only because I didn't have the script so we had to remember our lines. And the camera died on us so that also cost us. But all of the new shots were great, maybe one I want to redu but everything else went absolutely great. I'm feeling 100% more better about my project, I have every piece of confidence in the world to keep me going. I'm not going to worry about time, I'm pretty sure that everything will run as planned and very smoothly. Today I've asked everybody to come back to work on more scenes again. Looking forward to it.

Lets Go Again

Today I'm going to start filming yet again, but with all the new material and hopefully everything will go by smoothly. I don't know if I'll have anytime to re-shoot anything if this time I can't finish. I don't know if I could use anything from what I've already shot before, I just don't like it at all. I hope this recent decision to make last minute drastic changes does not come back to bite me in the ass. I need things to run as smoothly as possible, I need the full co-operation of everyone. The way I want to direct things will take more longer but will make for a better film. There is one things I have to work on, I can't keep taking thirty shots for each scene, I'm going to try and keep it at three tries per scene. I don't want to spend an hour shooting the same thing over and over again. I hope it goes well today.

Problem

So there has been a major setback, I haven't had the ability to get my actors all at the same time. And my recent decision to completely change the mood of the film, and way I'm going to direct my film. This last minute decision has got me worried but I can't let it bother me right now, if I don't manage to get the shots I want then, I'll have to make do with what I got. But to be honest I don't like the shots I have now, which is why I decided to direct differently. I also made major changes to the script, which has also set me back. On top of everything else my laptop has broken down, now I can't work on mu own tome and need to share time with the desktop at home which is time consuming. And I still haven't gotten the main scenes in which do not take place indoors, I feel that these outside scenes will be the hardest. The last time I filmed it was hard to get in any shots due to the fact that the actors (including myself) couldn't pull ourselves together to co-operate. It took nearly one hour to get about three scenes.

Filming

My first evening of filming went smoothly, of course there were a lot of mess ups and goofing around now and then but, we're not professionals we were just having fun with it. But I did get the shots I wanted and with extra help from one of my former stars, who due to our teeth malfunction had to settle to be the camera person. Before shooting all of us had to get into our roles and prepare ourselves, it took longer than we had expected, we really didn't know what exactly we were supposed to do. But later we felt more an more comfortable and did well on the shooting. As we went on we ad-lib many things and started to get really creative, it was very fun being able to use our imagination. I didn't have anytime to watch our footage because it was late and I was tired, but today I plan to watch and begin editing. But I'm far from finished as we only finished filming half of the script, we ran out of time, so we still need to finish. Also I've only shot that take place indoors, I haven't taken the shots that take place outside yet, and that might prove to be a little bit more difficult. But I'm still very optimistic thanks to last night and how things went along very smoothly, all my worries melted away. I thought I wasn't going to be able to do any of this because of the topic and acting it out knowing it would be hard to keep a straight face. But It went well and I was worried for nothing.

Going to begin filming

So today will be the first day of filming, I have only half the script done but I'm confident that the rewrite of the script was better than the old one. Although I don't plan on filming everything in order, because that would be very stupid, I have downloaded a movie making software that will help me put together all the scenes so that I don't have to film in actual chronological order. I've contacted everyone I'll will be filming and asked them to meet with me as soon as possible, although I didn't exactly the setting I wanted, I obviously don't have the resources to get everything the way I visualized so I'll have to make do with what I have. I really excited to start filming, I've really enjoyed this whole process and can't wait to see how my final product comes out. But I'm a little worried about time, December draws nearer and I don't want to run out of time, because filming is only half the work, I also have to put everything together and edit, to see what fits together or what to keep or throw out.

A minor set back

I suffered a minor setback today. Today I did the fitting of the fangs for the actors that will act on my doc, but it seemed that for one of my actors it did not fit. Though she did not play a big part in the film, it was still inconvenient because I had to rewrite the script. But on the plus side, because of this set back, I decided to change the mood of my film, and I feel that it's better now than it was before. I hope to finish the script by tomorrow, so that I can begin filming this week. I haven't decided on my main location yet, but I have decided on my other locations. Also the other actor has had his fang placed perfectly and is ready to shoot.

Workshop 11/12/09

I've been really busy this week, but I haven't created my new blog till just now. I've already casted who will be in my mock doc. I've also have a light copy of what my sricpt will be, I've had some read it and only one suggested to make some changes. I've also bought the fangs for the actors and I'm waiting for the two more to arrive by mail. I plan on shooting next week, after I have worked more on the script, until everyone is completly satisfied by it. I've done research on vampire myths and "facts", I've taken some of the myths and changed it aroumd, wanting to make this original, different from most vampire stories. Although I have kept some myths, I don't want to completley destroy the reputation vampire's already have. What I plan on doing until next class will be working more on my script and possibly finishing it all. Hopefully I can start to shoot next week too. I have run into a couple complications, I'm in need of a location to shoot the scene and I haven't found what I have invisioned in my head yet. Also I will need to shoot during the night and I don't know if I'll get enough lighting. I also plan to show a some clips from different vampire movies and shows before my documentary begins, a little descripion of how the media has taken a liking to the vampire genre.