First film wrapped for me - Jesse Chapman's APL.

In short, the shoot went great. I know that sounds the like the generic typical description for almost all shoots - but it honestly did (minus a few technical problems with my adapter) because putting it simply, Jesse runs a great set. He's fun to be around, he keeps things moving briskly, he knows when to play and when to focus, his actors and crew are well taken care of - its just all around, a very enjoyable experience. Thats why I opted to accept his offer again, after doing his other film "P.S" - because I had such a great time.

Our first day was a cake walk. My HV20 and Brevis worked like a charm, and the actors were all very prepared. Allie K was extremely helpful as AC, and we made our day right on time.

Day two even more simple, because we were using the DSR which has no interchangeable lenses to worry about. Each shot was accomplished with ease, and the actress was well prepared. Some pretty phenomenal takes were grabbed toward the end of the day - that I cannot wait to see on screen.

Day three encountered a few problems. Primarily in my department. My Brevis unit died on me halfway through the day. Ironically, I called my friend Reid for assistance - only to find that HIS Brevis died as well on Phil Atlas' shoot. Practically in tears, I called the Godfather (Marco). He helped me resolve the issue - but everytime I got one thing working, another aspect of my Brevis seemed to malfunction. After about 9 calls for assistance - Marco helped me iron out all my issues, and we were back on track.

1 hour behind back on track.

We combined a few shots together, and ran through scenes with fewer takes - and then we made our day. Everyone packed up and solemnly left the set with bittersweet feelings about the film. Sad to go, but happy to be done. Special note to John Heppe, who came on the last two days of the shoot to provide EXCELLENT lighting support. He took care of everything and made set ups pretty easy. He also was the set photographer, and took an amazing amount of production stills that I will post here, once I get them.

The one thing that is strikingly odd about this shoot - was that the entire thing was shot to look bad. Ironically, this required more work than one might think. Making a film look bad is actually pretty tough! There were multiple occasions where Jesse would approach me and say "Cris, this lighting actually looks too good - You've got to make this whole frame look flat. Make it look worse." and then walk off. Several times, we made "mistakes" on purpose, like leaving boom shadows in the frame to play on the fact that most instructional videos (while produced well) have very uninteresting visuals that feel awkward and soul-less.

Most of the shots we got looked fantastic (for the aesthetic we were going for) and working with great friends made the experience even better; at the end of the day, it all helps remind me why I cannot even fathom doing anything else for the rest of my life.