Shots from “Still Life” day 2

Through the magic of movie making we turn this real life office...

into a studio apartment!

Cheating a doorway shot. Jason's on one side, I'm on the other. And when you watch the film, you'd never know there wasn't a door there.

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Still Photos from “Still Life”

Just got these in from day one of our shoot!

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“Still Life” day 2

We finished our second day of shooting early this morning.  We hit a couple of snags, but worked through them and accomplished what we needed to.  I was only in a few of the shots , so spent most of my time helping on crew.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a highly competent crew member.  I took turns filling in for A.D., slate, script supervisor, grip, and felt perfectly comfortable in each role.  I had a few key suggestions and solutions to problems that I think were appreciated and helped things move along smoothly.  It seems I’ve learned a thing or two!

We had a good location.  We used a crew member’s office and turned it into an artist’s studio apartment for our lead actor.  I haven’t seen the footage, but I think it worked out quite well.  The most fun shooting of the day had to be our subway trip.  Running on and off the train at each stop, trying to make everything match and synchronize in a couple of seconds.  I can’t wait to see how it all edits together.

I’ll post a couple of the still photos when I get them.  One more day on sunday and then we’ll be wrapped!

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“Still Life” shoot, day 1

Today was our first day of production for “Still Life”, our Life’s Good Film Fest entry.  We had a great day!  The weather was gorgeous for our outdoor shoots in the parks.  Everyone got along really well.  We moved quickly, and called it a day by 8pm.  With most of our exterior shots done, we move on to interior on tuesday and have a couple of pickups for sunday.  We were able to view the day’s footage, and the cinematography looks beautiful.  It’s the prettiest thing we’ve shot yet.  I hope the remaining two days go as well as today!

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Summer’s winding down

Whew! Summer was full of surprises! It has been creatively rich and financially draining. I was out on strike with the rest of the Toronto civic workers for 39 days. This huge dry spell has left me unable to take a few courses I was hoping to this fall, let alone pay rent, buy groceries, etc. Which means, I’ve finally made it! I’M OFFICIALLY A STARVING ACTOR! What a milestone on my journey 🙂 We all go through this, and one day (hopefully) I’ll look back on this and remember it nostalgically. So, in lieu of taking more Second City, voice over, or scene study classes as I had hoped, I have instead focused on making more projects with my colleagues. I’m writing a couple of screenplays at the moment, and am slated to shoot four projects in the next two weeks. Busy, busy, busy!

I finished up the film courses that I was taking and added a couple of others at the tail end.  In all, this summer I studied Documentary Directing, Narrative Drama Directing, Editing Theory, Improv, Commercial Auditioning, Intro Voice, and Script Supervision and Film Continuity.  It was a productive few months.  The most exciting thing that came out of all this was the documentary class.  On the last day the instructor asked us each to pitch our doc ideas.  He found me a couple of weeks later, told me that he was interested in my idea, and that he would like to set up a meeting with me and his business partner to discuss their producing my film!  AMAZING!  My next steps are to send them a proposal, meet, and start writing a shooting script.

On the acting front, I’m working with a team on an entry for the Life’s Good Film Festival.  We’re shooting tomorrow and on tuesday.  It’s a cute little project, and I’m very happy to be working on it.  It’s a bit rushed, as we have a deadline to meet, but so far so good.  Everyone’s been a real team player and their professionalism and commitment has led to a well organized shoot.  It’s my first silent film, so that will be fun.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I have a spec commercial scheduled for monday, and booked a music video for october.  It seems the summer dry spell is finally clearing up.  I hope so!

I’ve also taken up my first role on crew.  Next weekend I’ll be behind the camera as a script supervisor on another short film with a different crew.  I figured I should take all of that knowledge I gained this summer and put it to work as soon as possible (use it or lose it!).  I think that was a wise decision.  It’s one thing to learn it in a class, but actually applying it is a whole new experience.

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