By
V.B. Sterling
You Never Know
took many forms before becoming the script we are currently
shooting. It began as the story about twins (a good one and a bad
one obviously) and identity theft. After half a dozen edits (a
full dozen if you ask my partner Giovanni Pistachio) the story took on
a new life while still retaining its core elements.
I
enjoyed the writing process immensely and look forward to coming up
with more stories in the near future, much to Giovanni’s dismay.
Suck it up, buddy. I mean You Never Know to be the first of many.
Finding
the actors took months. Not surprising that we would have a
shortage of actors here in the outskirts of nowhere. But find
actors we did. We found great talent. Many of them have
years of theatre experience, and this is the first film for all of them.
Anyway,
after months of preparation and talent search (and maybe a little bit
of digging in my heels) I began putting together shot lists and having
pre-production meetings with my team which consists of Giovanni
Pistachio (auteur extraordinaire) and Al Rosen (a veteran cameraman and
sound technician). Thank God for them because without them I
would be getting nowhere in my budding film making career.
8th
March 2009 – First Shooting Day
To
call it organized chaos would be an understatement to say the
least. I hardly remember anything except for arriving on location
and going home late that night.
Many
of our actors are involved in a college production of Prelude to a
Kiss, so we decided to shoot their scenes first. We were only
able to shoot half of what we meant to shoot that day. We can
blame it on a lot of things, but in reality, we may have been too
ambitious with our time. Having to discuss shots and sound and
the actors motivation takes up a lot of time.
All
in all it was a good, exhausting day.
14th
March 2009 – Second Shooting Day
So
we scheduled two sets of actors to show up at two different times and
two different locations. We were optimistic about being able to
get two locations taken care of in an hour and a half, then move on to
a third locale to get those scenes done. No such luck! This
day was more stressful than our first shooting day. I must have
quit three times before we were done for the night. Also, it
began raining just as we were preparing for exterior shots, so we had
to scrap that. More to do next week!!!
All
in all I think we are doing great!!! My first film should be in
the can by the end of the month (I hope) and I look forward to editing
it to perfection. Giovanni and Al have been superb in helping me
deal with the actors and my stress. Let's hope our next shooting
day goes much smoother!!!
16th
September 2009 – Nearly Finished
Well,
after many months of editing, it looks like we are near the end of the
post production phase. Our editor, Giovanni Pistachio, has done a
brilliant job of turning our nearly no-budget production into a valid
effort for this first time director.
There
were many ups and downs during this production, but I have to say it
has been well worth it. The lessons I've learned (and I'm sure
we've all learned) are those many filmmakers take years to come
by.
I
wasn't sure when we started this project if I would have the talent or
the patience to be a filmmaker, but I've found that I have come into my
own, maturing as a writer, getting my feet wet as a director, and
finding inspiration and drive for future projects.
I
had the good fortune to work with many talented people willing and able
to take me under their wing to christen me in this film making
business. I can only hope that they'll look past my neurosis and
work with me again.
Until
next time!!! Live long and prosper!!! (Lol!!! I couldn't help it!!!)
V.
B. Sterling