DEAR DIARY #2 - One Down, One To Go!

From Friday, May 3rd through Monday, May 6th, we gathered in the name of the King, and in honor of indie film, and we creatively collaborated and crafted a memorable chapter in the unwritten tome of Colorado Independent Cinema. It was so very long, those four days, but they were oh so rewarding!

LAST MINUTE LINEUP CHANGES

As happens in the world of indie film, there were some scheduling issues that cropped up in the final week lead up to production that led to some last minute scrambling, and no small amount of panic on my part. Knowing it’s a possibility and staring it down multiple times over the course of a handful of days are two very different things.

It’s never something you can fully prepare for, because you never know how it might run in to trip up your film, you just have to know that it could happen, and need to be able to roll with the punch so that you can effectively recover and find your feet.

Our knocks came in the form of losing our Hair and Make-up artist for the whole production and rushing to find someone else to step in, having to find a replacement sound person for our biggest day of filming (our casino day), and replacing one of our supporting actors and my AD two days into the shoot.

But thanks to the assistance of Kacee Smith, Dan Siegrist, Bob Morsch, and Kala Roguemore, those punches proved nothing we couldn’t rebound from. And we totally gave as good as we got this weekend, if not more so. We also had some assistance in Cripple Creek from Angelica and Eli who got us actual casino access on the night.

We also had some scheduling issues with two of our important supporting players for our casino day, giving us a very tight two hour window that we had to complete the number of scenes in which they appeared together. So the week threw all kinds of punches at us. And each one landed somewhat painfully.

Those are never adjustments that come easy or are fun to navigate, especially in the final days leading into the production when you need everything to be firmly set and settled, all locked in. So it was a week with heaps of stress and much less rest, but we got all the parts covered, and holes filled in just in time to make the film happen.

When up against the tightest of deadlines as we are with the contract, we had such little wiggle room to work with. We had to get all we needed in the can this weekend with little to no exception. And we did it!

LIVING THE DREAM

Beyond the somewhat nightmarish stresses, the first four days of filming were dreamlike. Such amazing visuals captured at the hands of our ingenious cinematographer and producer, Travis Eckland. As you can see from the dreamy stills above pulled from the footage (more here).

He instilled the film with such beauty and character from the first moments he rolled camera atop the hill overlooking the city of Cripple Creek. His choices, as always, were impeccable and stylish. A master of the mise en scène, his eye infused each frame with cinematic gold! And I am blown away by what we’ve gotten so far!

LEVELING UP

His choice to go Black & White was immediately embraced by yours truly, lover of the gray, as are pretty much everyone of his choices, but the richness and depth of the imagery still blows my mind and shakes me satisfactorily to my artistic core. The film still fill me with a joy I cannot express fully in words.

Bringing on Alex Fahl was more than just another Eckland stroke of genius, it was a Whatsabudget Films dream come true! Ever since meeting Alex on other people’s projects, it has been a dream of mine to get this master of the craft collaborating on one of my films. When Travis pitched bringing Alex on, I was on cloud nine.

But when he agreed and showed up for our biggest day of filming, I was on cloud 37! And I didn’t even know the clouds went up that high! Meeting Travis was an absolute game changer for me both professionally and personally. Becoming fast friends, and regular collaborators, he upped my game exponentially and has taught me so much.

I often joke that our 50th short, ART (2022), my first shot by Travis, felt like I was finally making my first film. Growing so much since as we have continued our creative partnership, Travis once again brought that feeling to me and my sets by adding Alex to the roster.

This past weekend, now here on film 63, I felt like I was leveling up once more. And I owe all of that to this amazing team of collaborators who have worked tirelessly to breathe a life into this project and story that refuses to be denied.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING

We have one more weekend of filming scheduled for the 18th & 19th of this month to wrap up the project and put all the finishing touches on the piece. After this past weekend, my body is aching and sore, and I am beyond exhausted. But I am SO ready and looking forward to the next round!

robebowen

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In case you missed our posting about the start of the shooting, I wanted to share it with you all here too. Because none of this would be possible without all of you who are reading these words right now! And we appreciate the hell out of you all!