Learning As I Go: A Directors Journey; SHADES
Shades was our first group narrative that I directed and I learned so much from this shoot. I should preface this entry with the fact that I was able to cast one of my best friends here in the Okanagan who was just breaking into acting at the time. To say I abused his free time is an understatement. From keeping him on set for 19 hours, to making him eat ketchup from his hand multiple times, he said he loved every minute of it.
Here is Steve:
I have learned that keeping an actor on set for 19+ hours would never work on a real production because you’d blow through your budget immediately.
It was while I was editing shades where I learned a lot about actor timing. Walk faster! Chew faster! Smoke faster! Certain sequences were dragging out and it slowed the pace of the story. If the actor is chewing for 45 seconds in the middle of a scene then the story becomes boring pretty quick. Keep things quick and tight and it’ll play out better. Continuity is also a nightmare to deal with. There were so many items on the stoner table that needed to be reset before each take. The smoking sequence required multiple takes which meant multiple fake joints had to be rolled. They burn so quickly. Pain in the ass.
I really enjoyed filming this because it was based on an incident that happened to my friend, Luke. So bringing his story to life and capturing the awkwardness of the situation was a fun challenge.
Several shots were recommended the day of filming and I think it’s important to be open to suggestions if time allows. Yes… The shoot definitely took longer than planned but those extra shots were worth it. As director I feel you should foster creativity and be open to recommendations from your crew from any department. Some are good. Some are bad. But if you are polite and respectful, that’ll go a long way, and better ideas will come. Everything is a learning moment. Jeff, the cop, even improvised a lot of his lines in the audition which I ended up writing into the script. His lines really added to the awkwardness and added a touch of comedic value.
Another lesson learned when we were filming outside is to keep all possessions close by the team. Here's what happened. An actor's coat was stolen off set and it happened during the first fucking take. Her starting mark was up a ramp and out of view so she put the coat at her feet. Someone was clearly watching us and took the opportunity to steal when they had the smallest window. And let me tell you it really sucks to have to ask an actor to keep going after losing not only a nice winter coat but a phone and car keys as well. Preventable mistake and you can’t help but feel partially responsible.
