Film Class

About a month ago I signed up for a film making class. I’ve made short films before but I thought it would be a good idea to get some formalized training and I could get my hands on some decent equipment for a change.

The first four weeks of the class were a little lackluster. We concentrated on the paperwork part of pre-production. I suppose in the big leagues, production boards and shooting schedules are important but it was pretty much like that drivers ed class in high school. Enough with the insurance requirements and stopping distances already, let me get behind the wheel.

When I signed up, I figured that we’d just take turns being actors or boom holders or camera dudes (and dudettes) or whatever. Reinforcing that idea was the script that we’ve been using to put together the aforementioned production boards, etc. The script’s a four page rough draft with a nice concept but one section seems technically very difficult to film. Hey, all rough drafts are a little, well rough. But no problem. It’s just us. Right?

Not so fast there possum boy.

All of a sudden, this is now a real production. An outside cinematographer is taking over the camera/lighting/sound duties. So much for “getting my hands on some decent equipment.” We also have a professional “art director.” Add to that, our instructor is doing the directing and has picked up some acting talent.

We’ve got Rupert to star in our little production. Not that one, the Survivor one. Not an “A” lister but around Indianapolis he’s a pretty big deal.

Today we scheduled our shooting date. This should be interesting.