Back to School

We're on a roll! After an amazing day shooting scenes for Episodes 7 and 10 on Sunday, the crew charged ahead into the five hour shoot at South Kitsap High School. What a mind-blowing day! I even got to film an entire day in selective color (awesome!) and I got to stage my first rolling shot (incredible!) with the help of a wheelchair fro Carol (Captian Snakes, my mom), one fleet-footed slate operator (Cris), and some muscle (Brianne)! There wasn't a cast or crew member present who had attended a high school so massive and it took everyone about an hour to adjust to the enormity of the space and the huge variety of options we had for scenes, angles, and methods. We were so thankful to SKHS for donating such unlimited space for so long! I also felt so blessed to have one big sister (or sisu as m family always says) and two mamas who stayed the whole time -- it's so great to have the help and have other people around who understand the unique position of trying to juggle a professional project, a huge group of creative young people, and trying to be a good mom/caretaker. Working primarily with an extended classroom sequence that took place in room 305, we welcomed Chrsitopher, Kyra, Sarah B., Sarah C. and Hannah back to the set and enjoyed working with Caitlyn for the first time. Interestingly, our returning actors were all playing different roles than they had before so, in some ways, I was meeting most of the actors for the first time, really getting to see their acting range. Wow was that inspiring! One of the things I learning quickly is that open call auditions tell a director very, very little. Though I haven't regretted 98% of my casting auditions (which were based on open call auditions), you never really know how darn good an actor is until you really give them a actor they can run with. When the intense five hours were over, the cast had said goodbye, and the crew were loading the gear into the truck, all I could think of was: I have got to work with them again. They need a film. A film written just them. Now!! How inspiring to be so inspired :)