Shooting Where We Started: That's a Wrap!
We finished. Principal photography on Where We Started is complete. I left the set at 2am, and tomorrow is equipment check-in and set breakdown.
I'm almost out of things to say. So maybe the blog will be brief tonight.
We managed to save probably the most difficult scene in the movie for the last day of shooting. We tried to schedule the production roughly in chronological order, and though that went awry at some points (I'm looking at you, motel in Marlin), we did manage to have large chunks in order, which helped the actors maintain and track their character arcs through the film. But it also meant that the emotional climax of the movie was shot today, the last day of production. It was a tough scene that required lead actress Cora Vander Broek to be more or less emotionally naked. For an actor to ramp up to that level of exposure on screen, it takes time and energy. And if you know anything about production, you know that you have to cover every scene from multiple angles, so Cora had to reach that level multiple times over several hours. Not easy. I have great respect for her talent and drive.
Like most nights on set, things just seem to drag on. People were getting giddy (with anticipation, I imagine). But we still had some serious stuff to shoot. In the end, we shot what will likely be the final image in the movie. And then we spent another 45 minutes or so picking up some insert shots of objects around the room to use as transition shots if necessary.
After that, I shouted, "That's a wrap!" Everyone cheered. There's a real sense of accomplishment. I opted not to try to make a speech - there was still much work to be done in cleaning up and loading the van. Plus we have a wrap party tomorrow night, and wrap parties are for speeches.
Somehow I managed not to take many photos today, so I leave you with just these last two.
On-Set Post Supervisor Grant Hall is at his station, capturing footage to an external drive while we also capture to the camera. He was also working on syncing picture and sound on his laptop.
And Nelsyn Hill, one of our undergraduate students who served in a variety of capacities on the set (including her gig tonight as boom operator) poked her head out through the set curtains, and I snapped a picture of it.
I'll probably take some time off from blogging - not much to say in the immediate aftermath. But I'll be posting updates as things happen, and perhaps reflecting on various aspects of the process.
And finally, because I think it needs to be said, I want to thank Brian Elliott for his work as Producer, Taylor Rudd for his beautiful images, Matthew Brumlow and Cora Vander Broek for their beautiful performances, and everyone else who was involved in the film for their hard work in helping translate this vision to the screen.
I'm almost out of things to say. So maybe the blog will be brief tonight.
We managed to save probably the most difficult scene in the movie for the last day of shooting. We tried to schedule the production roughly in chronological order, and though that went awry at some points (I'm looking at you, motel in Marlin), we did manage to have large chunks in order, which helped the actors maintain and track their character arcs through the film. But it also meant that the emotional climax of the movie was shot today, the last day of production. It was a tough scene that required lead actress Cora Vander Broek to be more or less emotionally naked. For an actor to ramp up to that level of exposure on screen, it takes time and energy. And if you know anything about production, you know that you have to cover every scene from multiple angles, so Cora had to reach that level multiple times over several hours. Not easy. I have great respect for her talent and drive.
Like most nights on set, things just seem to drag on. People were getting giddy (with anticipation, I imagine). But we still had some serious stuff to shoot. In the end, we shot what will likely be the final image in the movie. And then we spent another 45 minutes or so picking up some insert shots of objects around the room to use as transition shots if necessary.
After that, I shouted, "That's a wrap!" Everyone cheered. There's a real sense of accomplishment. I opted not to try to make a speech - there was still much work to be done in cleaning up and loading the van. Plus we have a wrap party tomorrow night, and wrap parties are for speeches.
Somehow I managed not to take many photos today, so I leave you with just these last two.
On-Set Post Supervisor Grant Hall is at his station, capturing footage to an external drive while we also capture to the camera. He was also working on syncing picture and sound on his laptop.
And Nelsyn Hill, one of our undergraduate students who served in a variety of capacities on the set (including her gig tonight as boom operator) poked her head out through the set curtains, and I snapped a picture of it.
I'll probably take some time off from blogging - not much to say in the immediate aftermath. But I'll be posting updates as things happen, and perhaps reflecting on various aspects of the process.
And finally, because I think it needs to be said, I want to thank Brian Elliott for his work as Producer, Taylor Rudd for his beautiful images, Matthew Brumlow and Cora Vander Broek for their beautiful performances, and everyone else who was involved in the film for their hard work in helping translate this vision to the screen.
posted by Chris Hansen at 12:38 AM
2 Comments:
I'm really happy that you nave the shoot finished, Chris. I'm really excited about seeing the film. Enjoy post. :-)
Thanks, David - it feels good, an accomplishment. Now I just hope it's actually good. :-)
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