post-rehearsal evaluation

(1e.) PROPS

scene 1: scooter, apron
scene 2: record player, old photo, scooter
scene 3: glass bottles, cigarette, fake money, old-fashioned bag
scene 4: car, long jackets, hats, masks, chaps, fake money, plastic hamper
scene 5: gun, bag, bandanna, eye mask, briefcase, glass of drink
scene 6: fake money, two cars, scooter

(2.) LOCATIONS

robbers' house- unlimited lighting, outlets, space is wide open so sound maybe washed out

counterfeiters' house - no exterior outlets for lighting front porch besides porch light, two distant outlets inside door, kitchen has good amount of outlets and lighting options, bedroom has good power sources also

scooter girl kitchen- small confined space, may not have much camera room, one outlet in kitchen, on outlet in connecting room, sound quality is good and confined.

street- although some of the actual locations are on tucker, street may be too busy for final scene. Use tucker for counterfeiter's entrance at night, but may find it helpful to shoot on Rembert for final scene. Houses are smaller, looking older, yet there will probably be more people outside watching us.

(10.) RESPONSE TO REHEARSAL

The first practice shoot was at the robbers' house with Sally and Meagan. I expected Meagan to take very naturally to her part because she is so dramatic and Sally to find it hard to portray her character. I was shocked when we shot sally for the first time. She did a remarkable job and I didn't have to instruct her very much. She took her part very seriously and studied the script thoroughly before shooting. I ended up utilizing a different part of the area for the scene because the area I had planned on using had artwork hanging in it. Instead of filming in the front room area, we resorted to a more confined kitchen area in the back. I was able to utilize the blue painted bathroom walls in the background of sally's shot which contrasted nicely with the red fill light I used. I thought the cinematography and lighting on the first practice shot worked very well with my vision.
With Meagan's scene, I experimented with a few different angles but I would like to push a few more next time. I also need to work with Meagan on speaking more slowly and more clearly. She was not having a good day which could have been the cause.
The glass bottle breaking part was an issue I had worried about and the testing of it helped a lot. We found that by laying a drop cloth down and padding for meagan to fall on, if we had someone with good aim throw the bottle hard at the wall next to meagan's head, she would duck down and the glass would shatter. I was worried the class may not break against the wall, but the thrower must have used enough force the first time that nothing went wrong. For the scenes prior to the actual bottle breaking, I had Sally throw the bottle at someone to catch it offscreen. Overall, I was surprisingly pleased with how well everything went in this scene and I may even try to incorporate some of the shots in my final.
The next scene I shot was with Lauren on the scooter in the kitchen. I was nervous about shooting this scene because I think the actors think it somewhat strange. Lauren had trouble acting and I could tell she felt nervous and awkward. I did not really know how to solve the problem. We just tried a couple different things and Brannan helped me loosen her up. I played with the lighting a little bit and experiment with shots by changing camera angles and closeness to subject. A few things I need to be aware of when I shoot the scene for real: I need to get Lauren drunk so she eases up to the camera and the scooter, I need to bring a power strip and different colored lighting so I can play with strange colors and light densities, and I also need to play more with abstract shots capturing close-ups of Lauren and the shiny scooter parts.
The last scene I shot was with Alejandra at my house. I had trouble with lighting from the front door because I didn't want the front porch light on. The outlets inside are far enough away that it was hard to get the lights strongly focused on the opening inside the door. Also, I have a metal framework glass door outside the main red door and I would like to play more with the shadows they create. The kitchen scene shot through the window provided a lot of cool opportunities. With so many different lights and outlets in the kitchen, I can play a lot with the appearance of the subjects through lighting. It was also just an interesting shot because it is through the window from outside and you can see the subjects so clearly, see their mouths move, yet not hear anything. I think the costuming for this scene will be really important in getting the implied message across. While the viewer first sees the characters hiding themselves with the long coats, I want the camera to act as a peeping tom seeing the characters in these crazy erotic costumes, putting the blinds down so the viewer is left guessing.