Shooting Schedule, Photography and Lighting Kit

This evening I finally completed a partial shooting schedule for Nicotine. It was tough putting it together, but after weeks of trying to figure things out and many headaches, I wrote it out. It's partial, as I said, but that's mostly because we don't have a lock on all locations. I'm not stressing that fact either, because the major locations are a go, and the bowling alley is, as the owner told me Sunday morning, "A 90% sure thing." 


Because we all have jobs in the real world, the entire film will be photographed on the weekends. That was the most challenging thing to work out, because I want to finish the shoot in September, cutting it a long the way, polishing it up and do music in October, and screen it at the end of October, then hit some festivals whenever those festivals happen. That's my time frame, and it's completely doable, but that means some days will be non-stop action. The first full day of insanity will be September 10th. Day begins at 8:00am, with Day Wrap at 9:45pm. Of course the following day I didn't schedule anything until 2:00pm. 


What will  be a major factor in deciding the length of a day is the amount of "coverage" I plan on getting. If I ever learned anything useful from Peter Bogdanovich, it's that he doesn't do the traditional set-ups; he doesn't do the master, two-shot, close-up, etc, etc, etc. He just photographs what he needs. In theory that would work, but that's not the reality of this production. It's also not a minimalist production either, as far as the photography is concerned. It's somewhere in between I think. Soon I need to figure out exactly how it will be shot, because I need a sense of fluidity through camera movements and style, just so the entire film feels the same. A mismatch can work, but not with this one. I have rules for myself. One major rule: no handheld camera work. None. It's not only overdone by independent filmmakers, it's too easy of a manipulation. The entire thing will be on a tripod; however, the motions will be loose and freeing and floaty (maybe), but not handheld. 


Another rule I have is that I must not use blue unless there is true-to-the-eye atmospheric reason it would be in that particular tone. I tend to use a lot of blue tint in projects. I have for about 11 years now, actually. I blame Michael Mann's Heat and Sodebergh's Traffic. It's mostly used as an emotional tool;  loneliness, a sense of detachment from your surroundings, oxygen cut.

Bobby De Niro is in super deep thought. It's like he's drowning!

Mikey Douglas is chilly.

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Tonight I went to Ace Hardware to pick up four clamp-lamps w/ reflectors: Two 150watt and two 60watt for $40. It's my very own poor man's light kit. It will do the job, but at an extremely cheap price. The lighting for this film will be quite low-key and natural, nothing too fancy or overtly "lit". Too much theatrics with the lighting can ruin a perfectly good scene. Where's that balance? Of course if we're going for total realism, we could just light all scenes from the practical light locations; meaning the only light hitting the actors are from the actual light sources in any given room. This sometimes works, but mostly doesn't. Never over do it. Remain as natural as you can.

There will be times when I rent some 750w Tota lights from LightsOn for very specific scenes. That's yet another thing to keep in mind when designing a shooting schedule. If I know I need to rent lights, then I will plan to shoot other scenes over the weekend with those lights. The cost to rent a 750 w Tota is $12 a day. That's cheap. They will be used for creating intense direct morning and evening sun.

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That's all from me today. Gonna go watch tonight's Conan repeat in 30 minutes, then get to bed. A fun 13.5 hour day of work is tomorrow!