4/18/2015

When we shot last weekend, we got lucky. Both Saturday and Sunday we were wrapped and headed home at least two hours early. We shot at a pretty good pace and got some good takes in despite some logistical difficulties.

This weekend, though, everything would be different.

I spent an entire afternoon early in the week figuring out the shot list and sent it to the AD for his take on things. On the whole, we would have to get through about 20 pages of the script, about 1/4 of it, this weekend alone. On Saturday, we were looking at having to get at least 20 different shots. Sunday we're gonna halve that and get 8, but Sunday's shots were long and would include a lot of extras.

Blocking in preparation for the arrival of the extras.

They were going to be long days. We had to shave time where we could. While I built in shots that could be cut if absolutely necessary, I didn't want to if I didn't have to. We set decked as much as we could the night before and got there earlier than planned on Saturday morning to finish decking and to pre-light.

The good news was, we were knocking out shots. About three hours in, we were ahead of schedule.

It's on days of shoots like these that I appreciate having an AD who knows his stuff. CJ is a buddy of mine and we've worked on sets before. Our styles of ADing aren't exactly the same, but we share a few techniques. When it comes to jam-packed days, having an AD that can crack the whip and keep things moving while still maintaining the respect of the cast and crew is vital. Finding a good balance between planning ahead and going with the flow is integral, too, but I'll cover that in a later post.

The arrival of the extras added an element of chaos that we hadn't had to deal with before. They were fun to work with, they all seemed excited to be there and I gotta hand it to CJ, he kept everyone reigned in. More people meant more takes which meant more time. It wasn't our fault, but we weren't ahead of schedule anymore.

Despite falling behind, we were still able to wrap an hour early. That's what happens when you have an experienced crew.