Our Fire Films

Just started editing the short  ”4th” (working title) . Here are a few stills.

Progress report on True gifts – everything’s on the edge. The script is almost ready, a few finishing touches left. Today I draw the scenes. Tomorrow we will shoot. I hope the main actress is fit enough by then. My friend will go get the necessary things during the day – a big glass and gift wraps. I rely on another friend to get an on-camera light from a studio. It’s essential, especially during the second day. If everything clicks, it will happen. I still haven’t resolved the problem with the dolly – I haven’t got any.

At least the soundtrack side is resolved – I found some appropriate Creative Commons music on jamendo.com.

During or after dialogue always shoot also the other person, to put in the final edit the other person’s emotional response to the first.

It is not enough to put the old tales in modern settings. Not enough to put a witch who wants to bake a child in a modern appartment, although it’s funny (Hocus Pocus). The action itself needs to be updated too. Not baking in an oven, but, for example, trying to get the child into porno industry, make it into a prostitute, drug dealer or something like that.

I’m just back from filming my first more serious film with a detailed plot and many actors and I found early on that tripod is a terrible time killer. It takes too much time to align it for every angle, if you have to do many scenes a day. So we ditched the tripod early on and went hand-held. It is now my plan to train to film hand-held – make my own style, train my hands, explore other possibilities of shooting film.
Tripod is great for long static performances, but, as said by Maya Deren, it can’t compete in flexibility and speed to a human being with its muscles, joints and limbs.