SO.
I’ve been busy. (moreso than usual? yep)
Firstly with Angst and Other Drugs, a short film I’m associate producer and 1st Assistant Director for. We filmed over six days from the 2nd-7th of September and let me tell you: COVID-world ADing is challenging.
In addition to the regular tasks of the AD, I had to schedule the crew in a way that kept our set to 10 people maximum. We were basically running in two shifts with art department earlier in the day and the shooting crew later, which meant much longer days for me (I was getting about 6 hours sleep every night, which wasn’t too bad considering).
Given that the crew was so small, I was also having to fill the role of 2nd AC on set, and for one day (the final, crucial last scene), lighting as well. Honestly I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off to do everything and these BTS photos of me by the amazingly talented Summer Watson (@summerngaire.media on instagram) do not capture how hectic it was inside my head.
Ultimately the shoot went ahead super smoothly and nobody else was too stressed other than me, which really shows that as the 1st AD I did my job well in pushing everyone just enough to get all the shots we needed, without going overboard. The project’s in editing at the moment and I’m super keen to see Angst getting cut together.
The next project on my slate is a music video! I’m directing and producing it, I have a nice little crew and we’re filming on this Friday the 25th. Yes this is light on details (who’s the artist?) but you’ll just have to keep following for more details come Friday!
Onto Clouded news: we’ve started getting casting briefs distributed! The process is going to be actors sending self-tapes and then going to in-person callbacks from there.
This stage is incredibly exciting (and a little scary!) because it’s the first actual tangible thing that’s saying this film is going ahead and getting made. I’m really psyched to start receiving the applications. Every day is one step closer to getting this film made.
We’ve got about sixty percent of the crew locked in too, and what’s great about getting crew for Clouded is that because it’s not a uni project and people aren’t doing anything for assessment purposes, it shows people believe in the idea and the script, and will be keen to work with me! It really makes for an environment with a lot more excitement and motivation than a uni assessment.
Hopefully this week I’ll be able to get an Indiegogo campaign up, if not this week it’ll definitely be next one. As always, stay tuned for more updates and thanks for reading this far! Much love, Esther.
Esther Vale 