Rat Bastard

What a semester it has been! I have to say that I learned a lot from this Fiction Field II class. Each of the assignments were meaningful and got me to think about how I go about shooting and techniques in different and interesting ways.

This past project, Rat Bastard was probably the most stressful but also the most fun. While we didn't leave ourselves much room for error and didn't give ourselves a whole lot of extra time to shoot if we made a mistake, the pressure almost made it more exciting and it motivated us all to work hard. My favorite part of working on Rat Bastard was being able to put Arturo's directing methods to the test in order to get the desired performance out of our actors.

The reason I think our final project turned out so successful is because we all shared a vision on how the final product should look.  The project was very much a collaborative effort from Lindsey, Dave, Sam R, Sam M, Chris, Tori, and me. Another great thing throughout the shoot was that even though people more or less had set tasks, we were all open and receptive to each other's ideas and suggestions to improve the shoot.  In addition, we made sure to keep the shooting environment fun and not too serious. I think that the process of shooting should be an enjoyable, fun one though it can be stressful sometimes. Based on the behind the scenes of The Hobbit video we watched in class the other day it sure seems like everyone on that production had lots of fun and worked equally as hard. Thanks to my great group for keeping it fun and creating a great final result. Good luck to everyone in their future filmmaking endeavors!

Class Wrap Up

This class in all has taught me a lot - I have gained experience that I did not have before. I had my first directing experience, which was amazing! I have previously thought that I would like to produce better, but it felt so much more natural for me to be directing. And just like every production class I take, the more projects I do, the more experience I get, the more mistakes I make, and can learn from those mistakes. Arturo, you were a great tool that we were able to utilize during these projects.

Besides talking about how great this class was, I have been watching some films from the recommended list. So far, I am happy and entertained by everything I have watched. I think that even once this class is over, I will continue watching the films on that list!

I also just want to say how happy I am with our final, Rat Bastard. We had the best crew that did their jobs perfectly. The editing and sound in the final product looks amazing. I am beyond proud of it! Thanks to all the Rat Bastarders (thanks Lindsey for that great word)!

Who you calling a Rat Bastard?

It's a WRAP!! 

Get it? Because in film that say its a wrap when they are done with a shoot but that is a picture of a wrap like the sandwich! Get it? Oh you people don't know comedy!

Sunday was a GREAT production day. In all of 9 hours we were able to shoot our final project. Though the day was long, the crew and cast made the day run a lot smoother then I thought it would. I was very impressed on how organized and detail oriented we were as a team during the production. I've been on productions where everything is just all over the place and we would waste a lot of time trying to figure things out when things should have been figured out already. This past Sunday, the crew showed up an hour before the cast. We set everything up and went over shots before the cast even came, this way when the cast did come, we were able to jump right into recording. We ended our production 45 minutes before the scheduled end time. Impressive right? Yea I know, I know. I just want to give a big thank you to the crew for holding everything down, from the script writing, to directing on set, to making sure we had all the audio covered. A very organized team made for a successful day of shooting and i'm happy we're done. BOOM!

Rat Bastard

Yesterday we wrapped on shooting our final project, Rat Bastard. It was a very long day, to say the least. Starting at 915 am on a Sunday for college students was difficult for us. It took awhile for us to wake up and get moving, but we managed. I was directing this project and I feel so lucky to have my first directing experience go as smoothly as it did. Having seven group members proved to be SUPER beneficial, even though I thought it would make things more difficult. Everyone did their jobs and it saved so much time to not have to constantly be trying to get people back on track. Sometimes there were a couple people taking a little break, but there were at least four or five people at all times that were on their game and getting things done. I was really lucky to work with a crew of competent people to help my directing go well. It was also extremely helpful to have people specifically concentrating on shot logs and continuity.
I am so happy we are done shooting and it went as well as it did! I can't even articulate my relief! :) I can't wait to show the final.

Wrapping of Rat Bastard

We just finished filming our final project "Rat Bastard". It was a long grueling day that started at 9am and went until about 5pm. We finished ahead of schedule! We weren't planning on getting done until 6:30pm, which is nice. We all worked together throughout the day and shooting went pretty smoothly. I loved our actor that played Jeff. He was a great guy, with a great attitude. It can be hard working with college students. We aren't always the most organized, but he stuck with us and had great patience. I'm very appreciative of that. I thought that having such a big group was going to be hard, but fortunately, it turned out that having seven members working on this project was very helpful. We each had a role, and stuck with it, switching here and there when someone needed a break. Having so many of us allowed us to have a few members who worked on script coverage and shot logs, which is a luxury that I hadn't had before. Usually groups are scrambling to do audio, video, and lighting and there are no spare hands to help with anything else. Having script coverage and a shot log helped to maintain continuity, and will make editing easier for Tori when she is sifting through all the footage. I don't have any of the set pictures we took, but we took a lot..... some nice pictures... some not so nice pictures. Lets just say some of us were tired. It was a great experience and I feel like I learned a lot. Hands on experience is the best for me, I learn a lot quicker because I have to! I am extremely tired and am so glad it is over. Great job Rat Bastarders. We did it!


Oh and there's this..... apparently we aren't the first to make a film with this title. Enjoy?