TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

So, How Did it Go?

The film shoot went so well that it made me nervous - it's been rare when so many things went right for me in such a small amount of time.  Here are some notes because the short film is too short for this amount of director's commentary:

• At the last minute, I went to the Niles fire house to ask about borrowing the old 2nd Street fire house for a couple of hours.  Flash forward 16 hours, I'm talking to the deputy chief of the Fremont Fire Department and the City of Fremont film office and securing a film permit to shoot at that location.  Too easy, right?  The next day I was panicking because we hadn't discussed exactly how we were supposed to get inside the building to set up and film.  Rang the doorbell at the new fire house only to have a fireman lean out and go "Yeah, I was just reading the email - see you there in 10 minutes."  They pulled up in the small pumper - first time a fire truck showed up for me and I wasn't bleeding - and we were in business.
• The rain ended in the late afternoon and the sun provided some really great available light with which to film the "Fairy Godmother" scene - you'll see for yourself what that's all about when the finished product is ready.
• Through the magic of Facebook - we were able to assemble a crew of cheerful, patient extras to show up at the Nile Cafe to sit there, take direction and not complain about the lack of food.  Looking back on it, I'm still unclear how we managed that.
• Han at the Nile Cafe was so helpful that I was really embarrassed - she left the shop open and walked away, trusting that we would behave and not do anything that represented a health department violation.  "Just call me when you're done," she said over her shoulder on her way to somewhere else.  We completed the film shoot in about 2 hours only to discover a small problem - we didn't have her cell number.  This is where it gets funny: 

105mm Films – Some good news…

The City of Fremont was very nice about pushing through a film shooting permit application at the last minute.  We're shooting at a location previously owned by the fire department so I had to go through the Deputy Chief and the CoF film office with 24 hours to go before shooting begins.  Hope against hope, the whole thing worked out and we're on our way to shooting tomorrow.

T-Minus 48 Hours – Crunch Time

Running around finalizing rehearsal details and negotiations with our shooting locations.  With the weather, we won't be shooting out of doors but fortunately we have indoor locations locked up that should do nicely.  Just have to be prepared to deal with the lack of available light (this is a cinematography issue).  Other problems pop up.  Realized that with my normal day-to-day haircut, I don't look like an annoying hipster as much as I do a skinhead of some kind - see an example below: