Preparing the trailer was exhausting but fun, but as the shooting days approached (it was insane to get 50 volunteers to agree on one date), it became more and more intimidating. We had decided on two full shooting days for the whole thing.
Saturday. At six in the morning, the entire team converged on the meeting point the producer had secured. Shot lists were discussed, actors were already slipping into their costumes, make-up was being put on faces, hair was being made, appointed assistant directors were asking a question a minute trying to figure out who was going to be in the next scene, doing what, wearing what. It was chaotic, but everybody knew what had to be done. And since a few actors had not shown up, I took on their roles. This meant that I had to coordinate stuff in front of the camera and behind it.
The level of professionalism everybody displayed was impressive. Oddly, despite the fact that nobody was going to get paid, motivation was high. Of course, not everything ran perfectly and tempers occasionally flared between the cinematographer and an assistant director. I have no idea whether this is normal on a film set but despite their differences, things moved along pretty well, although not quickly enough.
The day wrapped late in the evening. There was still one day to go and still too many scenes to film.
Sunday. After three hours of sleep, I arrived at the set to refuel my caffeine levels. I got the lead crew together and proposed that we split the teams into two units to cover more ground. Since we had more than enough equipment it would be a matter of organizing the units with their respective directors and cinematographers plus corresponding crew (all main positions had one assistant). Most of them were a bit confused initially, but they agreed and immediately went to work to divide the teams. The logistics would have to change and since I had taken on roles for other actors, I was forced to run around between the two filming units, also switching costumes.
We wrapped earlier on Sunday and secured the footage. Our set photographer made hundreds of pictures that documented the whole process. A few days later, after the dust had settled, it was time for the editing. Visual effects for explosions and gun shots since our props did not fire any rounds, music, sound effects.
Ready. The trailer could see the light of day. Now what?
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