I had a stroke of genius for my first film. A three page short film with a surprise ending. It was short and simple, with one location and three actors. All I needed was a middle aged woman, a small boy between eight and ten, and a Brad Pitt type man.The man is an assassin, the woman is his target, and the boy is the child version of the man. The story in short is this: The hit man enters the woman's house, and then stalks her through the house until finally finding her in the bathroom. He enters, draws his gun and fires. Instead of being shot with a bullet, she is struck by a foam dart.
The man we have seen is actually the little boy, and he has been imagining the whole thing.I know what your thinking, Its brilliant, and where can I send a check to get in on this project. (1346 N 230 W, American Fork Utah, 84003. Make checks payable to Jeffrey Whitlock). Of course you would be right to think so. It will be awesome.
Finding the woman was easy. My friend Melanie who does casting for Halestorm, (Singles Ward, Church Ball, etc), is also an actress and looks the part. She offered not only to be in the movie, but she offered her giant new house and to find the rest of the needed actors. I was set. With a week before shooting, I could concentrate on story boards and set design.
I wish I could conclude the this story here and tell you that the shoot went perfect and my movie was ready for the Oscars. However, that would be a lie, and worse, a boring story.
I had planned to shoot on a Thursday, the only day I could miss both school and work. It was also the best day for Melanie. On Monday morning, I called Mel and left her a message confirming the shoot on Thursday, and that we had actors in line to be there. She didn't call back. I waited all day for her call, but never got one. finally around Eight she IMs me.
8:07 Mel
Sorry my phone died! I will talk to my friend tomorrow. I thought we were shooting on friday though.
(why are you messaging me instead of calling me like I asked)
8:09 Jefe
I cant miss school or work on friday, its either thurs or sat.
(I have said Thursday from the start, don't you listen to me?)
8:15 Mel
Would it be eaisier to find somebody else.
(The bomb shell. I knew I knew it was all to good to bre true. Here we are a few days from the shoot and she is going to bail on me. I don't know what to say, I need a back up plan. I quickley call my brother-in-law, and beg him to be in my movie. He agrees, and he volenteers his nephew and his wife for the other roles. Take that Mel, I will find somewhere else.)
8:25 Jefe
You sound hesitant, maybe I will go another direction.
(I hope that doesn' sound to offensive. She doesn't respond right away. I wait for her, listening to music and playing solitair Finally I go to bed. In the morning I see she has responded.)
10:15 Mel
Just trying to help work out scheduling but if you think you can find three other people and another place go for it.
(I can tell she was upset. I felt kind of bad, after all the work she has done. I should call her.)
On Tuesday morning I call her phone and suprisingly she picks up. I quickly explain to her my fears of doing it Thursday at her house, mostly that I haven't met the actors, and that it doesn't seem like she is really interested. But she alays my fears, and assures me that she wants to do the project and that she will make sure the actors will be there. I am back in buisness.
Once again, I wish I could end the story here and say that everything got better and went well, but it didn't. When I got to Melanies house Thursday morning, she informs me that Loren, my assassin, broke his foot a few days ago, and that I will have to shoot around that. I stare at her in shock for a moment, and then remembering that she is doing me a favor, and that I don't have any other choice at this moment, I say sure, I can shoot around his broken foot.
So the shoot began with my limping assassin and continued down hill from there. Just so you know, Melanie was fantastic in the movie, and so was everybody else despite the fact that the main character couldn't walk. The biggest problem was me.
Though I had put in hours of prep time, I was using a new camera that I was unfamiliar with, and therefore ended up with some focus problems, I had large shadows on the walls from the lights I had never used before, and I shot the whole thing in under Eight hours. Thats two hours faster than I had planned, which means that I was rushing when I should have been slow and careful.
Overall, I was dissapointed with the footage I took. I wanted so badly to have a succesful shoot, and create an incredible film. But it just wasn't meant to be. Hopefully I will be able to salvage it in post production.
