TROMD cinematographers blog summary:

Jake Hull and I (with the help of many talented young filmmakers) just shot a feature (70-80min runtime) in 10 straight days. Done. Maybe some mild ADR to make it xtra professional at no extra cost.... WE DID IT! Editing starts tomorrow!

But here are some of my experiences:

This is a quick summary of shooting and lighting "THE REALITY OF MY DEMISE"... by Rhett McClure

We knew we had a VERY ambitious schedule, and most people told us we were crazy. WE ARE frickin crazy. And that's why it worked. Crazy ideas to get lighting natural but scary. Shoestring budget with high end skills and chasing the DayQuil to the midnight hour.

The early days of the shoot were warmup, kiddie stuff. The crew was getting to know each other, the lines, the equipment, etc. Kind of like summer camp. Cept it's a moldy scary apartment in Wahoo filled with 22 year olds and Rhett.

By the third day or so (it all blurs together) we had a good healthy vibe clicking between cast and crew. Shooting in DVCPROHD with Panasonic P2 is sure fun, and my Aiptek little HD camera was great for 'making of' scenes! Hope you enjoyed them. They are random fun clips and some bad takes and should not be considered definitive indicators of the final product.

On the 17th day of May 2008, we worked a 17 hour day. We finished with the most intense action scenes in a nonstop gruellingly long day. I CANNOT stress how much we were relying on instinct when shooting PIVOTAL scenes of the movie, on such a MARATHON day, on very little sleep to begin with.

We had some GREAT action shots lined up and got some innovative struggle footage between a tiny woman and large man. We feared for a second that one or more of our lead characters had gotten injured, but we lucked out and fate let us keep shooting through the pain. Thanks to everyone who gave 110% on this shoot for our craft and art!

As the shoot moved to Lincoln for a few days, we were re-energized and got some of our best dolly scenes at the interrogation room at UNL. I am also proud of the one way mirror scene we shot with "REALITY" on one side and "THE LIE" on the other. Our registered fake gun almost caused a scene though... The footage will prove it was a great performance all around!

By around day 7 back at the apartment, we constantly struggled with continuity, energy, and creativity in framing innovative shots in the SAME ROOM. There's something to be said for a character questioning their sanity while living with their grandma in a small apartment. Ha!

We began to wear on each other. I know it. Everyone knows it. We all enjoyed every minute though. Except when the equipment wouldn't work right for like 20 MINUTES and then work fine again. That part made me CRAZY!

All in all, I think this 10 day feature film shoot shows that ANYTHING can be done in a ahort amount of time. The key is PLANNING EVERY SMALL DETAIL AHEAD OF TIME and ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT! And then knowing how to beg borrow and steal the rest. Ha! Also have a backup plan for your backup plan for aspects like sound, lighting, actors, cameras, locations and catering!

We lucked out and our Saturday outdoors (THE DAY AFTER A GIANT WINDSTORM) was tolerable and partly sunny. Jake did a great job getting a 3 story scaffolding on UNL campus without any hassles. The cops on the new Segways are intimidating to say the least, but we were kosher with UNL, NE Film Office, and copyright laws! :)

I'll post more videos and pictures soon! Just wanted to repeat some of this while it's still fresh! Proud to have been a part of this, and can't wait to see it at film festivals in 2009!

exhaustedly, independently and undoubtedly,
Rhett McClure