The Date
And they said it couldn’t be done in one day… THE DATE toys with culturally ingrained concepts and expectations, as a woman readies for The Date. This film is a short, under 10 minutes.
The day began at 10 am and concluded nearly the next day, but we did it! Services were donated by many local, talented filmmakers to make this an incredible crew and cast - any director’s dream. PA’s were borrowed from CSU Fresno and Fresno Community College.
CAST: Kate McKnight, David Otero, Matt Otstot and a slew of Extras
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: John Kelly
ART DIRECTION: Teresa Flores, Robin Elizabeth Bodey
MUSIC: BLEEDING EDGE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: John Kelly
PRODUCER: Robin Elizabeth Bodey
DIRECTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER: Christine Autrand Mitchell
D-Day (F-day: Filming) Sunday, 9:45 am - Mitch and I are still setting up Craft Services when Jeff Ervin, Gaffer, is ready for a walk through of the first set up. John Kelly, DP extraordinaire, is on his way. One by one, the crew arrives, gathering in the garage to snack and await instructions and work. NOTE to fellow filmmakers, don’t volunteer your house for a film shoot unless you like having absolutely no privacy, want to clean your house bottom up for 3 days (they climbed up onto my kitchen cabinets to place a baby baby in the one place I hadn’t dusted!), or just don’t give a damn! Amazingly enough, my house returned to nearly perfect order after evryone left.We had a crew of about 13 throughout the day, give or take. Emma’s room, the pink room, became Makeup/Wardrobe, Alex’s room, the blue room, became a temporary storage, almost every other room was used at some capacity.First set-up of the day was a dolly shot through my living room, tracking Kate entering the house, putting away her belongings, eating stale bread (had to be there!). That, my friends, is how to begin a shoot! After all the kinks were worked out, we were rolling and from then it was non-stop until about 11:30pm that night. In a nut shell - Location 1- Action! Set up after set up. Take after take. It’s a rollercoaster and you can’t get off now! Where are the lenses? Chase dog back home. Take off your hat so we can see your face. Running behind. Who turned the oven off?! Catching up. Lasagna is ice cold - get sandwiches down the street. Chase dog out of shot. Trap crew behind camera in every shot with no way of escaping. We need ice here! My house looks so different… Play with lightbulbs and dimmers. Just turn the knob! Ooh - closet light looks great, John. What a hideous outfit. Chase dog. Let’s teach children how to make a film. Bryan, goes ahead to Location 2. I want to ride with John (Emma)! Break down! Location Move.In a nut shell - Location 2 - Do we have to pay for parking at City Hall on a Sunday? Thank you to Ray Arthur for making this location happen! Will the ice truck give us some ice? Can you unlock the doors so we can get in? Where’s the main prop? First shot - awesome shot, “European”. There’s the Golden Gate Bridge! Light the hideously out of place painting, please. One degree of separation is proved once again in Fresno. Thanks, Kathy and family for coming! My husband has to play an extra and looks incredible! Yell at her! Bryan, off to Location 3 with Teresa. OMG - he’s scary! Where’s Emma’s purse? G-Bye. Break down! Location Move!In an nut shell - Location 3 - Final location - Thanks, Michael for letting us use Javawava on Sunday night! The extras are sitting, waiting, ordering stuff! Who are you? Turn the fans off. Grey is not in our color scheme. Let’s roll! Here’s some lasagna and sandwiches. It’s not locked down yet. Light the candles. Teresa and Melissa rescue us with fetching waters. If you can’t be here until we’re done, please leave now - only lost 2 people. Switch the candles. Cute knoodling. Abel - don’t move! Touch her finger. The right side of the room gets close-ups. You may leave. You are awesome, Loriane! Matt - don’t tempt her with money! Back of room. The orange carafe doesn’t work. Left of room. Pose for pictures. Your daughter was great. Sad puppy dog eyes. Left side of room can leave. Those LIPS, baby! It’s a wrap!Hugs all around and BIG, BIG thank you’s to my family, John Kelly, Robin Bodey, Teresa Flores, Loriane Sena Waite, Jeff Ervin, Michael Barnard, Mike Johnson, Bryan Harley, Lisa Vialpando, Anderseon Kith, Melissa Navarro, and Ron Blackwell; to Kate McKnight and David Otero, Matt Otstot, Renee Newlove, Cindy Wathen, Keith Mitchell; to Kathy Regier and Family, and to Timmy, Roque, Luke, Dorian, Ray Bodey, Brian, Anthony, Michelle, Jessica, Juan, Ricky, Brendon, Adrian, Jim, Linda, Abel and Jay. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone!I’ll continue this another day with editing updates!Thank you all for your support - I couldn’t do it without you. Christine
Rehearsal - Saturday, Sept. 20 Rehearsal was great - some simple food, catching up, delving into a 4 page script, and some quick rehearsals. It was also wardrobe fitting day - David and Kate arriving with armfuls of hangers of clothes, rolling suitcases, shoes, bags… Whew! Two outfits for each scene were chosen, a quick walk-through of the house (Location 1), and big hugs. We would be seeing each other in about 14 hours…
2 Days Away… We are 2 days away from shooting “The Date”. It’s all bubbly excitement as the last few details fall into place and I get messages from eager participants wanting to share their anticipation.We have PA’s coming from Fresno City College and CSU Fresno. That’s one way a film industry plants its roots - get on a set with professionals and learn the rules.Another note for PA’s - be professional, always, it’ll be what will have you returning to other sets. Yes, you might be working for passes to craft services on the hour, but you’re there because the set requires additional help. So, be a professional! We’ve had good experiences, and not so good in our search for help and an opportunity to pass on some of our experience to others.Location scouting has been a blast - another chance to see more of Fresno. Last year’s documentary let me see so many vistas, meet people and learn neighborhoods I wouldn’t have had the chance to know. It reminded me of that time.The thing about being a tiny crew is both good and bad. We have access to some things we wouldn’t otherwise, like being exempt from the City of Fresno film permit process and being able to film in City Hall. But, we also are penalized for it since we don’t have a big budget to pay for locations or insurance and can’t get into places that would otherwise be perfect!I have to say that we’ve been incredibly lucky, though. I see it as being meant to be - when things just fall away, others fall into place, slow motion and not with a rough bang or a jarring of internal organs.We’re rehearsing tomorrow night and I can’t wait! I leave the Writer behind and step into the Director’s shoes. It’s becoming easier to seperate the two, as I learn more, as I experience more, to enjoy the role of Director - a sherpa, not a dictator.In advance of Sunday’s shoot, I’d like to thank Ray Arthur for helping us locate one of our three locations - well, it’s a short film! Thank you to Michael and Javawava for having us. We’ll bring as many customers to you that night as we can!I need to say a big thank you to my incredible Producers: John Kelly and Robin Bodey.Apologies to Robin, a special fx guru, for not having blood, scarring, bruising or broken bones in this film. Sorry, no bleeding out of the eyes even “under stress” or zombies walking around in the background! Maybe next time.Mostly, I need to thank my family for putting up with my mid-life career change!I’ll update and put pictures up after our shoot!Thanks for your support, for supporting film in Fresno, for supporting dreams…ChristineA while ago I wrote…APOLOGETIC SNIVELING: I should have kept you in the loop and I apologize. Just as my friend Terena’s summer turned crazier and crazier, my life also didn’t slow down when the kids were lovingly sent to back to school. (Check out Terena’s blog “After ten years of rejection letters…” about how to send your kids back to school after a long… I mean a hot summer, at http://www.myspace.com/medusasmuse).WE’RE FILMING THE DATE on September 21st! It’s a Sunday, it will be a long Sunday, but the people involved will make this a truly fantastic experience. If you know me and my writing, you will be utterly shocked!!! 1. We will be MOS (without sound - go see a film dictionary to find out how MOS became without sound!). 2. The characters don’t have names - and there are only 2 main characers.3. There are only 3 locations - OMG.VOICEOVER: There must be a clear distinction between fiction writer and screenplay writer. Between literary editor and film/video editor. Between mother/wife and artist.BACK TO SCENE.Here are some of our collaborators (I was really tempted to just use jargon to throw non-film people off and then decided that it was cruel - fun but cruel. I think the fiction writer stopped me):John Kelly - Director of Photography (http://www.johnkellydp.com/)Greg Amaro of Cine-Look - Camera (http://cine-look.com/)Robin Bodey - Continuity/Script Supervision/Art DirectionTeresa Flores - Art DirectionRon Blackwell - Stills Photographer (and Atmosphere) (http://www.myspace.com/Sexybaldguy2)Lisa Vialpando - Make-up/Hair/Costuming (http://www.myspace.com/makeupartistlisa)Helene Autrand - Craft Services.Kate McKnight as WOMANDavid OTERO as MAN.Extras and Atmosphere:Matt Otstott as Young AdmirerRenee Newlove as AssistantCindy Sambueso as AssistantCindy Wathen as Café PatronRon Blackwell as ArtistIf you’ve read this far, you can help me find a few more extras. Call me at 307-8299 or email me here!I’ll have pictures up soon.Thank you to my friends and family for everything! You are so awesome.Christine