A convention I attended in Nov. 2014, LIWho 2, fate had me meet Kyle Williamson. He's an independent filmmaker who makes both fan films and original short films (so far no full length ones... yet).
I attended his fan filmmaking panel at LIWho and learned some things. But mostly made a great connection with Kyle. Soon after, in Dec, he asked around Facebook needing help with an original short he was going to enter into a short film festival. I immediately, electronically, raised my hand to volunteer.
He first needed a sound person, which is what I have done with Potent Media films. But I am a very good PA as well. By the time the first shoot came around, he realized he needed a camera person. So I changed hats that week and prepped for that instead. I broke down the script with what type of shots it should probably be, just based on the script directions and dialogue. I went over some of it with Kyle that morning but it wasn't really enough prep work. I got challenged with being an Assistant Director more so then expected. So I had to switch hats or add hats very swiftly. Kyle and I learned a lot on the fly because of that. And we learned from those hardships and mistakes very quickly. But it did mean our shoot was going to need at least one more day to finish filming.
We came back another day in early January to finish filming. This time I had more time to prep. Took the rest of the script and really broke it down this time and made sure Kyle made a shot list for the shoot. We got together the night before and really sat and worked through the rest of the script so we knew how to shoot each scene better, what shots we needed to maybe redo and any pickup and insert shots we missed last time. We decided what type of shot each one would be (close-up's, medium, wide, etc). It was definitely a much more productive and intense production meeting for us.
Being better organized and prepared for the second shoot, it went a lot smoother. There still needed to be a couple pick up shots that Kyle shot later on with the actors but overall we got everything we needed. He had one more shoot day that was for the beginning sequence and outdoor shoot with the actors that was only about a half days worth of filming. (I was unable to attend that shoot).
We actually shot this film in order, which is not normal. But almost seemed easiest in this case, oddly enough... Since we didn't have to worry about different actors for the scenes or different time tables for the actors, and there wasn't a lot of shots that were the same, it worked out ok to shoot in order.
Kyle then had a friend do the special effects in the beginning and Kyle added all the graphics and music and edited the whole thing together. There were a lot of test films sent to me to review and give feedback on what was ok to keep and what needed some work. The full film was about 18 minutes long. For the festival it needed to be about ten minutes. So Kyle worked on chopping it down for that but kept the longer version on his YouTube channel, Sci Fi Geek Productions.
But without further ado, here is the completed film. I hope you enjoy it!
Me and Kyle on set!
Cast and crew between takes. Allen Clark, Robert Lacorte, Asha Brown, Tiffany Bartholomew
Kyle and Rob
Me and Rob
Me, Tiffany, and Rob
Two of the stars: Tiffany and Rob
Filming magic! Lateek Harrison on sound, the back of me, and Kyle. (I'm not sure who that is in the foreground)
Me and Rob. Photo by Kyle J. Williamson
Me and my over-the-shoulder camera mount. Photo by Kyle J. Williamson
Lateek checking sound, me checking the camera and Kyle directing.
Rob, Tiffany, me, and Kyle
Getting directions from Kyle. serious face, movie making is serious business! hehe
The cast and crew! Asha, Allen, Tiffany Kyle, me, and Rob. Missing Lateek and Garland though.
**Warning -- The video associated and shown here is for mature audiences only and contains depictions of sexual violence. So the video should be played at your discretion. The text within the blog post is a behind-the-scenes look into how we shot the video but may contain trigger words.**
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A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Kyle Williamson, said he wanted to do a Walking Dead fan film and wanted my help filming it. Kyle and I have worked on a few projects together thus far and we have great chemistry when we film with each other. So I immediately said, "Yes!"
Discussing the script, shoot, and shots ahead of time, we realized how tedious this task would be. Kyle wanted to put out a PSA about BDSM and tie it to some charity work (like a women's shelter) via some sales of photos another friend had done for him. More on that later, back to the PSA video. Kyle wanted to basically recreate an infamous scene in which the Governor interrogates Maggie. The scene is about the Governor intimidating and coercing Maggie into giving up info about her group of rebels by humiliating and dehumanizing her. Kyle wanted to make a twist on this by having it relate to BDSM and the safety issues within that world.
We wanted to shoot the scene in as much precise and exact angles, dialogue, camera movements, and lighting as possible. So there was much prep by watching that scene from The Walking Dead over and over again at nausea. We both discussed much of the lighting and location as much as we could in text messages and emails. Kyle finally got a friend's garage to shoot in (thanks, Zan!) and once we had photos of the location, we could plan even more on where the props would go, how the characters would sit, how to cover up certain parts of the set, etc.
Then it was paperwork time. I printed out storyboard paper and got to work watching the scene and looking at every TWD shot. I literally watched shot for shot what they did, how they did, what dialogue was in that shot, what type of shot it was (close up, medium, 2-shot, etc) and so much more! Below are snippets of my storyboarding. My drawings are so amazing! (sarcasm)...
My lovely storyboards.
More storyboards
Storyboard with some action depicted
I knew I was going to be the assistant director and camera person so I needed to get this right and as exact as possible. And I wanted to make the man in charge (Kyle) proud that he "hired" me.
The storyboards got done. Then I started a shot list but failed getting that done in time due to other work commitments and I got sick two weeks before the shoot. But even without the actual shot list it worked out fine.
Kyle wrote out the original script with stage directions and such. I took that script and broke it down further with my storyboard shot list and matched every dialogue and action with what was in the scene. Tedious? Yes! But worth every blood drawn to get the details right!
Part of the script marked up with the shot number via my storyboards.
Once I got all that done, it was about time to shoot. I sent Kyle everything and we discussed the shot list and storyboards the night before. We further discussed the space once we got there the next morning.
I was bumped up to Director! (No pressure! haha) And Kyle became the AD instead. Brian Schneider was our sound guy. And Constance Chesney was our leading lady, Maggie. Big leap for me being Director now. But I took the challenge by the horns and defeated it! :)
We had downloaded the scene to Kyle's tablet so we would have the ultimate reference for each shot of the scene to refer to. It was a true asset, that along with the storyboards, made the shoot smoother.
I used my homemade over-the-shoulder mount my friend Dave made for me, for the entire shoot. I never put it down basically. Never used a regular tripod the whole shoot.And being so much shorter than Kyle, made some of the angles, almost perfect! Being short worked in my favor! haha
You can see camera mount my friend Dave built for me. And yes I decorated it in pink grip tape and the counterweight.
It was 48 degrees in that garage and poor Constance had to be in a tank top or almost topless the entire time. We had a small space heater which could not heat the room enough, so she would just huddle in front of it between takes. And the rest of us made sure she always had a blanket, her jacket or someone cuddling with her so that she could stay somewhat warm between takes. She was a trooper out there!
Me trying to keep Constance warm between takes!! #StayWarm
Photo Kyle J. Williamson
Trooper Constance stays warm by the portable heater and with a smile on her face!
Yep that's poor cold Constance huddled under the blanket hogging the space heater. heehee
This video below shows the comparison between Kyle's scene and The Walking Dead's original scene. Sorry for the low volume, I forgot to turn up the volume on my laptop while taping it. Also, I paused whichever video needed in order for the pacing to catch up to the other. Overall our video was a little faster paced than the original but overall, it's pretty spot on and some of the dialogue is so exact and in sync!! I am so very proud of myself for really stepping up to the challenge and really hitting it on the head. And thanks to Kyle for believing in me... ^_^
Below are pics of behind-the-scenes. Enjoy!
Short director, means creative means to get the shot right!
Photo Kyle J. Williamson
First shot of the day.
Photo Kyle J. Williamson
The garage we filmed in with the set made up.
During a quiet moment, looking out the window with the light kit in the window and boom mic leaning against it.
Our cast and crew of our shoot that day! L-R: Constance, Me, Kyle, Brian
Long Island Who 2 convention held in November 2014, always brings out the best cosplayers and costumes for Doctor Who. So here's a selection of so many amazing cosplays I saw that weekend!
Kyle Williamson as Jackson Lake aka The Next Doctor, getting ready for the first panel of the day at LIWho2.
He talked about fan filmmaking and showed some of his own fan films from
his SciFiGeekProductions company.
Delete!
Cutest adipose & a scary weeping angel
Me in a rockabilly 4th Doctor dress
Me in the same dress with my handmade 4th Doctor scarf.
Clockwork guy and The Wire - Careful, she's hungry!
Clockwork guy
Hungry!!
Jackson Lake trying to save us from the Clockwork guy!
Corseted Dalek
Are you my Mummy? Totally awesome cosplay by this mom and son.
Me and the Tardis
Run!
Dianna Tucker Baritot and Adam Baritot - Dinna as the Tardis and Adam as the 12th Doctor
This was pretty brilliant -- Van Gogh with the famous Starry Night painting
Me in my rockabilly 9th Doctor dress
The museum had pieces of wardrobe and props from the show.
Many of the props used in Doctor Who- from sonic scewdrivers to River's journal (tho that was a Kindle cover), to the whistle and celery stalk.
One of the few Paul McGann's actual 8th Doctor jacket he used in the 1996 film.
4th Doctor's outfit pieces used in the show.
Closer shot of the various props used.
4th Doctor Sonic (red-tipped one) and you can see the bottom of the celery stalk above right, 10th Doctor sonic in the middle.
10th Doctor sonic and the plastic/rubber celery stalk for 5th Doctor
It's much heavier than it looks. It was made out of metal and it's pretty sturdy for tossing about.
The tip didn't glow much anymore but overall it still functioned with the slider working to make it longer, etc.
The slide whistle is at top screen, a Yeti that I can't recall what that prop was from (corrected from thinking it was an owl), the Pandorica box, Tardis keys, and various other sonics from earlier Doctors.
