Preparations

Time is closing in on my first shooting day. 

On Tuesday I ordered four rolls of 16mm film.  Two rolls of 500T (Tungsten/Indoor) and two rolls of 250D (Daylight/Outdoor).  On Friday, I plan to shoot both rolls of Tungsten and at least one roll of daylight.  The film was a lot more expensive than I anticipated.  I had been under the impression that, as an RIT student, we had a discount making each roll about $70.  Turns out we have to pay $105 for a roll.  That does not include the cost of processing, which I will have to pay for after shooting each roll. 

What frightens me is that I have planned 11 days of shooting.  The first day is supposed to be a relaxed, half-page of shooting.  This is the first time in my directing career that I've really had to worry about cost per coverage.  I have two options:  Be stingy with my shots in order to save money, or make sure I get quality shots and risk having to take multiple shots for each take.  The director in me wants to risk having to pay more, but the poor college student is leaning on being stingy.  Quality vs. cost?  Hopefully I get good quality shots for each take and won't have to pay as much as I fear.

For the record, one roll of film is 400 feet.  400 feet of film translates to about 12 minutes of shooting time.  My first three scenes are about half of a page, which translates to about half of a minute of screen time.  If I shoot a ratio of 10 to 1, I should only shoot one roll of footage.  That's provided each take is absolutely perfect.

The other day I met with my lead actor, Keenan.  He's playing Marco, an OCD pharmacist.  As we sat at a coffee shop, we discussed the various aspects of Marco's disorder.  Is he a tapper, or a checker?  What kind of clothes and colors does he prefer?  What would Marco's tie look like?

I'm pretty excited about the Friday shoot.  I can only hope it turns out as well as it does in my imagination.