This past weekend, I directed my first “cycle” film at Chapman (so called because they are shot in turns, or cycles, over the course of the semester). This is the 8-page script I’ve talked about in previous entries. Thanks in large part to my absolutely amazing producer, Sunny Xiang, we had most of our hiccups during preproduction and the actual shoot went pretty smoothly. So much so that we were able to wrap 2 hours early on the final day, which is a rare thing. Usually you find yourself scrambling just to get enough shot in order to finish the movie. In our case, not only did we get everything that was on our shot list, but we threw in a few additional shots as well.

This project was my first time directing a minor, and though it brought some challenges – particularly in how we had to schedule our days to ensure we got all of her shots within the 7 hours she was able to work each day – it was also a pretty positive experience. The studio teacher, who we feared during preproduction, turned out to be really chill when he saw how seriously we took our responsibilities, and our actor’s parents were also very cool. It was a lighthearted set and I think everyone had a great time.