Spring must be in the air. The cameras are finally dusted off, the sound gear is packed up, and it feels damn good to be back at it.
We were out at the Sooke Potholes again recently, shooting the final part of Valeria Frances Mary Two Bears’ film. Just having the Blackmagic back in hand felt right. I have to say, this local film community is always so welcoming, and we’re lucky to consistently have such great folks coming out to help make it happen. Huge shoutout to Grant Sawyer, Beth Anthony, and Brent Lanyon for the support, Phil McOrman for grabbing behind-the-scenes photos, and a special nod to Tristan Crocker—first time acting on set and he absolutely killed it.
Of course, it wasn’t without a few technical hurdles. My ongoing issues with the BMPCC 4K reared their head right on cue. I kind of anticipated the power drain, so I had ordered a V-mount battery setup, but naturally, it didn’t arrive in time for the shoot. That left me surviving on just two standard batteries for a full day.
If you’ve ever done a run-and-gun shoot, you know you never really know how the pacing will go, but it became clear pretty fast that those standard batteries weren’t cutting it. They died on me several times right near the end of the day. I was literally running a dead battery back to the car, throwing it on the charger, and leaving the engine running just to juice it up enough to keep rolling. The good news? The V-mount has officially arrived, so those specific headaches are a thing of the past.
Now that the shoot is wrapped, it’s time to move on to the edit. But speaking of editing… I am seriously dragging my feet on the Gangsterphernia short film. I shot it, I’m cutting it, but without a hard deadline staring me down, I keep falling into the trap of wanting to endlessly polish every single frame. I know I’m overthinking it at this point. I just need to call it, finish the thing, and move on.
As for what’s next, I’ve been heavily writing and planning my own short film. It’s a crime drama—something that’s been bouncing around in my head for probably decades now. The process for this one has been really interesting. I actually started casting before I was even done with the script. I’ve been taking a lot of cues from the great Wong Kar-Wai, adapting the characters and the writing to fit the specific people I’m casting, rather than writing a rigid script and searching for an actor to perfectly fit the mold.
When you’re working in the micro-budget world, you have to lean into every technique available to create something amazing when you don’t have piles of cash to throw at it. It’s all about making the constraints work for the story.