I’m taking a break from logging and capturing the footage we’ve shot so far. Actually I’m looking for an excuse to take a break and this seemed like a productive reason to stop. I extremely dislike logging and capturing, but without a budget to hire assistant editors to do it for me it becomes a necessary evil. I’ve spent lots of time editing on Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Avid Xpress. I actually began editing this project on Avid and then changed my mind back to Premiere Pro. To tell you the truth, there are positive aspects to all of the above software and it really just boils down to personal preference. I usually tell people that as long as you have the ability to log and capture properly – with reel names and time code, set up bins to keep organized, and have the capability of exporting a proper EDL or AAF, you can use pretty much anything nowadays. For this project I preferred Adobe Premiere Pro. Most of the bells and whistles that come along with consumer software, you won’t use – or shouldn’t. I’m glad that these products are starting to pay more attention to the importance of colour correction. I used to prefer Premiere for its seamless integration of the other Adobe products like Photoshop and After Effects, although Final Cut can now boast the same and AVID is making a fair effort to follow. On a slightly annoying side. I had picked up a no-name external SATA to USB 2 external 250GB drive for the project and had quite a few headaches with it before deciding to trade it back for a regular IDE 250GB external drive with USB 2 interface which has worked just fine. I usually use a Lacie drive with IEEE 1394 Firewire, but decided not to spend the extra cash this time around – given the price difference of about $120 I think I still came out ahead – I probably should have done a little more research before purchasing. Anyhow, on to day four. This was by far the beginning of the most difficult weekend I’ve ever had filming – including when I shot Bangkok Girl alone. Much similar to the approach Haskell Wexler took on his left wing films “Medium Cool” and “Latino” – minus the political sentiments (or propaganda depending how you view it – we are now in an age of propaganda about anti propaganda – but Wexler certainly lived in an age where a leftist view was taken critically. Nowadays the anti media circuit leaves many people not believing anything as opposed to developing a media interpretation practice. This is another blog in itself.) – I’ve asked the actors to perform in real situations. I was interested to see how the energy from these places would translate to video. This first day started off slow. Actually this first day began weeks before when I was looking for actual haunted locations to film in. Bryan Saunders, who helped out with the research of this had contacted the Cherry Bank Hotel as I had suggested to him. Much to my embarrassment – or his, since he was making the call, the Cherry Bank Hotel had been demolished to make way for condos. Regardless, we worked this into the script and set up an interview. As it turned out, the interviewee was sick and went home early, so instead of the whole thing being a bust, we worked it into the script and strengthened an underlying theme to this part of the film. Later we filmed at another haunted location. The interviewee, and homeowner, Solveig McLaren is a writer and radio host of the upcoming program Author’s Exclusive on VoiceAmerica.com. She was home – thank you for that - and after an eerie interview with her about the various spirits in her home and details of the evil that exists in the room we were about to film in (you’ll have to see the film for details), we began to film. The cast and crew were pretty apprehensive about being in the room and the hopes of “energy” came through full force. While Art and I were setting up the room for filming I decided to take a peak in the closet. Solveig had described something evil in the closet, something that she felt pulling her out of her body. When we moved the furniture from in front of it and unblocked the stops at the bottom of the door we saw that there was a door to a crawl space to the roof of the house. The troubling part is that the door had been smashed from the inside out. The splinters of wood told us this. We kept this from the actors while filming – a good decision since one of them had to enter the closet for a period of time. Unfortunately – due to the energy - we all felt very negative and edgy towards each other. It came across great on film, but the whole vibe was off as far as interpersonal relationships go.
This scene was our first encounter with the Aswang as well as the first introduction to it in the movie as it will play out. I spent great care in how the Aswang would move and was glad that I had cast a Vancouver actress, Kristal Yee, for the role. She had come in to audition a few weeks prior and her movement experience and professionalism during the interview (by professionalism I mean she actually came prepared for anything I could throw at her). I also got a kick out of her very artistic personality and her fearlessness to ask questions at the end of the audition. Kristal had said “So, what are my chances?” and I responded, “I think they’re pretty good.” I wouldn’t recommend this to an actor, but I know Kristal had felt it was fine to ask the question – and she was right. She had also pitched in by coordinating a photo shoot, costume design and an optometrist examination (for her contacts) in Vancouver to eliminate us going back and forth. This saved a huge amount of time. How did people make films without email and photo attachments? Kristal had also had experience with latex being applied and had no reactions to make-up. This was important because she was in full make-up for two evenings. I really lucked out with the make-up artist. I knew Heather Nightingale from working at the film school and I thought, if I ask her the worst she can say is no, but luckily she said yes. Heather is busy doing general make-up for weddings and fashion, but truly shines with film and television. She has worked on several feature films and currently operates the local Make Up Forever stores. Another important an invaluable element to the shoot has been having a still photographer documenting the scene in front and behind the camera. I am super lucky to have the most talented photographer I know for a brother in law. Dino Castillo is a master at capturing candid, natural shots – which is exactly what I love to see in photos. If anyone ever needs a photographer I highly recommend Dino at DKnows Photos picme@telus.net .The photos posted are from Dino – sorry no Aswang photos until closer to the release. You can tell how tough the shoot was by the weariness of our faces.
Well, that kind of wraps up Day 4. I’m hoping to write days 5 & 6 soon since days 7 & 8 are just around the corner. PS – I finished capturing the footage.
