Production coming to an end

Last week of Production

Right, so we've been keeping busy and the next thing we knew is that our production is coming to a close. This weekend will be the last 2 days of filming, we only have a few more scenes to film!

I have to say that it has been a really amazing experience to take on a project of this scale, It's far more exhausting and rewarding than anything I've done before. I've learnt so much in every single aspects of production. 

There are a few things that needed to be mentioned though, first of all I'm not certain if i've mentioned this before but we had to cast a new actress for Kate and some might see that as a problem but it was a slight hiccup and thank you (insert a deity here) , a new actress was casted quickly. 

The location for Andrew's place has been a bit of a pain as well but nothing too major and I've dealt with it swiftly(ish) and effectively. 

So that's about it, nothing else to update other than looking forward to post production and getting some music onto the film. 

until then, take care and thanks for reading

cheers

Rungroj Park Rojanachotikul

Director and Writer for Adrift

First weekend of shooting is done!

We just finished from our first weekend of shooting and it was intense. We started out at 4am and on our first day we finished around 9pm and on the second day we finished around 4am.
It was rather exhausting but the reward was towering over our fatigue with pride.

On our first day I decided to arrange the shooting schedule to focus on Andrew and Alana. I also wanted to shoot all the scenes chronologically as it will help the actor and the actress to get into the zone better. As they will pretty much have to build their relationship and live through the relationship as if they are going through it themselves in a normal world where no one can defy space and time continuum (as in cinema you can bend time as you please)
It was an early start and we were fortunate enough to get a rather nice sun rise even though it was quite cloudy. We captured our first shot in RAW format because we wanted that high dynamic range so we can play with it more in post production.
I decided to shoot most of the scenes on hand held and shoulder rig as I wanted to portrait the volatile state of these characters' emotions.
The scene that was most difficult for the actors would have been the one before the last one we did on that day. It a physically and mentally demanding scene for Andres (playing Andrew), it required him to pretty much break himself down completely and shatter his emotion in pieces. It was exhausting enough to see him go through it and when we tried to capture on the cameras ( we had two rolling at the same time for this) , it was seen clearly on our monitor that this scene can not be done more than 10 times for a healthy actor and at most 20 takes. We did it in a few takes but the one we decided on was a take that lasted 6 minutes close to 7 minutes.
I am a sucker for a long take shot and with what we captured I was over the moon. We ended the day a few aches and feeling sleep deprived but other than that we were ready to shoot on our second day.

Our second day looked on paper to be a lot less emotionally exhausting than the first day but when we finished at 4am, we felt like it was a different kind of challenge. It was again an early start and we shot some of Andrew's scenes in the morning while we lined up a scene of Andrew and the man in the suit in the afternoon, and end the day with three scenes of Andrew and Vincent.
We had a lot of fun in the morning with a "snorri cam" scene and we will possibly use it again, with Max's (Director of Photography) ingenuity, he managed to come up a DIY rig utilising a tripod and a backpack with an LED light on top of the camera. It did take too long to set it up and since that point we became a little bit delayed for the rest of the day but it was worth it.
Another scene that came across a few difficulties was the scene between Andrew and the man in the suit. It needed a very specific level of tension and hostility between the two of them to make this scene work and all I can say is that I wish I have more budget and more time. I wish that we had the whole day for this scene so we didn't have to rush through it. The end result was much more better than what I expected with the amount of time we had.

So what did I learn from the two days of shooting? Many, Many, Many things.

I found out more about myself that I wouldn't trade this for anything else in life, I do really want to become a film director and writer. I love being on set and interacting with the actors. I love that I can manipulate things into the way I want the audience to see my work. I love everything about film making.

I wish that I had more budget that can give me more time to work more on each scene. So then I can afford better equipment that I can use to enhance my work even more.

PS: status - heavily sleep deprived, exhausted but happy and hopeful with next weekend.
I also have to apologise with grammatical errors and what not, I cannot be bothered to proof read everything.

Cast confirmed

Hi there!
It's been a while since I've updated this blog and I do have to apologise that.

So we have our cast and our crew is also confirmed!!
So what have I've been up to since the last post, well other than casting and location scouting I have had a chance here and there to touch up the script.
The script itself will keep on evolving as the production goes on, this is due to how I approach my work. Sometime I do find that even though everything has been set and ready to shoot but when you are in front of it, there's something that can be improve or adjust to your liking just a little bit more.
Therefore I will not be able to say how many more versions of the script will be produced, the current one is the 6th.


The first crew meeting will be tomorrow and we will go over our production schedule, inputs from the crew and many other things. The goal for this is to get everyone on the same page and know what they will be doing.
The first rehearsal for the actors/actresses will be on the next day in town. We will read through the script together and possibly discuss how we're gonna arrange future rehearsal dates prior to our shoot in August.

Tomorrow other than crew meeting, I will be confirming with our locations and after that it's all go go go, so I am please with the pace that we are moving along even though we can move a bit faster.

I do believe that the film will be ready by early October, due to budget constrain I shall be using less time to shoot in August and hopefully will have more time in September for post-production.


For now, have a good one

Rungroj Rojanachotikul
Director and Writer

Audition!

So we just had our audition yesterday and it went really well. The number of people who did turn up was just at the right amount. If we had more it'd have been too many and we won't have enough time to go through all of them.

I was quite nervous at first as it was my first proper audition that I hosted and I didn't know who would turned up and what they would have expected from us.
We had 9 people in total and the range of experience started from next to nothing to a semi-veteran actors. Some of them did blow me away with what they can bring and because the decision that I have to make is quite a difficult one I've decided to host a 2nd audition this week to further investigate on what they can bring to the table.

With those who I have invited to come to the 2nd audition, I have given them a full script to read and understand the character a little bit more.

It has been a humbling experience so far and I am looking forward to learn more from the process of film making at this level in the very near future.

Finally found a place

So our audition will be on our way this weekend finally!!!

I've been contacted by a fella who runs a little small cinema club in Sukhumvit area and he allowed us to use the space for free.

Casting will be held at this place here
http://www.fgc.in.th/

on this upcoming Sunday the 7th of July 2013, hopefully we will be able to find our leading man and two actresses then.

Second post

It's the weekend!
So What am I up to? Nothing much really, just catching up with some works and finishing up my other short film project that has been ongoing since the start of this year.

In terms of this short film the date for the audition has been set but the venue is still yet to be determined. I am now blocking up shooting schedule and revising the script prior to sending bits and pieces of it to the actors and actresses that will be trying out for the role.

I already had in mind which part I will be using in the  casting process. For Andrew (our protagonist), I will be using a scene that shows his relationship with Alana at the start of the short film and a scene when he breaks down infront of the car. I think this will be a good test of an acting range as those two scenes portray his highest and lowest point emotionally plus that will be used to see how the actress react in a role of Alana as well.

For Kate, we will use the scene where she tries to remember her daughter as that will show the level of interaction between her and Andrew as well as how far the actress can emotionally portray someone that is struggling so hard to keep her....sanity (for lack of a better word).

So by the sound of it, this will be quite an audition. It will a lot of people getting in touch with the most bottom part of their emotional spectrum and that's what I'm looking for. Just complete shattered souls who can portray those characters I have in mind. This might seem a bit gruesome but if they can't deliver what I'm looking for then the film won't be able to convey my story accurately.

I guess what I'm trying to say with this film is that how can you pick yourself up and rebuild yourself again after something so catastrophic happened to your life? Everything that once seem fine and you have thought that it will last forever, then all of the sudden comes crashing down.

How will our characters play out in this film?

Welcome

Welcome to the official blog of my upcoming short film "Adrift"

Here you can find what's going on in the production!

As of now we're currently in a process of casting and production design.

We will be hosting an audition in 2 weeks on the 6th of July. I have received quite a good number of replies for both the lead male character and two support female characters. 

I will try to update this blog as frequently as possible, content will most likely be just random thoughts on the production and what not

Down below you shall find a little description of what the movie is about. 

"In a very near future, a mysterious infectious disease plagued the whole world population with amnesiac-like symptoms. There’s no cure and anyone can get it at any stage of their life. Those who have resources removed themselves from the society and built a safe haven in an undisclosed location. Once a year a few are selected by a lottery system to go live in the safe haven.

Andrew found himself with a rare ability to help people with recovering their memory and sometime prolong them from fading away. He has recently lost his wife and mother to the disease when it first appeared. His dad has left to the safe haven, leaving him alone on the other side of the fence. One day he won the lottery and finally has a chance to start his new life on the other side but what will he choose? To save himself or trying to save others?"