the making of Enter the Savior - a memoir
The First Weekend Shoot
Part 3/6

Just the beginning of troubles...
On Friday, I called Julian and told him to come out for the first day of shooting on Saturday at 2pm.  The week’s schedule consisted of classes Monday through Thursday, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday would be film shooting days.  The equipment was returned Monday morning and our film processed at the lab.  Saturday was my day to shoot.  So Saturday came and it was time for me to shoot.

My crew of 3 people hauled over a hundred pounds of heavy film equipment through the subway.  The 40 lb. camera, the 80 lb. lighting kit, the accessories, the door-sized bounce boards (for lighting), power cables, and a whole slew of other items made walking difficult and hiking the crowded streets of New York very tiring.  It took about 20 or so minutes for the train to get from the film academy to the canal street stop, where Chinatown was.

During the subway ride, to my horror, I realized that I had no idea where Cortlandt Alley was.  By chance last night, I had passed it, but had not taken note of its location or how to get there as soon as we got off the subway.  Anxiety further mounted as we arrived at our stop and stepped off the train to a huge crowd of people.

McDonalds in Manhattan Chinatown, next to the Canal St. subway exit

I had forgotten that Chinatown was a crazy busy place, especially during the weekends.  It was almost impossible not to bump into someone every few seconds with our bulky equipment as we were shoved around the sardine-packed streets of Chinese people and tourists alike shopping for cheap goods in the thousands of street vendors and specialized shops that lined the car-jammed streets.

There was a McDonalds nearby and neither me nor my crew had eaten anything the whole day.  It was about 3pm.  I was worried because I had told Julian to come at around 2pm.  As soon as I got out, I called Julian.  He was coming from a long distance and was stuck in traffic, and would not be here for another hour at least.  I told my crew members to go and eat while I watched the equipment outside of the McDonalds.

Murphy's Law - Everything that can go wrong, WILL
Anxiety and worry were the only things on my mind.  My actor was coming, I don’t know where the alleyway was, the streets were as crowded as ever, how did I expect for my crew to walk around Chinatown searching for this alleyway while carrying all the equipment?  Furthermore, I had a lot to shoot, time was running out, and on top of all that, I was hungry.

The high walls of the alleyway made lighting scarce, even during the day.

Finally, at around 4:30pm, Julian arrived.  He drove a large SUV and we got into his car.  We decided to drive around the city until we saw Cortlandt Alley (what a brilliant plan).  After going about a short distance of 20 feet, behold…I was suddenly shocked to see Cortlandt Alley!  It was on the SAME block as the subway stop exit!  We turned in and parked the car, unloaded the equipment and prepared to shoot.

For the first time, I was able to see my actor in full form.  I was amazed to see that he stood nearly 6 foot 2, was built like an ox and had the exact looks I was looking for!  However, my excitement was quickly diminished as new troubles arose.  The sky was quickly darkening and the tall buildings that formed the alleyway cast dark shadows where we were supposed to shoot.

Because we were using actual film, we needed enough light for the film to be properly exposed.  The light meter was registering very little light, which meant that if we did shoot, it would all come out black.  To make matters worse, it started raining.  It was past 5pm at that point and I realized that the weather would not get any better anytime soon.

Talk about frustrations up the wazoo...
I not only felt like an ass by getting my crew to come down here to shoot for nothing, but also Julian, who had driven more than 2 hours, left without doing a single thing except watch my blubbering incompetence.  I apologized profusely to Julian, asking him if he would be willing to come back next week.  He was very polite and said it was ok and he would come down again next week.  I then apologized to my crew and then punched an iron grate and cursed.

An Awful Experience
As we walked in the rain back to the subway station, I was already grumbling to myself, how this was such an awful experience, how I hated it already, and how I could just feel my dream slipping away.

“Why is filmmaking so hard?  Look!  Before I even shot a single thing, everything that could have gone wrong already has.  What the hell.”

Bless my crew, as we walked, they offered to come out on Sunday (tomorrow) after everyone else’s films were shot to help me get shoot footage.  I was thankful and agreed.  Even though Julian wasn’t going to be there, I could still get some footage of the alleyway as well of myself (I had decided to star in my own film - hehe).  For the rest of the day, I helped my crew film their projects.

The Turn of the Tide
On Sunday afternoon, we returned to the location.  I had realized earlier in the week that I needed someone to act the role of the Savior in my film, but there was no one in the books of headshots that looked or had the face of a Christ-like savior.  At that point I really wasn’t that enthusiastic about my project, so I just asked my crew member Mark to play the role. 

The weather was nice, and I was relieved that the lighting in the alleyway was sufficient.  So I first filmed the shots with Mark in them.  They were mostly of him entering the alleyway, and a few inserts here and there.  By the suggestion of a professional cinematographer who I had consulted earlier in the week, I was using a filter called a center spot for all shots of Mark, which was supposed to blur out everything but the center, giving the image a surrealistic, dreamy look.

Then I got my crew to film me doing heroine.  It took about 2 hours time to shoot 6 minutes worth of film.  The reason it took so long was because in setting up each shot, we had to take the light meter reading, set the aperture, measure the focal length, adjust the focal distance, make sure everything was ok and then film.  Each shot took about 5-8 minutes to setup.  I was fairly satisfied about the day’s shooting but still less than happy about the events of the weekend.  The next morning, I turned in my film to be processed and went to my classes for the day.

Blown Away...
When I got back my developed film, my jaw dropped, literally.  I stared in awe as I looked at what I had filmed.

Could this be real?  Could it?!  How was this possible??

The shots of Mark were absolutely gorgeous.  The lighting and the focus were dead on.  But perhaps the most eerie thing about it was just how incredible Mark looked.  A sea of light enveloped his figure in a sparkling aura of warmth.  You could almost feel his radiance.  His face was a brilliant halo:  no doubt about it, Mark had become a holy being in this film.  My enthusiasm and excitement returned, this was something special.  I showed my crew the footage and they were impressed.

(for a first time filmmaker, seeing these images above made me nearly piss my pants!! hehe!)