BloodGuilt: Short Film Production Diary (Part 3) Storyboards & Shot Lists

Okay, so we recently wrapped our third day of production for BloodGuilt (our next short film). And let me tell you, it was another cold one; which wasn’t too bad, since we were mostly indoors. Still, there were some shots that needed to be done outdoors. 

However, in this post:

I mainly want to talk about the epiphany I experienced that night.

First, we got to our location, and it was awesome. A perfect little vintage motel where we could film our little psycho-esque-short film-thriller. From there, we got the equipment into the room, did a quick setup, and started rolling.

Well, I wish it went that smoothly, and it almost did.

Only, my sound recorder (for whatever reason) decided not to record properly. Its external mic port wouldn’t allow me to record any audio with my lav mics. Fortunately, the xlr ports still worked. But, the problem was, I planned for a “one man band” “run and gun” type of shoot; where I’d inconspicuously place lav mics (near the actors) around the room; similar to how they used to do it in the old days.

Which was a big reason why you’d see actors in old movies talking into nearby props like floral arrangements, or lamps.

At any rate, since my lav plan was a definite bust, I decided to setup the shot gun mic instead. But remember, I planned to shoot alone so I didn’t have anyone to hold the boom. Meaning, my only option was to setup a mic stand, just outside the frame of each shot, and hope for the best.

So, problem solved, right? Well, not exactly.

I had a specific plan for the shoot that included lots of camera movements. But, with a stationary mic setup just outside of each frame, I ended up having to revamp my shot list on the fly.

A nightmare, right?

Again, not exactly.

In fact, I found the practice extremely liberating, because it allowed me to be more creative as a director, in the moment.

Now, I’m not saying that I’ll be forgoing the process of creating storyboards/shot-lists in the future; because creating those materials are extremely important to my process. However, I won’t be leaning on those materials as heavily, when directing in the future.

I just really enjoyed not feeling chained to a plan that I’d essentially etch in stone. Plus, because of the foundational understanding I gained while creating the storyboard/shot-list for BloodGuilt, my shot choices (in the moment) were much more grounded.

As I write this post, I’m starting to realize how that may be the balance we’re all searching for as artists:

Being grounded, yet feeling free to explore; and never getting too close to either end of the spectrum. Maybe… Or, Maybe not?

Either way, we came out of that night, with some amazing footage. And it wasn’t all because of my epiphany either. My cast members were also able to hang with all the changes, as we each did our collective parts in developing creative solutions to the challenge we faced. Which, allowed us to continue creating BloodGuilt, a film that we could all be proud of. [salute]