We wrapped principal photography on Addict Named Hal a week ago, and it has taken me about that time to get my feet under me and figure out what’s going on in my life. I missed the first week of my final semester of grad school (and rehearsal for my last play at UT) to finish on set - the transition has been a bit rocky, but I’m figuring it out.
Being on set for a feature was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done artistically, and also definitely my most favorite thing I’ve ever done. I had so many days where I would walk on set and think to myself: “This is my dream. We are all here, literally doing my dream.” I thought this was the dream least likely to come true, but here we all were, making it happen.
It was fucking awesome.
And, obviously, it was also really hard. We shot for 18 days, with three off days (6 days on / 1 day off / 6 days on / 1 day off / 3 days on / 1 day off / 3 days on). That second six-day week got a little brutal for us, especially because we moved into splits and are schedule changed from 7 AM-7 PM to noon-midnight. That also coincided with us moving into the darker part of the film.
Being on my feet, rewriting the script, making decisions about shots, giving performance notes, for 12 hours per day for that many days in a row definitely drained me. I’m reprogramming my brain to care about things other than this movie (like groceries, coursework, and rehearsal). But I absolutely loved it, and I have major directing takeaways.
One, I got a lot better at giving notes quickly. Sometimes, in the name of caring for our collaborators, directors give really mushy notes, or ask leading questions. If camera’s ready to roll again, I need to spit out the note as quickly as possible. I learned to be more direct and clear.
The actors also learned my “note face” very quickly. Ray (playing Hal) could tell whether I had a note within two seconds of me calling cut. That forced directness, too! When you’re spending that amount of time with someone, they start to learn your ticks (and I am particularly bad at hiding my feelings). Ray didn’t always know if the note was for him, or for camera or design, though!
Over the next few weeks, I am going to post reviews of each week of our production, and maybe by location. I’m interested in capturing more of the challenges we faced on set and how we solved them (or didn’t) for my own review, and also in case it’s helpful to anyone in the future. Be on the lookout for more about production as we get into post!
Lane
