40 Days of Shooting

Hello Everyone,

It’s that time of the week again.  Many new events this week.  Not least of which was we reached our 40th day of shooting.  And to top it off we have managed to shoot 45.5 pages of script in the last three days.  

To all you actors out there, I have to say that when it comes to casting all I want as a director is someone who works well, understands the dialogue and has the essence of the character.  You see I had to cast a fairly large role this past week - the character appears in several episodes.  And although the actor was good and somewhat suited the role, he did not know his lines very well.  But more importantly, he was not working on his lines in between set ups.  This was quite frustrating and very unprofessional.  To see an actor playing around and joking while the crew is working very hard and then not know his lines when the camera roles is something that every crew members notices.  Not the least of who are the director and producer.  

After having to audition actors in-between set ups and during my lunch breaks, I can tell you with great assurance you absolutely must suit the character above all else.  You could be the best actor ever and not be cast in a role without a doubt.  Because if you don’t have that character essence the director cannot “see” you playing the role.  It’s that simple.  But, if the director can “see” you playing the role, and you have a modicum of professionalism that you can demonstrate to him or her, you will most certainly get the part.  

Enough about acting.

I am writing you on my laptop while I sit outside in the shade.  There’s a breeze and the bright blue African sky is blotted here and there with puffy white clouds that quickly pass.  There was a thunder storm last night and with it heavy rains.  The air today is moist and fresh.  Nairobi does have beauty.  It’s raw.  But teaming with life. Lush foliage and birds of the most intriguing character.  And the people.  Moving, living, forever smiling.  Every North American need come here to experience this part of the world.  Somehow it balances me.  

And even though there are fascinating differences here in Kenya compared to our part of the world, many things are as true here as they are at home.  The desire to improve, to work hard, to do something worthwhile all exists here.  Similarities abound.  

Okay, enough on the “travel to Kenya” commercial.  

With less than three weeks left to my visit and only 12 more shooting days to go, I am very excited to return home and share some amazing stories.

Until next week!

Neil

My 1st AD showing off his T-shirt.  And I thought I would be unique wearing my CANADA T-shirts!  You can buy T-shirts like this at almost every market here...

  

Baby papayas growing outside my front door.

This is the exact view from where I am sitting right now while I type on my computer.  I just took this photo 3 minutes ago.

Moon flowers in a tree.  They are a climbing plant that use trees to reach the sunlight.

Moon flower in my hand.  They're huge!

Simba.  Our guard dog!

There it is.  Hope you have enjoyed this week's blog.  Should be a very interesting week!

From Africa....

Neil

The Most Pages Shot

Now that Season 1 is complete, we are well into Season 2.  Due to actor availability and location availability, we will sometimes shoot scenes from 4 or 5 different episodes at a time.  Very out of sequence.  So paying attention to continuity is critical - what just happened before this scene to that character and so on.  

As the crew tightens up and the actors get more and more familiar with their characters, we are shooting more pages in a day.  Yesterday we made our all-time high of 16.5 pages!  Yes.  It took from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. but we did it.  And that was with 3 different locations - one of which we had to travel to (not far mind you).

All of the first season (13 episodes) have been rough cut.  I have gone through all the edits and written my notes to the editors.  As you know, I used to edit back in the day of splicers and tape not all this high-speed computer age editing.  But the art of editing is still the art of editing regardless of the mechanics or electronics, so giving notes is something that comes naturally.  

Tomorrow and Monday we are not shooting but I am going to be working with the editors to get our first 4 episodes to a fine cut and lock the pictures.  We will have the opening titles and final credits as well as some music.  They won’t be the final, final, all polished versions but they will be very close.  These have to be delivered to the network on Monday before the end of the day.  The first episode will broadcast from NTV (Nation Television) here in Nairobi on Friday, April 2nd at 8:30 p.m.  

I have been told by the Executive Producer that the NTV execs and the sponsor of the series, Coca Cola, are extremely impressed with the quality of the shooting and have decided to do an all out 7-week campaign to promote the show with commercials, print ads and parties.  And that is after seeing just one rough cut episode!  What happened was they were all set to watch a 2 minute section of one of the episodes so they could get a feel for the show and therefore properly promote it.  Well when the DVD was stopped after a couple of minutes, everyone there demanded that it be turned back on so they could see the rest.  Because of that viewing, they decided to do this extensive promotional campaign which is something they don’t normally do.  And, to top it off, they are all pumped about making the actors celebrities here in Kenya and in the 6 other countries this series will be airing in.  

I must say, I find how people react to our work in this industry very interesting.  When I really look at what we are doing and then see the reactions that people have, it astounds me.  Not that our work doesn’t deserve a reaction. It’s just that I am amazed at how people in general react to TV and film.  

Okay.  I have a few pictures this time.  Not as many as usual.  I have not been carrying around my camera as much as I was before.  But I will start doing it again so you can see more of what I am experiencing every day.

Until next week!

Neil

This is one of our young grips.  I've forgotten his name.  He is a very hard working young man who wants to be a film maker.  He handed me a DVD of a documentary he and his friends shot.  I haven't had a chance to watch it yet but I will most certainly will.  Although I don't have any experience with documentaries, I can most certainly give him some pointers.   This photo isn't the greatest but I just had to take his picture.  He has such great face and is a very nice kid.

This a house we used for a location this week.  We used the dining room and the entry way.  Beautiful place.  I found out that the owner's daughter is going to University in Prince George!  Can you believe it?

The backyard of the house.  Lovely grounds where we got to eat our breakfast.  

So there's a bit more of Africa for you.  I will keep you posted!

Neil

  

Season 1 COMPLETE

Hello Everyone.  Now that the Winter Olympics are over and I missed Canada doing something no other country has ever done, I am happy to report that we have completed the shooting of Season 1!  

Here’s even better news.  I have been asked by the Executive Producer to direct Season 2.  I obliged and we have already been shooting Season 2 for the last two days.  

I would call this a directing boot camp of magnitude.  I don’t have all the statistics but I am pretty sure that it normally takes directors several years to chalk up directing 26 episodes.  Not only is the schedule grueling but the challenges of working with an extremely low budget are many that creates a necessity level like none other.  And you know what is said about necessity, it is the mother of invention.  

Here’s a challenge that most directors doing a North American TV series wouldn’t run into that I had to work with last week.  We had to shoot what were three different locations in the script - a hotel room for a weekend stay, a photo exhibition at a gallery or museum and a marketing release at a ballroom.  I was given one location that I had to turn into these three.  And, to top it off, I had not seen it at all until I walked in the door to shoot at 6 a.m.  We had 14 pages to shoot that day.  Most TV series shoot around 8 pages a day back home.  I had such a fun day!  Truly!  

The first challenge I had asked of me was, “Where do you want to shoot the marketing scenes?”  Now do get me right, I am not complaining in the least.  Because, I can tell you, half the fun I am having is coming up with what I call “instant locations.” And this one was particularly challenging.  So, where to shoot this big scene?  I looked around with the DOP, who had not seen the location beforehand either, and we knew that the only place to shoot it would be on the outside patio.  But the problem with that was that it happened to be raining that morning.  Yeesh!  And, get this, it was also supposed to be a night scene!  So looking at what was in front of us, the DOP spotted three tents out on the lawn.  He suggested we bring them right up to the building and onto the patio and then black out around them and shoot toward the building.  I gave the okay and we started to move.  We managed to make it all work.  We shot night for day when outside on a patio while it was raining at a location we had not scene beforehand.  That truly is a feat.  

Then, we had to shoot a bedroom.  But this location didn’t have a bedroom.  So I scouted around quickly and decided on a room for a bedroom.  The budget, being as it is, required that the Executive Producer donate her bed for the scene.  So in it was loaded.  And, you guessed it, it worked.  

That was not the end of the problems that were solved but you get the flavor.  It was a day of being completely alert and on our toes and everyone contributing to their utmost ability.  

Now if that isn’t a director’s bootcamp, I don’t know what is.  

I have attached some more photos.  This week I had very little time to much other than shoot and write notes for the editors.  And, I must say, some of the footage we are getting for the later episodes is fabulous.  I am happy to put my name to it.

My return date is April 9th.  Looking forward to seeing you all when I get back.

Neil

Here is a Kenyan apartment.  This is William's.  He's a doctor.

Shooting at the drug dealer's warehouse.  That's his stolen car!

World's smallest slug.  I've never seen one so small.  Just had to take a shot of it.

Dennis the boom operator.  This time he's awake.

Setting up to shoot in a designer dress shop.

Very early morning shooting.  

Our Executive Producer Dorothy Ghettuba.

Small bird with a hooked beak.  Kenya has more than 1400 different bird species.  

The joy of waiting!

Gigantic wind turbines just outside of Nairobi.