Neil Directing in Kenya: 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?