A few months ago, I posted a fun video showing ARES STUDIOS “coming to life” just before we began the first day of a two-day shoot for my AXANAR Universe fan film INTERLUDE back in November of 2019. But that was only SOME of the footage that I shot!
The great thing about being the producer on a film project is that you’re the boss. While the director runs things on the set during filming, the producer is still the person ultimately in charge of everything from the earliest budgeting and pre-production meetings through post-production and the release of the finished project.
My goal in making Interlude wasn’t simply to produce a Star Trek fan film or to shoot something on the bridge set at ARES STUDIOS—although that was certainly part of the goal. But what I really wanted to do was to document the entire experience of creating a fan film, start to finish, for my readers. And certainly the most exciting aspect of that experience was the two-day shoot in Lawrenceville, GA on the U.S.S. Ares (and Artemis) bridge set!
My director, VICTORIA FOX, and my director of photography, JOSHUA IRWIN, were okay with me filming the shoot as long as I kept quiet, kept still, and didn’t interfere in any way with the cast and crew. So I got to record nearly the entire shoot from start to finish. As such, this is a pretty long video…but that’s a good thing!
Why not edit the footage down to something shorter, you ask? Because I wanted you folks to experience exactly what it was like on that set, even when things weren’t moving at wrap speed. In fact, on TV and movie sets, there’s a lot of time that goes by with seemingly little to nothing happening (or at least, that’s the way it might look to someone on the outside).
And as it happens, I didn’t film “everything.” In fact, the Saturday shoot lasted nearly TEN HOURS once things finally got going, and the video I’ve posted below is only two hours long. Part of the reason is I didn’t spend much time filming when lights and cameras were being moved around—that gets boring really quickly! Instead, I concentrated on moments when the cameras were either rolling or about to roll. I also paused every so often to switch over from video mode on my camera to picture mode so I could also take behind-the-scenes production photos. That’s why you’ll see many spots in the video where one clip unexpectedly ends and another begins.
Do you have to watch the WHOLE video…?
That’s completely up to you! Some of my readers may be interested enough to sit through every moment…maybe even take some notes if you’re a (fan) filmmaker or if you might want to be one someday. Others may prefer jumping around, watching a little bit here, a little bit there. Your choice.
The important thing to keep in mind is that this is the kind of thing you are unlikely to ever see again—unless you work in the film industry. Even behind-the-scenes features on Blu-rays don’t provide you with this much footage. You’ll be able to watch as Victoria and Joshua discuss what they want to do with each shot. You’ll see Victoria direct lead actor WARREN HAWK as Captain Jakande, trying to draw out the best performance from him not just in the way he delivers his lines but where and how he moves. If you’re familiar with Interlude, you’ll see the takes we ended up using and all the ones we didn’t. And you’ll see a ton of tiny details that go into a production where people who actually work in the film industry are applying their knowledge and skills.
In a future blog, I’ll show you our second day of shooting on Sunday, where we filmed all of the scenes with Garth on the U.S.S. Ares. But for now, it’s Captain Jakande and the heroic crew of the U.S.S. Artemis. Enjoy…
As you’d expect, watching the whole 2 hours is a big ask, so I skipped through it. But it’s interesting to see.
Needless to say, I have a lot of respect for the effort that goes into getting the footage and the art of directing people so they give the performance you’re looking for. There appears to be a lot of thinking on your feet involved and improvisation too.
Possibly the most interesting bit for me was watching the guy on the boom mic. It got me thinking as to how you synchronise video and audio. In this case I could see no use of a clapperboard so I wonder how Josh managed to marry the two together. Incidentally, I also found a Wikipedia page on the boom mic, the story of how it became ‘a thing’ is really quite amusing.
Also, I have to say the set is amazing – all those Raspberry Pi’s! It’s one hell of an achievement.
I’d have to check in with Josh Irwin, but I suspect that, in the age of digital filming, having a clapper isn’t as crucial as it used to be.