05.21
Today was the last day of shooting, thank goodness. We all were ready to get this day done. We had very little to do but it took a while to get going. I myself was feeling really bad and had some wicked coughs and junk going on in my throat so that made the day interesting. We got a few shots off after a while but things slowed down towards the center. I could feel myself burning out as the day continued. We lost our gaffer about half way through the day and had to move on and finish the last scene without him. He pre-lit as best he could then had to leave. We got along fine though, the location we chose to shoot in gave plenty of natural light that looks great. Not having our gaffer also meant no sound-man. Shaun (gaffer) has been doubling as the boom operator for over 9 months now with only a few people filling in when needed. We didn’t have anybody to do it. Luckily Kevin Bish, a friend at church was working there and jumped in to help. He did a great job after a really short explanation of what to do. Kevin Michael (Co-Producer) had his cameo today in the film. I knew he would be perfect when we decided to have him do it. Everything came across so natural and real from him, he just talked as he normally would. It was awesome getting such a good performance out of him so easily, I loved it. Great job Kevin! When it came time to wrap we all came in for a big hug and screamed as loud as we could, what a release. I was exhausted afterwards. I’m still drained as I type this. I don’t want to celebrate tonight, I just want my pillow. It was a great last day, no matter how tired we all are…it’s worth it!
2 Years, 60 Shooting Days, 600 hours on set with people you care about, a church with volunteers, a new company, time away from families and jobs, miracles on set, miracles off the set, a cast/crew growing stronger in Christ, 8+ deaths in relation to local church families and people involved, a local community and internet fan-base in prayer, and a little story called Standing Firm.
It was 2 years ago that myself and Kevin Michael sat down to begin writing the screenplay and one year later in the summer of 2008 we began production not having a clue what we’d gotten ourselves into. It was a long and grueling road for everyone but here we are, done shooting. What a process, what a Blessing.
God has been so good to us during this production, more than I could ever explain. We’ve had our really nasty days on this film, and he was there the whole way through pushing us along. Everyone at one point (or many) was exhausted and discouraged but he kept moving us downfield towards the goal. We all marched on with a determination to finish and refusal to quit. When you set your sights on the prize, nothing can stop you. There is still much work to be done to finish the film, now we are in full blown Post-production. The edit is very well along, and the recently shot scenes will go together soon. I’m moving to Los Angeles in 5 days, and will be taking the film with me to complete. My goal is to have a full cut of the film together by the end of June. A lot of scenes within the film are in their 3rd, 4th, or even 9th cut so it’s just a manner of tuning them and transition the scenes, analyzing the pace and making adjustments. It will take me a little while to get settled in and get all my equipment setup again to begin working again but to have the stuff in the bag that ties the film to NY really is a Blessing. I have a little bit of ADR to do with the rest of the cast (very few lines), and three interviews with cast/crew to do which will take place tomorrow morning and friday.
Thank you to all of you out there who have supported this production in the last year and even before that. Our website went live in December 2007 and we’ve gathered quite a bit of attention since then. The internet is a wildly powerful tool to spread the word if you know how to use it and it’s been invaluable to us in letting you all know how we’re doing. Thanks for the prayer as well, which is what really kept this film alive. Continue to pray and support us as we try and get this film further towards completion. We need to find an official composer, we need to finish post sound and the edit, color correction and all the other promo edits and odd things…then the wonderful and long process of distribution and finding an interested party. Keep on telling others!