The Common One: On Set! "Offline" Short Film Day 2!

A few weeks ago we were able to pick up a scene for the short film "Offline," written and directed by Kate Kelsen.

The first day of shooting was in August and the post can be found here:

https://thecommonone-jtw.blogspot.com/2017/08/on-set-offline-short-film.html#more

Although the second shooting day was months after the first, the scene we shot fell earlier in the movie, moving backwards while going forward as is often the case in movies.

This scene takes place in hospital and for the location we were able to gain access to Assistant Director's Alex Yoe's family's health clinic on 116th street in Harlem.

I had shot at the clinic before, for a scene in Daryl Denner's feature length "Unspoken."

With a few angles and camera trickery, the clinic doubles perfectly for a hospital emergency room.

Rodney Reyes returned as the producer and cinematographer, bringing with him the crew of Fictional Films.

Last Summer when we shot outside of Philadelphia, Rodney only brought Rianna Ronquillo to aide with the shooting. The Sound department, production, and makeup were brought in from local Philly people. However, since we were shooting in New York City, Rodney brought in not only Rianna, but also Dominic Mistretta to operate the camera, Luiz Neto for sound and Alex Yoe as AD.

Molly Porter, the Makeup Artist and Hairstylist, made the trip up from Philadelphia.

I had spent most of the fall with extended crews of Fictional Films while working on "Unspoken." Rarely doing film work, even independent film work, do people have the chance to work consistently together on multiple projects. Things change. However, the last 6 months have been great to do multiple projects, attempting different ideas, while working with the same people. Fortunately, everyone gets along, but also work is easier when everyone trusts each other.

The day was a lovely combination of familiar faces, great material and easy laughs; the best kind of environment for shooting. An addition to the set was the writer and director A. Van Jordan. Van had gone through the MFA program at The Vermont School of the Arts with Rodney and Kate. A few years back I acted in Van's short film "The Jig is Up Mister Bones."

The link for those shooting days can be found here:
https://thecommonone-jtw.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-set-jig-is-up-mister-bones.html
https://thecommonone-jtw.blogspot.com/2016/03/on-set-jig-is-up-mister-bones-day-2.html

At the time of Mister Bones, Van was a creative writing professor at Rutgers Newark. He's won awards for his poetry and writing. Since then, he has moved onto teaching at University of Michigan.

Van's books are listed on Amazon. I highly recommend The Cineaste, which can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/Cineaste-Poems-Van-Jordan/dp/0393348733/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519219375&sr=8-2&keywords=a+van+jordan

In this scene, Van was acting as as the indifferent emergency room doctor. The last time I worked with Van, he was directing and the demands of the job required his mind to be several places at once. For this scene, Van and I were able to just relax and focus on the scene between us. Although played straight, the absurdity of the scene had us laughing in between takes and trying not ruin each shot.

Once again, working with Kate was a great experience. Knowing exactly what she wants to accomplish, Kate had great command of the material, but the set was relaxed and open to collaboration which allows lots of space to be creative. I have found that my best work usually comes from that type of atmosphere of confidence.

The crew moved swiftly to cover all the shots on the list. An early Sunday start lead to an early out time with everyone heading out into a rainy Sunday afternoon in Harlem.

There is still one more scene to shoot this Spring for the short film to be completed.

The following shots were taken on set by Dominic and Rianna. Although not watermarked, all photos are owned by Fictional Films and borrowed with their permission.