I’ve worked on a few film sets so let me honestly tell you that it’s an exhausting ride. I’m talking about long hours, tight schedules and functioning on a whole lot of coffee. During the Dissolution short film shoot, we were working with a 34 pages script for a two-day shoot. I mean, it’s ambitious, but it’s also a recipe for disaster. Or, at the very least, a recipe for exhaustion.
Now without further ado, let me tell you about our assistant director who was a lover of props, particularly the cigarette prop. He’d collect them and carefully store them away, muttering about waste whenever we’d need a new one. It was like he was single-handedly keeping the prop department afloat. I’m not sure if he just really liked having cigarettes around or what, but he was determined to make the most of them.
During one scene changeover, an anime conversation broke out among the crew and cast. We started discussing our favorite series and characters, and before long, we were debating Makoto Shinkai’s best works. The assistant director and I had differing opinions, he loved “Your Name” and disliked “Suzume,” while I thought both were well made in their own ways. The argument could still stretch if one of us did not decide to keep quiet and let it be. If we had watched “lost in Starlight” by then, I’m pretty sure our opinions would’ve clashed even harder, with him calling it perfection and me accusing him of having questionable taste.
Meanwhile, the sound team was having a different kind of struggle, staying awake! Our sound guy dozed off mid-take, and we were all wondering if we’d end up with one long, continuous take because he might have missed the “cut” call. Luckily, he somehow always woke up on cut, but I’m not sure what would’ve happened if we’d actually ended up with a 20-minute take.
And then there was the time the director shouted “action” when she meant to say “cut.” We were all confused, waiting for the word that would signal the end of the scene. We all just stood there, frozen in confusion wondering what was going on and bust out laughing.
One of the actors fell asleep during a bedroom scene. I mean, nothing. No movement. No emotion. Just a guy lying there, snoring softly. We were torn between laughter and concern but eventually, someone shook him awake, and he looked around, bewildered, like, “Wait, are we already rolling?”
And then, of course, there was the coffee. It started as a breakfast beverage but slowly turned into something keeping us awake and focused throughout the long night. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for everyone, including me. I ended up under a table, trying to catch a few winks. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who felt like their body had given out.
The shoot went late into the night, and we finally wrapped up at 8 am. The driver who usually picked us up was surprised to find we were all still on set, looking like zombies. I had a class presentation that morning. The DOP had to travel to Arua for the Sisi Film Lab training, the director had a script deadline, and the actors had to be on another set. Let’s just say we all had where to be that morning.
The aftermath was just as entertaining, a day after the shoot, the BTS person started throwing in photos of everyone dozing off on set in the most ridiculous positions. The assistant director’s photo was turned into a sticker. We all had a good laugh about it, and it was a great way to unwind after the intense filming schedule.
Filmmaking isn’t just about the polished scenes that make it to the screen; it’s about the interesting moments, the behind-the-scenes and surviving it all and laughing about it later. Kudos to the Dissolution team.
Great job Sandra.