After all the build up and the last minute nerves, filming of "Pencil" commenced on Friday 25th of February 2022. I was fortunate enough to have spoken to Karin at The Toihaus in Salzburg and she agreed to let me use their stage space for a couple of hours, which felt like a real coup for Jenna and myself. It's a beautiful performance area, it was perfect for what I wanted, and Robert was on hand to help.
We wrapped within a couple of hours and in my opinion got some really good material, which felt promising for the weekend ahead, but as with most things that feel like they are going too well to be true, that was the case here. The Buick that I had managed to procure through Rob at Gauchos Del Gusto had broken down, and was out of action for at least a few weeks. This was a blow from an aesthetic/production value standpoint, but any initial disappointment was quickly forgotten as first day of filming came to an end.
Day two started very early, and with the setback regarding the Buick, turned into one long day of filming instead of two slightly shorter ones. Janna and Macky arrived shortly after 8am, raring to go after a round of coffees for all, and there was energy straight from the off. It was great to be part of. Ideas and enthusiasm were readily available, and in the background, Jenna held the fort and kept us fed, watered and informed, like a one-woman production team.
We encountered our first and only real tech issue at about 10:30am, in relation to sound. The first part of filming didn't have dialogue and so it wasn't an issue straight away, but it soon became apparent that the mics were not doing their job.....or so I thought. It turned out that the mics were working just fine, and it was the android device, my beloved OnePlus 8 that wasn't playing nicely with the sound equipment. It was a tense half an hour or so whilst we searched the internet for answers, and even tried to call an in-law of Janna's for help, but ultimately Macky suggested we could record sound on his device instead. This was the best and really only solution, and of course has significantly increased my workload in the edit, but I am just pleased to have decent sound to wrangle.
As of close of business tonight, we have a rough edit of scene one. Filming on a mobile has its obstacles, my skill level has many obstacles, and being in front and behind the lens on the same production has its obstacles. I have re-evaluated my use of a gimbal, a simple selfie stick and a monopod came to our assistance on more than one occasion this weekend, but the Smooth 5 has many positives and is a useful piece of kit. I will be editing for the rest of the week, and will keep you up to speed with what is happening next, but until then, here are some photos from the last two days of filming.
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