Shot in the dark

Yesterday I spent the whole time at an old house in Quezon City, overseeing the shoot for a television commercial. There were three scenes, with little variation in camera work, and pretty much just one to three sentences of copy to be said by the various performers. I expected a quick shoot, finished by mid-afternoon.

EEEEHHH!!! Wrong.

While our first talent delivered her lines perfectly and had tons of great takes, the second and third talents took far, far longer to coach and guide to usable performances. Plus, in the early evening, a torrent of rain fell, holding up the shooting for a while since we were recording live sound. By the time we shot the last frame and our director, the cool Raymond Red, said, 'Pack up!', it was 10 PM. Oh well.

It just goes to show that even the best-laid and best-prepared planscan stumble with the slightest hiccup, from human factors or atmospheric conditions. Anyway, I'm thankful that we were able to finish with good takes and the satisfaction that our day was well spent. Spent to the last, but well spent.