Finished SHooting!!!

Shooting "Drowning" Complete

        Been rather low-key with my "Drowning" even though it's my baby, not too much talk about it, i think this is my attempt to see my true potential at filmmaking on my own. I don't have much help on this film except for my DP(director of photography), unlike "600" i didn't want everyone helping me and doing everything for me. I wanted to struggle on my own and learn everything through this process: lighting, makeup, storyboards, building sequences, working w/actors, producing the film. Doing all the dirty work for this film so that I may learn everything, me and Pete, through it all. 

       We are mostly done with the film. I dont know why but somehow i feel "lucky" or "beginner's luck" with my first film"600" and i guess "Drowning" is for me to prove to myself that I belong in this business. So that is why I haven't really talked about this film with anyone except my filmmaker friends who have helped me by reading my scrīpt and giving me their thoughts. After writing this piece and getting feedback, when I finally reached a stage where people were really feeling the scrīpt, I started shooting(that was about a month ago), I kept retweeking the scrīpt as we shot to make the story even better(even now I'm still rewriting small things to make things EVEN better) It's true that a scrīpt takes time, i'm learning and growing even as I'm shooting the final stages of my film. Now we are finally done with the film(almost) after this upcoming Saturday. Still got small scenes I need to shoot separately. Last night was a big test as we shot in the streets without a permit with a crane and 4 people with us and a butt load of equipment + a generator. There was a scary moment when we had our crucial scene and a cop rolled by right as one of my characters does something rather crazy(you'll see in the film) and we thought we were dead for sure. But for some reason, the cop drove off really fast(I think he was going somewhere) and we got lucky there. Craziest thing was everyone at the intersection( we did it at an intersection b/c I needed stoplights) and everybody thought it was forealz(because my DP Pete was inside the car shooting so no one knew were shooting a film). We got away safely and later shot at night until 3am. It was a real rough night, now sick from it and gonna chill today before heading out tomorrow for another day of shooting. 

    How do I feel about my film? I feel pretty strongly about it, but I won't know until it's all edited. I believe my story is rather strong and I have some awesome performances in it from my actor/actresses. Footage looks good so far, but nothing will be finalized until the editing process. So all in all, I feel good, but like most cats, i ain't feeling 100% until the baby is born and we see what we've made. I feel like we got a winner, but who knows, if there's anything I've learned from filmmaking; it's uncertainty. Enjoy the pics.

Here are some pics:

Pete & I with our homemade suckafree car mount, don't hate, u know u want one :P

Crane, 2 cars, 4 people, gear(behind the  bushes and inside van), shooting w/out a permit, gangstaZ! About to be some dumb gangsters if that cop got us, HAHA.

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My DP:  Pete Von Tews(this whole film has been me and him, through everything, from carrying gear to shooting, it's been quite a journey)

Checking the picture.

No idea what the freak he's laughing about, LoL.

Picture me rolling! Can ya see me? haha, yeah, that's a boom mic cover.

Yes yes I do know how to work a camera.

Nothing more OG than an asian homeboy roaming the 415.