Ian filmed the short film on Monday and Tuesday, 6/17 & 6/18. The timing was absolutely perfect as school had just finished for the year the week before and we still had 2 weeks before Ian was headed down to Orlando to visit family.
Upon arriving at the set on Monday, Ian and I were impressed with how large the crew was. There was a director, assistant director, the executive producer, the regular producer, cameramen, people in charge of sound and lighting, make-up/clothing stylist, the writer, the casting director, and a few others. It was a much bigger deal than either of us was expecting.
The parents were told to hang out in the "green room", which was basically a nice basement in the director's house, where the filming was to take place on day 1. I had a great conversation with 2 of the other parents who also had kids in the film. These kids were also 14 years old and already very accomplished performing in professional theatre, voiceovers, movies, and more. Ian and I were definitely in uncharted waters. This was all so new to us.
I learned so much during day 1. The mom of Vivian and the dad of Talia were so helpful and provided lots of advice and tips on how to navigate this new world for us that Ian wants to explore further and see where it can take him.
At some point during different times in the day, a few of the crew each came up to me and asked if Ian had done film before...um, no! Hello, this is our first professional ANYTHING!! They were impressed with Ian, said he was doing a great job, and then let me know that he is really great at improv. Apparently, he was making them laugh A LOT during takes. They weren't sure I knew just how funny Ian was. Yep, all you need to do is let him go and he will do his thing for any kind of audience. Each conversation would end with, this movie will give you great footage to add to his reel. I guess that means we have to start a reel!
Talia's dad said to make sure we add this movie listing as an entry on his IMDB page. Ha! I guess that means we need to start an IMDB page for Ian.
So the big kissing scene turned in to a peck on the cheek. It just worked out better for the scene for Abby to lean over and kiss Elliott on the cheek rather than turn his head and kiss him on the lips. But this still counts as Ian's first kiss! And it is still captured on film.
Day 2 of filming found us at a synagogue in NW D.C. I was a pro at this 'Momager' thing by now. :) I barely spied on the kids during filming and instead hung out at the synagogue's library or the room with all the food and just enjoyed being a part of it all. At the end of the shoot, we made our way to the National Cathedral just up the street and took a bunch of photos for publicity. (and maybe a movie poster? -- do they do those for short films??). We will find out!
The film is going to be entered into film festivals all over. It seems to me, it would be a perfect fit for our local Northern Virginia Jewish film festival that I've gone to a few screenings over the years. Between being about Jewish kids, having a local writer and being filmed in NoVa, it has to make it in! I can't wait to see what happens next!
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