I Took A Leap of Faith

My very first screenwriting and directorial (and film acting? HAHA) job!
‘Leap’
a short film by Erika Tan
assistant directors/production assistants/cinematographers/all-around people (hahaha!): Ria Casco, Michelle Confesor and Ramon Fagar
Showing on September 4, 2010 at DLSU M208
For our Video Production finals, our professor asked us to create a short film (about 10 minutes). We were asked to write our own concepts individually, then our professor would pick the best ones per group (of three or four people). Fortunately (and unfortunately), my concept was chosen among my group. At first I wasn't very glad because I knew right away that it would just stress me out and that I may not be able to deliver very well. I actually did not believe that my concept was chosen because I remember writing it just for the sake of passing something! I never really saw myself working in the film industry. I was (and still am, actually) leaning more on the print track of Communication Arts.

But eventually I learned to love this project. Mostly because well, I needed to. And the way my professor said "I want to give Erika a chance to direct" well, made me feel more obliged to do so. I didn't believe in myself at all at first. I was stressing out on the script, writing its first draft. I felt so scared to submit it to my professor! But my heart smiled when I got it back from her and she gave us a go signal to shoot already. That's when I started to step up and actually believe that I can do it. :)

Casting, looking for locations and props was hell. The week before we started shooting I could've sworn I was giving up and was just letting whatever happen, happen. But come shooting week (this week!), everything went so well. Yes I had to delete or rewrite some scenes from my script to compensate for the lack of time and inability to find actors and actresses, but all's well. We shot everything in three days and edited and scored in two (thank you so much, Kuya Raffy! You are amazing!). In those three days of shooting we even had time to rest! Like for instance, last Wednesday, we only shot in the morning and at night so we had the whole afternoon free. :) we may have lost some money in this project (we were aiming for a no-budget film hahaha, apparently it's impossible) but then again, who said Communication Arts was not an expensive course to take?

Anyway... I have yet to hear feedback about Leap since it's not been shown to anyone else yet. So, I can only share to you guys my thoughts on the production so far, as the writer and director. :)

Ella, you are amazing! Thank you for being our talent. I owe you bigtime!
Rika, thank you for agreeing to be a talent as well!
Ria, Michelle and Ramon, this is it, guys! We shall conquer VPRODUC!
Kuya Raffy, hands down :) thank you so much for editing and scoring our film for us! I love the music and sound effects :) and I'm so happy with the editing! My vision came to life! :D

My next post would probably be about my professor's and other people's comments on the film. Hopefully I'd get to upload it as well for you guys to see. :) watch out for it!