Shooting a short film - Director's blog Part 1 

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Short films as an industry is booming.

The annual Show Me Shorts Festival has just finished nationwide - and many directors are well underway with their next projects.

TV2 Movies asked director Christopher Banks to keep a blog of a shoot of his new short film, Teddy as they shot over one (unexpectedly wet) weekend in November to capture the trials, tribulations and ultimately jubilation of a shoot after months of planning, hiring and casting.

Don't forget TVNZ6 has all the best short films - click here for details! And you can watch the short films for free here!

Part 1 of the director Christopher Banks' blog is below - Part 2 will follow soon...

About Christopher Banks: A film-maker and journalist for print, television and the web, Christopher Banks also scored a string of hits as a songwriter and record producer for various New Zealand pop outfits in the late 1990s, including Deep Obsession. He wrote, produced and directed his first feature Quiet Night In, which was released in 2005.  Teddy is his second film project.
About Teddy: " Teddy " is a short film about Tony, who travels from his home in London in the hopes of rekindling an old relationship with his ex Neil, who left him behind several years ago to live in New Zealand.

Saturday November 22
REHEARSAL & SETUP DAY

8:30am
Driving to rehearsal.  Already I'm convinced we've forgotten something.  We have - a clapperboard.  One of those things you see in every behind the scenes film doco.  I text the producer. 

9am
All the actors are here, but Chris (playing Neil) has a problem.  He has wisdom teeth coming through and one of his cheeks is puffed up.  He assures me it will be fine for tomorrow, and apologises for sounding as if he has a golf ball in his mouth.

12pm
The director of photography phones.  He's running late for the pre-light of our studio scene for Monday because he's locked himself out of his car.  In the middle of the road.  While it is still running.  Don't ask.

2pm
One of the equipment rental houses we're using have unwittingly given us a wrong lens, and it's only by chance that this gets picked up.  A camera without the right lens is like getting Mr Magoo to drive you to Napier.  Crisis averted.
 
3pm
Pakuranga, to pick up a classic 1973 Mini for use in our shoot.  It's absolutely perfect, bar the temperamental clutch, loose battery cables and a slight problem with incontinence - it p***es oil everywhere.  Gears grind as I hit the motorway at a top speed of 80kph.

7pm
Last minute food shopping.  Our main location tomorrow is a house in Kaukapakapa, miles from anywhere.  I have no idea what to buy.  What do people feel like eating at 5 in the morning?  I'd happily replace all meals with pills.  I leave most of the shopping to my long-suffering husband.

8pm
Heading up to the location for an overnight stay.  The drive is largely uneventful, bar some drunken teens at the supermarket who seem to find the sight of a grown man in a Mini amusing.  The sound of banjos echo in my head as we retire for the night.

Sunday November 23, 2008
SHOOT DAY 1

3:45am
First phone call of the day, from the producer to let me know the convoy of cast and crew are on their way from the city.  I confess that I have forgotten to buy teabags.  I hope this is the biggest dilemma we run into today, for which the weather forecast is hideous.  We have some outdoor work to do, and the interior of the house is prone to noisy, whistly wind of the sort that makes sound recording people turn violent.

5am
I shoot an intro for our behind the scenes video diary in the pitch dark.  Minutes later, I'm told that the camera has chewed up the tape.  Later the stills photographer will arrive and find that his camera doesn't work either.  This shoot may well be cursed...

11:30am
We've shot the climactic scene of the film, using all three of our characters.  Everything has run very smoothly.  The curse is lifted.

11:45am
Another major scene done, this time in the kitchen.  There's a beautiful tropical fish tank, but its pump is making too much noise.  We turn the pump off.  A multitude of "Why are they floating to the top?" jokes begin. 

1pm
The kitchen scene is done, and it's superb.  Everyone's feeling very pleased with themselves, so we go and grab some cast photos by the Mini, which by now has created a permanent black stain on the driveway with its leaking oil pump.

2pm
More fun in the Mini for an outdoor scene.  It's furiously windy, and the threatened cloudburst is coming our way.  Spots of water appear on the lens.  An umbrella is held over the director of photography, making him look like Mary Poppins.

Stay tuned to TV2 Movies this weekend for Part 2 of Christopher Banks' blog -  for the final day of shooting short film, Teddy in which the rain causes havoc, a jammed tape machine - and the prospect of a cursed shoot - causes Christopher to nearly have a heart attack and how the long planned for shoot nearly fell apart at the train station!

For more information on "Teddy" go to the official Teddy website!