I'm Black And I'm Proud - Part 3 - Production

The day of the shoot soon came and I wasn't sure I was ready. My assistant Director, Guinness , and I went over the schedule and my confidence grew. We had decided to shoot in sequence which brought us to Sweet Daddy's apartment. We didn't need sound for the first few scenes, which was good, because it was scheduled to show up around lunch time. After forking out a couple hundred dollars on sound equipment, I had no money for any other rentals, so we got to work on lighting with every lamp and light we could find. The opening shot was framed, Sweet Daddy moved in to position and action was called. The first take was perfect, but we did another for security. We set up in his hallway and did the next series of shots. This took us a lot longer as lighting posed many more problems. Soon I was happy and we were able to wrap the first location.

Driving to the next location I was so pleased with what we shot. So far the footage looked exactly how I had storyboarded it. The next location we shot was Sweet Daddy by the train tracks. We wasted a lot of time on a moving camera sequence that I really wanted and that meant a lot to my expression, but ultimately did not make the cut. We moved on to some shots from the roof of my loft - windy, but very nice. Then we met up with my brother and the sound guy. Setting up the sound and rehearsing with the actors took a little more time than I would have hoped, but we were soon shooting. I thought it looked great and would edit well. Switching from an old Irishman to my brother with the wheel of his wheelchair stuck in the train tracks was incredible. The shiny coin in his hand, the way he played with it and passed it to Sweet Daddy was incredible. I couldn't wait to use it. We wrapped it and I checked the footage. Everything looked good, but there was no sound. I played with my controls and still no sound. I spoke with the sound guy and he assured me everything was working. "Working, my ass!" I had no sound at all. We ran some tests, we fiddled with everything, and I realized this guy really didn't know what the fuck he was doing.

This was my first setback and what a setback it was. I had secured everything for this one day, we were on a really tight schedule, I couldn't afford setbacks. After some discussion and near tears, I decided we would shoot it without sound - fuck it! Talkies killed the silent film era. My true inspirations were Buster Keaton, Harold Loyd, and Sergei Eisenstein.

We moved on to the next location and filmed Donnie, Jared and Sweet Daddy in the tunnel. Back on track, it looked just the way I storyboarded it. I couldn't wait to get to the pub and have a pint!

We got to McLean's Pub and it was exceptionally busy for a Sunday. Pat Mercier and Jason Campbell were working. People had already started to arrive for the shoot. We had no sound, so we had no problems with the ambient sounds - a small blessing. After a quick run through and some camera tests we were ready to film, but two of the actors had not shown up yet. Ok, beer break, I got on the phone and called and called and called.

This was my second major setback. I was two actors short of a fucking Happy Meal! What the heck was I going to do. Guinness' friend Justin stepped in and said he would play the big guy. Great, now all I needed was a wee leprechaun. For that I was not so lucky. No one could replace Frank. He looked the part. I had the clothes ready. Oh well, I had to scrap that bit of the story. Tightened my belt and set up for the next shot.

It really wasn't that easy - my heart was in my throat and I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I would have to change so much, how could I tell the same story? I was also starting to feel the pressure of being the director as well as the director of photograhy. It was difficult to deal with all the setbacks; answer all the questions; direct the acting; frame the shot; shoot it; and watch the acting. I was on the verge of giving up, but I was too scared to quit. So, we shot the rest of the sequences as we had planned and readapted the fight scene - which never really worked. A few more pints later I was able to call a wrap to the production.

This along with a few too many pints ended the one day shoot!