Rebecca Musanga reading her script before the shoot
It was on 26th Thursday when the shooting
timetable was scheduled and I was notified to be the first to start. I had
mixed feelings because I was exited at the same time afraid, what if I made a
mistake? Nevertheless, I accepted since everything about me was set to go. I
borrowed two flip cameras and a flip charger that evening to ensure all things
were set and could not wait for Friday.
Early the next morning I woke up to start preparing the
location where most of the actions would take place as I arranged the required
props. At around seven in the morning, I was set to pick my cast and crew who
were to gather at Hot Sun Foundation premises little did I know that only a
quarter of them had arrived.
Rebecca and her colleagues on set
My first frustration began when I started looking for the
rest as I spent my credit calling them. On that same day, one of my cast who
was to act as a mother just informed me that she won’t make it so I had to look
for another actor immediately. Damn it was very stressive but thanks to my
cameraman, Erasto Walter who helped me to get a replacement.
The second frustration began when we were late on set, so we
had to shoot all the scenes in a hurry because the cast involved wanted to go
back to their normal business.
My third frustration was when the flip cameras just decided
to misbehave and went on and off in the middle of the shoot and when we tried
capturing a nice shot, an aeroplane kept on disturbing, hence we were forced to
cut and repeat as many takes as the aeroplane would allow. Before we finished
shooting, it started raining heavily so we had to end the shoot leaving out
some of the scenes.
Considering the fact that it was a zero budget film, I was
very frustrated but I had to accept that sometimes shit happens. I have learnt
a lot of things from my first shoot and in my next project I will always have a
plan B just in case a mess is likely to crop up. People always say that
experience is the best teacher but I must admit that experience does not
guarantee efficiency.
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