Adventures In The Vidio Trade - Thoughts

First off I learned quite a bit from working on the other video's.
Dwayne though he did not use sound had an interesting lighting setup to work out and was very good with handling his cast.
Louis (who's actor did not show) did a great job of rolling with the problem and acting himself.
I think he did a better job than his actor could have since the material was formed in his head.
I wound up with the camera which gave me confidence that a hand held situation was workable.
I got to rehearse with my actors fairly extensively before the shoot and was able to alter the script in order to take into account their vocal rhythms.
Spent quite a bit of time getting props and such as well as tightening the script.
I realized after the other shoot that mine was going to take a great deal more time and felt bad about it.
I did what I could to tighten the script and coverage but it was still going to be a much longer shoot.
It would have been best to break it into two days however both the locations and actors could only shoot on that Monday in the given time frame I had.
Dwayne and Louis were exceptionally good about doing this shoot - though it was clear they would have been happier with a shorter simpler shoot.
The shoot did simplify on it's own as the night went on.
The bus it turned out wouldn't start so I didn't have the interior lights I thought I would. Everybody pitched in to roll with the situation and though it took longer than I had hoped the shots were accomplished.
There was a problem throughout the shoot with traffic noises and other ambient sound beyond out control. So we just did the best we could.
Dwayne played the Bus Driver in the end and it worked out well as I had written the part with his vocal rhythms in mind (though I had another bus driver set up who didn't show).
He also did an excellent job on sound throughout the shoot.
Louis had allot of good light ideas as mine tended to be more involved he was able to simplify and make it work.
Some shots were not exactly what I saw in my minds eye but it was still very good lighting in the spirit of the video and speed things up considerably.
Louis also handled the majority of the camera work allowing me to work with the actors.
At the second location the Thief and Kid ran lines while we set up which in the end was a saving grace,
The location was good but not ideal since there was lots of traffic and very little time (though I used ore than my fair share)
Once we started shooting most of my preconceived ideas kinda went out the window and we just kept the spirit and moved as fast as we could.
We did not even consult the scrip because the actors had it down so cold that they would just tell me the next line and the image would come back to me.
Dwayne and Louis would help simplify and we would shoot.
In the end I think we got enough to tell the story.
I think I might have expected too much. But since I want to tell stories this is a problem I anticipate again.
Maybe I could offer some cash to other class members if I need a larger crew.
Try and simplify even more.
Do my best to spread shoots out over different days so every body does not get drained.
I look forward to a time if I am any good that I could work with lighting and camera people who are invested for whatever reason in the project on a personal level.
Until then I have to take into account more the feeling of the people and respect for how much time they feel good about contributing.