After months of trying to align with everyone's schedules, we finally shot the externals for our "desert-inspired" take on Macbeth. Travis and I are both going to use this footage for our Showreels, so we persisted with moving forward with the shoot even though at times it seemed it wasn't going to happen! Shot in only a few hours, our little team pulled together and created something we are quite proud of.
It got me thinking how fortunate I am to have such a wonderful group of friends to collaborate with. Most actors are aware that we need to "get out there and create your own content" but it can be really difficult to find people to collaborate with that aren't just all talk.
Travis is a naturally talented DP and editor; he's constantly learning and refining his skills and is always up for a challenge. He has a real "can-do" attitude too, which is such a necessary trait in a filmmaker and it makes it such a pleasure to work with him. His work is beautiful - I'm always astounded when I watch the footage. My girlfriends took on the roles of the wise women/witches and easily dropped into their personas. I was astonished at the intensity of their focus, and this made it so easy for me to connect with and play off them.
Ben was roped into crew duties (all of the crew duties actually:1st AD/Unit Manager/Grip/Logistics & Catering!) while John took care of transport/animal wrangling (because we had to take out our puppies to location). Totally unglorified roles, but we couldn't have shot without them.
Once we wrapped, we nestled around the campfire set out on the edge of the salt lake, enjoying a BBQ dinner and having a couple of drinks. We shot on the day of the lunar eclipse, so we got to see the humongous full moon rise over the lake, before disappearing into the clouds. Incredibly beautiful.
Next up, we shoot the sleepwalking monologue to preface this scene...a huge challenge for me, but very exciting to tackle.
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