DIARIES

Most of the time was spent in a car, spinning around the Durban streets. A mistake I will never make again is choosing too many locations to film at.

FRIDAY 30 - SUNDAY 2
Filming started off well, with everyone motivated...well, more motivated than they were for the rest of the shoot. We completed many scenes, and because we did not have access to the required equipment, we were forced to use my simple little 8mm camcorder, and record sound seperately ala Robert Rodriguez, using a cheap tape recorder and mic. My lead actors were a little worse for wear on the first day of filming and it was today I first heard the phrase I would be hearing more of; "Can we not rather do this tomorrow?" As a result of this being our first weekend, I was not pressured, and so insisted I take my time in achieving perfection. Their peformances were fine, but I was a little worried about sound levels, which I was sure would have turned out awful but, thanfully, did not.

SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9
We finally had access to the required camera, plus a great mic, and filming commenced on Saturday morning as our driver and my on-screen brother, Paul, was not available on Friday afternoon. We shot some of the important, dialogue sequences, and was happy with both Paul's and Danny's performance. They worked hard, and put up with my constant ordering. As I left Nick's home on Saturday, he declined coming out with us to shoot some of his scenes, in favour of doing them later on in the day. I wasn't too keen on this idea, but went along with it anyway...I shouldn't have, as when we arrived back at his house at the time he had requested, he informed me he had invited friends over, and so would not be available for filming. I was a little disheartened by this, but bit my tongue for the first time in a series. These people are not being paid, so I could hardly start to air my problems about their behaviour. The friends he had invited over were needed for the shoot, and so I decided to film their scenes while I had them at my disposal. I shot some of Kate's scenes, who plays my girlfriend in the movie, with the idea that I would complete her scenes next weekend. We agreed to shoot some of the nightclub scenes without him, but as the night wore on, and after a big meal, my actors decided they were not too keen on the idea of filming that evening, and would rather do it next Friday. That leaves a lot to be done next weekend, and I truly hate leaving things until the last minute.

FRIDAY 14 - SUNDAY 16
We have been unable to get a hold of Kate, and this worries me seeing that I only have two more days to shoot her (extremely important) scenes. Regrettably, we only begin filming late in the day, leaving a few hours of sunshine. I intended for Moana's scenes to be filmed this afternoon, and so a great portion of time was wasted driving around looking for her and Nick, who had gone for a little walk. After getting a hold of them, I managed to persuade the very unrelectant Moana to donate 30 minutes of her time to complete her scenes at the local mall. Two hours later we were just about finished, after having been declined permission to film in La Lucia Mall, and having to look for a well-lit, quiet exterior part of the shopping complex. Moana's acting was less than satisfactory, but knew I could make something off it in the editing process. She had a lot of trouble learning her lines, and this only added to the pressure that was on me to have the film completed by Sunday. After arriving home on Friday evening, I was intending to begin the nightclub scenes as soon as possible, but my actors, and driver devlined, leaving me with nothing to do but to worry even more. Kate still has not been contacted.
Saturday was spent club-hopping, but only had our camera, and cameraman for one and a half hours, seeing that he had a party to attend to. We knew we were not going to be given permission to film inside of clubs, so made do with exterior shots, which I will use in conjunction with shots of clubs I filmed last year, and will add many of the interviews I had aquired on those occassions. I was, and still and not happy with the club / bar-hopping section of the film, as it is too short, and because of a lack of time, I was forced to leave out a few funny dilogue scenes. Moana, who was needed for the filming that night, declined to be a part of it.

This was taken around about the time we were looking for clubs to film in, and could sense the tiredness in my cast.

The last day of filming has arrived, and Kate has phoned, telling us she will be available after 4, and will call us then. We needed to do some last-minute scenes, with my cast and crew who were now a little more than pissed off and angry, and desperately wanting this whole film to be over and done with. Kate called when we were out, and instead of waiting to get a hold of us, she leaves for an unknown location outside of Durban, and so leaving me with a very worrying problem, of having important scenes to film, and not having an actress. After a few nervous, and crazy phone calls, we secured an actress, a friend of the cameraman, who would be at home for another two hours. At around 5 in the evening, the filming was just about completed, with one last scene to complete which Nick refused to do, purely because he was cranky and tired(!). I sure as hell knew I wasn't going to get any sort of a performance out of him, so suggested to do the lines later at his home. This was a big compromise, but was eventually completed, and I could breathe a sigh of relief!

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