This is the second short film I’ve written & directed and starred in (see my “Office Zombies” short film to see how I’m progressing), and will likely not be the last. I had a great team and cast to work with, and learned so much from this project. We shot this on a Canon C300 with the Canon CN-E Primes from Austin Movie Gear. We also used the Letus Anamorphx Adapter to give us the anamorphic widescreen look.

Shooting anamorphic in this style is an interesting challenge, because placing an adapter in front of a lens meant constant adjusting in order to find the proper focal plane. If I shoot another film anamorphically then I definitely want to just get anamorphic lenses to help simplify setups and focus pulls. Of course anamorphic lenses are not cheap, but for the right script I think it can definitely be worth it.

Location scouting is always a bit tough. I had a strong visual image of the coffee shop that I couldn’t quite find. I wanted to seat the leading lady next to a window and shoot through the window to capture some nice bokeh reflections and give a strong sense of the viewer glimpsing into her life. What I found turned out to be a lot better when I stumbled across Caffé Medici who were incredibly gracious with their time in allowing us to film in their absolutely gorgeous coffee shop (and they make excellent coffee as well).

The music is scored by Todd Sapio, which I think turned out just beautifully. I was hoping to add a little more rhythm towards the end of the montage, but we ultimately ran out of time and I think it still worked rather well. His band, Kiona, is featured at the end of the film, too. Great great music!

You can find more info and BTS photos on this project here!