Progress

I'm about to head out for Day 4 on set of The Mercury Cycle.  I think that so far things have gone well considering all of the bumps we've hit.  At this point, all I can ask is that we start to improve our set up times for each shot.  The more efficient our setups, the more time we have for takes.  I think things will go smoothly today because we had last weekend to work out kinks and we are starting to get into a groove.

Cheers,

Brianne

Scheduling

Phew!  Looks like the schedule is finally just about done.  Unfortunately, there have been a ton of issues floating around that caused the schedule to go through countless drafts, but at this point I think we have worked out just about everything.  We are going to have a total of 33 shooting days, ending on April 26th, if nothing goes horribly amiss.  I really hope it doesn't because we seniors have to graduate and get real (paying) jobs shortly after then.  I did schedule in several extras days for pick up shots and re-shoots, which I know we will need, so I am praying they will be enough.

This coming weekend we have a packed schedule - 12 scenes on Saturday and another 7 on Sunday.  Not to mention that Sunday will be Jessica's (the actress who plays Lana, the female lead) first day on set!  If we can all learn from what we've done so far and apply that knowledge to this weekend's shoot, we will be in pretty good shape.

-Brianne

Picture Source

Hi, I'm your 1st Assistant Director...

...and my name is Brianne.

I am extremely excited to be working on The Mercucy Cycle!  This is my first venture into feature film production, though I have worked on pre-production of a professional short film and production of a music video within the past year.

A little about me...

I am a senior now at Quinnipiac University, majoring in Media Production, of course, and minoring in Psychology.  At QU, I am involved in clubs that center around my two passions, movies and music: WQAQ, the student-run radio station and QFS, the rapidly-growing film society.  I also love photography and I make jewelry.

Why I am involved in The Mercury

 Cycle...

Since the beginning of the Quinnipiac Film Society, it was obvious that we were a group of students that were eager to learn more and starving for something big and exciting to dig our teeth into.  For me, The Mercury Cycle came at just the right time.  I was about to trek through my final year at Quinnipiac and looking for something to do.  Something that would make me stand out among all of the other new people in the business begging to work for very little money and for a chance to be a part of a great production.  I think that TMC will be that thing, and I hope that in years to come we all look back and are proud to have been a part of something big.

My position as 1st AD...

As the First Assistant Director, I am the Director's right-hand (wo)man.  I have a myriad of responsibilities from creating call sheets to calling "Quiet on the set!"

What I have been doing so far...

Beginning in November, I worked alongside our Production Manager Caitlin Goldberg to create the shooting schedule for TMC.  This can be a difficult job on an independent film because the schedule must be made with consideration of a number of restraints such as actor's schedules, school holidays during which crew would be unavailable, and availability of locations.  We are only able to shoot on weekends because most of the crew has class during the week and many cast members have full times jobs.

The schedule has gone through several versions since its original creation for many different reasons.  Re-castings, locations problems, and almost any other change in the production affects the schedule.

Here is a sample of what the schedule looks like:

During production, one of my main responsibility is generating call sheets, which is a page of information that tells everyone on the cast and crew where and when they need to be each day of production.  At the start of the shooting day, I distribute One Line Schedules, which includes information (including estimated times) about each scene that is to be shot that day, that the crew uses as a guideline throughout the day.

During a shoot, I am the one that gets a take started with my calls:

"Quiet on the set please!"

"Rehearsal for camera" OR "Shooting for picture"

"Roll sound" and "Roll camera"

...and so on.

And so...

I just want to say that I'm so excited to be a part of this journey and I'm glad that you are here to come along and experience this wonderful opportunity - because as our director Cody would say,

"There are no problems on set, only opportunities"

Brianne Richard

brianne.richard@quinnipiac.edu

1st Assistant Director

The Mercury Cycle

Please Donate!

Hey Friends,

Below is the link to donate money for our film "The Mercury Cycle". It is hard to ask friends for their hard earned money, however I promise you that it WILL NOT GO TO WASTE! It is important for us to buy the equipment we need to make this film the best it can be, for us as well as for you. ANY AMOUNT IS GREATLY APPERCIATED!!! The sooner, the better. This is a full length feature film, with your generous contributions we can raise enough money to make this thing and hopefully enter it into festivals such as Sundance and Cannes.

Please see the description below, and press the pretty yellow button to donate!

-Brianne

What if you could learn from your past by actually seeing it?
Meet college student David Bushell. Dumped by his girlfriend, failing at school, and lacking any real friends, David spends every weekend at home taking care of his father, who struggles to trust anyone after the death of David’s mother. David’s life continues on a downward spiral until he follows his roommate to one of his secret late-night “meetings”.
There, David discovers a secret brotherhood that take pills enabling them to look at events in their lives, and learn from their past. The pills give David the power to look back at the good times and the bad. With the pills and the help of his new friend Lana, his life begins to improve. But the pills are a closely-held secret, and when the brothers find out David isn’t who they thought he was, it means danger for David and Lana.