May 2024

Hey there! This past semester, within all of the various films that I have made, I have had the pleasure to bring to life a goofy 3 page script I made in my screenwriting class last spring! The story follows two brothers who fight each other in arguing over wether these cookies found on the counter are laced with the illegal drug, Acid. 

Background

This story came to me after watching an MGMT interview on youtube, where one of the lead singers said that he laced the cookies with acid because he wanted to eat all of them. Of course, he was being sarcastic, but I thought that was pretty funny. So when it came to write a 3 page story, with two characters in one room, I know what my topic was going to be…

Next task, this semester, my final directing assignment. For this assignment, we had to direct a short scene for our final project. Naturally, I thought of my 3 page script. So I revised the script to work for this assignment and went straight into pre – production. 

Pre – Production 

I knew that I had to book my actors and crew and find a shooting date as soon as I could. Probably at least a month in advance. Most people in film school are incredibly busy, and we all have to book each other at least a month in advance, or as soon as you are aware of the shooting dates. So that’s what I did. However, I shot in April, and things came up. So we could not book an on set sound mixer. However, my dad really enjoys music and music recording, so I asked him if he wanted to do on set sound. He was down! 

Tom Ocque (my father) sound mixing 😆)

On Set?! 

So now the shooting. We ended up shooting at my childhood home, because we needed an incredibly well lit kitchen! Usually, I would prefer to be the Director of Photography, but since this was a directing project, I took a stab at directing for once. It was pretty fun, I enjoyed working with my talent. In which the talent was well, talented. I am incredibly proud of the performance my actors gave, and bless them for eating so many cookies!! Shoutout Andrew Schlegal and Kyle Morais! 

Our shoot went really well, and we even ended earlier than expected. We had a small crew, but they absolutely killed it! I am proud of how that day went. Plus we had pasta bake for our lunch, which was so delicious. 

Editing and Coloring 

I only had a few weeks to edit this project before it was due for my class. I used premiere pro and DaVinci resolve to finish the color of it. Given that we shot on the Blackmagic 6K in a BRAW file format, the images all came out this orangish glow. After editing the project like that, I threw it into DaVinci Resolve, and did some retouching on the overall color of the film. I wanted it to look high key with neutral clean bluish tint to all the images. I think it came out really good! Shoutout my camera team, Hallie Allport and Evan Roos! 

Would I Direct Again? 

I really enjoyed being in the directors chair, but I don’t think I will direct a film that I personally didn’t write myself. 

I prefer framing the images and creating meaning with a camera over making sure the performances work. However, it was a fantastic learning experience, and I really appreciate the opportunity to create such a silly scene! 

Ruby our Set Cat!

Photo Credits: Carson Munn 🙂

Cast & Crew for Film 

Ben: Andrew Schlegal 

Mac: Kyle Morais 

Director: 🙋‍♀️

Assistant Director: Lindsey Hecker

Director of Photography: Hallie Allport 

First Assistant Camera: Evan Roos 

Second Assistant Camera/Grip/BTS Photographer: Carson Munn

Sound Mix: Tom Ocque 

On Set Cat: Ruby