I love these challenges because it makes us get off our asses and shoot something, and by the end of the week or two, it's all over and we never have to think about it again. There were definitely moments when I felt like throwing in the towel (more on that later), but we persevered and finished it in the end.

Setups were pretty simple this time - no fancy camera moves or lighting plans. The story didn't call for it. We wanted to rehearse the actors and shoot it from a whole bunch of angles as an exercise in blocking. Of course, we still ran short on time and dropped a bunch of shots we wanted. It was really a great collaborative effort between the three of us, so I can only take a small part of the credit for this little short.

Enough rambling....here are some pics, and all comments are welcomed!

Our camera setup with a newly acquired 10.9" Manhattan LCD.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1594/mg2958ko9.jpg http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5051/mg2962yy9.jpg

Vish eating on set and my reaction:
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8342/mg2974zw7.jpg http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3460/mg2984ck8.jpg

Our cast was awesome, very professional even working through the night.
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4640/mg2987hp8.jpg

Yep, that's a Powerbook 145 baby, circa 1994.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2715/mg2960dt8.jpg

The sun was just coming up and everybody was dead tired, but we soldiered on.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6448/mg3042bj0.jpg

Prepping the Kessler crane the night before our pickup shot, followed by a cold and miserable day to shoot:
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3800/mg3069xs8.jpg
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8817/mg3118mb4.jpg http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1752/mg3130tp5.jpg

Always put a cute dog in your film to score some extra points:
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/7064/sany0663an3.jpg

I'm not very good with arts and crafts, so I was quite proud of the sperm helmets I made:
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7324/mg3082sf7.jpg

Me trying to direct the actors from about a hundred yards away:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6601/mg3155um8.jpg

A car makes a pretty good makeshift dolly!
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4589/mg3167no7.jpg

The final pickup shot was an absolute disaster. We found a nice spot to shoot by the airport and I drove my car into a muddy field and immediately got stuck. Some guy came and told us airport security will probably be on its way soon and we had to get out. Finally managed to jack the car up and and stuck a piece of wood we found under the tires. We spent about an hour getting unstuck, and shot the scene in 5 minutes and got out of there. No arrests were made.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2695/mg3181xv4.jpg

in my defence, i hadn't eaten for like 8 hrs and those WERE yummy samosa's!!!

Anyways, was an excellent shoot and good times shooting with Eric as usual.

and that adorable pug belongs to me.. i take full credit for him hehe ;)


Vish

Eric, this was very good work and I had lots of fun watching it.

I really liked the way it got me where the 2 cars go slowly, I thought it's a slow-mo, but wasn't, as pointed out by the walking dog lol :)

Good story and execution I would say, this short reminded me of "The IT Crowd" show and their silly acts.

very original script. Great concept. Loved the dialog a the microwave as justification for the competition. Very well lit and technically beautiful. I loved the line "so, what are you doing later" Fun piece, and good acting. Well done.

This stuff is right up my alley. Your sense of humor, that is, not sperm races.

I completely lost it when they turn their heads before the race! Having the leads act as their own sperm was funny enough, then to see your wardrobe work on top of it? Destined to be a classic moment. Then, later, the guy walking the dog past the cars, absolute brilliance.

Sorry to hear about that last shot, sounds like a hell of a day. Glad to see you got lots of production stills, though, it's always fun getting a look behind the camera.

One of my favorites so far, thanks for the laughs!

Despite all the challenges, it looks like you and the others had a lot of fun making this.
After all the work with the crane did you end up using any of the footage? I couldn’t find it. That happens to me so I just wondered.

The hats pretty much stole the show, for me. As Robert mentioned, I laughed at the way you introduced them, and laughed again when the one guy was trying to fit it into his car.

Funny concept, Eric, and you all did a really good job.

To Robert: "This stuff is right up my alley. Your sense of humor, that is, not sperm races." LOL!

Very fun film-- except I couldn't get my mind off the technical aspects of arranging a sperm race........... lots of fun, great gags and great camera work.

Great work on the film.

I too really laughed at the hats and the way they were revealed. Very clever.

Fun to watch and the production quality was good too.

Nice job!

Haha, thanks for the comments guys. Yes, I did have fun making this, even though I probably didn't show it on the shoot days because of the time pressure we were under. This run-and-gun stuff is tough!

Good story and execution I would say, this short reminded me of "The IT Crowd" show and their silly acts.

I'd never heard of the IT Crowd before. I checked it out on YouTube and those skits are hilarious! I'll definitely be watching more.....thanks!


After all the work with the crane did you end up using any of the footage? I couldn’t find it. That happens to me so I just wondered.

The crane shot did sneak into the very end after the credits. Yeah, it was a lot of setup for a split second shot. I had imagined it to be longer, but it turned out to be better in the edit this way.

I couldn't get my mind off the technical aspects of arranging a sperm race

It's not that hard! See, basically, you have a starting line and a finish line....and you put your sperm at the start...

Funny story - one of the actors showed up later after we had everything setup in the lunch room scene. On the laptop, we had a loop of some sperm footage. He looked at it and actually thought it was from the microscope. The look on his face was priceless!

I chuckled throughout the film. Whoever came up with the film's premise and concept should be given some kind of award just for that.

The camera work and set ups were excellent. I don't know if you pre planned some cuts, but the placement of things and people between some of them appeared to have been pre planned and was well done.

The hats.... hilarious. The car race and the man walking his dog... priceless.

Overall if I could sum up this film using single word descriptors it would be: zany.

Good work, all around. I'm enjoying the entries in this one and yours certainly is no exception. Thanks !

Chris

A beautiful film, both technically and storywise. Great lighting throughout, clear sound, and a very clever story. Really, there's no more elaborate way for me to put it.

Congrats to your cast and crew!

This is my number 1. Technically sound. Excellent story. Great use of theme.

I laughed the whole time. Very nice job.