12 hours, 32 shots, and over 100 takes. The demands were high going into filming The Notice with an ambitious shot list and a challenging location, but that didn't stop me from ensuring the vision came to fruition in this Guy Ritchie-esque crime dramedy.
Coming onto the project two weeks before production there was a lot to accomplish. Nonetheless, I negotiated and expedited a one-month process to secure our on-campus filming permit with Boston University and Fuller's BU Pub for free.
Alongside cinematographer, Ryan Herh, I coordinated a multi-cam shooting schedule that strategically organized our 12-hour shoot with setup, breakdown, meals, and production. As assistant director, I ensured we maintained a timely accordance with this shooting schedule, and problem-solved necessary pivots due to electrics delay post-lunch. Lastly, while my director, Yelisey Kazakevich, was focused on his on-screen performance as the lead, I aided with actor and crew directions.
Despite a tight principal production, postproduction was a lengthy journey across two months. The initial rough cuts I edited of the film included an interior scene, where the primary story unfolds, and an exterior scene, that provided expositional context to our characters. However, despite reshooting the exterior scene to meet our visual expectations, my director and I came to the difficult decision to scrap this expositional sequence to convey a more suspenseful and thrilling narrative. Seven cuts later, I've edited a four-way Mexican standoff that establishes the space of the film through primarily close-ups, and captures the arc of each character in this 5-minute bar robbery gone wrong.
