sadie

photo by renny mccauley

carrie elzey on the set of FLAT

lunch break

the cast and crew breaks for lunch on day two.

gillian & sadie

photo by terrie samundra

scenery samundra & carrie elzey on the set of FLAT

ladder shot

to get a serious high angle shot of the long, empty road
my amazing director of photography,marcia ong,
rigged the camera to a 12ft ladder.
here mackenzie passes a lens to marcia.

sisters on set

scenery samundra who starred in my short as
gillian, a young woman on the road.


terrie samundra, my amazing producer.

movie magic

the crew of 'flat' gathers around our star, scenery, at the wheel.

well i finally wrapped production on my first year film. it was an amazing shoot; i couldn't have asked for a better time. we drove out to esparto, ca early on friday morning, shot all day and then spent the night before another full day of shooting on saturday. we did a lot of really tricky things including car mount shots, a high angle ladder shot and four beautiful dolly shots. i'll be headed to LA on sunday for my telecine when i'll finally see everything we shot.

the best thing about the whole experience was working with a dedicated, hard working crew. everyone was so great and so fun to have on set. i couldnt have pulled it off without them.
a big thanks to everyone: terrie, marcia, nicki, angie, bethynia, mackenzie, renny, pio, tanner and my incredible actors scenery and carrie. you are all wonderful!

and somehow i managed to take some polaroids on set. there are many more to come as well as some production stills taken by my many amazing crew members...

movie star. movie maker.

melissa bruno

jib shot

the above shots are from the set of nicki's first year film. on saturday we used a triangle jib to get a sweet high angle shot of melissa, our lead actress. it was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

'180' at the sutro baths

yesterday i was on the set of nicki manchisi's first year film, '180'. we got three scenes done, two of which took place along the beach at the sutro bath ruins in san francisco. below are some highlight polaroids of the day:

the director takes a moment to pose before running the next scene.


melissa, luke and scott hang back while nicki rehearses the actors.


renny, the trusty dp, hangs on the beach.

'charlie'

the cast lines up for a shot.

this weekend i worked as 1st assistant camera for my classmate renny's first year film. it was a blast. i learned so much and had a lot of fun. the film took place in a school and involved 16 adolescences, some incredible sunlight and a handful of dolly shots. here are some production stills:


hannah, art director, sips on some coffee as the day begins.


renny frames the shot.


hannah and nicki cut it up as the day winds down.

power lines and railroad tracks

on friday marcia and i went on a little day trip to scope out the location where we'll be shooting my first year film in january. we had quite an adventure:


it really felt like fall in yolo county. bright yellow leaves framed roads that never ended.


train tracks. arbuckle, ca.


the cinematographer scopes out a high angle.

film school

disposable camera

i took some 35mm stills along with the polaroids on my location scouting adventure. i used a fuji outdoor disposable camera. i think they came out quite nicely. saturated and bright.

scouting locations part 2

more from the scouting adventure. these three are my favorites:


i fell in love with power lines...


i've always been drawn to industrial farm equipment but this one really stood out to me. i find there to be something very art deco about the design of this structure.


palm trees on palm street. welcome to california.

scouting locations part 1

in january of 2009 i'll be shooting my first film on 16mm: the first year film at san francisco state university is the culminating work for your first year as an mfa candidate. on sunday i went out to various towns in the central valley of northern california to find locations for my short film, a narrative that captures a moment of isolation and then unification in rural, middle of nowhere california.

here are some polaroids from that adventure:


nicki, my fellow classmate and dear friend, poses against the neverending fields and blue sky.


what appears to be an old abandoned aqueduct. it stretched almost the entirety of hahn rd in arbuckle, ca.


an abandoned farm storage tank stands rusted amongst miles of dry land and power lines.

on the set

scott and renny run a scene before rolling.

today i shot my first project on film for the mfa program at sf state. i shot in a group of four with paul, renny and scott. it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. we each had to shoot 100ft of 16mm film which adds up to, roughly, 2 minutes and 47 seconds. you'd think with that limited amount of film it couldn't possibly take all day. think again. it's such a grueling process, especially when you're trying to orchestrate some semblance of a narrative with actors and blocking.

we first shot renny's film: a complicated narrative of love, lust, deceit and murder told in an elaborate non-linear fashion. in one long take. we then moved to the street where we shot scott's staging of a shady deal gone wrong. scott also got some on the fly shots of a neighborhood second grader boasting his skills on the pogo stick. this was followed by subway sandwiches and my film, a modge podge of high fives and sunglasses, complete with an orange and typewriter for props. then we trekked three blocks to defremery park where paul documented a graffiti festival and scott ate a delicious hotdog.

it was a long and exhausting day but it was the first day where i really felt how i imagined i would feel in film school. sweat, stress and chaos all made worth it by the lovely hum of a rolling camera...
finally kids, we have landed.