Okay this is a quick overview of the filming of Anna’s Choice. The first day was the most difficult. I had things planned and then I found out that the Starrs were going to have to leave earlier than expected. So then it was really rushed. We were able to get one scene done, but that was it. We also couldn’t find the tent we were going to use so instead we used a sheet and it looked really bad. So Matthew tried to cut as much of it out of that scene as possible. We had to refilm part of it in the end. That was by far one of, if not, the worst day of filming.
The second day was not bad at all. In fact we all had a blast. This was nice because we were really discouraged from the first day. None of us got to bed before 11:00pm the night before, and I didn’t know who else was awake besides me. We just finished praying, and when we finished going over lines we packed up the vehicle and hit the road. We filmed the scene at the river and got to splash around between shots. Peter and Matthew found a perfect spot for that day’s filming. It’s time to use one of my favorite words—we had a “conundrum”. I didn’t write any script for when we come out of the woods because I thought we would just show a clip of that. It wouldn’t have been bad except none of us are pros at acting, and adlibbing isn’t my strong point. But it all worked out, and we had a blast filming.
The third day Kate Starr came over, and we did the scenes with just her (Natalie) and me (Anna). It went as smoothly as a stressed and stretched day can go. I lost part of my costume, and it took a while to get the new one to look as similar as possible. So we couldn’t start as early as planned. We had ‘till 2:30 to film, and on top of getting started late, the cars didn’t seem to care that we had limited time. Well, God was definitely trying to teach me patience. We filmed a good deal of the remaining script; I think it was a total of five scenes. I wish we had had more time to film each scene. It would have looked a lot better, but I am just glad we could film at all.
If I thought the last filming day was stressed…. Day 4 we had to get all the scenes done with David in them because Peter was probably not going to be able to come back. And the Airport thought it was a good day for “touch and goes” as well. (Note to anyone thinking about filming: DO NOT film next to an airport or busy road.) I needed that note six weeks ago! Well I am learning all about filming, just not all of it the easy way. The filming went pretty smooth though. We filmed about five scenes and did a few touchups on them. All in all it was a good day. We were able to get all that we had planned done.
The fifth day of filming didn’t go so smoothly. Peter was not going to be able to come back to film because he was getting his hair cut and school was starting. So it was a really rushed day of filming, and the cars were worse than ever (along with the airport doing touch and goes), but we still got a ton done. I am very thankful to God, and proud of the actors as well as the camera crew for the work they did that day. We made it through, getting all the scenes done except for two. You can imagine the frustration that came with having only two scenes left and having to stop. But Peter was very understanding and decided to wait to get his hair cut so that we could film the last two scenes with him on Sunday.
So Peter was able to come back one more time (Day 6), so the two scenes we needed to finish with him had to get done that day, as well as the scenes with Eliana, Joshua, and the car. Things are going a lot smoother that day than they had been. And we even brought in my stunt driver, Mrs. Starr;) We got a lot done including the scene when the boys and Eliana come back and see Anna and Natalie. All the filming went really well until after Peter left. Then the traffic started to pick up and it was really messing with the boom mic’s audio. We were unable to get everything we had planned done.
Before Day 7 of filming we went for a loop. Life started getting really busy and we were unable to film for a week, but God was faithful, and things slowed down enough for us to start filming again.
On Day 7 we filmed with just Kate. We got the scenes done with her in them and then did the ending scene which included some new cast, Craig and Amanda Smiley. That scene was a blast. A new thing we did was to bring in a family pet. We got to work with Cuddles, the Smiley’s dog, so that put a super fun twist on things. After that we were done with the filming. We are thinking of refilming one scene, but we haven’t totally decided.
Right now we’re in the process of editing and recording music so the work’s not done yet. Thank you for all your prayers, feed back, and encouragement during this film. God Bless!
-Erica Whetstone (Anna)
