Report 02/03/02 This was our first shoot day and was also probably the most difficult. We met up at the Odyssey and began setting up and rehearsing the first shot. It was difficult as a classic car exhibition was being packed up and cars being driven out kept forcing us to move. When we were about to shoot the smoke alarms went off, so the group learnt that things often take longer than expected! We were also missing our sound recordist Nicolas, who had to go on a last minute trip, but Shpresa stood in for him. It was a challenge to keep some of the younger group focused, but they did very well under the circumstances as there was a lot of distractions around, special mention for Nitika whose attention and focus remained throughout the long day. As the day progressed we tried to pick up the pace and make a few compromises, the schedule for the day was very optimistic, particularly for a first day and due to the crew being pretty exhausted, we decided to postpone Emran's scene. Samuel, Shpresa and Emran worked extremely hard and despite their fatigue, they were elated at what they had achieved. I'm really grateful to everyone in the group for their hard work and sheer determination to get this film made. Namrata arrived later in the afternoon, so it was great to get a fresh crew member to take over. We decided to call it a day for the rest of the crew, we still had some POV shots to do and Namrata was happy to oblige, she is interested in camera and has also demonstrated talent. Emran and Samuel who both consider themselves perfectionists, came back briefly and told me of their frustrations at thinking they could have done better, I assured them that hoping and striving for perfection shouldn't be seen as a bad thing, their work was probably much better than they were imagining and compromise is always the necessary evil in film making. They have made such incredible progress, I'd like to get an opportunity to let them review their work and hopefully reassure them of their talent. I'm expecting a few technical mistakes from the day's shoot, nothing unfixable though, the sound mixing role became too much for Shpresa to keep through the whole day and we had to compromise with the on board mic for a while. I haven't had a chance to review any rushes yet but hope to in the next few days, all in all it was a tough day, for the younger group being filmed as well as those with demanding technical roles, from now on we hope to be working in smaller groups, rotating crews and giving the younger group members a more active role in set designing for the party. Congratulations and thanks to all the group! Angela