Day 9: That’s a Wrap!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgive me for not posting yesterday – I will make up for it with the world’s longest, most multimedia-filled post yet! And my excuse for not posting – we were filming. We started with a noon crew call on Sunday and wrapped around 6:30 AM on Monday. But since sleep never broke up the production, we’re counting this as one day of filming. Have I mentioned this cast and crew is unbelievable?

Introduction of the training bra.

We started the day filming the opening scene of the film, in which Katya’s mother presents Young Katya with her first training bra. The nature of film production is to shoot out of sequence, so by a bizarre chance of production scheduling, we filmed the first scene and the last scene on our last day of production. I do love accidental symmetry. Our production design for Young Katya’s bedroom was completed for us by the Busis family, who had the perfect room in their house already. It’s pretty much my dream bedroom from when I was nine. Thank you again to the Busis family! Props also go out to Anna Nelson, our production designer, who has done an amazing job making every location sing with awesomeness and detail. You’re a super star, Anna.

First bra.

Alexandra, the actress we found for Young Katya, is a remarkable young talent. And, let’s face it, adorable beyond belief. I’m sure she’ll go far no matter what path she lands in, but she certainly has a future in film if she wants it.

And now for the second half of the night. Take a deep gulp of breath and then dive in with me on this one. (See what I did there? Swimming metaphors! … Shut up, I’m tired, we just made a movie.)

Slating for the last scene of the film.

After wrapping at Young Katya’s bedroom, we made a company move to Edgewood Country Club, where we filmed the last scene of the movie. Crew arrived on location around 6:30pm. Twelve hours later at 6:30am, we wrapped, packed, and went home to fall into deep, exhausted, comatose sleep. It was the most adrenaline-rushed, exhausting, thrilling shoot we’ve had yet. And the footage is amazing.

Zack Wallnau, our superb on-set photographer and editor, captured the above video of us at work (in one long take which picks us up from the moments before “action” to the seconds after “cut”), which I have synched to sentimental movie music to trick you into feeling the way I do about this cast and crew. Prepare to be emotionally manipulated, because this cast and crew is awe inspiringly awesome.

And now for the night’s journey in photos.

Andrew Batista (our genius of a DP) and I walk around the pool discussing blocking and the night’s shot list.

Second AD, Camera, Make Up, and Sound departments wait in the wings for cast to arrive and daylight to disappear. They’re about to work a 12 hour night with no sleep.

Our cast runs a rehearsal during the last minutes of daylight. We also had some truly dedicated and wonderful extras on set for our last shoot, who stayed with us from daylight till midnight. We couldn’t do it without them!

Giving my last rehearsal notes to the cast before starting filming.

Filming the last scene.

Teen angst at the poolside.

Resetting between takes.

Back to the production drama. Around 4:30AM, it became a race against daylight as we tackled our 16-shot shot list. The sun began to peek out around the corners of the horizon and as I saw the beautiful morning glow, I wondered why people were so into glowy pretty sunrises because they SUCKED for lighting continuity. Stupid sunrise. But possibility is a great motivator and we knew it was at least possible to make our day, and this isn’t a crew which backs down in the face of such inevitabilities as sunrise, so we blazed through the last seconds of night time and we WRAPPED.

Setting for the last shot of the production, – see that sunrise glowing behind us? Captured at 5:36AM on my phone. Time to shoot into the trees.

“That’s a wrap!” hug with Nick Hurt, my producer/assistant director, at 6:30 AM.

Striking down the set after we wrapped for our last day of filming. I miss this already.

After calling the last “That’s a wrap!” for a production, I tend to feel this weird smoothie mix of thrilled, nervous, satisfied, anxious, and full of boundless glee all at once. It’s finally done, and it’s time to move on to post. Which is a whole other adventure, but production is a special kind of rush and thrill that I’ve yet to find rivaled in anything else I’ve ever done. I want to do it all over again, and at the same time I’m so, so, so happy we’re done. It’s a feeling I’ll probably chase for the rest of my life.

Thank you again to our phenomenal cast and crew, the wonderful people at Steeltown Entertainment, the incredible Ellen Weiss Kander, and all the friends and family of everyone who’s been a part of this production – your support has meant the world to us. We can’t wait to share this film with you!

I’ll continue updating this blog as we move through post-production, with updates on the edit as well as further reflections on specifics of our production process and behind the scenes videos from pre-production through post. Stay tuned!

Much love,

Yulin Kuang
Writer/Director – “The Perils of Growing Up Flat-Chested”