The 27-year-old Truro native spent countless hours filming the newest movie she’s directing at the John Stanfield Inn – Some Things Won’t Sleep.
“It has been amazing,” she said while taking a break from filming. “Things have been going better than I could have expected and better than I imagined they would be.”
Johnston is working on the movie with Bible Hill native André Pettigrew, who is just starting in the producer’s role.
The duo was recently named one of four director/producer teams across Canada to receive funding through the National Screen Institute Drama Prize to bring their idea to life. They started filming at the inn on Saturday and wrapped up final scenes there Sunday before moving to a lake elsewhere in the province for additional scenes.
“We have a really experienced crew and the actors are just amazing,” said Johnston, adding there is still a lot of work outside the filming aspect.
“Everyone in the industry says that pre-production is the most time consuming, and it’s true. André and I have been working on this film pretty consistently since March, and the past couple of weeks especially.”
While they may not have crew call until lunch, Johnston said her and André’s days often begin at 6 a.m.
“And then we still have a 12-hour day of shooting, but it’s really rewarding,” she said.
With a tight schedule of three days to shoot 24 scenes, Johnston said the team did fall behind on one scene the first day.
“There are a lot of variables for each scene – the editing, who is in it and where,” she said.
While the filming is expected to wrap up early Tuesday morning, there is still months of work left for Johnston and Pettigrew, who are hoping to have things finalized in the middle of winter.
“With the (National Screen Institute) grant, there are a number of in-kind services, such as colour correction and that is in Toronto,” she said. “When we are done filming we are going to take a couple of weeks off and then get into the cutting, editing, scoring and colour correction.”
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
The 27-year-old Truro native spent countless hours filming the newest movie she’s directing at the John Stanfield Inn – Some Things Won’t Sleep.
“It has been amazing,” she said while taking a break from filming. “Things have been going better than I could have expected and better than I imagined they would be.”
Johnston is working on the movie with Bible Hill native André Pettigrew, who is just starting in the producer’s role.
The duo was recently named one of four director/producer teams across Canada to receive funding through the National Screen Institute Drama Prize to bring their idea to life. They started filming at the inn on Saturday and wrapped up final scenes there Sunday before moving to a lake elsewhere in the province for additional scenes.
“We have a really experienced crew and the actors are just amazing,” said Johnston, adding there is still a lot of work outside the filming aspect.
“Everyone in the industry says that pre-production is the most time consuming, and it’s true. André and I have been working on this film pretty consistently since March, and the past couple of weeks especially.”
While they may not have crew call until lunch, Johnston said her and André’s days often begin at 6 a.m.
“And then we still have a 12-hour day of shooting, but it’s really rewarding,” she said.
With a tight schedule of three days to shoot 24 scenes, Johnston said the team did fall behind on one scene the first day.
“There are a lot of variables for each scene – the editing, who is in it and where,” she said.
While the filming is expected to wrap up early Tuesday morning, there is still months of work left for Johnston and Pettigrew, who are hoping to have things finalized in the middle of winter.
“With the (National Screen Institute) grant, there are a number of in-kind services, such as colour correction and that is in Toronto,” she said. “When we are done filming we are going to take a couple of weeks off and then get into the cutting, editing, scoring and colour correction.”
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
