As I said already we had to reschedule the shooting schedule and this pushed us even more to the wall. However we were extremely focused, passionate and very hard working which somehow compensated for the lack of experience and resources, resources from all kinds – time, money, people.
We very quickly from the first day got to know each other and we figured out the way how we should work.
I had few more obstacles which I somehow knew that would appear at some point of the time. Most of the crew and even the cast were film or theater directors, even our sound recordist and boom operator was studying to become a film director at that time. So we were around nine or ten film directors. Yancho, Kaloyan, Antoni, Hristo, Georgy, Vasil, Todor, Stoyan, Yavor and me. On top of this when you are a young debutant the cast also would try to get control over the film. It was extremely difficult especially on the first day of shooting to get the power in my hands.
It may sound really egocentric but this was extremely important. If a film director doesn't get the power in his or her hands the film starts to be shaped and formed from almost anybody's ideas, thought and desires. As a debutant on a small micro budget film I wasn't feeling insecure but I was under pressure from the first day and especially I felt pressure from the lack of time. I realized that I missed during the shooting to sit with everybody from the crew and the cast and discuss separately how and why I would like this film to be made – a mistake which I did in our pre-production came back at the production.
I was somehow feeling insecure and probably better said I didn't have the experience to run a film set with more than three people on it and over sudden we were more than twenty people on set. So I left this very important detail for later on, when I would feel more confident and secure to start this talk, another mistake which I made. I was thinking that first of all I had to prove to all of them that I know what I am doing and why I am doing it and then to bring this conversation on the table.
I was distracted too from merely logistic problems, and production stuff. Then at the end of the first shooting day, I was overhyped. I was directing not only the cast but I worked hard to communicate about the cinematography and camera work. I had to be really honest and open to all of the people involved in the film and say to them that since that moment the only one guy who has the last word about any decisions and choices would be me, so better everybody to have trust on my decision and just let go with the flow. Because in other ways we wouldn't have any film, neither good nor bad, so since day one we altogether stood on the same page.
The first ten days were very intense but very disciplined and structured. We were running through the scenes, I had to choose not to be perfectionist but to be in reverse very humble realist and my goal was to keep the energy and the enthusiasm on a high level from all of the people.
Our workflow and process is shaped by itself. So basically Yancho was running the set in terms of scheduling the scenes continuity and timing, I was working with the talents and the filming crew, Kaloyan was trying to follow the script continuity and to mind the props and art department. Yavor had to help everybody. Blagovesta was with Boris our four month baby but still was helping as much as she can with the art department. Two of my best friends from my childhood were helping us with the production organization, with the logistics and catering. Nikolay Stoyanov and Svetoslav Chilingirov were driving the crew and cast from their accommodation to the location and vice versa plus they were bringing food from the kindergarten where our catering was. Every day the women from the kitchen were preparing special meals for us, most of the dishes were from the same menu as the kids one. So basically we were eating the food which we were eating back in the days when we were in kindergarten.
After the first day Antoni and Hristo told me that they prefer to work alone so when Antoni was shooting during the day Hristo was day off and vice versa. Georgy was helping the team with the grip and lighting, also he got the responsibilities for the data management and loading. We were shooting in 4K and what happened was that our computer for monitoring the footage got some problems and didn't work, so the only place where we could review the footage was Georgy's laptop. However, when we had time to review the footage he was downloading the shot material from the day and then was backing it up so basically I couldn't be able to review and see the footage which has been shot during the day or from the previous days. It appeared that in 2014 we were shooting a micro budget film digitally in 4k but I was feeling as if I am shooting on a film. On top of this our small set video monitor also had a problem and the HDMI port which wasn't working properly with the cable and we appeared at some point of the third or fourth day without a monitor too. The only place where I was able to monitor and rewind the footage was the small camera's display.
So the second day we started with some of the sex scene from the beginning of the film, we started to shoot the scenes between Kristian and Silvia. They had to jump in their first shooting day in some very hot and intimate sex scenes. This is against all of the film directing advice and suggestions which anybody would give you. However Silvia and Kris were extremely professional and passionate about the project so there were no problems with that. They got an immediate connection and chemistry between them.
Day after day I realize how brave and talented are the people who were involved in the project. Just imagining what is to be for the cast to be thrown in their first shooting day and scene into some really intimate and demanding emotionally and physically situations, how stressful it could be. What level of professionalism is required in order to achieve these performances and to bring authenticity and honesty to the screen.
When I am watching scenes from WHO IS NO ONE I see a real devotion to the story and the film from everybody. Maybe that's why I was feeling really mystical during the shooting of the film, the experience was very much like practicing yoga or meditation. I was and I believe the rest of the team were in a kind of meditative state where here and now only mattered. It is a really tremendous and powerful experience.
During the first couple of days my parents and my uncle and cousin also were present on the set, at the end of the day we were in their properties. But this was another crazy thing, just imagine yourself in a situation where you are shooting a scene in which a naked woman is sitting among twenty people and you are discussing the lines with one of the talents. This in front of your parents and relatives. This was actually the first naked scene which we filmed and the first scene for Yordanka Angelov. I think she broke down a lot of borders and limitations just with her first film scene in her entire life. The rest of the actors and actresses saw a not professional actress to go really 100% into her character, the story, and the film. This one scene provoked everybody to be open and brought that spark inside them which fired their belief and trust in the creative process and the people involved in it.
We managed to establish a very secure environment in which we were in a very comfortable and completely our own space. That's how we were able to achieve this level of rawness, of intimacy and honesty.
Somewhere around fourth or fifth day I was feeling really comfortable to direct. Yancho and I set a rule before shooting any scene to start in a simple but consistent manner. I was speaking and rehearsing with the actors and actresses the scenes, before the film crew to come. I was able to shotlist and break down the scenes almost for a little bit more than the half of the screenplay. However, because we started shooting in not linear order I had to basically choose at the same time how to cover some of the scenes and that's why I decided instead of losing time shortlisting every scene to make something different. I was covering the scene from every character's POV and at least from three angles. So I believed that we will be covered, at least we would have enough material to cut a scene and to cut the entire film.
So we were shooting a lot, but with very little takes, we were shooting lots of perspectives and angles and when I was editing the film, I found out that this wasn't the best approach, but for this observation I will elaborate later on when I'm talking about the editing process.
In the last days from our first ten days we had to shoot our night scenes. We managed to squeeze at the end of every shooting day an extra scene or two, which completely drained off physically and emotionally the entire crew and cast. However, it appeared that if we didn't do it we wouldn't have been able to shoot everything.
In one of our added extra scenes we managed to shoot a day for night scene. We used the moment when there was rain and in our screenplay there were no written scenes with rain so we had to figure out something to do during the day. Yancho offered us to shoot the dinner scene where basically all of the cast but Kristian. It was a very long scene with lots of dialogue and exchanges and twists. So it was really difficult to get this scene done, but exactly at this moment I really became aware of the power of cinema. We were manipulating totally reality, we were shifting the time, the weather, the world around us. So I felt at that time that we were really doing a movie, a real movie, we were creating another life, our imagination was shaping and materializing the world outside us. Here comes the word EGRGORE which stands behind our production company Egregore Films. It's exactly this phenomenon, an idea materialized into the material world. A thought brought to the matter.
During this scene I finally realized what huge power is in the hands of a movie director. It was after more than a week and I finally felt what immense power a film director, especially if he or she wants to take the power. Silvia and I had an argument about one of my creative decisions she wasn't happy from it, but I insisted that it was the right decision but our argument didn't ceased so I had to say very clearly that in the room is only one director and many actors and actresses, but only one director, so it is best for all of us everybody to take charge for each and every role. After this argument we shot one of the best scenes in the entire film, because the cast felt that they had with them somebody who was ready to get responsible about his decisions and choices and who wanted from them just to be actors and actresses.
The night scene on the top of the mountain was another great challenge for all of us. Because we had only two nights to shoot all of the night scenes with Stoyan who after the second night had to leave for Varna to start another project. It was like a journey and an adventure, the entire trip to the top was a small expedition. We were around twenty people carrying by ourselves all of the gear and equipment we had to stay and sleep on top of the mountain, but actually we would shoot during the entire night. We again were running against the clock, because the sunrise was happening quite early around 5 am. So we started the day before with all of the scenes which were happening during the sunset. We managed to film them again in a rush. Basically we were shooting 100% on location and for the entire film we had more than 80% of the scenes exterior.
Despite that Stoyan and Gergana had quite a big experience working together it appeared that this scene was one of the most difficult from the entire shooting process. We were extremely stressed from the passing time, we had to create a big fire and to maintain it, we had to set up the lights and we had to break down the dramatic structure and pace of the scene. In this particular scene I really wanted to take as much as we can from the performances, because in the scene there were several twist and turning points, there were character shifts and a sex scene. Very complex and difficult scene pushed to the wall by the time. We had difficulties in shaping the rhythm and getting what I needed from the
performances. Then for the first time on the tenth day I was feeling that we wouldn't be able to shoot the scene or we wouldn't shoot it in the way which I wanted and the film needed. And this was a huge problem, because this was the end of the film. In my communication with the actors and actresses I was talking a lot, probably a lot more than it was needed, but I was trying to get across my points and ideas so clear that at the end of the day, the idea and the purpose of the film which was designed to be executed as closely as possible. So at that night Stoyan offered us at the end of the night to stop for a while and just sit around the fire and discuss what exactly is required from both of them. It appeared that he understood everything that was required from him but just he couldn't accept it probably unconsciously to make the change in his character. He wasn't prepared to make such a huge shift from what he was playing until that moment for those ten days and to transform his character to a completely different state of being. He took his time and then he went and after the first take we had it. He switched his mind and surrendered to the story completely. We had our CUT and Stoyan had his wrap for NoOne.
The next nigh we had to shoot the lesbian scene. I was feeling very comfortable till that moment with the sex scenes and the cast were feeling quite ok with them too. For the lesbian scene we continue to follow the work process as before. We usually shot them with very little crew, only the camera operator, the boom operator and sound mixer and myself. It was a really intense, raw, honest and extremely vulnerable scene. The tension was in the air, the hotness of the scene, its surreal and mystic form and the energy which was created that night is one in a life experience. Many times during the shooting of NoOne I experienced the mysticism of life, its sacred presence but like an observer. We were the observers and the creators at the same time, this crossing point was the source for the ultimate joy and happiness.
We completed the first half of the production and thus we covered more than 70% of the film. However, we left our most technically complex scenes for the second half. After the first ten days the crew and cast were quite exhausted because we had only one day off and with the two shooting night scenes we needed some time to refresh but we didn't have the luxury and the time to take rest. Even when the rest of the crew and cast were on their first day off, we again were shooting some extra non scripted material with Stoyan which at the final cut got into the film.
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