Our test shoot of Silver Cord finally happened! Even for a test shoot, we prepared to shoot for a long time so that we could test as much as we can!

We decided to do a test shoot for my thesis film Silver Cord. Although we had to use some of our budget for this, we were able to test a lot of things that are going to be so helpful for the actual shoot. We wanted to do this test shoot in underwater for a couple of reasons. First of all, we wanted to make sure the special effects are going to look like how I and my producer want them to look like. So, our VFX supervisor was with us on set as well. We also tested a couple of clothes to see how they would behave underwater. Another thing that I wanted to test was to see how acting is underwater. We already knew it is very challenging and we wanted to see how a normal person can act, what are their needs are, and how we could make it possible. Unfortunately, our actress is currently in Los Angeles, so she wasn’t able to come to the shoot, but luckily we found a stand-in. Claire Kaplan, who was amazing on set, helped us and agreed to be in front of the camera underwater. She studies European Devised Art Performance Practice MFA at Columbia College Chicago. I met this very talented person in my Experimental Production II class this semester. We filmmakers were introduced to some people from Claire’s program to collaborate on an experimental production project. After meeting with Claire and talking about each other’s thesis projects, I realized some similarities between hers and mine. Then, when we were looking for someone for the test shoot, she was the first person that came to mind. Check out Claire’s company to learn more about her: https://www.thewest.la/

A frame from our test shoot, performed by Claire Kaplan.

Also, we are 4 days away from our crowdfunding ending date! And we made it! We were able to raise the money and we are sitting on %94 at the moment! A month of crowdfunding work was intense. It was almost every day of calling people, reminding them about the campaign, and asking for money—which might be the most difficult thing to ask! I reached out to my classmates from high school, I reached out to people who I haven’t spoken for almost 15 years. But, in the end, I am so happy to announce that we made it! We now hope that we can get the rest of the funding through the grants we are applying for.

Turkish Consulate of Chicago’s post on Facebook about our meeting with the Turkish General Consulate, Umut Acar about our thesis film.

There is more to do in the upcoming weeks. There is going to be even more responsibilities on my shoulders because we said “bye” to the producers, including my great friend and my producer Urwa Zubair for their journey to LA! So, I am going to have to help more on the production side to make sure we have everything we need until the shoot. But luckily my producer is going to be back in early May, and we are going to have 15 days or so to do the last preparation!