We had to replace one of the main actors at the last minute, because he became erratic and unreliable and didn't show up to the set on time. Every minute he was late was wasted time for the crew, while daylight was waning. But we recruited a replacement actress at the last minute, and she learned her lines quickly and was very cooperative and professional. She lends quite a different interpretation to the role, and even performed some of her own stunts!
Gabriel had composed, performed and recorded the music already. After shooting was complete, he loaded everything into iMovie HD and put it together himself -- with no help from me at all until trying to burn it to disc. (Actually we weren't sure the format we could save it in would work on his teacher's old computer, so I put it on YouTube as a backup.)
This was by far the best book report I've ever been involved in. And what great timing on Gabriel's teacher's part: tomorrow, the last day before a week's recess and the day this report is due, the whole class will have a blast watching all their "commercials" -- videos, skits and music performances. It's enough to restore faith in the public schools, though to me the lesson is in the teacher: given the latitude, they can do amazing things. Like make even me rave about a book report!
2/16/2012
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