Production for Pure Vortex, our no-budget comedy feature, kicked off on June 25, one of the hottest days of the summer. I barely slept, not because I was nervous, I wasn’t, but the heat and racing thoughts about shot lists, rehearsals, and if we could pull this off kept me up. So maybe I was a little nervous. By 3:30 AM, I was checking gear and props, in full zombie-mode. Driving to set, my partner and cinematographer, Leya, tried chatting, but I was quieter than usual, lost in “what-ifs.” We arrived first, good, we can’t be late on my own set! Soon, our gaffer and co-cinematographer Blaž rolled in, and we planned the first shot. The location, a versatile spot for three scenes, it was perfect. Once we slated that first shot, pre-production prep took over, and day one flew by. Long, hot, sweaty, but flawless.

Lesson: Trust your prep, the chaos sorts itself out.

Day Two: Newspaper Office Hustle

A few days later, we shot day two in a cool air-conditioned newspaper office (they actually wrote an article about our film), a Saturday marathon. We stuck to our shot list, well, mostly. No sound person? Yikes. We used Blaž’s new lavalier mic system, but I wouldn’t know if it worked until I synced the sound at home. Then, our lead actress had to catch a plane an hour early, forcing us to nail the final scene in one continuous shot. The two actors crushed it, no cuts needed, pros! It was a solid day, except we broke a video monitor we couldn’t afford to fix. Blaž, our gear wizard, patched it up somehow. The lav mics? Crystal clear, thanks to AI noise reduction, if it works it ain’t stupid.

Lesson: Embrace the unexpected, new tech, and quick thinking can save your shoot. And pros make one-takes look easy.

Day Three: Melting in the Mechanic Shop

Day three, another scorcher, 98°F (37°C) in a mechanic shop. We broke our “no back-to-back shooting” rule, filming the Sunday after day two. The lav mics worked great, so we focused on not melting while getting killer shots. Leya’s cinematography and Blaž’s lighting made the shop shots look awesome. I had this one shot planned, fake oil (glycerin, food coloring, water), spraying an actor’s face via a syringe and tube. The heat killed it, the liquid wouldn’t spray, so we scrapped it. Disappointing, but the day was a wrap, and the footage looked great.

Lesson: Heat and gear failures happen, adapt fast, keep shooting, and lean on your team’s skills to make it shine. Always adapt, change and just keep shooting.

The Blur of Production Days

From there, days blurred together. We shot in a used clothes store, on a wooden bridge near town, and turned our driveway into a rainy parking lot for a long day shooting at home. The actors outperformed my wildest expectations, Leya’s shots were stunning, and Blaž’s lighting was unreal. We hit a snag when our lead actor Branden, had to return to LA for business, flipping our schedule upside down. No panic, we reshuffled, moving scenes with fewer actors to later days. A jail scene with him behind bars? We nailed it and hit 50% of the film, then paused for a month while our lead shot iPhone scenes in LA with the Blackmagic app. No crew, no lights, just remote direction.

Lesson: Flexibility is your friend, schedules change, but the heart keeps you on track. Remember what you have to do and find a way to get it done.

The Plane Problem

Then, disaster strikes. The airport display plane we scouted in pre-production. Sold and scrapped, the owner called and told me, “I’m sorry, we sold it.” Our original schedule would’ve had those scenes already shot and done by the time they sold it, but the reshuffle cost us the location. Those plane scenes were crucial; no plane, no airport, no complete story. We had a huge problem. Panic set in for a couple of days. The cast and crew tossed out wild story ideas, a private jet from an online poker prize, a drug-smuggling pilot flying from Slovenia to LA (yeah, right). I rewrote scenes to be more vague, buying time. Eventually, I realised we could fake the airport at the same shopping mall garage where we shot the airport scenes on the first day. The mall said they’d help us out, and they let us shoot at night in the parking garage, keeping lights on and security in the loop. It worked great, one level of the garage was ours to use, and we took full advantage of it pulling a whole nighter and even shot some additional shots that we needed. It was now October, and the nights were getting colder; it went down to 37°F (3°C), what a contrast to when we began shooting in the summer.

Lesson: When plans crash, rewrite and hustle; locations can double up if you’re clever. Just keep going and find solutions to your problems.

Biker Bar Marathon

Back in September, we tackled a three-day shoot at a biker bar, closed just for us. It was gruelling 10 to 12 hours daily. The bar wasn’t as I remembered, and we lacked extras to fill the space. We improvised, actors explained the empty bar in dialogue, and I reworked shots to show only three people talking at once, because we only had three lav mics. It worked! Leya, Blaž, and I adjusted the shot list on the fly, capturing scenes spanning the entire film. We shot over two terabytes of footage, and over 90% of the film was shot. The energy was electric, even though we were exhausted, we got some great shots, and I’ll never forget how the actors stepped up to the task and helped me rework some scenes, so that we could shoot them.

Lesson: Small crews can do big things, adapt shots, lean on actors’ ideas, and just keep rolling.

Faking a Concert

The concert scene was our biggest question mark from the start. Originally, we planned to shoot with a band’s fans helping out (a group I wrote about in my Collaboration vs. Exploitation blog from a couple of months ago), but that fell apart. So, we faked it. On the same day as our mall garage “airport” shoot, we filmed actors against a black backdrop with concert-style lighting, matching some stock footage that we had of a concert. A stairwell doubled as the backstage area. Leya’s car played a police vehicle, again, since this action happens in LA and we needed a US-looking car. It all came together. We wrapped principal photography on that cold night. The only thing left was some B-roll and pickup shots with individual actors, which we’d grab in an hour here or there.

Lesson: No budget, no problem, fake it with creativity and whatever’s handy. Just figure out a solution and shoot!

Early Post-Production Sneak Peek

Post-production started during the break. I synced sound and footage after each shoot, sorting scenes in editing software. The LA iPhone shots? Shockingly good, even without lights. The rest? Leya’s visuals and Blaž’s lighting made me laugh out loud at how polished it all looked. We’re done shooting, mostly. Now it’s about cutting a teaser, maybe not a full trailer yet. Sound quality was solid, but we’ll see if ADR is needed anywhere. The lav mics failed in a couple of shots, but thankfully, the camera was close, and scratch audio might be usable, or I was able to save the audio. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for dailies, but we have to trust the plan, and we’ll reshoot stuff if needed.

Lesson: Sync footage and audio ASAP; it saves time later in the long run, and early edits show you what’s working.

What Surprised Me

The support blew me away. Leya, Iza, Blaž, Branden, Gregor and our actors brought everything to the table. Performances, ideas, and even wardrobe since we had no wardrobe department. Gregor, our producer, gave us his studio and showed up daily. Location owners, like the newspaper reporter who played an extra, went all in, and the shopping center let us shoot for free even though they charge for the use of the location. Seeing shots in editing, hearing dialogue, amazing!

Lesson: Passion projects thrive on passionate people. Your friends make the impossible possible!

What’s Next for Pure Vortex

Principal photography is wrapped and done! The next blog will dive into post-production: editing, sound, and whether our footage becomes a gem or a lesson in what not to do. Early cuts look awesome, and that teaser is waiting. We pulled off production with no money, just hustle and heart, in less than 14 production days all together. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I was even able to put together a simple website. Will it pay off? We’ll see, and I’m stoked to find out.

Lesson: Zero budget doesn’t mean zero chance; your crew and cast are your assets. Stay tuned for the post-production madness!

My Hopes for This Journey

Why do this? Features are my dream, and Pure Vortex is my first try at it. After a decade of shorts, I’m ready for bigger stories that hit differently. Leya, Iza, Blaž, Gregor, Branden, and our crew are the magic behind the scenes. I hope we prove that we can make something great, maybe catch a producer’s eye for the next film. Maybe even The Procedure next, which by the way was selected as a semifinalist in the Stage 32 sci-fi competition or a sequel to this film, Pure Vortex: A Cold Breeze, and see what the guys do in the next one. Mostly, I want to look back and say we did it ourselves, with our team, without a budget. It might not be perfect, but if we nail some of it, I’ll be happy. If we were able to do all this without a budget, just try to imagine what we could do if we had a budget to work with!

Lesson: Dream big, build with your people, and before you know it, you’ll be done and have something to show for it. Just don’t give up.

Did you miss Part 1 of this blog series? Click here to read it now!

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