100 Fist Dates

100 First Dates

Created by: Lura Shultis

100 First Dates is a 10 minute Rom-Com short film that I wrote and directed. I spent 140 hours in pre-production, 80 hours in production, and 60 hours in post-production. Altogether, I spent 280 hours on this project. This film idea was born on a 12 hour car ride with my brother. I pitched the story concept to the class, and they ended up loving it. I poured hours of hard work into creating the script, storyboards, production design, and so much more. I learned countless things about leadership and what it means to be a director. In the end, while this short film isn’t perfect, it is mine. I am more than happy with the end product and would be proud to show my project to anyone.

Story Synopsis:

Lucy feels trapped in the small town she lives in. Lucy believes that in order to escape her small town, she needs a car. On top of that, Lucy despises dating, but her mom wants her to date more. To encourage Lucy to date more, her mom bets Lucy a car. Lucy wins the car if she goes on 100 first dates without finding someone she wants to go on a second date with. During the challenge, Lucy develops a crush on August, a cute guy who works at the restaurant Lucy keeps bringing her dates to, and now she has to decide whether to ask him on a second date or risk losing him for the sake of the car.

The Making of:

A lot of my job as a director is to manage the creative vision of the film. The most important part of my job was making sure that everyone understood the direction of the film and giving them the room to be creative while bringing them back in when needed. Directing is a creative role, but also a people role. I needed to know how to lead and how to problem solve.

Script

Writing the script was one of my favorite parts of making this short film. I spent a lot of time watching and studying Rom-Coms to break down the common tropes and what made them work. I wanted it to feel similar to an early 2000s Rom-Com but not super cliché.

Take a look at these two pages from the script:

Production Design

Creating the outline for production design, I took a lot of inspiration from the movies LaLa Land, While You Were Sleeping, and The Big Fish. I wanted the colors to be bright and colorful. I wanted the characters to feel more modern in their clothing styles.

I wanted Lucy’s character arc to show through her clothing. I wanted her to look frumpy but still colorful at the beginning. I wanted her colorful tones to shift to darker clothing in the middle, and a more put together, brighter tone for her clothing at the end. I created a small style guide for each character. I worked on production design, creating a look book for every set we planned on using.

This is the production design look book:

Storyboarding

I had never created this many storyboards before. I learned that when creating a storyboard, as long as you’re getting the point across, simpler is better. Once I figured that out, I started simplifying my boards more to get the feeling and blocking of the scenes instead of specific details. This was a great learning process.

This is a page of the storyboard:

Directing on Set

On set, I worked with my actors and DP to get the performance and the look I wanted. While also making sure that everything was running smoothly on set. Balancing everything was difficult at times, but the best way to learn how to be a better leader is to be put in leadership roles.

I loved helping my actors get the best performance they could. I had to make sure my blocking of the characters was on point. The key to helping actors is to know how to describe what you want in a way they can understand. You need to draw the best performance you can out of the actors. I find that it is easiest to do this in a relaxed environment where the actors know the other actors and the crew really well. I wasn’t always able to have a relaxed environment, but I tried my hardest to.

I learned that instead of problem solving by myself, I need to rely on and trust my crew. There were difficult moments where the pressures of being in charge caused me to turn to my crew for help. I was lucky enough to have a good crew whom I could rely on.

Directing in Post-production

A lot of post-production is going back and forth with the editor making small changes. We worked really hard to get the timing of the shots just right. My editor was good enough to humor me, asking him to change things until the timing felt right. I spent a lot of time watching and rewatching my film.

This is a highlight reel from the film:

Overall Final Thoughts

In the end, I’m proud of the film that my crew and I created. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted it to be, which is a fun light hearted Rom-Com, that I learned a ton from making. Filmmaking is made for sharing stories and important moments. I’m glad that I get to share this story. It’s been an amazing journey.