Asking for it - Short Film

Mar 27, 2020
Various studies and statistics show that 60% to 80% of rape and sexual related charges are NOT reported due to the fear of being shamed, harassed, guilt, blamed or even the fear of not being believed. Similar to other crimes, only about 3% of all reported rape and sexual related charges are determined to be false.

If you are a victim of rape, sexual harassment or misconduct, please report or seek help.

Here is a list of organization who offer help or guidance:
https://www.rainn.org/articles/sexual...
https://timesupnow.org/find-help/

Review from IndieShortsMAG: https://www.indieshortsmag.com/review...

As for aspiring filmmakers, this was my first short film & I think I couldn’t have made it more difficult. There are several things I’d like to share, and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

1)Never underestimate your anxiety or mindset. I suffer from anxiety. Everyone undergoes it differently but in my case, I start stuttering, shaking, and can’t process my thoughts. So the day of the first shoot, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that this was my first film, it happened again. It was accentuated by the fact I didn’t sleep the night before because of the Ramadan nightly prayers and I couldn’t eat or drink anything until night to calm me down. I thank God that our cinematographer Jaime, is experienced and was able to help carry me through the first day because the film wouldn’t have been made without her. I was that incoherent the first day.

2)Make a SAG film when you’re more experienced. Making a film that is signatory is great, but maybe not for your first film. There are a lot of requirements and a lot of elements you have to be aware of. The paperwork, in my opinion, was easy part but one thing almost led to disaster and that was dealing with insurance. Even if you have no crazy stunts or anything around fire or wild animals, you have to have a certain amount of coverage plus expect 8%-10% of your total budget reserved for this. I hired a new insurance company for the coverage(because they were a bit cheaper, BAD move) and told them the dates I needed coverage but for some reason, the company wrote the wrong dates(off by one day) in the paperwork and I didn’t realize until the day I had to submit my paperwork. I should have noticed(That is my fault) but going back to my No. 1 mistake, when I read the insurance contract I didn’t notice the wrong date. Thankfully SAG knew this was my first project and first SAG project, they were very understanding that mistakes can happen.

3)Always assume things are going to go wrong & have back-up scene ideas. Twice, locations became an issue. 1. We got locked out of a location, had to find a backup one (easy) 2. The scene with the celebrity speaker was completely changed&rushed. (hard) The location we had booked, had a party (and I mean PARTY) next door that was ruining our sound. Within minutes we had to change the scene. Originally, the scene was a presentation and then a personal meet & greet where the celebrity speaker invites Aziza to meet with him and hear his newest lecture and give him feedback. When she meets him, he tries to “take advantage” of them being alone. The scene became the one you see, not only because the sound was getting ruined indoors, but when we went outdoors it started to rain.

4)Have some sort of publicity package ready & apply to many film festivals. I didn't think of publicity before applying to film festivals, it helps to have some kind of buzz, even if it's just social media. Second, apply to as many as you can attend or afford, you can make great connections and really get your film out there. I only applied to 10 festivals. Got into 2.

5)Overbook Extras. For the party scene I booked 28 extras, agreed to pay them $10 an hour. Only 10 showed up.