That’s a wrap!

Using a makeshift dolly from his unfolded tripod stuffed in a rollerblade, Andrew Hebert rolled his handheld camera along a locker-lined hallway, following his principal actors behind a group of extras.
Hebert, a junior at Culpeper County High School, is in the production stages of his short film project, “The Journal of Jared Gray.” He began filming over the winter break, and wraps his series of 10 shoots this weekend. Then comes editing.

“It’s the beginning of winter break,” Hebert said, directing a shoot in January as a group of his peers volunteering as extras milled in a CCHS hallway. “So, just look chipper and happy. OK, light chatter, action, go.”

But the shoot faced frequent interruptions from a group of sweaty lacrosse players barreling down the hallway. Apparently it was too cold to run outdoors.

“OK if that’s gonna keep happening then we need to do this in between,” Hebert said, clearly exhausted from a rushed shoot. “So let’s go.”

“The Journal of Jared Gray” tells the story of a teenage boy who is an outsider in a new town. The script opens, however, with Jared’s friend reading his journal after he has committed suicide, and backtracks to detail their friendship and the events that led to his death.

The scene Hebert was filming this particular day involved Eastern View High School junior Tricia Robare, who plays Jared’s friend, and EVHS senior Hahmeed Darham, who plays Jared, leaving school for the beginning of winter break. The trio, along with assistant director Chris Frazier and extras, spent about an hour on the shoot.

Once Hebert yelled action, Darham’s typically cheerful and bubbly personality disappeared, giving way to Jared’s much more forlorn demeanor. Darham has acted in school performances of “West Side Story” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” but this is his first film project.

“I’m like the opposite of the character,” he said. “Personality wise. He’s more serious and shy, timid. I’m not. After a whole day of it, then I’m tired.”
Hebert yelled “action” once more and tried the scene another time.

“What I’m trying to do is get this swing right here,” Hebert said as he zoomed into Jared’s locker when Darham shuts it.

With a string of white iPod earphones hooked to the camera, he listened to the audio coming from his video camera, deciding whether to wrap the shoot or try another take.

Locker swing, take 5.

Once he was satisfied, the group moved to the parking lot for another scene involving a student driving by Robare and Darham. Only one small problem: none of the extras were old enough to drive.

Neither was Frazier, but he volunteered anyway.

“You can drive a car from here to there without crashing,” Hebert said.

As the shoot came to a close, Hebert, Darham and Frazier gathered for coffee to discuss the project. To keep himself organized, Hebert keeps a detailed, color-coded, almost OCD notebook of each shoot by location. He divided his screenplay into 10 shoots, seven of which are complete.

“Scheduling is hard,” he said. “That’s why we have to strike when the time’s right. Today we had a little time slot and had to get in and get out as quick as we could. That’s the hardest thing,  finding time for everyone.”

With the help of friends as techies, a “hair/makeup/whatever” girl and extras, he is well on his way to finishing in time for his deadline at the end of the month. Hebert plans to enter “Jared Gray” in a film festival in West Virginia.

“Since middle school we loved filmmaking and wanted to be filmmakers,” Frazier said. “When (Andrew’s projects) come up, I’m always there and I got his back to help him out.”

Hebert has hit a few snags, however, from an attempt to smash a mirror on cue to filming on location in downtown Culpeper. But with the last shoots in the works, the next stages of editing are at hand.

Hebert is also in the process of searching for bands on MySpace willing to donate their music for the film.

“I’m pleased,” he said of the work so far. “I think with editing, I’m kind of nervous about a few things. I’ve caught a few mistakes watching the scenes that I didn’t notice when I was filming it. But there’s ways to work around it and there hasn’t been anything I want to re-shoot yet.”