Release Date:
August 30th, 2023

Starring:
Noelia Bravo • Ayana Rahman • Luis Ortiz •
Philip Francis • Melinda Perez • Peter Anderson •
Brant Zheng • Moon Ho Kim • Ahneim Chillis •
Nazira Bah Traore • Jahnissi Guzman

Directed by:
Steve Sanchez Rosales

2022

A Fresh Start:
With Swimming completed in December, it was a new year and a new opportunity for a film. Our previous two films were shot during the cold autumn and winter seasons; I now wanted to produce a fun summer film that people could enjoy in the beaming sun. I really like skating through the city and thought that it would be a fun backdrop to this summer film, that slowly turned into a delivery person zipping through the city streets.

2022 was the worst year of my life and any attempt at a script was futile. I even considered quitting all together since I wasn't able to progress past a concept, and the summer of 2022 quickly went by with no film.

I was disappointed at the lack of results, and I shifted gears to meet a deadline for the summer of 2023. I had no idea how much work would go into the production of Time With Me and it was a leap of faith to see how a film about a delivery person would turn out...

December 2021 - April 2023

I used to deliver food for an app in the past so I had experience with the job and had some idea for how to turn it into a story. There were many directions I could take and in the many drafts there were varying storylines. After a year of writing I decided it was best to make the story calm and easy-going. There is no plot or structure, the script is just following a person going about their day. I wanted you to feel like you were just hanging out with this character.

The side characters were to add little scenerios that a delivery person would encounter in their day, and they were all based on real life experiences from myself and other workers. It is very fun to go fast while listening to music, but it's still a real job that real workers struggle with and I did not want to romanticize the labor it takes to be a delivery worker.

Here is the screenplay and you will see that there were changes made in the film:

April 14th, 2023 Final Screenplay

May 2022

Test Footage:
I knew I wanted scenes of a person going fast through the city so even before the script was done I did a test shoot with myself to see how that could look. I did not have a bike at the time so I used my skateboard instead.

I was happy with the footage and even surprised at how well it came out. I felt the speed was there and it was fun to watch!

June 2022

Searching for a Destinaton:
Filming a person riding a bike at high speeds meant we needed enough road to reach those high speeds. New York City would have to be our set, and we needed to choose where our protagonist would ride through.

Our locations needed to be safe for the actor to bike through as well as being aesthetically pleasing. This test shoot took place in Manhattan by Union Square, although we didn't use this location for the film it helped with visualizing what the film could end up looking like.

Failed Delivery:
In the summer of 2022 I accepted that I did not have a ready script to produce and release a film by the end of the season. I felt it wasn't worth continuing the project, or any film for that matter. Being an artist is a big responsibility and I felt I was biting off more than I could chew. Being an artist is also lonely, there aren't many people who can relate to having tumors of thoughts and ideas prying open your brain.

I was also going through a lot of personal conflicts in my life that I don't want to write out. 2022 was a bad year and with all these things going on I made the choice to quit filmmaking and try to live a normal life. It was disappointing because I wanted to be a director since I was a teenager and right as I turned twenty years old, the dream faded away.

Here is the last script I wrote before quitting. At the time the title was Days of the Week:
August 16th, 2022 Days of the Week Draft

December 2022 - February 2023

We Are So Back:
We wouldn't have this website if not for a comeback would we not? In late 2022 I picked up the pen again and continued work on Days of the Week except now it had the killer title: Time With Me!

A New Destination
With a more cohesive script I had a better idea of what I needed out of a location. I searched far and wide across the city and this location scout took place in Harlem and Washington Heights.

None of these spots had bike lanes so they couldn't be used but they still look nice.

March 2023

Casting & Rehearsal:
A series of auditions were held for the lead role and supporting roles. Noelia and Ayana were cast and we set up a time to rehearse. The script we had at the time was unfinished and I really needed to get a feel for how the scene could play out. This is a really bad practice and I don't recommend rehearsing without a finished script.

It was great to meet the actors and do some directing after being absent for two years. We got a lot of work done and I felt great about who I was working with.

Being For the Benefit of Mrs. Bike:
How the hell do I film someone on a bike? I asked myself this and now it was time to answer that question.

The idea I stuck with the longest was to use two bikes: A "Hero" bike for the actor to ride on-screen, and a "Camera" bike that I would follow them with. The Camera Bike would have a rig built onto it so I can ride safely with both hands, and the rig could detach and be reattached to any part of the bike frame for any type of shot.

I built a rig out of clamps and light arm extensions. Unfortunately no photos of the rig exist :(

The biggest concern was getting a steady image as the bike rode over the pavement and vibrated, as well as any time the bike made a turn.

The arms were strong and carried the load of the Ronin-SC gimbal that held the camera and stabilized motion. The gimbal was attached to a shock absorber for further stabilization. And on top of that I would use the 'warp stabilizer' program in post-production for an even smoother image.

Test Footage Results?:
The footage was bad, a lot of problems arose like the fact I couldn't even see the video as I was riding if I had the camera behind or beside me. Even if the camera was in front of me the screen is the size of a postage stamp from afar and I can barely make out anything.

Most importantly the footage was still shaky. The gimbal was only meant for handheld use and the bike vibrated way too much to get a steady video. I kept adjusting the rig up until the day before we did our first bike scene.

April 7th - 21st, 2023

Customer Scenes:
Production was split into three types of scenes: Customer Scenes, Bike Scenes, and Acting Scenes. We did the customer scenes first since those scenes were the easiest to complete and would ease us into the more challenging parts of production.

Noelia and I travelled through the city to meet up with the actors playing the customers and filmed the shots of our character, "J", delivering the food.

Most of the actors did us a favor and let use the exterior of their apartment to film. If they couldn't we cast them as an office worker picking up the food in front of an office building. The most difficult part was just getting to the locations since there were eight customer scenes in total spread across four boroughs.

Bike Scenes:
The rig was not fully tested when we started shooting and I was hoping it would miraculously work for us. We took off on Lafayette Street starting from SoHo all the way to City Hall. I had the rig behind me so I couldn't see what I was filming; when we stopped to look at the footage it was disasterously unusable.

I had a terrible plan but it was the only kind I had left; I ditched the Camera Bike and we went around the city filming the bike scenes, except now I was simply running with the camera. I had to keep up with the bike by running as fast as I could while carrying all the equipment.

No footage of this exists, and thank goodness because I imagine I look silly running backwards filming a bike headed towards me.

After the first day of bike scenes I had some good shots. The running was silly but I was able to have more control over the camera and got some well focused and composed shots. The obvious downside was that it didn't convey the speed I was looking for.

The next day I brought my skateboard and we shot the footage at a much higher speed. I followed Noelia around as I skated with the camera and it proved succesful! The benefit to this method was that I was still holding the camera with my hands so my body naturally absorbed the vibrations that the rigid bike frame couldn't.

It also helped that I had more experience skating and had full mobility with where to frame the camera. As for the speed we just shot on streets that sloped downhill and let gravity take care of it.

Acting Scenes:
There were only two scenes with dialogue, one with the angry customer "Z" and one with the "J"'s new friend "M".

The "Z" scene went smoothly. The actors understood the lines and what their characters were reacting to, and we didn't even need to rehearse for it we showed up to set ready to go.

The "M" scene was rehearsed once, another rehearsal was planned but cancelled due to scheduling. When we arrived to set the script wasn't finished. "J" sharing their music with "M" wasn't in the script, it was something we came up with on set and luckily it worked. It was a nice way to end the story but a terrible way to direct a production.

Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound:
J had the power to move at super sonic speeds when they're listening to music, and I wanted this rush to be felt by the viewer. I went back to the city and captured footage from the point of view of the character.

To make it look faster I recorded at a low shutter speed to add that heavy motion blur. In post-production I sped up the footage and that's how I got these cool transitions.

May - August, 2023

Deleted Scenes:
I began editing and I followed the script exactly as written. I did this for about two months and it was a complete mess. The scenes were too long, the pacing was choppy, and the music wasn't having the impact I wanted it to.

I had to delete some scenes and my biggest fear was cutting out an actor's role. Everyone worked so hard I would hate to have to remove someone entirely.

A False Start:
The opening scene you see in the film is really three scenes cut into one. Originally the opening with "J" at the park was meant to be longer, followed by a longer cut of "J" delivering food the the man in the blue suit, and then a longer delivery montage. These three scenes were to have their own song playing to give each one a different vibe.

This version was too long so I cut these three scenes together with only one song playing and it worked! The opening was now quicker and more enjoyable to watch.

Dyckman Street Sequence:
We shot a scene at Dyckman street where "J" went downhill and regained their speed and motivation. Music would start playing in their head and it was meant to be a magical moment in between the Angry Customer Scene and the Final Customer Scene; but it slowed the movie down.

The ending scene between "J" and "M" also had a similar purpose of remotivating "J" with the power of music so the Dyckamn scene wasn't needed anymore.

Ending Montage:
Similar to the opening, we shot a montage for the ending with "J" riding off into the distance for another delivery. This was cut because I liked the ending of "J" thinking about "M" better. I believe "J" thinking about their interaction and possibly new friend, "M", left a better message about friendship and work comradery.

Conclusions:
I like how grand this movie feels. I'm proud that I was able to work on a short film that is packed with so many actors and locations. It felt like an odyssey trying to get this project made and that's what I remember most, how monumentous it all was.

What made it a good production was how invested everyone was into making this film be special. Everyone put in their best and had a great time with the roles. It was the good spirit of everyone involved that got the project made.