CARO PETERSEN

Coffee Café was a sitcom webseries created, written and directed by me. It was the final project for my Bachelor's degree and the final version never got released. But I think it's still worth sharing, because it was a long and interesting journey.
timeline
2017
2018
2019
an idea
the project
the experimental pilot
the re-write
pre-production
the pilot
the final presentation
the project
The idea for Coffee Café came from wanting to write a comedy script that would work as a series. The idea of a coffee shop came during a conversation with my AD, Carol Castro, as a dynamic and fruitful place for situations, where there's a big turnover of different people.
In the start, the idea was to focus each episode on a different client. After playing around with it, we decided to turn our focus to the workers instead, as they would be the the common denominator in all episodes.
The first version of Coffee Café was then scripted. I combined my favorite aspects of different sitcoms I had watched, exploring comedy through the script, the character's body languages and the technical design of camera and sound.
As screenwriter and director, it was very important for me to work heavily alongside the actors, to find each of the characters within their own experiences and ways of moving and talking. This was done by giving them much liberty over the dialogues, and hosting many sessions of body preparation and playful activities over the script, alongside Matheur Murucci as my Acting Director.
the rewrite
Production of the first version of Coffe Café was done at Café Cereja, a coffee shop in downtown Rio. It was a very insightful production, and I was surrounded by so many interested colleagues. I learned a lot about coordinating a team, dealing with the location manager and about the creative side of the director's job as well. We presented our work for our fellow classmates and got many laughs and reactions. But I felt that it was not at it's fullest potential.
At the time, I was very much into mockumentaries, like The Office US and What We Do In The Shadows (2014). So I decided to rewrite Coffee Café to be a mockumentary series.
This period of rewrite was much fun. I would meet with different people from the crew (some new and some from the original production), and we would talk about the script, share ideas and discuss formats and storyline. At this point, it didn't feel like a bachelor-project anymore, it was much more than that.
The mockumentary version of Coffee Café was filmed over a three-day weekend at a space where we were able to set up our own scenario. It was a very time-consuming weekend with unforeseen issues (like a giant party next door that was shaking the walls, making us unable to film for 6 hours during the last day). But, in the end, everyone in the team was taken care of by production and was excited to have the materials at hand.
crew
1st version
2nd version
Caroline Petersen Direction
Caroline Castro Assistant Direction
Vitória Alves Continuity and Make-up
Matheus Murucci Actor Preparation
Luiza BorgesFOTO
Pedro CupolilloFOTO
Rodrigo TancrediFOTO
Victor OliverSOM
Manuella BrazPROD
Gabriela MagalhãesPROD
João Gabriel BarretoPROD
Pê MoreiraPROD
João BulcãoPRO/GA
Caroline MeirellesARTE
HelenoARTE
AlíciaARTE
Marina MoreiraARTE
OtavioARTE
Louise CyrilloFIG
Fernanda CarnevaliSTILL
BiaSTILL
Brenda CavalliniELENCO
Ramoile BarreirosELENCO
Diana DeyseELENCO
RayzaELENCO
ZecaELENCO