top of page
tela-01.jpg

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

bottom of page