More Frustrations

I'm having a super frustrating, ridiculously difficult time getting together with my partner for this project.  We've met only twice to talk (one of those juts for a few seconds).  Those meeting took a few weeks to set up and went through a few cancellations on her end.   And then we were all set to shoot this Saturday. We had the audio group set up and I got the equipment.  Then she finds out last minute that she has to do LA showcase rehearsal during that exact time.  I just...have no idea what to do.   Our week days don't work out (at least in the morning at all).  They seem to match up at the exact wrong times.  Her days next weekend are booked for more theater show stuff.    

This is seeming impossible and is making me hate and fear the "new email" sound on my computer.

fanatical!

We just finished shooting everything. Everything. We stayed up until 3:30am Friday night, then had a 7am call this morning. Just got finished about an hour ago. Two hours of sleep. I don't feel it though. At all.

Our actress was amazing, and Cody was very good too. We went handheld on most of the project, because the characters deserve the look. I have a steady hand too.

Have you ever mixed chicken hearts and gizzards, fur and fake blood together? Yeah, it's pretty awesome if you want to emulate someone tearing a creature apart.

I'll start editing next weekend. I'm tired now. And cold. But we'll have a great film. In fact, a fanatical film.

The Grind

The good news is that me and Geoff are on the same page with damn near everything.  We've got our actress lined up.  Storyboards are almost finished.  I have/had an amazing location lined up (granted a couple hours away, but a vacant, run-down/creepy dormitory fit perfectly) and am still waiting on permission/security clearance to film on location--it is at a military training facility.  It's a process, sure...but if it takes much longer, we'll be forced to move on to secondary locations.  So, we're searching for an alternate location.  I've done some experiments in After Effects on test shots...getting close to creating the look and (especially) the FX I want.  Also did some research in the audio world...my lips are sealed but we've got a neat little project going that will amp up the effectiveness of the film.  Finishing up final storyboards and building a list of sound FX for the audio kids to start work on.  The hope was to begin filming by the end of the week...the location waiting game is dangerous, and, to be honest, worries me.  It's a two-edged blade: if we get it, the atmosphere it provides will be worth the wait, but if not, we will have pushed back production a few precious days for nothing. 

Killing me slowly...

Well, pre-production for me has been quite a bit of work. I love collaborating with different individuals for projects. However, I wish that not every actor would question my ability to direct. I like people voicing their concerns; but damn yo'. Give a gal some room to breathe a wee bit. The actor that I found for the other character has been dismissed from the project, due to too many schedule conflicts. Therefore, I didn't want to bullshit around anymore. I have already found an actor to replace her. Things should be well on there way once I get in contact with the audio crew. After that, hopefully my drama on this end will be over. Thank god I don't have to edit with anyone. Christ. As far as my actor from Dwandra's class, I couldn't ask for more patience.

Everything is Smooth, so far...

Last night we had our first of two days of shooting. It went really well. I went and captured the footage, without any problems. This is a tough script to act. At first, I was slightly worried about my leading actress. When we showed up on set, she didn't know all of her lines. A few simple scenes took several takes. In the end, she got it though. I talked to Stephen and he's made plans to work with her more on the script before our final shoot on Friday. We still have the two hardest scenes left to shoot. With all the preparation we have been doing for this project, I hope it works out well in the end. Visually the film looks great so far. I am satisfied with how it is coming along. Another weird thing is that a 330 student still hasn't signed up to help during the shoot. I hope this doesn't hurt my grade. I have been posting my dates on the discussion board, just no one has replied yet.

Supplies Needed

After some good preproduction meetings, I do believe we are ready to film this week. I have obtained 3 people from the beg audio class to help with not only location audio but any odd jobs while filming. The actors and I have adjusted some of the dialogue in the script - making it sound more natural after a few read throughs. Right now we're stocking up on supplies (dog collars, a webcam, sausages, wardrobe, etc.). We have decided to keep someone on site to manage hair/makeup. Our last class meeting really helped open our eyes to this aspect.

I can't remember how much music was discussed and how much control we will have over that direction. Personally, I don't see us using much music (if any) in this piece. However, in the event that we do decide to use a score, I would like to interact directly with the composer in some way.

Final Shooting preparations

My partner and I met a few more times this week to work out exact timings for shooting and what we want to do specifically with the script. This coming week the blog will be more entertaining because we plan on shooting Wednesday night. We are hoping to get all the shooting done in one night, but we chose to start this week in case we need next weekend to finish up shooting.

More to come later.

Set-backs and Finish-ups

So, we filmed last weekend and everything was looking really good time-wise, and I was pretty stoked about finishing up this weekend. That is, until I went in on Thursday to capture some of the footage so that my editor friend could see what we've done so far.
Turns out, the tape was all messed up. Timecode breaks like nobody's business. Not a single bit of footage was able to be captured.

I was bummed. Extremely so.

But, I talked to my crew and Stephanie (my co-producer/actor), and we planned out how to fit in re-shooting the scenes and finishing up the ones we hadn't filmed as well, and other than like, 2 scenes, we finished filming this weekend (or so I hope).

I'm pretty excited to start piecing it all together and seeing how it looks as a cohesive unit. Hopefully everything looks great and we won't have to re-shoot anything else before the rough cut is due. And, depending on how much gets done, I might have an okay amount of time to relax or plot how to fix things before the cut-to-time is due. That would be wondrous.

All is well!

On MLK day my co producer and I met up with our other actor and worked through the script. Both of them contributed a lot to specific decisions we could make to develop the mood of the film such as possible music ideas, wardrobe, and characterization choices. We also blocked out the script so we would be prepared for filming.
We started filming on Saturday and it went surprisingly well. We're a crew of newbies in respect to producing narrative films, so I was a little worried about the things that may come up that we wouldn't have thought of, but so far so good. I was also really grateful that things worked out with our audio team from 330. Both guys were extremely helpful and gave some great suggestions as far as camera angles, set design, and lighting.
Hopefully on Tuesday night we'll be finishing up filming, and I can only hope that it goes so well...

Actors Kan't Reed

I've added a small role which is being played by a kindergardener. I've shot with her a little bit and it is a lot funner than it sounds. She can't read yet but that's a minor obstacle, so far. The dog has been more difficult.

Scheduling has been a nightmare. My partner is involved with both the New York and the L.A.
We haven't been able to shoot on weekends yet because of her commitment to that. To top it off I had to go and write a kid into the picture. Her parents don't get home from work 'till 5pm and her she has to be done by 8pm. So there's about a 2 hour window to shoot. The family has been absolutely wonderful and I'm learning a lot from them about directing.

So, scheduling sucks but it sound like I'm having an easier time than Tori.

Keep going guys,
Andy

Still in pre-production

I'm still having a problem getting together with my co-producer.  She's been really busy with the show she's in and everything else she's doing.  We're most likely going to be meeting this Monday to really talk in depth about everything we want for the project.  I've been in contact with an audio team, so at least there's that.  They're trying to work out their schedules with our schedules and we'll try to make something work.  We're most likely going to be filming this upcoming weekend, on Saturday.  We also might film a bit on Sunday night if we need more and then after that we'll see how it goes.   

Pre-Production Continues

I am still trying to set everything up to make sure the day of shooting rolls without any flaws, or as few as possible. My partner in the acting class is quite busy with a show that she is in, which is making it more difficult to lock down a solid shooting date. I imagine I will have it set by Tuesday. I spent most of this weekend acquiring props and testing some techniques that I plan to use. My plan is to go black and white, as a nod to Hitchcock, but then leave red as an active color. Just about every shot will contain an important item that is red. I tried this out using FCP and it looks pretty good. I have even found a way to keep something that is somewhat red in the shot, that should be black and white, to become black and white. I also did some experimentation with lighting for some of the night scenes. All in all, I'm a little worried about getting started, but once we lock down the filming dates, I should be alright.

Production under way

Production is finally under way with my crew. We accomplished more than expected last night with filming. We plan on filming all day this coming Saturday, with pick up shots reserved for Sunday morning. My partnered actress, Meg, has been wonderful to work with and has put forth many great ideas. Scheduling is still the main conflict, but if we continue to put forth the same effort next weekend as we did yesterday, we should have no problem producing a professional piece. Hope everyone's productions go well.

I've been working my ass off on the pre-production of this short. It's completely visualized in my head, and I just sat down and did complex storyboards and a very nice shot list. We're not going linear at all with this script, and it's very very stylized and high-pace. I'm going for a very strange feeling, a combination of Youtube's cheapness and 16mm film's over-saturated scariness.

We're holding a rehearsal on Thursday, and shooting Friday night, and Saturday all day. Sunday is available for pickup shots. It should honestly be a great time, and I'm very excited to get this short shot. I'm even more excited to edit it, because that's where my true art comes into play.

Miscommunication

The planning has been going fine but a miscommunication between Michael and me has set us behind and now dogless. If anyone has a dog that they would be willing to have in a movie it be great. We had one but Michael thought I was going to get back to him and tell him if we were shooting Wednesday or Thursday when I was planning on filming Wednesday and Thursday. No filming was done either day. So, again, if anyone knows a dog....