Preparing For A Big Weekend --

Stephen and I have everything ready to go for this weekend. It is going to be a lot of hard work, but we have an all day shoot prepared for the 27th - this Sunday. We have our talent ready, locations are ready, so everything seems good to go. I am bringing in a friend to help me film. He will more than likely get the DP credit. I am meeting with him today to go over my shot lists and storyboards for the movie. There are a few digital effects I am going to use, and we need to plan out how we are going to pull them off. I have posted the shooting date under the blackboard discussion tab. A 330 student hasn't replied to it, yet. If one doesn't come along, does that mean my grade will suffer? If they need to work for just a couple of hours, I can leave a few minor outdoor scenes to be filmed on another date. I'm worried that no one is going to reply before Sunday.

Pre-Production

Right now my acting partner Liz and I are focusing on pre-production. We have selected a male actor and have started doing some table reads. I emailed the writers and received a few paragraphs describing both characters more in depth. Both writers were very helpful. Liz is primarily concerned with memorizing her lines. She has made it clear to me that she wants to have as many rehearsals as possible before shooting. I'm working on storyboards, colors, and some filming options at our location. We're both still waiting on our audio crews so we can nail down shooting availability.

Tori: Just an FYI, I know your partner (from my hometown) and yes I'll agree she can be difficult to contact at times. If you continue to have trouble let me know and I'll track her down (ironically I will be living in her current apt next year).

On the way

All but one of the locations have been settled on. Casting is complete. Shot a little this weekend.

We have 3 weeks 'till rough cut and though I've done a lot of work already, I feel panicked and rushed. Guess I'll feel like that until I get a shot that knocks my socks off.

Shoelessly,
Andy

Difficulty Getting Together

This is getting a  little difficult for me now.  I joined the class a little late, so I had to catch up, but my partner and I are now having trouble getting together.  She's really busy with Ms. Ball State stuff (I think it was) and we haven't really gotten together to discuss the project in depth.  We had an initial meeting where we saw what each other looked like.  That lasted about 5 minutes, but she hadn't read the script yet, so we decided to meet today, Saturday.  Turns out she's sick and we're going to have to postpone again.  This is starting to scare me now because I don't know how often she's going to be busy. I know it doesn't take a whole week to film, I guess, but I'm just afraid that it'll get too close to the due date and we'll still need to get some really important stuff. We haven't even really talked yet.  I'm free basically all the time, and she's a busy girl, which I totally understand.  Maybe I'm just being paranoid and we'll have enough time. 

I'm supposed to send her some of my ideas through e-mail while she's recuperating.  So I'll just do that.

It! Has! Begun!

.. filming, that is. We just completed our first evening of filming. It was a little short due to wardrobe issues (Stephanie is having trouble finding a "crazy person" dress), but we were able to knock out a few integral parts. Originally, it was supposed to be an all-weekend filming thing, but Steph needs to go home this weekend, so we'll resume filming on Monday evening, and plow a lot of it out next weekend and then start piecing it all together!

Now that filming has begun my biggest concern is getting the shots right. One of the things that was stressed when we first met was that these films have to be above average. How do I know if what I'm shooting will turn out "above average"? The only thing I'm trying to do is get great framing, lighting, and acting, and from there we'll hash a lot of it out in editing. That's also one of the reasons why I want to get done filming as early as possible- that way if something doesn't fit well or looks bad when we're editing, we have plenty of time to go back and re-shoot without feeling rushed.

Oh, and I was pretty bummed that we don't get audio teams until next week. Oh wells. [PS- If you can get the subject reference, you get a high five.]

Week 2: Pre-Production

Well it's the start of a new week already, and the awkward first blog is already done. My co-producer and I have met, as most of everyone else has, and we plan to have a more in depth meeting later this week for pre-production discussion.
I am glad to hear that our audio teams will be joining us throughout the production, and not just in post. I am looking forward to working with a larger crew than usual. So far we haven't run into any problems, although scheduling time to shoot is still a concern.
Today's guest lecture was very interesting. I enjoy that we can diverse in topics to cover all of the expertise that go into creating a professional production. Overall, I am excited to get this production underway.

Thoughts About Tattle-Tail

I have met with my partner, and we are both very committed to this project. I have read through the script several times and found a few weaknesses in it. I have made slightly different version to tie up some loose ends. I have made storyboards for a lot of the film. I know how I want to shoot it. I think it enough time is dedicated to to it that it can turn out to be a pretty good movie. But, acting is crucial for this flick. There are a lot of long monologues the main character will have to go through. I am meeting with Stephen Glaspie, the co-producer from theater tonight. He should let me know who our leading lady is going to be. Then, we can get this thing rolling...