By official count, we had 26 shooting days during production.
I think our earliest call was 7 AM, and our latest shoot went to about 2 AM.
Longest day was around 15 hours and shortest less than an hour. These are not officially recorded, just from memory.
I know we had days with three completely different locations, I'm not sure if we ever did more than that.
Number of times someone was unable to open a locked car door on camera: currently unknown. If I can I'll keep count while editing.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
That's a wrap.
So some people consider a long weekend a weekend where you have an extra day off. Others consider a "long weekend" to be when you have to work that extra day and the two before it. The second definition I believe is how those working on the movie saw this past weekend. Everyone involved in the production over the last few days made an extraordinary effort to complete some of the most challenging scenes in the movie.
Susan and Karen deserve a huge thank you. With a number of our trusty cohorts away for the weekend, they stepped up to build most of the set and props we needed this weekend. Since the portion of the film we shot takes place in outer space, that was no small task. Their contribution didn't end there as they also assisted with makeup and costume while providing food as well. We simply could not have shot what we did without their help.
Nicholas also deserves a big thank you. He was the only individual besides Mike and I who was there for every minute of the shoot. That is a serious commitment. Even when we were running late with last minute production details, he was prompt. I know he had his frustrations and irritations but he never complained. He simply worked ceaselessly and his camera experience was invaluable.
The University of Washington made this weekend possible by allowing us to shoot at one of the UW buildings. Eileen, the graduate student who helped us out in the space, was absolutely indispensible. She enabled so much of what we did, helping people find bits for props or suggesting locations. We really appreciate what she did for us. She was even game enough to come out for a little after-party which was cool.
Space being a rather empty place, we had only one additional actor in over the weekend. Cody did a great job amidst some very adverse circumstances. On a complex shoot, at a rented facility, shooting the final sequences of the movie, it is terrifying to receive an email from your main actor saying he has tonsilitis. I called him on the phone immediately to learn that he was just a few minutes away. He deserves to be commended for standing by his commitment to come film even though he felt miserable. It didn't show during his performance which is impressive because he got to join the long line of actors in the movie who are tied to a chair and tortured. Thankfully, Mike was one of those who'd been in the hot seat before, so they were able to make camaraderie. He also rolled with some new lines given to him the day of shoot and quickly came up to speed with them.
Cody's tonsilitis was one of many near misses and misses this weekend. It figures that the riskiest shoot is also the one that will have more problems than any other on the production. For a number of reasons, we were behind on preparation for this weekend, which is always a recipe for chaos. Most of it was mitigated, but it also meant we couldn't offset any hindrances that did arise. Of course, hindrances decided to arise anyway. The main room we expected to use actually was being utilized, so we had to adjust our set to compensate which was probably our biggest issue. What we came up with actually may be better, so you have to embrace things like that. We had a truly frightening close call when Nicholas's hard drive hit the floor. It did some soul searching but eventually found itself so we were able to continue.
Mike brings so much to the production that is hard to describe, but he brought it. Even when he didn't want to.
To everyone else, actors and otherwise, who have contributed to the production, thank you as well. From the beginning we knew the scale of the project would absolutely push our means. Sensible independent filmmakers would set their film entirely on an abandoned sound stage with only an actor or two. Sure you can make a great movie that way with the right script, but our goal was to make something exciting and different or at least fail miserably trying. We needed all of you to accomplish that (uh, the success part) and it's been fun working with everyone. I know we'll be able to count on your continued help as we start work on sequels 2-7.
This isn't the end of the blog or anything. I'll keep updating as we go through post-production, but this seemed a good time to acknowledge everyone who worked on the production phase.
PS: We finished our main shooting on the movie.
Susan and Karen deserve a huge thank you. With a number of our trusty cohorts away for the weekend, they stepped up to build most of the set and props we needed this weekend. Since the portion of the film we shot takes place in outer space, that was no small task. Their contribution didn't end there as they also assisted with makeup and costume while providing food as well. We simply could not have shot what we did without their help.
Nicholas also deserves a big thank you. He was the only individual besides Mike and I who was there for every minute of the shoot. That is a serious commitment. Even when we were running late with last minute production details, he was prompt. I know he had his frustrations and irritations but he never complained. He simply worked ceaselessly and his camera experience was invaluable.
The University of Washington made this weekend possible by allowing us to shoot at one of the UW buildings. Eileen, the graduate student who helped us out in the space, was absolutely indispensible. She enabled so much of what we did, helping people find bits for props or suggesting locations. We really appreciate what she did for us. She was even game enough to come out for a little after-party which was cool.
Space being a rather empty place, we had only one additional actor in over the weekend. Cody did a great job amidst some very adverse circumstances. On a complex shoot, at a rented facility, shooting the final sequences of the movie, it is terrifying to receive an email from your main actor saying he has tonsilitis. I called him on the phone immediately to learn that he was just a few minutes away. He deserves to be commended for standing by his commitment to come film even though he felt miserable. It didn't show during his performance which is impressive because he got to join the long line of actors in the movie who are tied to a chair and tortured. Thankfully, Mike was one of those who'd been in the hot seat before, so they were able to make camaraderie. He also rolled with some new lines given to him the day of shoot and quickly came up to speed with them.
Cody's tonsilitis was one of many near misses and misses this weekend. It figures that the riskiest shoot is also the one that will have more problems than any other on the production. For a number of reasons, we were behind on preparation for this weekend, which is always a recipe for chaos. Most of it was mitigated, but it also meant we couldn't offset any hindrances that did arise. Of course, hindrances decided to arise anyway. The main room we expected to use actually was being utilized, so we had to adjust our set to compensate which was probably our biggest issue. What we came up with actually may be better, so you have to embrace things like that. We had a truly frightening close call when Nicholas's hard drive hit the floor. It did some soul searching but eventually found itself so we were able to continue.
Mike brings so much to the production that is hard to describe, but he brought it. Even when he didn't want to.
To everyone else, actors and otherwise, who have contributed to the production, thank you as well. From the beginning we knew the scale of the project would absolutely push our means. Sensible independent filmmakers would set their film entirely on an abandoned sound stage with only an actor or two. Sure you can make a great movie that way with the right script, but our goal was to make something exciting and different or at least fail miserably trying. We needed all of you to accomplish that (uh, the success part) and it's been fun working with everyone. I know we'll be able to count on your continued help as we start work on sequels 2-7.
This isn't the end of the blog or anything. I'll keep updating as we go through post-production, but this seemed a good time to acknowledge everyone who worked on the production phase.
PS: We finished our main shooting on the movie.
Photo-photo-photographs
Here's a few photos from the weekend.
Time to build a studio...
Set designer hard at work.
Greenscreen ready to go.
Are those spacepants you're wearing...?
The DP, hand on the tiller of his mighty camera boat.
Heated discussion.
Our most helpful liaison.
Our producer.
Nothing could stop the party.
Time to build a studio...
Set designer hard at work.
Greenscreen ready to go.
Are those spacepants you're wearing...?
The DP, hand on the tiller of his mighty camera boat.
Heated discussion.
Our most helpful liaison.
Our producer.
Nothing could stop the party.
What can anyone hope to achieve that hasn't already been done by The Clash?
I don't know, but these guys will give it a shot.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Overheard on set
Twitter this.
M: I bet Robert DeNiro would be making fun of us for moving weird in these suits.
Bob D: I wore my flightsuit for six months before my Top Gun audition.
J: I thought you didn't get that part.
Bob D: That's how good I am.
M: I bet Robert DeNiro would be making fun of us for moving weird in these suits.
Bob D: I wore my flightsuit for six months before my Top Gun audition.
J: I thought you didn't get that part.
Bob D: That's how good I am.
Monday, August 25, 2008
...and when the universe is overrun with space elk, who's going to hunt them if not Ted Nugent?
Just some food for thought.
For those of you clinging to your seat wondering about the outcome to the editing software sweepstakes, we have a winner. Through process of elimination, Adobe Premiere seems to have come out on top. The clincher came when it loaded MXF files with no problem and played them back with no performance issues. If the internet (Thanks Creative Cow. Check out creativecow.com if you're interested in the technical side of movie production. It's a great resource and so far more helpful than Adobe's documentation) hadn't informed me that it can edit at audio sample levels it probably still would have lost to Sony Vegas. It almost did anyway. Premiere's attempts to go 'pro' by mimicking Avid have led to regressions in usability rather than progress. I'll try and save that rant for a separate discussion on the People Who Care blog.
I will say that I was unable to update the program. After reading the official technical advice which informed users they should install and reinstall the program and along the way completely reformat their entire system, I finally found a half-understood nugget of info in a forum which indicated the fix to the problem was an incorrect version number in the update xml. Talk about criminally ridiculous. Once I got past though and it's not easy to get past something like that, things were a little better.
The subtext here is that I've begun officially editing the movie.
For those of you clinging to your seat wondering about the outcome to the editing software sweepstakes, we have a winner. Through process of elimination, Adobe Premiere seems to have come out on top. The clincher came when it loaded MXF files with no problem and played them back with no performance issues. If the internet (Thanks Creative Cow. Check out creativecow.com if you're interested in the technical side of movie production. It's a great resource and so far more helpful than Adobe's documentation) hadn't informed me that it can edit at audio sample levels it probably still would have lost to Sony Vegas. It almost did anyway. Premiere's attempts to go 'pro' by mimicking Avid have led to regressions in usability rather than progress. I'll try and save that rant for a separate discussion on the People Who Care blog.
I will say that I was unable to update the program. After reading the official technical advice which informed users they should install and reinstall the program and along the way completely reformat their entire system, I finally found a half-understood nugget of info in a forum which indicated the fix to the problem was an incorrect version number in the update xml. Talk about criminally ridiculous. Once I got past though and it's not easy to get past something like that, things were a little better.
The subtext here is that I've begun officially editing the movie.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Return
After a fairly long hiatus for various reasons, we have been shooting the last couple of weekends. We're very close to completing production. Yesterday morning we were able to grab some scenes that have haunted us throughout the shooting. It was our earliest day yet to avoid the din of downtown Seattle. Many thanks to the brave volunteers who showed up at that horrible hour to lend disenchaned veracity to the movie.
The week prior we shot a couple of the space sequences. It's true it's totally ridiculous and miserable to shoot special effects/space shots in a low budget film but whatever. No sense making something boring.
Mad props to the crazy Haitian chick that Mike met on the bus. She did a sweet job reanimating Kenneth Lay so that he could at least make a cameo.
The week prior we shot a couple of the space sequences. It's true it's totally ridiculous and miserable to shoot special effects/space shots in a low budget film but whatever. No sense making something boring.
Mad props to the crazy Haitian chick that Mike met on the bus. She did a sweet job reanimating Kenneth Lay so that he could at least make a cameo.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
State of the Project
We're on a hiatus for the moment since our Director of Photography skipped town to visit the Motherland. I thought I'd take a moment to provide status on the overall project. I had expected to be more effusive along the way, but perhaps not surprisingly that has been difficult.
Overall, we've done pretty well. We're about two weeks behind by the calendar, but really about 4 actual shooting days over the planned schedule. Time-wise we should have been fine, but there were just some locations we couldn't
synchronize into the schedule as planned which led to the overshoot.
I've been pleased that for the most part we've been able to fit our shooting
into the tight time constraints we've worked with. We make a tradeoff in trying
to shoot quickly versus longer shooting schedules, but I think it provides
better value for our effort in the grand scheme of things. Overall, I've been
pleased with the footage I've reviewed. My only wish is we had gotten all the
non-space shots before Nicholas left so we could focus solely on orbit. We'll
just have to take a day to wrap all the leftovers.
I've been focusing on two things in our cameraman's absence: finalizing our
plans for the space sequences and deciding on editing software. That's a whole
other post though. My goal is still to wrap all shooting in July, so we'll be
making every effort to do so in the next month.
Overall, we've done pretty well. We're about two weeks behind by the calendar, but really about 4 actual shooting days over the planned schedule. Time-wise we should have been fine, but there were just some locations we couldn't
synchronize into the schedule as planned which led to the overshoot.
I've been pleased that for the most part we've been able to fit our shooting
into the tight time constraints we've worked with. We make a tradeoff in trying
to shoot quickly versus longer shooting schedules, but I think it provides
better value for our effort in the grand scheme of things. Overall, I've been
pleased with the footage I've reviewed. My only wish is we had gotten all the
non-space shots before Nicholas left so we could focus solely on orbit. We'll
just have to take a day to wrap all the leftovers.
I've been focusing on two things in our cameraman's absence: finalizing our
plans for the space sequences and deciding on editing software. That's a whole
other post though. My goal is still to wrap all shooting in July, so we'll be
making every effort to do so in the next month.
Monday, June 16, 2008
This is how Houdini died...
...although apparently we don't have any photographic evidence. Sorry, Mike, I screwed this one up. And I think I just got your Tin Cup reference.
Patrick freed himself of his acting obligations today.
Shortest shoot ever in his bathroom.
The bounty hunter van wrapped its scenes.
Unfortunately, its brake light sticks sometimes and the battery died.
While simultaneously Mike's phone battery died in solidarity?
That really tied the evening together.
Did I mention the Celtics lost?
From the new summer collection
Alas, poor Yuri
Patrick freed himself of his acting obligations today.
Shortest shoot ever in his bathroom.
The bounty hunter van wrapped its scenes.
Unfortunately, its brake light sticks sometimes and the battery died.
While simultaneously Mike's phone battery died in solidarity?
That really tied the evening together.
Did I mention the Celtics lost?
From the new summer collection
Alas, poor Yuri
Saturday, June 14, 2008
From the publishing world
Noted political author Karen Miller gets a little bit of airtime in the movie. For those of you who aren't familiar with her work, here are a few samples.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Chucky Lightyear
Imagine it's 12:30 at night and you need a title for your blog post. You're also thinking about how hard it is to invent character names on the spot, which we had to do twice this weekend. All of a sudden, you wish you had thought of "Chucky Lightyear" sooner. Not that we would have used it or anything.
This post is starting well.
Today we finished up at the Rendezvous, and they were again very helpful and friendly. We went through the various elements of the fight sequence and I think Connie went home in one piece, as did I. Here she is preparing. I'm anxious to see the footage, because once she got warmed up she brought out the mean look which was really quite impressive.
We also took care of General Branson's backstage forays, seen here in a less fruitful moment.
After finishing the club sequences, we got a break. Sort of anyway, since Susan and I crossed the great water to pick up the bounty hunter van. Then we picked up again for the external club sequences. These were Demone's last scenes on the film, so it will be weird that he's not coming around anymore. Most people come out for a weekend, but he has been there really since the beginning.
We ended up being slightly rushed since the security guy was locking up. We probably could have stayed, but the Parks folks have been so nice to us we didn't want to hassle them. We got what we needed but we had to just toss gear into cars and haul out of there. Mike stayed behind to blow up the bridge to make sure we got clear. Thanks, Mike.
Finally, I wanted to share something that Scot sent me in response to my last blog posting. It's another moment of candor from Captain Picard, and it's quite extraordinary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_cwI1Xj4M&feature=related
It uses a bit of an old joke, but the details of the writing really make it into something worthwhile, along with the impeccable craftsmanship of Herr Stewart. The other guy plays it well too.
This post is starting well.
Today we finished up at the Rendezvous, and they were again very helpful and friendly. We went through the various elements of the fight sequence and I think Connie went home in one piece, as did I. Here she is preparing. I'm anxious to see the footage, because once she got warmed up she brought out the mean look which was really quite impressive.
We also took care of General Branson's backstage forays, seen here in a less fruitful moment.
After finishing the club sequences, we got a break. Sort of anyway, since Susan and I crossed the great water to pick up the bounty hunter van. Then we picked up again for the external club sequences. These were Demone's last scenes on the film, so it will be weird that he's not coming around anymore. Most people come out for a weekend, but he has been there really since the beginning.
We ended up being slightly rushed since the security guy was locking up. We probably could have stayed, but the Parks folks have been so nice to us we didn't want to hassle them. We got what we needed but we had to just toss gear into cars and haul out of there. Mike stayed behind to blow up the bridge to make sure we got clear. Thanks, Mike.
Finally, I wanted to share something that Scot sent me in response to my last blog posting. It's another moment of candor from Captain Picard, and it's quite extraordinary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_cwI1Xj4M&feature=related
It uses a bit of an old joke, but the details of the writing really make it into something worthwhile, along with the impeccable craftsmanship of Herr Stewart. The other guy plays it well too.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Last one for tonight
Just a quick update on today's proceedings.
We struggled working out details on this location, but the Jewelbox were able to come through big time and get us what we needed. We worked through all the club scenes that accompany the fight, which we're shooting tomorrow. I want to give a special thanks to everyone who came out today to be audience members. We could not have completed the scene without your help.
Here are a couple shots from today.
Talking shop
The VIP
We struggled working out details on this location, but the Jewelbox were able to come through big time and get us what we needed. We worked through all the club scenes that accompany the fight, which we're shooting tomorrow. I want to give a special thanks to everyone who came out today to be audience members. We could not have completed the scene without your help.
Here are a couple shots from today.
Talking shop
The VIP
There are four lights
You can say whatever you like about the original Star Trek versus The Next Generation, but the original does not have this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eSwq1ewsU
You can have a lot of things going for you, but without Picard's dedication to simple honesty, you're at a disadvantage.
Though we can't ever hope to top perfection, we nevertheless had our own torture scene to deal with last weekend.
It's interesting to work with Mike since he is the kind of actor who when we started this project forced me to sign a form that said we wouldn't go soft on him. As a result, I think everyone else on set had a bit of a party that day, what with the clubbing, the chemicals, the gigantic terrifying needles, the leaping from rooftop to rooftop etc. Whereas Mike had more of a suffering thing going on.
Who could tell by looking at him though?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eSwq1ewsU
You can have a lot of things going for you, but without Picard's dedication to simple honesty, you're at a disadvantage.
Though we can't ever hope to top perfection, we nevertheless had our own torture scene to deal with last weekend.
It's interesting to work with Mike since he is the kind of actor who when we started this project forced me to sign a form that said we wouldn't go soft on him. As a result, I think everyone else on set had a bit of a party that day, what with the clubbing, the chemicals, the gigantic terrifying needles, the leaping from rooftop to rooftop etc. Whereas Mike had more of a suffering thing going on.
Who could tell by looking at him though?
Trouble in the electrically-shielded saferooms of unlicensed government oversight specialists
Last Saturday we shot Jim and Ted's visit to Mark's place. Mark does research.
This lady also made a visit.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a very good weekend for Mike. First the electrodes, then death, and finally the torture on Sunday.
Biggest thanx ever...
goes to Justin M for arranging our location for this shoot, encouraging his housemates to support the independent moviemaking revolution that happened in their home.
This lady also made a visit.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a very good weekend for Mike. First the electrodes, then death, and finally the torture on Sunday.
Biggest thanx ever...
goes to Justin M for arranging our location for this shoot, encouraging his housemates to support the independent moviemaking revolution that happened in their home.
Behind again
On the blog. By more than a week. I forget who it was, probably Thomas Jefferson or John Adams or someone like that, but they once wrote a friend a letter and apologized saying "sorry to write such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one". It's really that way with blog posts for me. If I've ever written a decent post then it took me forever. I'm sure there are bloggers who can just pop off whatever is in the head and come up with pithy little posts. If so, I hate them.
So I'll run back through what we've been up to fairly quickly. We started early this morning, so I'm anxious to go back to bed.
The Tuesday prior to last weekend we shot scenes with our resident tobacco expert. I prepped his secure compound on Monday evening, but despite my efforts, he was apparently not amused.
Lots of wonderful props mysteriously appeared at this shoot. I believe Cat may have had something to do with it, but I'm not asking too many questions.
So I'll run back through what we've been up to fairly quickly. We started early this morning, so I'm anxious to go back to bed.
The Tuesday prior to last weekend we shot scenes with our resident tobacco expert. I prepped his secure compound on Monday evening, but despite my efforts, he was apparently not amused.
Lots of wonderful props mysteriously appeared at this shoot. I believe Cat may have had something to do with it, but I'm not asking too many questions.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Quickie
On Friday night I went to check out Quickies at Live Girls Theater since it had some of my peeps in it. The show was a fun collection of short pieces. Darian-peeps acted in a couple and directed, her sister-peeps ran the show and Kelly-who's-in-my-movie-peeps also appeared in a couple. Everyone knows I don't exactly get all gushy over most theater(cf. film-though everyone knows movies are the dead art of the new millenium), but I particularly liked the segment "24 Pictures of a Pilot" in which Kelly featured. It's very compelling for short work and written by a local playwright for the show, as I understand it. Live Girls theater is in general pretty cool, so you should head out there if you can. I think there are only a couple of performances left in the run so act quickly.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Last Sunday
As I mentioned, we started both days last weekend with our newswoman. Here she is again, this time with CEO Frederick Moyers.
The nice thing about shooting news interviews is that they move along pretty quickly. So after burning through that sequence, we crossed the mighty Lake Washington for some serious eastside action. First up the intro scenes at Susan's house. It was Mother's Day and we leaned on our families who graciously let us use their homes. Susan took her mother out to brunch and her father rather amazingly managed to nap through our shouting. Yes shouting, not shooting. Okay both. We're Bail Enforcement Agents, people!
And it's time to go to work...
Unfortunately, we were a bit squeezed for time and weren't able to complete the scene. We have to reschedule to finish the van sequences. We did get a fantastic smoker prop from Susan's dad and some other mysterious entity and it looked great.
Next, we ventured even deeper into the east to capture the treehouse material. Perhaps the most amazing feature of this shoot was that we actually had a sit-down dinner.
Not pictured is our child actor for the evening, Weston. He did a great job and didn't even get pummeled by a rifle butt like our last child actor. Perhaps it's not as dramatic but much less stressful for the families. (I think I've mentioned how Piers is now helping on our crew after appearing in "Kingmaker" as a child victim years ago). I like to think we've grown as filmmakers.
I want to give a big thanks to Carol for coming out that night. I mistakenly flipped SE and NE in the address I gave her which sent her to regions beyond comprehension. She admirably stuck with it however and eventually arrived. Karen also came through with some great props for the shoot. She supplied the cigarettes which were so vital to the scene and the substitute crossbow bolts which were so vital to the safety of our actors. Speaking of which, the plant in the post I made earlier couldn't have caught fire. It was raining! Joy.
Despite adverse conditions, we captured some great material around the treehouse.
The substitute crossbow bolts did however contribute to the Lamest Shot Ever Captured and The Thing Of Which We Shall Never Speak, even though I'm mentioning it in a public forum. I only do so because myself, Mike and Nick must answer to ourselves how we let it happen. From now on, we're going to be wearing chain mail and getting back to the days before regulations, PETA et al. What would Apocalypse Now have been without the heart attack? I'm just saying...
Nick hard at work. In a time of not rain. Oh how fun it is to stow wet gear.
Theme of the movie, people!
It will be on your film class quiz. I guarantee it. Extra credit if you can explain how the arrangement of pieces does not fit with the title of the image. No cheating.
The nice thing about shooting news interviews is that they move along pretty quickly. So after burning through that sequence, we crossed the mighty Lake Washington for some serious eastside action. First up the intro scenes at Susan's house. It was Mother's Day and we leaned on our families who graciously let us use their homes. Susan took her mother out to brunch and her father rather amazingly managed to nap through our shouting. Yes shouting, not shooting. Okay both. We're Bail Enforcement Agents, people!
And it's time to go to work...
Unfortunately, we were a bit squeezed for time and weren't able to complete the scene. We have to reschedule to finish the van sequences. We did get a fantastic smoker prop from Susan's dad and some other mysterious entity and it looked great.
Next, we ventured even deeper into the east to capture the treehouse material. Perhaps the most amazing feature of this shoot was that we actually had a sit-down dinner.
Not pictured is our child actor for the evening, Weston. He did a great job and didn't even get pummeled by a rifle butt like our last child actor. Perhaps it's not as dramatic but much less stressful for the families. (I think I've mentioned how Piers is now helping on our crew after appearing in "Kingmaker" as a child victim years ago). I like to think we've grown as filmmakers.
I want to give a big thanks to Carol for coming out that night. I mistakenly flipped SE and NE in the address I gave her which sent her to regions beyond comprehension. She admirably stuck with it however and eventually arrived. Karen also came through with some great props for the shoot. She supplied the cigarettes which were so vital to the scene and the substitute crossbow bolts which were so vital to the safety of our actors. Speaking of which, the plant in the post I made earlier couldn't have caught fire. It was raining! Joy.
Despite adverse conditions, we captured some great material around the treehouse.
The substitute crossbow bolts did however contribute to the Lamest Shot Ever Captured and The Thing Of Which We Shall Never Speak, even though I'm mentioning it in a public forum. I only do so because myself, Mike and Nick must answer to ourselves how we let it happen. From now on, we're going to be wearing chain mail and getting back to the days before regulations, PETA et al. What would Apocalypse Now have been without the heart attack? I'm just saying...
Nick hard at work. In a time of not rain. Oh how fun it is to stow wet gear.
Theme of the movie, people!
It will be on your film class quiz. I guarantee it. Extra credit if you can explain how the arrangement of pieces does not fit with the title of the image. No cheating.
Busy weekend
We attempted three different locations each day last weekend. Maybe that's why it's taken me so long to write about it. We've taken the week off, since Mike is out of town this weekend. Today is the first day I've really gotten decent sleep though because work has been busy.
I'll keep the chat short today and mostly go with pictures. We kicked off Saturday and Sunday shooting our rip-roaring newswoman, Adrianna.
Next up were our first driving scenes. Nick and I piled in to capture Adrianna and Thor's chase sequence. Did I mention you don't want to piss this woman off?
From there we loaded up and headed to Tricky's for some hot bbq action. You've been waiting for it, you just didn't know when it would come, but here it is. A beautiful, smoky pork shoulder, courtesy of Patrick, author of one of the greatest songs ever written, "Test Meat Destroyer".
Of course, rather than partaking of his savage, blood-soaked slaughter of innocent creatures, we feasted on ecologically-sensible portabella burgers. Delicious, and as I understand it, a joint production of Sarah and Erin.
While we shot Kristi upstairs ( I was serious about the rifle, people), Paul and Piers fired up a game of ping-pong. Isn't that sweet, cast and crew bonding, trying to Forrest Gump the other's face off?
This man believes.
And another special one.
Image of the Day
"And to help prevent...non-safety."
Come on people, Phil Hartman, Sharon Stone? Anyone? Anyone?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
We struck the set
So it's taken me a few days to resume the thread I started, but what can you do? Last Wednesday we struck the bounty hunter office set. We finished up shooting there Tuesday night and returned to clear out the place the next night. The strike went relatively quickly with Mike, Sarah and Susan lending a hand. Moviemaking is an endeavor that basically requires a large vehicle. Trying to fit all of our supplies along with the various crew who need rides does not work in my hatchback (cf. 4$ gasoline). William's truck helped us load up all the furniture and props. Unfortunately it doesn't fit in my garage, so we had to transfer everything to the lobby of my building, then into the elevator, then out of the elevator and finally into my apartment that is now full.
The Tuesday shoot was interesting. We had three different sequences to shoot, one a reshoot because nine files mysteriously vaporized from Nick's hard disk recorder. We did quick reaction shots of Gina outside, the confrontation with the base guard and Jim and Ted's spat with the lawyers. The guard scene is a quick one but we spent some time playing around to bring out the winging-it vibe we wanted. Elaine and Kelly were great about going with the flow. Improvisation is never easy when the camera rolls. I think we ended up with some good material, and Nick put together an amazing lighting setup. It looked great and was a nice contrast to a lot of the material we'd shot so far.
It's late and we're shooting in the morning. Since we finished at a reasonable hour today I took a nap after watching the end of the Celtics game (how could they lose that badly?). Now my sleep schedule is messed up.
The Tuesday shoot was interesting. We had three different sequences to shoot, one a reshoot because nine files mysteriously vaporized from Nick's hard disk recorder. We did quick reaction shots of Gina outside, the confrontation with the base guard and Jim and Ted's spat with the lawyers. The guard scene is a quick one but we spent some time playing around to bring out the winging-it vibe we wanted. Elaine and Kelly were great about going with the flow. Improvisation is never easy when the camera rolls. I think we ended up with some good material, and Nick put together an amazing lighting setup. It looked great and was a nice contrast to a lot of the material we'd shot so far.
It's late and we're shooting in the morning. Since we finished at a reasonable hour today I took a nap after watching the end of the Celtics game (how could they lose that badly?). Now my sleep schedule is messed up.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Why not one more?
Sunday we shot three different scenes. Two were fairly quick and one took most of the day, as budgeted. It was one of those mysterious scenes that seems like it should be quick on paper, but when you break it down it has enough details and changes within it to eat up a number of camera setups and that sort of thing.
Yara looked fab in her outfit put together by our costume mavens. Said costume led to one of the more unexpected events of the day, and frankly within my entire film production career. Piers noted that the earrings were making too much noise, forcing us to create an earring silencing solution in order to avoid clanging metal ruining the dialogue. Kelly helpfully did one earring and I did the other. Yes, manual labor is normally far beneath the dignity of a director, but the rest of the crew had either panicked or quit by that point, so what was I to do? (Okay, Mike did have a gun out ready to shoot the earrings, which seemed quite sensible, but Nicholas was concerned it might dull the gold)
Man of the Day?
Jimmy the Pineapple
yeeeaaahhhh
Today marked a minor milestone in the production, but I guess I'll get into that tomorrow.
Yara looked fab in her outfit put together by our costume mavens. Said costume led to one of the more unexpected events of the day, and frankly within my entire film production career. Piers noted that the earrings were making too much noise, forcing us to create an earring silencing solution in order to avoid clanging metal ruining the dialogue. Kelly helpfully did one earring and I did the other. Yes, manual labor is normally far beneath the dignity of a director, but the rest of the crew had either panicked or quit by that point, so what was I to do? (Okay, Mike did have a gun out ready to shoot the earrings, which seemed quite sensible, but Nicholas was concerned it might dull the gold)
Man of the Day?
Jimmy the Pineapple
yeeeaaahhhh
Today marked a minor milestone in the production, but I guess I'll get into that tomorrow.
They do this at parties all the time...
Saturday May 3rd
Everyone say thank you to Will, who let us use his house to film the 'sick guy' scene. We rushed in there on a friday night to take a look at the place and decide what else it needed for set dressing for the next morning. The overall look actually worked well without much help, since Will is trying to move a lot of the decluttering that is often necessary was already done. By the time I arrived in the morning, the house had been surpisingly and convincingly dirtied up for our shut-in.
Rob got some really cool makeup and Patrick and Jim got to wear some of the most rocking and miserable costumes of the shoot. They really hung in there, particularly Jim who had to spend most of the day fighting in his gear. The morning was kind of a mad rush as we had to make sure Patrick made his beerfest. (Dear Broken Lizard, Group B Films solemnly promises not to stand in the way of dudes trying to get to beerfests) Thankfully we had a great post-stunt body double who could stand in for him in some of the later sequences.
Some awesome things about Saturday...
1. Piers came up to help out. He's a moviemaker from Africa and Portland who was brutally murdered in one of our earlier productions, so it's kind of trippy to see him on the set. He really was a big help though.
2. Mike and I invented a new form of improv. The goal is to put people watching to sleep. We are very successful at it.
Playing catch up here
I'm a week behind now. Tuesday a week ago went quickly. We really only shot one sequence of the lawyers walking, along with finishing a closeup of Harold. It was an interesting night because it highlighted some of the aspects of acting that are often ignored. When most of us think of acting, we picture someone delivering lines, but that's only part of the job. The rest is waiting around. I'm only half kidding, but there are many times when you have to perform with your body, or simply just walk somewhere on camera. You think it would be easy since it's just walking, or looking at something. We do those things instinctually off camera, but on camera you're making your body do something instead of simply responding reflexively to what is happening in real life. When you try to think about what you're doing in that regard, or are trying to make yourself do something you wouldn't normally do with your body, it becomes a lot harder. For any of you who've tried acting and found it hard to deliver a line even though it was 'just speaking', it's the same thing with non-verbal acting.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Dropkick Me Kenny Through the Goalposts of Strife
I'm completely drained from Sunday. I really tried to push the material as well as Mike and myself. At the end of the (long) day, I think it was worth it, but it was a rough ride. Our actors were patient, George and Ken, and Yara was as sporting as her outfit in being kept late. James came out and didn't even get his scene shot since we were behind. We appreciate his understanding about that.
Mike really made a big difference, since he basically provided permission to go with some of the more kooky ideas that I might have written off otherwise. He really seemed to pick up on that at our lowest point. That is why he is there. Also because he mans the rifle when Patrick is not present, all Werner Herzog-style.
Some of you have heard me talk about this, but you really end up writing a movie three times. Once when you create the script, again when you film it, and finally in editing, which is the version that actually goes out to the audience. The shooting is the most stressful portion, that's when the money is flowing, the people are all there and you don't have a lot of time. There are so many moving parts and people don't show up, bulbs burn out, car doors lock automatically...
During writing and editing, you have the time to figure out what you want to do. On the shoot, it's all happening at that moment. That's really the challenge of filmmaking (sure it's not possible without all the other stuff, the planning yadda yadda), because what you envisioned in the script is taking new form in the reality in front of you. Actors play the part differently than in your imagination, the sets take on a unique look, unexpected events happen. You have to respond to it all and shape it, grabbing the bits that work, pointing people in new directions, keeping everything within the context of the film as a whole. It's also six times harder if it's comedy. If you can react to it well, you can find what works and really capture something interesting.
That process happens on all the shoot days, but Sunday we were looking at new directions for material and doing so amidst the usual insanity adds to the burden. Sure, a director can have a vision, and find the right actors and push their performances in the desired direction and have all the control in the world, but the movie takes a new life. What's more, no matter how pure the initial vision, people add things to the movie that you simply can't imagine. It's unexpected bits that often transform a movie into something really special, if handled properly by director, editor and the et ceteras in the credits.
You can't tell exactly what that is on set though, editing reveals it. Just like with shooting, as you start to put footage together, it begins to take a new form, and what feels like the best take on set can seem totally out of place when compared to the rest of the material. All of this is for the best, in a sense it is just a continuation of the editing of the script, refined throughout the production until the final print.
For instance, we did a scene a completely different way simply because the lockbox we had only fit in the largest suitcase we collected. I knew we would be using the lockbox but never actually knew how large it was. But we took that and responded to it and made some choices. Just like we pulled the switcheroo on George and moved his scene to a new location. You can have a high degree of confidence in what you shot, but like I said you never really know until you go to edit. We'll be reviewing the footage and seeing how it sits, but that's why you shoot multiple takes. Sometimes a line gets flubbed or a light gets bumped, but you also just need choices in the editing room. It's easy to get a few laughs, it's another thing to maintain the tone throughout the movie.
I of course exacerbated the stress of shooting by forgetting like five different things we needed that day. A lame mistake that threw off the schedule quite a bit since we had to retrieve them. We recovered okay, but didn't make the progress we should have. We'll be holding some extra meetings this week to make sure we get back on track and sort out these logistical issues.
Oh yeah, one more thing for the colossal post:
We made our first appearance in the press!
Kelly shared with us an article from the Puget Sound Business Journal about the growth of filmmaking in Washington that mentioned our production by name. Pretty cool since this happened completely without my knowledge.
Mike really made a big difference, since he basically provided permission to go with some of the more kooky ideas that I might have written off otherwise. He really seemed to pick up on that at our lowest point. That is why he is there. Also because he mans the rifle when Patrick is not present, all Werner Herzog-style.
Some of you have heard me talk about this, but you really end up writing a movie three times. Once when you create the script, again when you film it, and finally in editing, which is the version that actually goes out to the audience. The shooting is the most stressful portion, that's when the money is flowing, the people are all there and you don't have a lot of time. There are so many moving parts and people don't show up, bulbs burn out, car doors lock automatically...
During writing and editing, you have the time to figure out what you want to do. On the shoot, it's all happening at that moment. That's really the challenge of filmmaking (sure it's not possible without all the other stuff, the planning yadda yadda), because what you envisioned in the script is taking new form in the reality in front of you. Actors play the part differently than in your imagination, the sets take on a unique look, unexpected events happen. You have to respond to it all and shape it, grabbing the bits that work, pointing people in new directions, keeping everything within the context of the film as a whole. It's also six times harder if it's comedy. If you can react to it well, you can find what works and really capture something interesting.
That process happens on all the shoot days, but Sunday we were looking at new directions for material and doing so amidst the usual insanity adds to the burden. Sure, a director can have a vision, and find the right actors and push their performances in the desired direction and have all the control in the world, but the movie takes a new life. What's more, no matter how pure the initial vision, people add things to the movie that you simply can't imagine. It's unexpected bits that often transform a movie into something really special, if handled properly by director, editor and the et ceteras in the credits.
You can't tell exactly what that is on set though, editing reveals it. Just like with shooting, as you start to put footage together, it begins to take a new form, and what feels like the best take on set can seem totally out of place when compared to the rest of the material. All of this is for the best, in a sense it is just a continuation of the editing of the script, refined throughout the production until the final print.
For instance, we did a scene a completely different way simply because the lockbox we had only fit in the largest suitcase we collected. I knew we would be using the lockbox but never actually knew how large it was. But we took that and responded to it and made some choices. Just like we pulled the switcheroo on George and moved his scene to a new location. You can have a high degree of confidence in what you shot, but like I said you never really know until you go to edit. We'll be reviewing the footage and seeing how it sits, but that's why you shoot multiple takes. Sometimes a line gets flubbed or a light gets bumped, but you also just need choices in the editing room. It's easy to get a few laughs, it's another thing to maintain the tone throughout the movie.
I of course exacerbated the stress of shooting by forgetting like five different things we needed that day. A lame mistake that threw off the schedule quite a bit since we had to retrieve them. We recovered okay, but didn't make the progress we should have. We'll be holding some extra meetings this week to make sure we get back on track and sort out these logistical issues.
Oh yeah, one more thing for the colossal post:
We made our first appearance in the press!
Kelly shared with us an article from the Puget Sound Business Journal about the growth of filmmaking in Washington that mentioned our production by name. Pretty cool since this happened completely without my knowledge.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
This ain't gonna be no fancy blog post
Mainly because it's late Sunday night.
For those of you who might be concerned about our soundperson man, that is just makeup around his eye. But I would hit him, or anyone else. I'm on the edge, people. If you're getting a lot of passive, there's a bunch of aggressive around the corner coming to balance it out.
Like here, sometimes you really have to look at a man putting on his gun. Just so you're ready to be angry if he makes a mistake. It may seem harsh, but our safety depends on attention to detail and our business depends on attention to safety. Something like that. The sign says it best:
I'll try and use complete sentences from here on out. Saturday was really about people stepping up to get things done. I didn't say they'd be good sentences. Who has time for that? Susan and Karen did some great shopping in the morning, uh and afternoon, and later Karen put that pantsuit to good work alongside our other lawyer.
das Patrick also made his long-awaited and avoided return to the lens side of the camera. Jen made her first appearance on set and provided some awesome help.
das Patrick also made his long-awaited and avoided return to the lens side of the camera. Jen made her first appearance on set and provided some awesome help.
Nat in particular deserves mention. Susan and Karen helped enlist him in the project and he really delivered on a very difficult request. He came to the set to take one of the roles having never even seen the script and did a fantastic job. He was prompt, willing and really bailed us out of what could have been a disaster.
We had a busy Saturday, kicking off with shopping, set work and rehearsal and moving into a lengthy evening of shooting. I was pleased how well the material came together though. Interestingly, for the first time on the shoot we had a take derailed by laughter. Maybe we've had a couple smiles here and there, but not the kind of crew-wide, uncontrollable snickering that appeared last night. Either it was late at night after a long day or there is only one joke in the movie so far, although apparently quite an amusing one.
Why not one final picture of Jim and Ted's important associates, Gina and Harold?*
*Because I'm not normally one for all this touchy-feely "production photos" business.
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