picture lock

great celebratory pic from editor came two nights ago. fantastic feeling but it also comes bundled w/ a whiff of melancholy for me. hard to articulate but i think something to do w/ moving from a wealth of possibilities to one final verifiable thing. years of work and research and planning and the whole bit and now it's over. a death of sorts. a million choices and considerations and decisions all made, considered, decided. ocean reduced to teacup. i'm very proud of the teacup, don't get me wrong, just lamenting this part of the process.

when these moments hit i try to keep one word on my lips: onward. first onward will be the premiere screening in less than a week. 12/21/11 Someday Lounge, Portland Oregon. By coincidence the day is the shortest, darkest, blackest day of the year. the next onward is the feature. more on that in the days ahead.

production wrap - The Big Black Dark

finished shooting TBBD last night. I had hoped to be better at updating all the steps of the process, from the script to the storyboards to the pre-planning to the shooting and all stations in between but time is a precious commodity when you get into the zone and literally i had zero time to do anything beyond make the movie. which is to say it gets all whirlwind-y and there's no ability for context much less commentary. so then here, post shoot, are some generalization from across the shoot.

birds-eye view: things went exceedingly well. i did some new things on this one, including but not limited to shooting on super 16, using rear-projection, using a jib arm, acting, super long takes. b/c we shot on film (ie, $) i was hyper-concious about how much film we had left and so nearly everything was done in one or two takes. w/ one big exception (jib arm shot #2).

random data: 5 shoot days (2 night, 3 day) spread across 6 days, Thurs-Tues w/ an off-day Mon. we shot in a bar, in a hotel, in a garage, in my basement, wooded property etc. we shot on 7 400 ft rolls of kodak b/w single perf 7222, a total of 2800 ft of exposed film. 7 speaking parts.

things to remember for next time: do tech scout w/ sound for all restaurant/bar locations; rehearse everyone, ie don't presume b/c someone is great that they get what you're going for; don't scrimp or be lax on craft service/food etc; hire a script supervisor and/or AD and, as a corollary, don't print out only one copy of a shot list and then freak out if it goes missing; if using jib and shot starts high and ends low be sure to get a remote camera device so operator can start camera high instead of starting low, running film while jib is raised and then lowered b/c you will run through an entire mag in 10 takes and eventually you'll have to just walk away and hope you got something close; if you have a late night shooting push back the next day's call as long as possible

a few days later

I have the very good fortune to be going on vacation for a wk plus starting tomorrow meaning i won't be anywhere near the computer or script or anything related at all to the shoot. this is essential. i need a wall put up between the shoot (the things i missed, the shots i screwed up, the things i settled for) and post (the things i have). not sure yet of the particulars but i'm planning to fly evonne up to cut this over a few days.

saturday, the day i wrapped, after shooting, i was head in the clouds, feet off the ground, feeling so high and humming w/ the accomplishment of finishing. the very next day i felt a sort of mid-range depression settle in. something akin to post-partum. i was reminded that i did the exact same thing on the last one.

tight space

holy crap. just dawned on me this afternoon that 5 straight min of the movie are in a teeny tiny hospital exam room. 3 actors. plus camera and boom and director. i am suddenly nervous as shit about how to pull this off. going to split the scene into three segments, for narrative sake and for shooting sake, but then need to determine what will distinguish - if anything - shooting approach from one segment to the next. it's a chess match between patients and doctor. triangle. doctor at apex, patients at base - but if we shoot that direction, there is very little to do, very few places for camera to go. consider keeping camera on patient who has little dialogue while doctor and other patient run down a list of informations. what does that get me?

closer

Things tightening. Shooting in less than 2 wks. rehearsing w/ dp and actors this wknd. yesterday i sat down to start storyboarding and immediately hit a snag in my visualization of the opening and started rewriting script. minor changes but it was necessary for me to see it first. i filled the last two speaking roles but i still need to find a couple w/ a newborn willing to let me film them. if you know someone be sure to let me know. still need to get a couple wardrobe items, plan craft service and transport to hospital location. the final shot of the movie is a couple stepping in to an elevator while said couple w/ newborn exit. i know the exact elevator i want and have been toying w/ the idea of merely stealing the shot but this am i called the facility and am now waiting for them to give me a ruling.

bulk of movie features couple talking w/ doctor in exam room. i'm trying something slightly risky in that i'm going to rehearse them separately. that is, i'm rehearsing couple w/ a reader filling in for doc, and rehearsing doc w/ a reader filling in for couple. this is more than a scheduling snarl, well it started as one, but it fits the movie, since the whole scene is a power trip, a chess match between doc and patient, w/ doc having upper hand, that it seems appropriate (if risky) to have them meet for the first time on set. I'm going to tell them to run the scene w/o stopping even if they screw up their lines, and the dp will try and get what he gets. if it - or any part of it works - then it'll really work, at least in theory. it could be an epic disaster but that's on me i guess. the actors are all great. they can handle it.

storyboarding and working w/ sag to get waiver for one sag performer. fortunately they have a low-budget option, unfortunately it's supposed to be in to them 3 wks before production starts. I sent it in anyway, waiting to hear. also, need to get pix developed, matted, framed to hang on wall in couple's house. go, go, go.

photo shoot

had actors over on sunday to take still photos. these will be seen in the opening shots, establishing where they live, who they are. the main focus will be a wedding-day shot of the two, a happy shiny time immediately contrasted by the scenario as the movie begins: a couple running late, a man yelling profanely up that stairs at his wife. The weather was slightly uncooperative, the morning filled w/ icy roads that for a time threatened to prevent the entire thing before it began. but it all worked out. actors and photographer showed on time and we were off.

1st shot, couple in front of xmas tree w/ their dog. we were aided by lennie briscoe who agreed to lend his likeness provided we dealt w/ his bs. 2nd shot, the couple hiking in the woods w/ backpacks, smiling and giving thumbs-up. this we shot in the backyard, cheating the tall trees for a forest w/ a well-selected camera angle. 3rd shot, wedding day. this necessitated costume changes, beard shaving, caravan to mt. tabor park. Instead of driving to the top of the park as planned, the gates were shut, no doubt due to the earlier ice. So 6 of us trudged all the way up winding paths to the top of the park. Once there, cold rain started to fall. Actors were positioned against a tree, giving best happy day smiles, a bouquet, a white dress. A passer-by leaned in and wished sincere congratulations to the happy couple.

we got the shots

questions, decisions

saw friend's clinic today. it's workable. it's do-able w/ some slight re-imaginings of what's in my head. but it begs the question: just b/c it's workable does it mean it's correct? so, i'm right where i started: no closer to nailing location. at the same time i'm beginning to feel a sort of layer forming, a hardening of how i'm going to direct this, which in case that sounds totally fucking abstract, is a very good thing. i'm starting to see it. as i've alleged before, the hospital ($) location alone will elevate this film from amateur-land. not that that's everything - after all there's still acting, shooting, cutting to contend with - but i'm oh so eager to extract myself from the student-film pitch i feel like my mail gets delivered to.

along those lines, i emailed a close tie this week and asked to borrow 2 grand. She said no but was willing to match 1/2 of it if I could raise the rest. to my thinking that was a nice gesture on her part but one that would bear no fruit. when i mentioned it to my wife, she jumped on me for being a dim-sighted buffoon. all i have to do is raise a grand somehow, my wife claims, and i'm home free. but how?. herein finds me still sticking to the shadows and keeping my back against the wall and the comfort of sure footing instead of manning up and walking into the darkness. There's a vulnerability that i'm attempting to avoid which is a stumbling block preventing me from avoiding achieving what i need to do. it's a conundrum alright.

slow gatherings of steam

Bit by bit this thing is gathering form and motion, willing itself from the void, up out of the muck. I continue to be the default and at times unwilling producer. After waiting wks for the media director of a local hospital to finally touch base w/ me (I was out of town, then her, then it was Thanksgiving) she called me at the day job to inform me they just didn't do things like that. "I could lose my job" I was told. When I told her another hospital already said yes but it cost too much for our budget she was shocked, stupefied. I think there must have been a profound misunderstanding or something but that's where we left it.

At about the same time I touched base w/ friend who has small medical practice to see if i could film in his clinic and he said yes. I haven't seen the location yet but in the back of my head i heard a voice urging me to go w/ the first one. the hospital. the thousand dollar fee, million dollar insurance one for my short film budget of zero. it's perfect for the movie and out of my grasp. unless of course i have a rich and willing relative step out of the shadows.

meantime, doing a photo shoot this wknd for a couple still photos that hang in the house of a youngish married couple. So that will feel like motion, like a push, and shove.

not so fast

due to some scheduling complications looks like production now won't happen until 1st wknd of dec at the earliest. this could be a blessing in disguise so i can get everything together. sadly there are two rotating parts of my approach: the eager part which is all enthusiasm and the pondering side which can tend toward paralysis. need to find the middle naturally. part of this is my fault. i could have - should have - activated things more quickly in august but i drug my feet and now i'm up against the holiday corridor. not going to beat myself up about it - it'll happen when it happens - but the lesson is to jump in when you feel it. as mentioned in previous post, i'm doing everything myself currently so i am the only one being both too hard and too easy on myself w/ regard to timings.

more specifically, going to check location for shoot next fri at local hospital. they were able to get me a 'deal' by lowering their standard rate of 2500$ to under 1000$ which i appreciate but they could lop off a zero and i'd still barely be able to hit that. still going to check location out though. if it's amazing maybe i'll see what i can do...

preparation

things starting to solidify for "i'm your man": time-frame, DP, some cast. I still have to nail down location and cast for the male lead and a 2 female parts. as i'm doing everything myself there is an automatic time bloat that having, say, a producer and a casting person would mitigate. (here's to hoping those will materialize for the ensuing productions. they'll have to at some juncture). still, i'm feeling good about things, as they finally gain form. it's taken some time for me to feel confident about directing this one in particular, for a variety of reasons, but i'm out in front of it now.

new short

the last short i directed is still being edited (by the skilled and charming evonne moritz) as i write this but it was designed to allow for mistakes; that is to say that as opposed to going all in on something that i loved dearly and keeping fingers crossed that it wouldn't crash i instead opted to write something that would be of less emotional consequence (at least to me) which would allow me the freedom to make mistakes, which i did. oceans worth. this is not to imply i didn't care about last short in the least, i cared a lot - only to say that w/ a slight topic (a sandwich) to build narrative around my failures, shortcomings, errors would hopefully be buried in the slightness or maybe washed away if the short was funny.

now, moving into a new one. there is still some comedy in it, but less of a cloaking device. this one is a step up narratively, in heft and scope, though the plot is quite basic. [i co-wrote it with margaret malone, an up and coming new writer of great talents with whom i share the hometown of portland]. title: "i'm your man"

currently looking at dp reels. lots of talent in the nw for sure. any progress or inroads or stumbling blocks i'll be sure to note here.