May Status Report Thread

we have had a lull in shooting. day job got in the way. we have to more scenes to shoot, and one is dependent on the other.

we have a rough edit put together, and those 5 minutes are going ny fast.

anyway, we'll be shooting tomorrow and friday hopefully. so more updates to come.
 
It's not good for us . My main actor informed me at work , his sister has fallen ill and might pass away ...so he's off to Toronto to with her .
He felt bad about bowing out and leaving me in a jam ..hey that's OK being with your sister is way more important .
This means a re-write and another actor to fill in .
2 of my props are still a no show , even though they were mailed 3 weeks ago .

This will be my last attempt at doing these shorts and on the bright side , my 2 sons want a try at one . It's all yours I said .
Ian
 
A minor setback...my PA just informed me they can't make the new shooting date due to their sister's graduation from college. Can you believe that, they are putting family first, before me and my soon to be grand-prize winning short film?!? :evil:
 
I just finished setting up my "green room" for the shoot tomorrow. My original spot got cancelled because of a fashion show in the space that the owner forgot about. I had to think quick and move a bunch of crap in the storage space I have and make half of it a green screen area. Its actually kind of cool looking though and I think it will be fine. The 30 yards of green fabric I bought may be a little too dark.
 
Along the overcoming obstacles topic...

I have to sing Aram and Leslie's praises breifly.

On the first day of my shoot we were shooting on a rooftop in Manhattan.

Just about everything that could go wrong did. Due to traffic issues several key players were over an hour late and about an hour and 1/2 of FX makeup had to be done/worked out for the firs time ever.

So we began to rapidly loose light outside.

Now we had a contigency for rain ... and a contingency for loosing light.

Rain = store bought or homade rain covers for the cameras.

Loosing light = electric lights - no problem we are on the roof of the building and our host was just one floor down.

What we didn't have a contigency for - oh well intentioned newbie filmmakers that we were/are - was BOTH loosing light and Rain.

So of course we lost the light -- ALL OF IT.
And of course it rained -- BUCKETS OF IT.

If it had been just adult actors we would have risked an extension chord on the roof. Aram - camera operator and Gaffer - was pretty sure that fuse would blow before any of us fried. We could agree to take that risk as fool hardy or responsible adults.

but ... we have an 11 year old young lady in the cast (11 going on 30 but 11 nonetheless) and we just weren't comfortable risking shock, or even just her being cold and wet on top of a roof where the whole building just went black.

I don't know who was more discouraged at this point -- the 11 year old who came to the set eager to do her first movie, or me who was about to loose the entire day with zippo footage.

"I just don't think we can get it" I was saying to Leslie.
and to ARAM
"lool through the lenses of the camera's with the 35mm adaptors on them ... it's just pitch black ... how can we do this"

but Leslie and Aram just kept working and troubleshooting where I saw no hope and then Aram pulled this brilliant solution right out of it his poo poo hole.

We moved the shoot to the other side of the roof -- it was way to noisey to shoot there because it was right next to an exhaust or generator of somekind, but that's what ADR is for. What this did allow Aram to do with Leslie's help, was set up a GAZILLION WATT LIGHT
IN THE STAIR WELL SAFE FROM THE RAIN,
AND BLAST THAT SUCKER OUT ONTO THE ROOF WHERE IT WOULD BE CAUGHT AND DIRECTED BY A SERIES OF FOAM CORE REFLECTORS!!!!!

BRILLIANT

SIMPLE

EFFECTIVE

and the shot looks even better than I had hoped because it's at night in the rain with all of the newyork skyline lit up behind it

Also I just finished the ADR and its seemless!

Just having creative people around like that can really augment the process because there is only so much creative energy and brain power that one person who is concerned with everyaspect of the film can bring.

Regardless of how the film comes out I think we will have the best MAKING OF doc ever on DVXuser, because it will have real Lost in La Mancha despair "we can't get it we have to shut down" but followed by success. I mean the BTS of that day would be all of us just ready to poo poo ourselves because day one was gonna be a total bust and then some one hits a home run.

And yes you will have to hear this story again once the fest opens and my film has an official thread ... or I guess I could just link to this post ... but it's a song that will be sung again. If you are in the NY area or have an uncle that works for an airline, work with Leslie and Aram either as a team or individually.

:thumbsup:
 
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Hey Jack, thanks!!! :)
Im glad we were able to get something that day too. That rain was tough but we really got lucky that there was no wind because reflecters would have been really hard to hold up there. I was thinking about that later how Stan would have blown off the roof if it had been windy :P Im glad no ones camera got soaked too. We all had people standing there with umbrellas too with the plastic for extra protection. Sort of double condom stye.
I cant wait to see what it all looks like.
 
Jack, I'm already getting rich visuals from your movie and I haven't even seen a frame. That was an interesting glimpse into the BTS of your film. I can't wait to see it.
 
got all the green screen shots done. Got a splitting headache and got nuisious(sp?) near the last hour and had to quit but since we had a kick ass shot list from MsManhattan we blazed through all of the shots except extra close ups but its ok. Started dropping the green out but since it wasnt a flat surface its a biotch and a half so my keys are not clean but thats fine. I think we had a 9 page shot list so I have a ton of work in front of me. Stress is setting in.
 
I built a jib arm real quick for reshooting. We hiked up to the spot 1hr with all the gear. And reshot everything we could with one actor missing. Ok the writer was right. He helped frame and set up the shots, and it looks much better. The friggin intro is almost 3 minutes long.

Whats the longest the movie can be and still be in the running?
 
It's been a busy month, but almost done. One more shoot plus some pick-up shots with Aram, and have wrapped shooting (I think) with Jack... Thanks, Jack for the kind words about our evening in the rain, and thanks, Aram, for the shout-out on the shot list. It was, BTW, nine pages... oy, vey... but we managed to pare it down with some great takes by our actors -- they were so good, we knew we'd use the take and cut some of the alternate angles on the fly (even before Aram got sick). It was a very productive day.
 
Alrighty, here's my May Status Report.

Haven't shot a second of footage.

Missing Key props
Missing Key Wardrobe
Missing Location (might have that today)
Missing some crew.
Missing some cast.
Missing some funds.
Just brokedown script.
Visual FX guys: non existant now.
Didn't do a rehearsal last weekend.
Can't keep in touch with another key helper.
Just got back from the doctor's office, and going back to another one.
Have yet to secure insurance (production)
Have yet to secure music composer (Might be too late to use Noct by the time I'm done.)


Shooting Date: This Friday.


I'm right on target. >=)
 
Kholi said:
Alrighty, here's my May Status Report.
Missing some funds.
Visual FX guys: non existant now.
Can't keep in touch with another key helper.
Have yet to secure insurance (production)
I'm right on target. >=)
Click to expand...


ditto ... and what's production insurance?
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
ditto ... and what's production insurance?
Click to expand...

LOL. This little piece of paper that you flash in a cops face if he asks " Do you have insurance?". Oh and it's the only way you can get a decent location in California.

Yay for one-million dollar policies. But, it's just what you have to do.

The NY people have it good. Prime locations for what, freesky? Daaamn.
 
its the same in New York as far as insurance is concerned -- to shoot legally you are supposed to have a one million dollar insurance policy.

IF you have that then you can shoot in a cell at Rikers FOR FREE

BUT we can't even afford the hundreds of dollars for the insurance in order to get the free loctations.

We shot in an alley near Chinatown and on a sidewalk in the East Village with no permits -- the rest were on private property.

The cops did drive by -- right through the alley in Chinatown looked right at us and just kept going ... maybe it was because we weren't bothering anybody and were creating zero distraction (I've heard the level of hassle they give you is porprtional to the above two factors) ... OR it could have been because it was very cold and just pouring rain. Timur (co-DP and operator) and I looked like we had jumped into a swimming pool -- no exageration -- wet matted jeans sticking to you, water dripping off you once you get inside -- totally soaked.
 
We had cops come up to us twice last weekend asking what we were doing and when we told them they said oh cool, just watch out around here, its a highly drug and crime infested area. They both were like shoot all you want, just be careful.
The first time the cops came we were putting the tattoo on the heros arm so it looked like we were shooting up to them.
 
Seriously, those are crazy war stories.

I haven't gone through all of that going through this. But, it's probably just as hard to do something without money here.

It's all good, though.

I'm really looking forwardto seeing the entries this go around, and being at the screening. It'll be neat0.
 
Yeah, all this drama and sleepless nights, carpeltunnel and hemriods, all for what?
Just to hear someone say "that was cool" :)
 
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