Friday, November 21, 2008

Here's what's been happening

Hello Everyone,
It's been awhile since I blogged, but -- rest assured -- I've been very busy!
During the past week and a half I've met with many of my Freshfilmmaker "Mentors." they've all been fantastic, and given me a lot of great suggestions.

I met with Mary Ahmann (off line edit consultant) She gave me some really good ideas on the script, and shooting for the edit.

Bix Skahill (my very funny script consultant) and I spend a fantastic hour and a half at the Spyhouse Cafe going through the screenplay scene by scene. Bix had a lot of excellent ideas, both about the overall mood of the story and about transitions and character. I am working on a rewrite now and hope to have a shooting script done in the next week or so. I will be adding one more location (Ellen's apartment) to the story, changing the opening scene and combining a couple of other scenes, plus adding a couple of shots that Bix suggested and that I think will really add to the story.

Last Friday Jeff Stonehouse (DP consultant) and I met at the Daily Grind cafe here in Stillwater. We talked about format for the film, as well as mood, and logistics for shooting, particularly with regard to locations. Jeff indicated that he would like to shoot the film if he can work it out with his schedule. I am so excited at the possibility of having Jeff be the DP on the production.

Jeff and I discussed the possibility of using the "Red One" camera to shoot the film. We also discussed the possibility of super 16 mm film. I am researching films to get an idea of the look I want for "The Egg Timer," so I can give Jeff (and the people at Splice Here) some of my thoughts on mood, light and color for the film.

I also met with Alex Rosenstein who is the legal consultant on the project. We went through the various legal issues that typically come up during a project of this kind (location and actor releases, dealing with SAG contracts, bond/insurance for the shoot). I may be creating a production LLC for the film, probably at the beginning of 2009.

This past Tuesday, Mike Tabor, Molly Getty and I met with Heidi and the great team at Splice Here. We discussed the various format options. We are leaning toward either HD with prime lenses, or the Red camera which has a more filmic look to it. While film would give us great latitude and beauty, it may be too expensive and more difficult to shoot. We're keeping all options open. (Regardless of the format for the shoot, I will be doing a complete shot-by-shot storyboard --- I believe in the Hitchcock method)

Heidi gave us a tour of the facility at Splice Here and it was fascinating. I may be able to work on the off line edit at their offices --- and I can see that I will have fantastic help from all the people at Splice Here!!! Heidi gave me some reels with samples of the various aspects of their production facilities. It's all very new and exciting to me and I hope to really learn about the hitherto mysterious post production process as we put this film together.

It's been a very productive two weeks and I want to thank everyone so much for all their help.

1 comment:

IFP MN said...

We totally should have gotten a coffee shop to be one of the production grant's sponsors... sounds like you've given them a lot of business with all the meetings you been having!

Keep up the good work, Emily!