Creative Coundowns

It wasn't until we got to T-Minus three weeks that I realized I may have been foolish to schedule the shoot for the week immediately following Bent-con.  My reasoning was sound. We get it out of the way before our crew had their finals (they are in film school) and before anyone had any Thanksgiving plans. We were fairly sure we could keep the dates open at the studio for that weekend. All that was in doubt was how well I would be for the proceedings. I wasn't worried about that. If I was in a bad way, we would have almost a full crew that could wear most of my hats. I could be curled up in a ball under the first floor stairs and that wouldn't impact the shoot. It would be a drag though. But the show must go on.

Moderately Laid Plans

We met our crew while working for our Director of Photographer, Israel Lliteras, while they worked on his

Jon (fight), Israel (center) scoping out a set.

thesis film. It was an ambitious shoot. That had been a concern for me and Jon. However, it was apparent from the beginning that they had a reasonable plan. Despite the pages and FX and an actress not showing up and the replacement being late, it was a relaxed set. I was impressed with everyone from the top of the crew down to the P.As. There was no slacking off. Everyone was laid back and relaxed for the most part. It was impressive how much and how well they got through all of those difficult shots. This certainly bodes well for our shoot.

In the weeks after the shoot, I realized that our shoot date may have also been unrealistic because most of the crew being in school. Almost everyone on the shoot was shooting thesis films of their own or working for students who were doing films. I wasn't too worried, because I knew that we had to get the shoot in the can before the middle of December when they would be students no more. As long as we could squeeze in our dates before then, we were cool. Thus, I was not surprised when we decided to set up the application for our film permit that the crew was largely unavailable for the November 16-17 dates. Since this was not a surprise, I had a fall back date. We are getting a permit for the weekend of December 7-8. It works for the crew and it's well in advance of any of them or the cast doing any holiday travel.

Spinning Always Spinning

And there is a benefit in delaying. We were so focused on the convention that we had done very little in the way of prep for the shoot. We would have gotten something shot, but it wouldn't have been the best that it could be. I don't think that the cast or the crew would have felt great about just shooting something. I'm hoping that we can even get a rehearsal in at some point after we finish casting (which I've set up). I'll be talking to my keys probably every day until the shoot to make sure everything is running as smoothly as it can.

I've put some photos at the end of the blog. More photos of the various locations will go up in the next few days. And we'll have photos and maybe footage of the casting with permission as we're planning on having some of the leads read off the actors auditioning.

Apartment bedroom for Demonspawn during another shoot.

Apartment living room for Demonspawn during another shoot.