Monday, April 30, 2012

NOVEMBER GIRL SCHEDULE AND LOCATIONS

I am in the process of scheduling the next shooting block.  I was looking at Sunday the 13th but it was pointed out to me today that it is Mother's Day so that probably won't work for a full day so I am trying to reschedule some shoots for the weekend after and see if we can shoot just one scene in the evening.  It's a bit complicated but it comes with the territory.  I'm sorry for the delays in getting things scheduled.
On the good side I got a location for the warehouse fight scene.  It's a bit smaller than I'd hope so I'm going to have to do some work with the shadows to make it look bigger.  It also has plenty of boxes and shelves so it should be easy to stack things in the right place.  Will most likely have to try and take my own lights to get it to work. 
Still on the hunt for an office to use.  Going to try the Hall Mall and a few of the banks and realtors in the area.
Also still on the lookout for a few important roles. 
NATHAN: This character is November's love interest for the video.  Need a male anywhere from 19 to 30 to make this work.  Once I have that character I'll have all of the characters that November deals with so I can push forward on scheduling.
RANDALL: This character is the mayor's assistant who decides to hook on to her drive for success and a big part in the new world after the bombs.  This was written as a male character but I could do some rewriting if I can find the right actress.
MAYOR BERINI: Unfortunately the actress who was going to play this role has had to drop out.  I need someone who looks at least 30+ for one of the leading roles.
Will keep you updated and thank you for your patience.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

NOVEMBER GIRL BOOTS ON THE GROUND

We now have boots on the ground.
We shot the first scene of November Girl this morning at the PATV parking lot.  The weather was pretty bad at first, windy and gray, but by the time we got shooting it had cleared up.  We talked about how in someway it was better being sunny because, stereotypically, scenes like the one were done with dark and dreary atmosphere. 
We didn't get as much done as I'd planned but what we did get done looked great.  Jessica and John worked the scene.  They work really well together and I almost wish it were possible to pair the two characters again.  John is much taller than both Jessica and Susanna so the staging was difficult but we made it work. 
Josh had made the suggestion of getting white board to help with the lighting and we made good use of that.  The way we were shooting it Jessica's back was to the sun and it was hard to get light on her face without restaging the whole scene.  We used the white board to help bounce the sunlight back at her.  I captured the footage afterwards and it works great. 
I'm going to try and set up a days shooting by location for May.  I'm using various tarps to make a tent for a trading post.  I'm going to go through the script and see if I can put together all the scenes set there and shoot them in one day.  It'll be a long day but we can get several scenes done.  It'll also be much easier than rebuilding the same set several times.
Will keep you updated.   

Sunday, April 15, 2012

NOVEMBER GIRL DEVELOPMENTS

We're a week away from shooting the first scenes of November Girl. I can't deny that I'm amazed that this has come together so fast. It took a year and a half to get Secret Fortunes ready to go and this will be shooting in less than four months since origin. I'm expecting it'll take another three or four months before we finish shooting be cause we only can work on weekends and, then again, not every weekend but it's still quite a change. Secret Fortunes is giving benefits I didn't expect. Having such a solid project there is giving me lots of credibility so people can see the kind of work I do.
It's been interesting the way things have been happening with getting locations. I tried Ragstock and Iowa City City Hall and got completely shut out. Ragstock wouldn't even answer my emails and Iowa City just flat out refused. Stuff and the Haunted Bookshop were just the opposite and were very wonderful in wanting to work something out.
A posting at UI theater gave me a few contacts but they didn't pan out. I got an email from the Director of Theater at Kirkwood who says several students are very interested in being a part of this project. They have a production going on this weekend, he will pass the word along to them how to get a hold of me, and I'm hoping to hear from them in a few days.
I have most of the major characters all cast and hope to finish of the rest of them with Kirkwood students. I understand that this is a volunteer project for everyone and will do everything I possibly can to make sure they enjoy it. I will make it as convenient as possible and want to make sure that when they finish they walk away thinking how much they enjoyed the project. Most everyone has understood that and will work with me on this. There was one actress who asked about if I would pay scale and what kind of distribution system I had set up to get it into theaters. I explained to her what was going on, that this was a non-profit all volunteer production. I haven't heard from her since.