Prep continues…

Casting, auditions, locations, paperwork, fundraising, and all the rest. Whew.

Kristine and Ines are working hard on casting, locations, and paperwork, and we’re moving forward with momentum!

We’ll have a few key cast announcements SOON!

It’s a complicated thing, making a film. I re-read and tweaked the script last night, making a few key adjustments, enhancing the film-within-the-film sections and Jennifer Beals’ character, Clementine. Having Jennifer playing Clementine gives me so much to play with as far as range and emotional resonance. Jennifer is a fantastic actor who brings so much to the screen, and, having worked together before, I know she can do pretty much anything I imagine, and do it convincingly. Like Lauren (Lee Smith), Jennifer is a great collaborator when it comes to enhancing character and digging deeper.

The films-within-the-film need to be shot very soon, which is scary! Time to book that stuff and get shooting!

I would love to work with Nicky Katt, for he is genius.

NICKY KATT in Soderbergh’s FULL FRONTAL:

In response to the quandary “we need to find a new Eva Braun”

You know what? Fuck her. And here’s why. One, anyone who’s offended by drinking blood, obviously doesn’t drink blood. Two, anyone who drinks as much blood as I do knows it has no effect. Three, there is absolutely no scientific connection between drinking a shot of blood a day and being an extraordinary actor. And four, it is impossible to prove Number Three.

Good luck over the weekend L.A. friends!

The most depressing thing about making strictly low to no budget films is the inability to license music/songs.

Everyday I wake up and think, I need to write something great, so somebody REALLY wants it, so they want it enough to let me have creative control, so I can actually use some fucking great songs.

That’s the daily plan. Write pages. Try and make it great. One day…temp songs are actually available!

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THIS

Location Scout photo by genius FIRST AD Bryan Knight.

Week three of PREP on RECOIL is in the books.

We go to camera on the 18th. Wow.

Working all weekend to get my preliminary shotlist looking more like a realistic shotlist. More meetings on Sunday.

I’m excited to get shooting!

Merry Christmas.

Christmas is that time of the year when everything stops, which is actually okay this year, I think. Normally I hate it, like weekends, and other holidays when nobody is working.

Now, with so much writing and editing to do, if Christmas has to happen (and it seems to happen every year around this time), I suppose it’s a good time for it.

A good marketing slogan, I think:

“Christmas, hey, sometimes it’s not terrible.”

So, a couple of phone meetings, a lot more pages, and then the world stops for a couple of weeks. And that’s okay. This year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I was walking home from the store yesterday and got to thinking…if religious idiots (Christians/Muslims, et al) don’t destroy our species, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE is going to be remembered as such a great fucking movie. It seems to get better every year.

Kathleen and Pyper at the premiere of A NIGHT FOR DYING TIGERS at TIFF 2010.

The seemingly endless VAMLET edit continues.

It was so great to have two cameras and have Gaelle working the second camera. She did a great job, and I am using second camera footage…however…

I’m not sure about two cameras for the future. It’s A LOT of footage to slog through, and a lot to keep in your mind while editing.

It’s much easier to edit as you shoot with one camera, and editing while I’m shooting is VERY important to me.

I would have had the entire film roughly edited on the last day of shooting had I shot with one camera.

Tough call.

Using two cameras allows you to capture great improvised moments on both sides, however, if the lighting isn’t right on the other side it’s useless AND there is just so much footage!

I had one camera for a few scenes and one camera on WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD, and there were no moments/scenes where I felt I’d sacrificed quality by having one camera.

But it was great having Gaelle on set and she framed some shots so well that I just had to use them in the film.

Tough call.

I think it depends on the film. For my next film, I’m looking at a different visual style, a very cinematic, stylized camera. I’m Probably not going handheld for a while! My shoulder is still killing me from the last shoot. Tripods and Dollies!

Another couple of shooting days in the books.

Spent the night shooting, logging, and editing instead of attending red carpet events and parties for VIFF. I’m hoping to get out a bit tomorrow!

We’ve been shooting a lot of “Pathos” lately, having tackled most of the overtly funny stuff early on, however, even within the dramatic part of the story, I’m trying to “sprinkle” a few laughs, every now and then. Priscilla brought some funny stuff last night and today!

It’s a comedy, but, just like the first film, I think we need to experience something of the drama of relationships. I think the comedy is bigger and better here, and the characters and relationships more complex. This is all assuming that I can handle the ridiculously large amount of footage!

Even with all of this footage, some scenes just don’t have enough coverage (or light) and some scenes have way too much footage (and light). But that’s making movies!

Kelly is really supportive and keeping the doggies fed and happy at home.

Kristine is really doing a great job (as an actor and producer).

Casey continues to deliver the goods.

Gaelle continues to be French.

We’re making a movie!

Also, Gaelle is amazing!

DAY TWENTY

We shot at Chloe Angus’s dress shop yesterday. VERY NICE location. Gaelle and I had our cameras set to different colour temps (the first time we didn’t look at our LCDs side by side before shooting). Still, the actually lighting in the shop was somewhere between Tungsten and Daylight (actually a bit closer to Tungsten). So, I may be able to blend the footage if performance dictates (although the HVX does not handle any colour correction particularly well at 720p). No big deal, it’s documentary style!

MY STYLE

Shooting in this style requires constant vigilance against the trappings and phrasing of traditional motion picture photography.

I don’t want to finish the scene and then “block the next scene” before lunch. This is anathema to creating something completely different and natural. This is also why I avoid using Final Draft to prepare these scripts. The “scriptment” feels different than the usual, and that helps ease the cast into a different approach…something just feels different…

THIS IS NOT THAT

I will, of course, continue to make films in a more traditional way as well. I love filmmaking and I have respect for the way professionals (Europeans in particular) make films.

But this is not that.

So, we avoid shooting out of sequence.

So, we avoid big crews.

So, we (try to) avoid long days (we try to keep every day between 2 and 8 hours MAX).

So, we use natural and practical lighting (a Chinese Lantern and a LOT of practical bulbs on standby for the occasional darkness in the eyes).

So, we avoid booms and use wireless mics (not quite as nice as a PROFESSIONAL Boom Op and Mixer, but the intimacy is worth the trade off when shooting this way).

So, we avoid wrapping cast and extras before the last scene (just in case inspiration hits or a story point gets added, or we need to reshoot an earlier angle).

So, we don’t “block” anything before I have a camera in my hand ready to roll, and ready to shoot the entire scene.

So, we don’t rehearse. I don’t want to see the scene played or the action blocked until I’m filming the scene (if we need to adjust the lighting, etc…then we’ll have to do it all again, but if we don’t need to make any technical adjustments, that FIRST MOMENT is captured on camera, and it feels different from each take that follows).

So, we try to avoid all of the trapping and phrasing and tropes that make a traditional set feel like a traditional set, and we try to create something unique and different, with energy and style and spark.

I think this is the most difficult part of the process, avoiding the usual.

Because I actually love the usual too!

But this is not that.

TASHA and CASEY (PRISCILLA FAIA and CASEY MANDERSON)

DAY TEN

More film-within-the-film action. Michael Hamper is over from the island and Kristine has procured a great location.

The first scene from yesterday is some of the best looking stuff I’ve ever shot/cut. It’s from the film-within-the-film. I can’t wait. Kristine and Paul were fantastic and Sidney was a tremendous help!

I had a lot of Tigers stuff to do today, so I couldn’t edit.

Dan is coming in from England in two days!

Time to head out for the shoot.