“Jesus Christ, Alison, he doesn’t look remotely Swedish!”

FIRST RESHOOT required. A little out of focus action means a quick reshoot. Should only take an hour or two, only one main character involved. If you have to do a reshoot, this is the type you want.

EDITING

Editing is getting tough. No end to the chaos. No end to the footage. I have SO MUCH writing I need to do, and it’s impossible with all of this editing to get done.

This is the most editing I’ve ever had to do on a film. This is the “roughest” audio, the “roughest” picture, the “roughest” everything. This just means the film has a long way to go. I’ll get it there, for sure, but it’s going to take a LOT of time and work.

I may have to take a break from the edit and run away for a week or so to write. This writing needs to be done!

TIGERS

No word on anything on the tigers front as far as distribution, etc…but we’re hopeful something will come through soon.

IT’S OUR LAST SCHEDULED DAY OF SHOOTING ON “VAMLET”

Whew. It’s been a long time since we hopped into Katie’s car and shot that first day. We’ve seen Dan, we’ve been to TIFF, CIFF, VIFF, and I’ve been sitting in front of this screen editing as much as possible. I’ve made it through 27 minutes up to this point. Normally I would have cut the film as we shot, but with two cameras that just wasn’t possible. Syncing and plowing through all that footage each night after shooting wasn’t possible.

THE NEW. THE NEXT.

There’s something happening, it’s going to be a lot of work and it’s going to take a lot of “attention,” but it could be a big deal after a while. We’re still working out the logistics, but it’s probably the biggest thing you could attempt in the world of entertainment with no money and a dream. It will start “smallish” and grow. More news very soon.

LINDSAY is played by LYNDSAY.

Shooting tonight. Editing today. Editing tomorrow. Editing all the time.

It’s all about performance, for me, and this means that it’s not quite as simple as wide shot, medium shot, close up, insert, repeat. I don’t regularly shoot in those terms when I do anything (especially a guided improvisational film like this one), but even if I did, all of that must be thrown out the window for performance, everytime.

Performance is everything, no matter what kind of film you’re making.

This is particularly difficult if you, like me, are in love with cinematography, beautiful framing, and a moving camera.

BUT…performance reigns (imagine a talking fox).

THANKS!

Thanks to Kelly for making it possible to make movies and for taking care of doggies when I’m out traipsing around (traipse! there’s a verb).

Thanks to Kristine and Casey and all the rest of the Vamlets for taking this strange trip with me.

Thanks to all the Tigers for making the film festival season memorable and magical.

Thanks to my family for being so supportive and inspirational.

I think it’s probably day TWENTY-SOMETHING.

KRISTINE COFSKY is BROOKLYN

Had a great day yesterday doing some talking head stuff extras (probably end credits or DVD extras, maybe in the film somehow).

The day before that was the BOAT (thanks Matt for the boat!).

Before that…something else…I can’t remember, but I think maybe we were at Kristine’s apartment?

It’s been a long crazy ride, and we’re still not finished. We’ll have to shoot another week or more when we’re back from TIFF.

It’s going to take a prolonged editing trip to get this thing ready for viewing. This will be the most difficult editing project I’ve ever undertaken (strictly from a footage point of view). SO MUCH to log and watch, two cameras, film-within-the-film, etc…

Looking forward to TIFF and Tiger time. It will be nice to take a break from production for a while. I’m really missing writing, and can’t wait to get back to the new script.

Editing and Writing will be everything until after Christmas.

Shot some great stuff with Kate and Dan yesterday in Gillian’s bedroom (thanks G!).

PRISCILLA FAIA and KRISTINE COFSKY (Tasha & Brooklyn).

Doesn’t this photo look like it should have a “Clubzone” logo on it?

We’re back at the production studio (Vada) for a couple of scenes.

We’ve trimmed back the schedule (thanks Kristine!) in order to minimize the mental and physical damage before we head off to Toronto. We’ll get the rest of it done as soon as we’re back in Vancouver, energized!

I managed to get something rough together for a small scene (2nd in the film). We shot SO MANY HOURS for three tiny shots under 30 seconds. And still, I don’t have enough coverage to let it linger as long as I’d like.

I’ll find a way to get it to work. Some scenes are like this.

KRISTINE COFSKY

CASEY MANDERSON

GAELLE JEGO

PRISCILLA FAIA

PAUL MENDEL, GAELLE JEGO, AND I

DAN RICHARDSON and WES SALTER

ROB LEICKNER

I suspect there will be more DREAM TEAM photos to come (including team members like Rob C., Michelle, Tristan, etc…!)

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.

DAY NINETEEN

Really. Day nineteen.

Yesterday I hit a wall. It became physically and mentally impossible to continue. The schedule is too much (and it’s my fault for asking Kristine to fit everything in before we leave for Toronto). We began the day at 9:30am and finished at 1:00am.

That’s a much longer day than I’d work when making a film in a more traditional style, and on a film like this, where energy and inspiration are the tools I use to “write on the spot,” those long hours slowly drain the river of inspiration and creative power.

Staring at the HVX200’s tiny monitor for 20 days straight, has left my brain and eyes fatigued beyond measure.

BUT…

We’re getting some really great stuff.

DAN RICHARDSON and WESLEY SALTER (Andrew Norman and Sebastian Salter).

We’re going to have to change the game plan and slow this thing down a little bit, for the good of everybody. This is a great thing, not a bad thing. The end result and the process are inextricably linked. The fun = the funny. If we need to pick up 7 scenes when we get back from TIFF and it means we’re going to end up having more fun and a better film…slowing down is a great idea.

It must be taking a toll on others as well. Kristine is full time on this thing too. Casey, Gaelle and Dan, etc…are also working hard on this one.

This can be a great way to make a film!

We just have to guard against the traditional shortcuts and methods creeping in…it’s easy to lose sight of keeping everything fun in order to just finish the thing. This is not that.

THIS IS NOT THAT is the name of our new collaborative collection of creative souls. We’re going to get office space before the end of the year and get to work on creating more magic, together.

NATURE’S TRIPOD

BIG day today. Thanks to everybody who came out and played. It was a lot of fun. Rob Carpenter went above and beyond, but that’s pretty standard for RC. Thanks Rob!

Tomorrow is another monumental day. I should be opening the “scriptment” to see what’s coming, but I’m loading and logging footage.

The stuff from yesterday is funny. Holy shit. Dan Richardson is back in Andrew Norman form with a vengeance.

Everybody is committed to this thing in a big way, and it shows.

We’re on DAY EIGHTEEN. If we had any money, this would probably be the last day of shooting, but, because we’re paying for everything on credit cards and credit lines with no real outside assistance, it’s DAY EIGHTEEN of TWENTY-NINE!

I’ve never been this broke, in the world, in the history of my life, but I had this idea and it needed to be shot immediately. It was the right call. This becomes more and more apparent with easy passing day.

Thanks to Glen Schaefer for the great article in Sunday’s Province!

Tomorrow it’s Andrew, Sven, and Casey, and then…the party.

Making a film this way is similar to the process of writing fiction or songs. There’s also a certain element of theatre at play, but the big difference is, rather than “one night only,” we’re capturing that energy for playback (over and over) at 24 frames per second. I’m approaching this film, as I did WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD, in a naturalistic documentary style. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s comedy or drama, I imagine I will always be interested in this style of filmmaking.

I still love long elegant cinemascopic takes and wides, and I’m sure the next film will be different, but, for now, making a film this way, with these great people, is the best medicine.

My friend Rob (Leickner) and I were convinced that a somewhat (or largely) improvised filmmaking method might be freeing and possible (WELL before I made WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD in 2007). I find that working from a very detailed scriptment filled with a lot of dialogue and situational stuff (as well as the plot elements) offers much more freedom than a more skeletal outline (ala WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD). With this new film, I’m able to go farther “off the grid,” because the grid is so much stronger.

Looking forward to tomorrow!