Sunday, August 5, 2007

Less than a month to go...

...and I begin principal photography on my short film. I’m excited, nervous, anxious, scared, confident, worried, tired, energized and every mixed-up oxymoronic feeling you can imagine.

I have a crew. A great crew. My DP advised me early on to get an Art Director - at the time, I had no real clue what one actually did - but, since my DP has experience, I listened. And I’m so glad I did. My art director has been my right and left hand. This past week, she and I did some shopping for the set. I love thrift stores, it’s amazing what you can find. We have most of the props and set dressing for the shoot.

My costume designer is also amazing. She’s my neighbor, who is a great seamstress. She has an amazing eye and gift for dressing people - something that seems to be in her blood, as she comes from a long line of seamstresses. What’s also great is that she loves vintage and thrift stores, and when I told her the look we were going for, she jumped right in without missing a beat.


As I mentioned before, I’ll be using original art in the film. At first, I didn’t think this would happen. The original quote I was given was WAY out of my budget. However, a good friend of mine, and great screenwriter, is also an amazing artist (yes, good, great AND amazing - who could ask for anything more). The pictures she has created for the film are AWESOME.

I’ve locked down my locations, crew and actors (just need one or two minor characters). The script continues to go through rewrites each time I get together with a crew member to discuss the look and feel of the film. I can say this - I’ve learned a lot about screenwritiing since starting this process. My appreciation for the craft has grown tremendously. To take a simple idea and turn it into a film takes a lot of time, energy, determination and MONEY. Even a little bit of money adds up.

What I’ve also been amazed by is the number of generous people in this world. For every 50 no’s, I’ve gotten at least one heartfelt, enthusiastic, elated yes. There are people who are really wishing me all the best; some are just as excited as I am - this, I never expected.

With one month to go, I have a lot of loose ends to tie up. I have to secure the production insurance, arrange for room and board (FOOD), create a stripboard, work on storyboarding the film, arrange at least one table read and rehearsal, and try and relax and enjoy the ride.

A friend I met a few years back on one of the many on-line screenwriting communities advised me that I had to do a short film. I didn’t understand his reasoning at the time, but now I get it. I’m already looking forward to and planning the next one. In fact, just today, I started talking about a full-feature. In the words of Yoda: “No. Try Not. Do... or do not. There is no try.”

3 comments:

annabel said...

Thanks for the update. I was anxiously awaiting to hear how things were progressing. I am so happy for you (and green with envy).

Count me among those who are really wishing you all the best!

Fun Joel said...

Not sure whether I've seen your blog before or not. But thanks so much for the link!

I love the name of your blog/production company as well. I tend to say that phrase a lot.

Very exciting with the short coming up, and sounds like you've got things in good shape. Best of luck with it!

Tracy said...

Thanks, Annabel and Joel!