10:11 PM

On set right now. Just finished dinner. We started a couple of hours behind schedule and now somehow we're miraculously 2 hours ahead. How did that happen? Oh well, not complaining. Everything looks good/is going well. Just hope we get everything done by the time we wrap tomorrow.

Ugh... tomorrow... don't even want to think about it!

6:44 PM

I'm not counting the days anymore. It's too confusing and probably not even accurate.

So rumor has it that Hooper and his class saw the footage and had a pretty positive response to it. That's a huge deal for me personally, because Hooper shot a really great Indian movie, Satya. In my head I've made this complicated connection as to why him liking the footage is such a big deal. It makes sense to me.

Of course now, the pressure is on for us to not only re-create last weekend, but surpass it in terms of quality and efficiency. We need to do a few re-shoots, and there are a couple of aspects of the performances I need to hammer out with my actors. The initial response is good, and I think it can either go really up or really down from here. I'm hoping it will be the former, and with this crew, I'm pretty sure it will be. Nothings written in stone, however, to use a really banal expression. I'm still preparing for the worst situations possible. I'm glad that we've shifted both shoots to noon, because not only do we not have to deal with early mornings, but we'll get more time in the dark too. There are huge windows behind the staircase, and if it's daylight outside, well, it's hard to create the illusion of a late night party. Also, we decided we'll have to dub a lot of the sound over. That means that I don't have to flip out so much when there's noise on set. That's somewhat relieving.

In local news, I just bombed my history midterm. I wrote this really cool sounding sentence about how Teddy Roosevelt's policies were different from his 'post-war predecessors.' Cool phrase, huh? Too bad WWI happened after Roosevelt. Although, as Krissy points out, I didn't indicate WHICH war. I could have very well been referring to the Civil War. It's a thin argument, but he should give me the points anyway for the cool alliteration. Oh, and also, Anna Nicole Smith?! This, among other events, have made today one of the strangest days in a very long time.

Stay tuned tomorrow for pre-shoot jitters!

First Still!

There you have it, kids. The first official still from senior project. Nick and I started some rough editing today, just to see how some shots fit together and what needs to be redone. We watched all the footage from this past weekend and everything looks really good! It's a relief. There are a few stray shots here and there that need to be fixed but it's nothing that we can't do this weekend. We're also still playing around with the colors and everything. This actually isn't totally black and white; there's a touch of sepia to it. But this is the first still for the time being. Don't leak it to them presses, ya hear?!

Day 28: 1:03 AM

The weekend is officially over. I'm so out of it. We went from about 4:00 am til about 4:00 PM today, I think. Some of us started even earlier than that. Everything went extremely well, and now Josh Nick and I have to look at the footage we've shot so far and make sure it cuts well together. There were so many amazing shots that we got today that I'm happy with. I'm starting to feel like these characters are coming to life, and that the whole thing is developing its own atmosphere. This crew is just fantastic, I could really go on about them. There's no one on set that has been causing problems, actors included.

It was funny, we got into Ross Commons and taped up all the windows, so it felt as if it was dark all day. Then we got out in the afternoon and the day was only haf done. Trippy. I came back and slept right through the superbowl, and now I'm just disoriented. I'm on what I call India time. This is exaclty how I feel when I come home from India; my luggage is everywhere (equipment) I spent the day on a plane with a fucked up time schedule (set) and my sleep schedule is off. Anyway, more detailed account of the weekend to come. In the meantime, I'm going to work on getting back to normal for midterm week.

Day 27: 4:35 AM

so early

Day 26: 10:55 PM

First day of shooting. Dog tired.

Everyone worked their asses off today, and everything/everyone looked amazing. Had some issues with sound, but need to learn to let that go because it'll never be perfect, and things can be fixed in post. But god i wish they would make that building empty out for us. god forbid we use school property to shoot a final thesis instead of play pool and watch tv!

call is early tomorrow. heading over to jenns' around 5. not looking forward to it. going to suck. we have to be out before the superbowl party comes in, which should be around 3. assholes.

tomorrow we need to focus on: having every shot planned out, making sure the actors are ready in time, worrying less about sound and more about shots, and moving super fast. yeah, it can be done.

i just tried to innocently fix myself a sandwich and i swear vladmir started squeaking. (he's a mouse that lives around the radiator, but i thought we were rid of him for sure.)

ok, eating salad and sleep. goodnight.

Day 20: 11:51 PM

I don't even know if I'll make it through this post.

Today was photo shoot and dress rehearsal day. We started at about 12, and the actors trickled in for the next few hours depending on their call times. The amazing Karen Gorga was there, adjusting everyone's outfits, sewing things, cutting things, whatever needed to be done. Jenn was amazing with doing makeup and hair, and Genell did a beyond kickass job of Julia's hair. Basically, everyone looked really good. Two of the ladies' dresses are sitting at the post office and they have to be picked up tomorrow. Marilyn's and Elizabeth's dress, to be exact. In the meantime, we had Elizabeth in a red dress and Marilyn in a really simple black dress that Jenn happened to bring along. The photos looked outstanding. Everyone nailed the expressions.

I took the actors into another room one on one while others were getting ready, and we discussed their characters, worked on their voices, and discussed specific lines. Everyone is really great to work with; no attitudes, no weird issues.

Then the guys came, and we threw their pants and shirts on them. Their pants need severe altering because of the really weird style of pants back then, and we still need to buy vests for the guys so they don't look like their in an orchestra, as Jenn says. We did photoshoots with couples, and then group shots. I had 30's jazz playing in the background and they had these bright lights on them. It was pretty crazy. I think that's when everything officially started coming together, and then sky rocketed past any expectations I had.

Then we shifted base to Ross Commons where we're actually filming everything. I'd like to take this moment to bitch about company moves. A company move, in case you're not familiar, is when you pack everything up and shift the cast and crew to another location. I hate packing. I'm awful at it, and I just hate doing it. That's what a company move is. A lot of packing, moving, unpacking, and packing it up again. It's awful.

Once we got to Ross, the immediate concern was that we had to ask the union guys to move the couches; apparently it's something only they can do. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. We pay 35,000 bucks at least to go here, and we can't move a couple of couches in a building that's FOR the students? I'm starting to think I don't like unions. Anyway, I kicked out whoever was in the room because it was reserved for us, and of course one of the guys bitched about it. Then I found the building manager and told her that we needed union guys to move our stuff. She gave me a funny look and told me I could just move things myself. I didn't get her name, but she made my life 90 million times easier. So Josh Genell and I fixed up the room and put out whatever props we brought along. We only brought about 1/4 of the props that we have, and the place still looked great. Jenn set up the food for everyone and all the actors had their dinner in costume. We relaxed for about 10 minutes and then started blocking.

I didn't know this, but we started blocking an hour later than we were supposed to. It's hard blocking these two scenes because everyone is doing something different at random times, so it's a lot to keep track of. It was fun though. I felt like there were all these really great elements sitting around, unconnected to each other. The blocking felt like I was connecting the dots; people started to get what things meant in the script, they were making sense of their movements, and they were all getting to be on the same page. And we ended the night at 9:30 on the dot. Just like we had planned.

For one, it's an eclectic group of actors. The performances range across the board; some people need no guidance and just take the role and make it their own. Others are still good, but I just need to guide them more. It's so tricky because it's period, and it's hard enough to get into a character, but to add voice modulation and mannerisms to the mix and you have yourself a heavy load of work. They'll get it.

Sounds like it went well, correct? Well I think it did too. Although I don't have an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. And I think it's good that I don't. Because then I won't rest on my stupid proverbial laurels and let things fall apart. To quote Chandler Bing, I need 'the fear.' I think that'll help me make it the best it can be. This crew though, seriously, is really great. I'm not going to be super cornballish and gush on about them. But yeah, really really great. I think I'll save my gushing for when I present the final product.

My lower back hurts, which means I'm tired. I didn't realize that all I had all day was cheese and water. I guess I got really into it. I think this is all that needs to be said. I can't believe I have to deal with a regular college student schedule for the next 5 days. I'd rather just be dealing with this project from now until it wraps. But hey, that's a good thing.