WORLD BEYOND THE WALL (FINISHED!?)

Can it be? Can this really be happening? The World Beyond the Wall film that I set out almost 9 months ago is finally FINISHED. DONE. (we still have some audio to tweak with.) but for the most part, DONE!

'Tom Bonington', 'Jerome Aarts' and 'Daphne Syrpis',

have done a fabulous job acting. Everyone on the CREW (you know who you are) has done an amazing job.

There's nothing more to say.

Thursday 27, November 2008. We will screen the film for the first time to an audience at AIU LONDON UNIVERSITY. If you're in the area. Please, stop by. 

Good Work Everyone.

FINAL STAGES of post. FINISHED behind the scenes doc.

So the final edit of the 'behind the scenes' (FORMALLY KNOWN AS MAKING OF) documentary has been finished, color graded, mixed and compiled. It's very well edited, and we have Amanda to thank for her dedication in all the work she put into it. The final edit of the film is deadlined for DEC 4th. There is still alot of work to be done concerning color grading, sound mixing, recording, ADR, folling, special effects, rendering, so on and so forth. However, the finished product I think will be outstanding. We're calling in instructors to screen the film too before release, so look forward to seeing the behind the scenes documentary on the World beyond the wall DVD sometime next month!

hiccups in post.

So it's been awhile since i've posted anything. I do have an excuse however. 

Things have been VERY BUSY! Post Production has begun, and my (team) of editors were working relentlessly on the the assembly edit... That is until the other day when we noticed that one of our scenes DOES NOT HAVE ANY SOUND!!! Which is a huge set back. As far as we can tell, something happened with the marantz (our recording device) and the sound file we recorded too became corrupted. What do we do now? (thats a good question). It just so happens that this scene was one of the major dialog scenes in the narrative. So at this point in time, we have to edit very very carefully, recreating the audio of the scene through folioing (recording the sounds separately). Most of our hope now lies within Christian and his ability to mix and master sound. I have much faith in Christian, but I don't want to burden him with too much. So Amanda and I are wracking our brains over the assembly edit. As most of you know, Amanda is my D.O.P. and one of my editors. (AN AMAZING EDITOR AT THAT!) Which brings me to my next bit of news.

The making of documentary is turning out fantastic. Amanda has been putting alot of time and effort into it while I try and come up with a plan of action for the film. Truth is, the making of documentary might be finished before the film! Don'tt get too excited though. Were not going to let anyone see the documentary until after the short film has premiered. You can look forward to downloading the making of documentary from both youtube and the intro productions website which can be viewed at www.intro-productions.com

Stay tuned for more updates.

jason

Editing scheduled possibly next week.

On September 11th, at the Foundry in Hackney, 'The World Beyond the Wall' trailer premiered. It received a great response. A huge thanks goes out to Christian who came into help me edit during the final hours before the premiere; and because he was the one who helped me put the thing together. I just kind of nodded from time to time, and gave advice on what should go where. In any case, this is the finished trailer, and I am giving everyone a chance to download it. The only thing I ask is, do not put it on You Tube or any streaming video sites as it may disrupt our chances of film festival distribution. 

WORLD BEYOND THE WALL (TRAILER)

 

PRODUCTION IS FINALLY FINISHED!

No more production.. no more running around with a camera. No more scheduling actors, chasing permits, worrying about the weather or miss communications. No more over planning or thinking I may not get the shot i need, or thinking I've made the actors or crew restless. No more searching to make the impossible possible. Technically I have finished filming what I set out to accomplish more than a month ago. I now have filmed, digitized and ready for editing; a 15 minute short film, that is clocked in at over 5 hours of raw high definition footage. This films production is FINISHED! 

Thank you everyone that made this possible. 

Please view the making of documentary for the full story. 

The time has finally come... to time travel.

So, I'm really in a pickle.
The Richmond Park scene; one of the more important scenes in the entire film is being suspended this week because of both bureaucracy and the weather. I'm sure you're all wanting details... allow me to explain.

Richmond park will only allow me to film on site, If I have given them five working days notice prior to the filming date... okay, that would be fine, except, I need a sunny day to film on. And not just any sunny day, this sunny day must be absolutely perfect! Beautiful, bright and with blue skies.
So how, you ask, am I going to predict a perfectly sunny day five days in the future with totally unpredictable British weather? We'll I thought it over, and have decided to travel into the 'future' and see (the reason I have to do this, is because the British forecasting service here is utterly atrocious). For those of you who are not familier with the process of time traveling. Allow me to post a tutorial..

Please e-mail if your still not clear on the details of this process.

The digitizing of the footage is to take place tomorrow; marking the beginning of Post Production! .. We're still not finished with Production, but everything is slowly moving into place. New Intro Productions logo's have been created as well as animated logos for festival distribution.

We have also begun a new program entitled 'The Intro Productions Media Network'. You can be a part of the network if the work has been touched by myself or is associated with Intro Productions in anyway. More on this later.

Okay, when I said a few days left...

I think I might have been jumping the gun when I said I only had a few days left. As of this point, I do indeed have only a few scenes to film until production is finished. However, we may be subject to re shoots that could go on well into September; the footage that still needs captured includes an interior studio scene which I have been unsuccessful as of yet in finding the material for. Tom (my lead) has been both patient and helpful in every form since we began production a little over a month ago. His parts are almost all finished. Jerome (2nd Lead) is two scenes plus some voice overs away from being finished. These voice overs also include Tom. Post-production, which is the editing and mixing part of the film-making process; (including color grading and so on) will take time. This makes me believe that we will not be finished by the September 11th premiere date which I had originally planned on shooting for. I have had several discussions with different people including crew and have come to the conclusion that even though I would like to premiere it on this date, it would be better to take my time with Post, and make the best film I can for film festival circulation instead of rushing it to be seen.

After all the paper work that I had to write up, scout down, fax and scan in and e-mail to Richmond Park officials for the permission to film in the royal park today. I was unable to film due to unpredictable weather patterns. And because of that, we decided to finish up Tom's extra walking home scenes because of the convenience. Two police officers even stopped us to ask us a few questions. I was so afraid they would ask for permits. When I got to Amanda, she told me they were just asking questions like, whats the film about, and why is he making the lady hold all the heavy stuff? They were nice enough to let us continue filming though, Thanks Westminster! The question I'm sure your all wondering. When will we film next? We'll, I have a big midterm tomorrow and i'm acting in someone else's (waiting for welfare) tribute project on Monday. So we will see what next week holds. Stay tuned more updates.

PS: Yes, were filming a ''Making of:'' documentary. :)

Only a few more days left...

Yes, Only a few more days left until the production portion of this film is finished. This has been far the toughest part of the process. And because university has started again, my classes have begun to become increasingly more demanding the longer it takes to finish production. Not only that, but the actors schedules too have begun to become even more complex since the original filming week. Several other small problems such as 'continuity errors', wardrobe and location permits. All are beginning to wear my poor brain out. I am both mentally and physically exhausted at this point. I will however, finish this film. Never give up! That's the number one role.

At this point in time, I would like to thank a few more people that helped me Tremendously during pre-production. If it wasn't for these people. I wouldn't have known where to begin.

Mark Lonsdale.

Mark is by far one of the most awesome university instructors ever(I hope he's reading this.) If it wasn't for his initial assistance and encouragement; I never would have gained the courage to go out and make this film. I owe a GREAT DEAL to Mark Lonsdale, for every problem he helped me conquer. And I'm going to estimate that I must have asked Mark at least 400 questions in the last 4 months, Spanning from pre-production forms, location managing, recommended camera equipment and legal forms. He helped me gain the correct paper work too obtain the permit for Richmond Park. And he took time out of his day every time I came to him with a question. He had faith in my project. He had faith in me. He went out of his way to dig up information for me and continually encouraged me, giving me contacts, expanding my knowledge, and going far beyond that of just a University Instructor. How can I ever thank Mark for all that he' s done for me? I'm not exactly sure, but he is most certainly going on my film credits as Best Executive Producer ever. Thank you Mark.

Adam Kempton (Producer)

This guy is amazing. The day he called me and told me that He enjoyed the script for this film, was the day that I gained the courage to stay behind this summer in London and begin a very long casting process. As I didn't want to bother Adam too much with my film, I still hope to catch his attention with my finished product. I am very nervous as he has given me so much praise. I hope I can live up to his expectations. Again, he is a key player in not only this film, but the establishment in my very career for the rest of my life. Thank you Adam.

Jane Gapon

Jane is going on my list as most dedicated producer in our university. Hands down, I don't think I could have trusted anyone more than her with the break down of my script. I know deep down Jane wanted to do more for the production. Yet, because of things out of her control, she was required to leave London a few weeks. I want to thank you Jane for taking the time, organizing all my folders, my papers, printing things for me and getting me started. Let's be honest. If it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be a film. You are amazing, and I would love to work with you again, if someone dosen't recruit you before me. Thankyou Jane.

Tabitha Beckman

Thank you Tabitha, You were there in the beginning of the beginning. The very first casting session. And one of the very first people I hired on my crew. You gave me a vast resource of knowledge of just about everything there is to know about casting and legal issues. You cleared away the shadows of my ignorance, and allowed the light of knowledge to shine through. You sat with me during each casting session, watched the tapes back with me(I have photographic evidence on this page), and helped me make decisions. You are an extraordinary, dedicated individual. And you are going to go very far. It was too bad that you wasn't able to be AD on my production. I do however would like to have you on future productions. I believe you would be absolutly amazing. I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you Tabitha.

Permits,last days of production. Special Thanks.

As most of you are probably wondering. "When is this damn thing going to be finished?"
We'll, the truth is, we still have a significant amount to be filmed. The actors are busy with other projects and this all has taken alot more time to film than I had originally planned. It is however, getting done. And getting it done right, rather than rushed is really what we're shooting for. Judging by the current schedule. It should be finished and digitized by the end of next week.
The tube permit (the paper allowing us to film the opening sequence of our film in the underground of Mornington Cresent station). Is currently in motion to be finalized. The Richmond Permit (the paper allowing us to film in Richmond Park, is also in need of a few tidbits. This all should be done by next week as well. I still need to talk to Beaumont Court student housing about the interior apartment scene, but it shouldn't be much of a problem. Everything is finally falling into place. And it has been a learning experience for us all.

I was planning on doing this at the end of production, but i have decided that it would be best to give credit, where it is due. This ladies and gentlemen. Is the best damn crew AIU London could ever produce.

1. Amanda Caldeira - DOP - Director Of Photography

Amanda is one of the most dedicated and inspiring people I have ever met. And her hard work on this project rivals my own. She is the best person on the crew to start with I think.

Let me begin by saying.. If It wasn't for Amanda, I couldn't have filmed anything...really. She has been helping me every day since before production began. Picking up the slack of my unexperienced pre-production. She and I together, sat down and began dreaming up how we were going to execute every shot in the film almost as soon as we first decided to work together. Her dedication knows no bounds. She taped together a giant tarp out of almost a million trash bags, by hand, for a very complicated scene. She was there helping me organize and execute my second casting session (this was the session I found my two leads) by making a zillion phone calls on her own phone bill. She took time out of her busy day to location scout with me. helped me organize the shooting schedule. She executed camera tests, gave me advice, gave me ideas, took every idea I had, and made it come to life the best she could. She was always...ALWAYS there when I needed her and I am being totally honest when I say, I could NEVER have done this without her. She went way out of her way; far past the duty of just a D.O.P, to bring this film to life. And I'm pretty sure you could never find another dedicated and inspiring individual such as Amanda Caldeira for your own film. She is a well rounded, talented, creative person. In short, if she's in your credits. You've got a quality product.

I met Amanda at the MES desk. It was here that I recruited Tabitha as my 1st AD before the first few casting sessions during the month of June. Amanda said that she would like to help me with my 2nd mandy casting session shortly after the end of my first. She took hold of all my incoming actors and scheduled and called them for me. Later on, I was beside myself when she agreed to also be my D.O.P. I remember thinking to myself, Amanda is a graduating student who has plenty of experience making films. Among other qualities, I couldn't ask for more. Her experience as a film-maker and knowledge of camera's and technique would most absolutely make this production all the better. And what do you know.. it did!

Amanda is also a fellow Anime fan as well. She watches and appreciates the Japanese style of story telling just as much as me. This style in particular is where I as a director am most influenced. Both her and I work on a totally in tune level when it comes to this. If I were to film anything else. She would be my first choice as D.O.P (Director of Photography.) She directs photography and she directs it good (haha). And shes a really wicked person to hang out with. What more could you want?

Thank you again for your advice Amanda. Your experience, your creativity, your camera work and your friendship. Please don't let anyone take you for granted. I'll never know how to thank you for all your hard work.
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2. Fareed Shafeeg (Production Manager, Assistant Director2, Production Assistant)

Fareed has been with me since day one. He knows the story. He knows me. He knows what I've went through to make this film come to life. If it wasn't for Fareed in the background, pulling curtains, getting drinks, helping people to and from the main building. Smiling, Laughing, Joking and talking to the actors. Then this production including all of pre-production would fall into a big deep pile of smoldering rubble with me standing over it scratching my head. It really urks me, because alot of people take Fareed for granted; yet It's his dedication that makes him one of the most valuable individuals on your crew. I know it, because he was the one on mine. He was that one single person that made things happen. He was that guy that knew what was going on and despite the weather, would wake up and get to the place he needed to be to make it all work. And if he wasn't there, everyone. And I mean EVERYONE, would stop what they were doing and say. "Where is Fareed?", 'When is Fareed getting here!" Why you ask? Because he does everything! He's one of those guys that gets his hands on every part of production! You look one way, he's clapping the clapper board. You look the other way. He's getting drinks. You look behind, in front of you, on the ceiling; he balancing boom polls, recording audio, building sets, making the actors feel at home, organizing equipment, carrying equipment.. But Fareed doesn't stop there. He helps with paper work in pre-production! He helped Amanda and I figure out how we were going to execute some of the most complicated shots in this film. And he did it without breaking a sweat. Fareed is a former business major. Hiding deep within him is this fighting spirit that seizes the day, kicks ass, takes names and solves those ultra hard to solve problems. He's a natural problem solver! And when your filming on a budget. Believe me, theres plenty of problems to solve. If you ever see a guy with a Mohawk from Maldives standing on set. Things are getting done. BELIEVE ME.

Thank you Fareed for coming in every single day I needed you. And standing side me since I wrote the very first draft of this script. You are both a A+ friend, and an A for AWESOME crew member. Couldn't have done it without you. I mean that.
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3. Dr. Richard Wynn (1st AD- Assistant Director)

WHAT TIME IS!? It's time to get shit done! Were on a schedule!
So what does Dr. Richard Wynn do on a film set you ask? Let me break it down for you. He is the best DAMN AD(assistant director) you could ever have on a set. He takes that schedule and makes you stick to it. For example: If we were scheduled to film at the bottom of a mountain at 3:00pm - 4:00pm, and the mountain erupted at 3:30pm. Richard would stand on a giant rock and systematically punch through giant rocks that would rain from the sky. All the while diverting giant lava rivers and mudslides with his BARE HANDS to make sure we finish ON TIME. I could not trust anyone more than Richard to take our schedule and abide by it. He has been on plenty of top notch film sets as an AD. And when he asked me to be AD on this one, I was beside myself. I couldn't believe he wanted to take time out of his busy day to come and help me with this small production. Yet he did, and it made things run so much smoother. He talked with actors, called them when they needed to be called. And took care of all the paper work that needed to be taken care of. He came to me in the beginning and took the mess I called Pre-Production and organized it in working order, so that it could be filmed. He gave excellent advice to everyone on the crew, and I learned an exceptional amount from him. He made the set that much more fun to be on. Richard is also one dedicated person. He's also a really strong guy so don't worry about carrying that really heavy equipment! I am so glad that Richard helped out on the shoot. I know for a fact that we would never have started shooting if it wasn't for him. He was always one of the first of the crew to show up at 8am every morning during production. And I can count on him If i ever needed anything. Hes the best to have on your crew because he keeps things running smoothly. He's that oil that makes that machine press on without faults. And we all know what happens when you run out of oil... (watch waiting for welfare movie).

Thank you Richard for keeping our heads out of our...for keeping our heads out of the clouds. :D
And thank you for teaching me, giving me hints and advice and allowing me to learn from you.
I couldn't have done it without you.
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4. Christian and Kate - AUDIO TECHNICIANS

What was that sound? That's what Christian and Kate would ask themselves. The best audio field team from AIU. These guys are ALWAYS ON TIME. ALWAYS reliable. Always ready for action. You never have to worry about audio when Christian is on set. And at our university, Everyone. Wants. Christian. I was lucky enough to get Christian for my own shoot. And when you get Christian, you get Kate. It's like a two for one awesome team deal. Kate is a former buisness major. Not only is she Christians right hand ma.. er girl. She's knowledgeable about everything. And shes damn good at logging all them audio bits on paper. When Christian and Kate arn't kicking ass at audio, they're taking a smoke break discussing the next scene. I absolutly love working with these two. I can come talk to them about anything. And they are always willing to give their experience and advice. Christian went out of his way plenty of times for this film. His back was injured at one point from dedicating himself so badly that he could hardly stand.Even on top of that, he was willing to help us with the audio! I have been so blessed
with such dedicated crew members such as this. Kate also hurt herself during the shoot. I felt so bad about all of that of course. And I really hope that both of them get better soon. They are VERY IMPORTANT to this film. Without sound. There is nothing. And thats that. Christian knows his mics. He knows the way sound acts in just about every environment, from here to mount everest. Right down to every nook and cranny of your grandmas apartment building. He is the one person that would probably ride on the hood of a car to get that sound recorded right. Of course i wouldn't recommend that. None the less, Christian is both an Excellent friend, associate and partner when it comes to anything dealing with audio or film. I am VERY VERY ..did i mention. VERY lucky to have these two on my shoot. God only knows what it would have been like without them. ...oh yea.. there would be no film. I owe a hell of alot from these two.

THANKYOU GUYS. I'm really sorry about what happened to both of you. You really put everything you had into this shoot. And I don't know how i will ever be able to thank you.
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thanks again everyone for helping me shoot my first short film in London. You are my first full film crew. I really appreciate your help. I really do.

First Day of Production

Scenes Filmed:
1. Chris' Walk Home
2. Chris' Office Scene

The actor that plays Chris "Jerome Aarts" did a fantastic job today. All the scenes turned out great. And tomorrow, we will be filming the Dead End Alley scene. We got the okay to film in the alley beside our university; however, we are required to inform security so they may open a door to the alley. Also, to be allowed down there, we are required to allow a member of security watch us to make sure we don't hurt ourselves... this I think is a little rediculous seeing as how were all grown adults.. but thats film-making i guess.
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When I come to think about it, I have been saying the words 'Action and Cut' ever since my brother David and I first hit the record button during my first short film ever. It was a short piece called flash-back which would originally go on to be called 'Waiting for Welfare'.
Never did I think that one day, an ocean away, a crew of motivated individuals would be awaiting both my commands and judgements. Fully intrusting me with all creative aspects. To create something that would be fully crafted, from the first moment I wrote the script. To the last cut in production, and on again to the last edit in post. This is the beauty and sometimes the horrors of film-making. And i'm loving every minute of it.

PRODUCTION finally.

PRODUCTION TOMORROW.

Yes ladies and gentleman, we begin filming tomorrow!
I have a crew of several dedicated people, food for the actors; a crew and a schedule!
Tomorrow is my first actual shooting day, but I will let you know exactly what happens at the end of every day of filming this week!

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, so allow me to update you.
I have casted both Joseph and Chris' characters. I have found all of the locations and acquired an experienced 'Assistant Director and several producers(seniors) from this graduation year. For the past week, we have been building a giant tarp out of trash bags to hang over an alley way to make it appear as if night has consumed the day! We also have been locating all the locations we will need during the shoot.

We still haven't gotten proper permission from surrounding boroughs, but I doubt it will be a big deal that day since the scene we're filming tomorrow only last a few minutes.
I will be very busy this week taking care of business, so please wish me luck. I will be providing pictures of the shoot as well as detailed descriptions.

Thank goodness, the day has finally come.
Time to actually shoot a film!

- Jason

So, what's been happening?

...alot has been happening!

For the last couple of days, we've been holding a mandy.com casting session, for all mandy.com actors. I still haven't made a decision on Joseph or Chris's character and time is running out! We plan to shoot on July 7th and 12th, and I still haven't chosen the leads! I do think however, I've found the right guys for the part, its just all about making that final decision. I know I've been very indecisive about it, but I personally believe that casting is the most important part of the filming process. The wrong actors can make or break a film, no matter how good the script is. So I'm taking the time to find those right people.

LOCATIONS:

Several issues arose with the locations I had originally picked to adhere to the script. The first location being the Aldwych tube station. The beginning of The World Beyond the Wall, calls for Joseph, the main character; to come home from work on the tube. To film something on the 'tube' involves alot of phone calls and paper work. Permissions between the official transport of London and the specific tube station you are going to film in are essential. And planning the least busy times are also important. This week, I learned that the station I had planned on shooting in "Aldwych" station, had been shut down due to security reasons. It is because of this, that I am left without an opening location scene. This causes me a lot more work than would have been necessary. For those of you that don't realise, the Aldwych station tube, was a station once on the Piccadilly line, but was shut down due to maintenance problems in 1994. Since then, it has been the ideal place for filming tube scenes, as they allowed a train to enter the station every now and then at the discretion's of the director.
Read more here:
http://underground-history.co.uk/aldwych.php

Long story short, that location is no longer available, leaving me to find alternative routes. I am currently looking for a tube station that has less business than any other during early morning hours. Hopefully I will find what I am looking for. (Or have my main character catch a bus....)

Another location, which is fairly important for this film, is a red Brick Wall. (Hence the title, The World Beyond the WALL). Now originally, what I had imagined, was this wall, would be a red brick one and in a back alley with a dead end. Unfortunately, the city of London is built in blocks. And because of this, there is hardly any such dead ends available outside. So in this case, I had chosen to move the location to interior, (more specifically) a warehouse called Cinnamon Warehouses, which was a beautiful establishment complete with rich red brick walls.
Once again however, weeks later, I was denied this opportunity because of over booking. I am now left to fend for myself. Luckily, I'm open to suggestions, and not so married to my ideals that I postpone the production to find exactly what I envisioned. A wonderful company by the name of SPACE-2 Consulting Ltd. They happened to find me a nice place, that will be demolished at the end of July. An abandoned print room.



This is a photo of some of the rooms. We will see how the recce goes.

Stay tuned for more hair raising updates!

Page of the storyboard.

Just scanned a page from the storyboards i'm slaving on.
Take a deep breath and behold..

Storyboards... results of auditions.

So lately i've been stuck at home, battling my ever persitant allergies. It's because of this I haven't really been able to go out and location scout to the extent that I've needed too. All is alright however, because in the meantime, I've been drawing up storyboards!
For those of you that don't know what a storyboard is; it's something like a comic book, usually hand drawn, representing the order, style and types of shots that will be implemented during Principle Photography(the shoot). Here's a really cruddy picture of the first page of storyboards for this production:


'Looks like they're sitting at the bottom of a dirty fish tank right?'

The results of auditions that took place on June 9th - June 11th turned out to be pretty inconclusive. (I want to give a big thanks to all who helped me however. If it wasn't for you, i never would have been able to pull this off. Thankyou _Fareed, Bonni, Tabitha and Chris for booking the rooms, waiting for actors, having to talk to me and wait. Out of the 21 actors scheduled from Monday thru Wenesday; only 7 showed up, and six of those actors came with the intentions of trying out for the character Joseph's part only. One actor auditioned for the part of Chris. So I find myself very indecisive. Torn between several issues. These issues are far too many to list..so lets just say, i'm much more indecisive now than I was two weeks ago.

I have decided to contact another casting agency in the hopes that a better set of actors will present themselves. Most likely I will hold another casting session in the days following the (18th of June). These auditions will be individual sessions. Not nearly as preplanned as the talent circle group was.

Here's a picture of my assistant director (Tabitha) and myself viewing the audition tapes back:


The ideal posture for creative thinking.

Tomorrow i'll be location scouting through Richmond Park. Wish me luck!

Auditions and Location Scouting.

I haven't posted in awhile, but I have an excuse.
The past few weeks were absolutly mind bogglingly busy. (That might not be a word, but that's how busy I really was.. ..really!)
I finished up the final week of classes, passed all my exams(somehow), and dove straight into the pre-production of this unfinished short film. I am still learning as I go, so some things are very nerve wracking, yet exciting none the less.

One of the many things I did the past week was LOCATION SCOUTING.
Things needed:
1. London A to Z map.
2. Pictures of location from www.filmlondon.co.uk
3. A friend, or a girlfriend.
4. An idea of where you are going and how to get there.(WARNING: THIS RULE (MUST)BE FOLLOWED IF YOU ARE BRINGING YOUR GIRLFRIEND ALONG. ..IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME ..THATS FINE..I WARNED YOU.)

So far I have found 3 of 10 locations. Several Location Scouting events have been scheduled for next week. Hopefully we find the locations needed for the right price!

Casting will begin next week on MONDAY the 9th of June 11am till 3pm. It will last for three days. Hopefully everyone can make it at such an early time (that goes for myself as well). I have about 21 actors auditioning for the two male leads. I've given everyone around 15minutes to audition, so hopefully that will suffice.

I'll keep you all updated on how it goes.
Stay tuned.

- Jason


PS:
Location scouting can be a very dangerous experience if you have no sense of direction what so ever. If you are one of these people (like me) I suggest you hire a location manager, who will find the place for you.

Producer, Assistant Director and updates.

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What your looking at above, is none other than the script breakdown of this film. Cut and pasted onto my walls with Blue Tack. A truly miraculous substance that never seems to dry out! ....alot has happened since the last post, so let me bring you up to speed.

1. I finished the script breakdown.
2. I still haven't made a working budget
3. I found an AD -or assistant director.
4. I'm going on a Location Reccee Saturday.(this was originally scheduled for Friday, but my still photographer rescheduled.
5. The producer called me back. -what did he say? All will be explained, look below.
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So last week, the well established (one heck of a nice guy) 'Producer Adam' gives me a ring. After throwing him a completely unsolicited script during our Producing and Directing class (he was a guest speaker), he was very much obliged to read it through. Not only that, but he was nice enough to give me a call back in less than two weeks! (I'm sure he knows how greatful I am. The fact that he would take the time out of his busy schedual for budding film-makers like myself...) Especially when they act like I did below.
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The conversation went something as follows:

Producer Adam
Jason?

Jason
Yes?

Producer Adam
This is Adam, I came to your class
to speak about producing the other day?

Jason
Oh, OH! Hey! Thanks for giving me a call!

Producer Adam
Hey, no problem. I just wanted to say I liked your script.

Jason
THANKS for giving me a call! ...AND liking my script!

Producer Adam
It's okay.

Awkward pause

Jason
Thankyou sooo much for giving me a call!
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After the call, I ran thru my university screaming like an idiot... not a smart thing to do when your supposed to be in class... One thing I learned from all this; however, is that the excitement of meeting new exciting individuals in this industry and gaining their recognition is almost never ending. So always take every chance you can to take that next step, because it could just be the biggest and most extrodinary step you've ever made.
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During my stay after university classes, I usually hang around the MES; where I bother fellow students working as slaves behind the desk of our equipment logging department. There I made Tabitha my Directors Assistant. This was because I believe she can do the job, answer my questions, and handle her part of the work and technical issues(which may very well confuse me). In other words, I believe she can get the job done and I trust her to get it done. I'm pretty sure having Tabitha as my AD should make things a heck of a lot simpler from here on out.
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On Saturday, I am going on a Location Reccee with my Still Photographer to some locations I would like to check out. Too see pictures of possible locations, please check back after saturday.

Also, casting may commence tomorrow when I send notices out through Talent Circle and UK CAST NET. Stay tuned for more info.

PS: The final draft is the 12th Draft.. No more rewrites. Promise.

Update and promotional logo.

I threw together a promotional logo the other night.
Nothing particularly fancy, just something to get the idea across and possibly attract bigger name actors and crew members.

Oh, and I gave the script to a big name producer on tuesday morning.
He's worked on various big budget features..

More updates later..

Proof Reading, final corrections being made...

I have finally finished the script break down. However, now is the time to scan through everything to make sure I haven't made any mistakes. The final draft of the script will be the 10th Draft, and I should have it done by today or this evening. I have a bit of school work to finish up, so no real work will probably be finished until Friday of this week.

Correcting, Rewriting...

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So what have I been doing so far this week concerning the film?
We'll, I keep rewriting the script whilest doing the break down (which really slows things down.)
Today I plan on actually finishing the script break down and starting on some sort of production schedual. Lets cross our fingers I can get through the screenplay once more without changing something.

Script Breakdown In Progress...

Okay, so I said I would have a decision as of today, on whether to hire union actors, class mates or experienced crew. After looking at several websites for the duration of the last couple days, I have concluded that I can make no serious decisions before the BREAKDOWN OF THE SCREENPLAY is finished and a proper schedual has been made. I have finished the 5th draft of the screenplay, and am currently breaking it down.

For those of you who don't know what a script break down is (warning you, i'm still learning myself.) It consists of seperating every working element.
From locations,props and characters to dialog, wardrobe and special effects. After doing this you can kind of estimate a budget range and put together a production board(which will help you devise your shooting schedual and such.) Lets say you want to break down your screenplay. There are two diferent ways to go about doing this. The first option is to steal your younger siblings colored markers and pencils and start coloring up your screenplay using a set of conventions as I have outlined below. The second is further defined later. The color coding system seems to vary, but as of right now, this seems to be what most people are using.

Day Ext - Yellow
Night Ext - Green
Day Int - White
Night Int - Blue
Cast - Red
Stunts - Orange
Extras/Silent bits - Yellow
Extras/Atmostphere - Green
Special Effects - Blue
Props - Purple
Vehicals/Animals - Pink
Wardrobe - Circle
Make Up - Asterisk*
Sound Effects - Music - Brown
Special Equipment - Box
Production Notes - Underline

For the record, this is just one example and I have pretty much copied from this script break downsheet:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Script_Breakdown_Sheet.pdf

The other possible way you can break down your screenplay is downloading a program that does it for you. Now, progs such as EP Scheduling, Movie Magic and Sun Frog Film Scheduling are all fine and dandy.. but i'm positive that neither you nor I want to shell out 300 bucks for a program. Especially if your a poor student such as myself. After two days of searching however, I have found that a screenwriting program called Celtx actually helpfully allows you to not only markup your screenplay, but compiles the information into your break down.(AND IT'S FLIPPIN FREE!) All you have to do is point and click. There are several other options that i'll leave for you to figure out yourself.
The website for Celtx is http://www.celtx.com/download.html.

Knock yourself out.

Defining positions and production routes.

I'm not quite ready to say i'm in Pre-Production as of yet. With still trying to decide whether or not to hire an experienced crew or hiring each member individually, I've come to the conclusion that a decision will have to be made on the 4th of May at the latest. At this moment in time, I still need to finish the last draft of the screenplay, break it down, work out schedules, finish storyboarding and so on. A great deal of work will take place in pre-production alone. I have decided to contact a casting agency instead of finding the talent myself. I figure it would be much better for the film; A union actor would even be sufficient if I might have to pay him.

I might find the help of a location manager with time on his or her hands. I hear Film London.com is also an excellent resource for location scouts in general. I might either swing by their library or give them a ring after i make the break down of the script. First things first however. Finish the final draft of the script!

Welcome!

In the next couple of months I will be bringing you daily updates of exactly what is happening in this short film's production.
From Preproduction, all the way too Post and finished project. I will even keep you updated on submission to film festivals. I'll try my best to make this an interesting read for you, and hopefully both you and I will learn something useful.

My name is Jason Uzu, I'm the writer and director of this short film.