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..