Part II : The Final Test

What Danny refers to as "the filmmaking Gods," the greater powers we sometimes like to blame for all the shit that can happen on set, seem to be really testing me for this one.

I knew it'd be tough making a movie around the holidays. I knew it'd be stressful working on another project on my break. I knew a lot of things. And as is almost always the case, everything seems to just border being too much to handle. Even if you go in expecting that and it meets your expectations, somewhere in the back of your head you expect it to be easier because you planned for it, but with film I guess it's always scaled to your efforts. So you're always barely getting by, it's just a matter of what you're getting by with.

Family stress couldn't be worse right now though. Production starts up again in exactly 39 hours. Yesterday, we found out that my grandmother is basically on her deathbed right now. She's been hospitalized for several months and we knew it was coming. It's just that it seems like it could happen any day now, and I can't have it happen any day now. I've got 5 days. 5 hardcore shooting days that I can't really afford to delay. It's a terrible situation to be in. I mean I've basically already accepted that she's going to die. Most of us have. She's been in a hospital for months so in that way it will sort of be a good thing. It's just that it's weird to be crossing my fingers that she doesn't die in the next week for basically my own selfish reasons. I guess that's terrible. From the family perspective, it's probably really selfish. From the production perspective it's something I just want to forget about and hope doesn't interfere. I don't like being tied to both. It's very stressful.

I like to think of it as kind of a test. Movies are always stressful and those filmmaking gods are just packing it on thick right now. I don't believe in a real god or anything. I don't believe in higher powers, but sometimes I like to think that somehow I'm being tested even though there's no one administering the test. I guess that means it's just me versus the real world and it's a test for myself to prove this is what I want to do. I came out of the first leg confident that it was. And I'm not second guessing that at all or anything. I guess I'm just anxious again to see if in 6 days I have a whole movie shot or not.

Standing on One Leg

So we've done it. We have about 2/3 of the movie shot.

Today is the first day in 9 days that I haven't been shooting and it feels really weird. Somewhere in the last two or three days of production, it occurred to me that I'm doing exactly what I want to do for a living. It's really intense, and you have long hours, and you get worn out and I think I averaged about 6 hours of sleep a night all week, but I was never tired. I never wanted to stop or take a break. That's why today is weird. I want to jump right back into the second leg and get the rest of the movie. I love the atmosphere of being on set. The pressure, and the close group of people working hard for something they believe in. It's like a weird dream to look back on. It's so far removed from normal life. But I think that's what I like about it. I'm spent way too many days leading up to last week sitting in my apartment, writing, and planning, and getting everything where it needed to be, and I got tired of it. It's working towards a goal, but it's really far removed from it and you don't get any of the gratification. It's also a comparatively lonely experience. But for me it was really nice to sit down at the end of the day talking with the cast/crew and thinking to myself, "yes, this is exactly what I want to be doing with my life." It's a great feeling because there's a lot of second guessing going on at this point in my life, when practicality clashes with dreams.


I've started a rough cut of what we have so far. It looks good. Really good. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it feels like it's turning out exactly like it should. You can never tell what it will be beforehand. You can take educated guesses, and then you can think of your ideals, and you incorporate the reality of the production and you get your product. This feels like a well balanced mix between all of that. I'm happy with it.

It's weird how despite not really being conscious of it, I've got a definite style. This film is certainly more professional than anything I've done, but even in just the 5 minutes of the film I have cut together right now, it feels really familiar. I see similarities to "Making Of," but in a good way. It's reassuring because a lot of times I feel like I'm ripping off other styles a lot, but I think I have something my own.

But it's a weird kind of depressing day today. I got to sleep in, I'm home alone with just me and my footage. And I'm working on it, but I'm missing the hustle and bustle and what I like to think of as kind of fighting to make this film.

Like yesterday was a crazy day, but one I'm really glad we had for this production. It was 100% pure guerrilla filmmaking. The kind of stuff that other people quit when the shit hits the fan. We started at the airport, which was easy, except we were going to shoot a plan landing and it landed early so we missed it and would have had to wait another 2 hours for the next one (we're probably coming back to that one). We shot in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond without permission, eventually getting confronted and told we couldn't shoot there...but after we got everything we needed. The liquor store we had scheduled was unexpectedly closed (we found out after our actor for the scene had driven in from Arkansas to shoot) so we had to find another location, called about 5 other liquor stores, which all turned us down, went to one that said yes, but changed their minds when we got there, and ended up at a local market that is closed on Sundays, but they opened for us to shoot after Hunter begged them on the phone. So we got a private location in the end, which probably worked out even better. Then we ended the day shooting in a Target parking lot getting in a lot of people's way and being stalked by the guy that ratted us out in the Bed, Bath, and Beyond store. It felt like high school again, but in a good way. A sense of danger and a feeling that we might not get what we needed because of all of the things we couldn't control without a Hollywood machine backing us up. It was one of those days where I think a lot of people would have given up or changed the script around to fit the circumstances, but we fought to do it just like we wanted and we got it.

I enjoy those fights...probably more so after they're proven successful though.

High Point

3 Days of Preproduction left and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

It really is all coming together. Since the production is split, I split my efforts to make everything much easier on myself. So I focused on only getting the props for the first leg, etc. And as far as the first 8 days of shooting are concerned there are only one or two unknowns and they're small ones.

So I'm feeling good about pulling this off. I'm designing a pack of gum right now, about to start on a CD case and book cover. All fake items for the movie. I'm glad to have my design skill set because it's really hand for this kind of thing. Instead of having to hide products, I can actually focus on them because they're jokes in and of themselves. I won't spoil them here.

But I'm excited because I think for the first time ever, when production starts Sunday I'll actually be able to breathe a little bit and focus on what a director is supposed to focus on. And in theory this should yield some great results.

Oh and I saw this ship today. Fucking awesome.

One week

Yep, today is 7 days from the first day of shooting.

It's a weird day. I seem to fluctuate from extreme excited-ness to extreme stress. And that seems to go hand in hand with crossing things off my to-do list and then adding more than I crossed off back onto it.

But today was a stress day, where even though I did a good bit, I felt like I didn't do anything because of the sheer volume of stuff to do...which I also think I may be bad at judging...because my master to do list is like 75% crossed off, but I have all of these little to do lists that I make throughout the day when I think of things...but I'm not sure where they fit in on the master to do list....so they might be relatively nothing.

I also had this weird realization that while I've kind of been the mastermind of this whole thing for the past year, I haven't really had a physical role to play, but in a week I'm actually going to have a real job to do. There's like this weird separation between conceptualizing a project and then actually making it, and even though I've been making stuff for a while now, when I brought out my camera today and did a steadicam test, I realized I'm not it very good shape to be a camera operator. I've got two heavy rigs for doing "handheld" stuff.

But I'll make do.

The Beginning of the Beginning

12 days until blast-off.

I'm not sure how prepared I am. I've rehearsed with all three leads and I'm really happy about how that part of things is shaping up. I have all but two bit parts cast.

I've bought all of the major equipment.

We've built the launchpad. You can watch a little mini-doc on it here:
http://www.vimeo.com/7908810

I've got the rest of my preproduction days planned out. I just have to power through everything. I hope all of the work pays off. That would be the biggest disappointment. This is the most work I've ever put into a film project and I haven't even started it yet. I just hope it amounts to something and the at the end of the day when you watch the film you can tell it's more work than I've ever put into anything else.

A part of me wants to fast forward twelve days to production and another part wants to fast forward to mid-January after it's all shot. I love production, but it's also one of those things that is always so much better in retrospect once you know everything turns out okay. But when you're actually in it, it's incredibly stressful because you don't know if everything will turn out okay, especially with a high stakes project like this. But that's also the point. That's what I love. Sailing a sinking ship through a storm to the other side of the ocean. But of course you're also sailing a sinking ship through a storm...to the otherside of the ocean. It is what it is. And it feels great when you pull it off.

23 Days

Each day seems more and more desperate.

I'm doing an incredible amount of preparation compared to any other project I've attempted, but there's still the whole fact that it's about 40 pages longer than any project I've ever attempted too. And more expensive, and ultimately more important and riskier. So unless I had like two months of production time and an infinite supply of money and resources I don't think I'd ever feel like I was ready.

I think it's also the somewhat rushed feeling production period. We're going to be shooting on both sides of the week of Christmas, an already particularly busy and chaotic time of year. And we're only going to have 13 days of production...which is pretty slim. And the fact that most of the cast/crew aren't here in town to be able to meet with everyday...and that many of them start almost as soon as they get out of school, and go back to school a few days after we wrap. There's no breathing room.

But I try to tell myself it's good to be nervous. If I was comfortable, I wouldn't be risking enough.

It's just despite all the work I'm doing, I always feel like I could be doing more, and I worry that that difference could be really important in the final product. I hope that in retrospect I'll be able to say something like that's just me trying to be a perfectionist or something, but I won't know if I'm being lazy or a perfectionist until much further down the road. It's sort of a weird thing not to know.

I'm just glad that I at least designed what should be a pretty easy and intimate production so once we're shooting, I hope it'll be less stressful than it is right now in anticipation. Of course whatever happens, in three weeks I will have everything pulled together.

I hope that with my next film I'll be able to get a lot more money and be able to hand off a lot of my prep jobs to other people. It's certainly the least exciting part of making the movie. It's all about anticipation and trying to make it happen and hoping you can pull it off. A lot of unknowns. And even for a feature length film like this, it's too much work for one or two people.

The next two stages are just about dealing with what you have from preproduction. I can't wait for those.

On a lighter note, Kemer found this photo of us in pre-school...in costume. Sort of an interesting image to go back to, when 20 or so years later we're basically still playing pretend and dressing up in costumes.

Night Driving

Lately, I've found myself for whatever reason driving around at night somewhat aimlessly and listening to music and feeling really good and creative.

I remember in school I used to listen to music on my way to and from class. It's a good way to kind of let your mind wander. But lately, without that kind of consistent travel time, I don't think I've been listening to music as much, and I've forgotten how important good music is to getting me in a creative state of mind. Most of my ideas come to me when I'm listening to music.

So anyway, I've found myself in some ways reconnecting to music in general via driving around at night. I actually take detours and longer routes to extend my drive. It's kind of strange, but also peaceful and invigorating. I don't know why it works better at night, but it does. Night time is always more surreal I guess.

I've also gotten more excited about the production finally coming around. I set up Neil's bedroom today with the props I've gotten so far and it is really starting to feel like a set. It's fun. I also got the Spacedad's helmet in the mail and seeing it on the chair in my room gets me excited. All of these ideas and visuals that have been in my head for so long are starting to materialize and it's really exciting to see them. It makes me want to start shooting.

November Already

Man. Seems like just yesterday I made that last post. It was over two weeks ago...

Now production is just over a month away. Soon it'll be just under a month away. Then it'll be over...and hopefully it'll be great.

...and I think it just might. We're trying to raise a few more funds leading up to production so we have all of our bases covered.

We had one of our first readings last weekend and things felt pretty good. I've got a ton of set deck stuff in the mail, and even more equipment on the way.

I have no excuses at this point. I can't put anything off anymore. I can feel the pressure and it actually feels good because now I know I'll get things done. I mean today (well yesterday technically) was Halloween and I spent most of the day working on another revision of the script and budgeting and making more purchases. I feel really good about the script. I hope it all pans out like I want it to. You never really know what's going to happen until it happens and I just hope the surprises that are bound to pop up are mostly good ones.

Oh yeah, and we have a fucking custom designed professional machined steel spaceship in production right now. It's going to be to crazy...I hope.

New Post = Not Working

After weeks of procrastinating, I've hammered out a preliminary schedule. It still needs a lot of detailing. But I think the project will be pretty manageable as far as the window we have to shoot it.

I've decided I suck at pre-production. I'm not good at planning or organizing. I just want to get out there and shoot. Actually create the art. You get to do that to a degree in writing, but the logistics of pulling it together are bogging me down. I know it has to be done, but I have a lot of trouble making myself do it.

Instead I find myself trying to find a reason to shoot something quick and dirty with my new camera...which has come in since the last post. And is great.

The good news is that I have other people working too so even when I'm not doing anything, the production is moving forward in various areas. Like production design. I got the first sketches from Maggie the other and they are so cool. I love having other people bringing their creativity into this project. And Cyndee's given me a detailed character study for Tara that's also really cool.

And Kemer's in town now so we're going to start having real production meetings which will be very good for my tendency to not work.

Momentum

Take it from the frequency of these posts that I'm really getting into this (I tried to think of a pun with 'getting into outer space', but there's nothing there).

I know I've said something to this effect already, but it's like for this project has always seemed like something way off in the distance. It's always felt like it was a year away. Now we're about 3 months from shooting (only about two from building a spaceship), and I'm really excited.

There was a period where I was skeptical and really nervous. This project is really important for me in a lot of ways. Depending on how pessimistic or optimistic you want to be, this could be my last big project (though I think this highly unlikely), but I also see it as kind of the last film from what would potentially be my "school years." After this I get a job. Hopefully a job in film, but the success of this project could have a lot to do with that. Case in point, if this movie sucks I'm gonna have a much harder time getting started.

But now I'm just really focused, which I've found is really hard to do when you don't have a job or school. If free time is your norm, it's actually harder to get stuff done. I suppose because it isn't as precious or valuable. But this week has been great so far. I'm getting so much done and I hope I can keep it up.

I'm really happy about this project right now. I'd say about 65-70% of it is logistically figured out now. There aren't as many unknowns. Whereas at the start of the summer all I really had was a story. Now I have a crew, a leading cast, a (mostly) finished script, and the equipment.

It's weird how much the camera issue had been inhibiting me. It's like I couldn't move forward with the production without knowing how I was going to shoot it and now that I'm not obsessing about specs and release dates, and I can move forward with everything else.

I had lunch with my mom today and we mostly talked about pre-production stuff, and you never really think about your mom as being a resource, but she's really excited about this project and wants to help me build sets and everything. I forget that she's often given the job of organizing events and fundraisers and stuff, but I never thought about her being able to basically help produce this project. It's weird to work with your mom, but she really wants to help, so I'm going to use her.

So now I'm going to go work on a new draft of the script. I think I've spent enough time away from it, and I have several new ideas for scenes to add. Here's hoping it goes well.

Trust the Audience

"...people are clever. If you're sincere in what you do and you try to do it the best way, and you try to put your emotions into what you do, I think people feel it."

That's an obscure quote from a french video game developer trying to make a game for grown-ups because he appropriately believes that shooting, driving, and jumping are for kids, and you can't justify playing those games when you're older. Just like you don't really watch the same movies now as you did when you were a kid, unless for nostalgic purposes...which I think is probably why for the most part any older people still play Mario games. There's really nothing adult about it. And I mean adult as in mature or literary. Something that stimulates a more developed and cultured person.

But that quote in an article I was reading really struck me. There are lots of movies I love for various different reasons. But there's not really one concrete thing that I've thought about that they all have in common. I mean they tend to have visual tendencies and more unique stories, but most of all I think this guy said just it. They're movies that you can tell people put a lot of thought and time and effort and emotion into. And that transcends more than just the artsier films I tend to favor. You can argue The Dark Knight or Lord of the Rings were succesful for other reasons, but they're also movies that everyone knows and can tell that a lot of heart and soul and effort went into making, and people favor and respect that.

And I think that's what a lot of people tend to overlook. It's obvious in more commercial films, but even indie filmmakers like us. We're trying to more objectively identify what makes a good film or photo or any kind of art, and try and figure out some sort of specific improvements to make each time, but at the end of the day it's the projects that we really try the hardest on and have a personal stake in that I think tend to shine. The script maybe could have been better or the acting could have used some work, but those are details. There's always going to be something like that, and bigger budgets, and bigger crews just make it easier to cut down on how much of that there is, but it's not really going to change the effect of the end product that much.

And now that I think about it, I'm reminded of another quote and I don't remember who it's by:
"Filmmaking is not about the little details, it's about the big picture."

For some reason that quote doesn't strike me in the same way though. I think because it doesn't say anything about trusting the audience to sense what you're doing. It's often easy to think of the lowest common denominator in the audience, but almost all my favorite movies don't appeal to them. You can be successful and not appeal to everyone. I don't mean it to sound like I'm having an epiphany about GOS because I certainly don't think it'll appeal to everyone, but I think it's solid for a certain niche so I feel like I'm on track.

It's just a different way to look at it. For me, at least.

In the Rain

So it took a nice consistent rainy weekend, but today I got shit done.

This morning I got up at 9, which based on my current schedule is like the crack of dawn. I build 5 paper mache asteroids and a paper mache space shuttle to hang from the ceiling in Neil's bedroom.

I bought a used glidecam system from ebay (25% off retail). I've pre-ordered a 7D. I've ordered a super wide angle 11-17mm lens. I've got my budget re-budgeted based on my new camera, and can now afford a mountable HD monitor and follow focus system.

I guess that's pretty significant. I'm no longer waiting on RED. They've pushed their EPIC line to the front of their release schedule, which at the soonest will be out at the end of November, and probably won't be publicly available until the new year (because of wait list). Of course, I'm waiting on Scarlett and it's bound to be out later. So in a way it's kind of a huge blow. I've been waiting almost a year for this camera now, and I won't be able to get it for this project. The good thing is that I'll be saving some money now and can fully deck out a Canon 7D rig which should provide everything I need in a camera for this project. There was a possibility of not even being able to afford a full working Scarlett system, so at least now I'm working from concrete specs instead of rumor and speculation and possible disappointment.

It's definitely a load off not having to stress out about getting the camera I want/need. Turns out the 7D has most of what I wanted from the Scarlett. It's not as perfect and it shoots compressed instead of RAW, but it's still a huge leap from HDV which is the last format I've shot.

But yeah, hopefully I can keep up the pace. I'm feeling really productive and the weather is getting to be good. I think those are correlated.

Too Much Time

I've come to realize that I work better under pressure.

Give me more than enough time, and I'll waste a lot of it. Give me a deadline and I'll get it done.

I've got to figure out a way to convince myself that production starts next week so I will start getting things done.

Today I just played video games. All day. And it was kind of depressing. I don't enjoy playing games the way I used to when I was younger. I like playing them, but I feel guilty when I spend more than 2 hours or so playing a game. Of course, games have to last like 10+ hours. They can't be easily consumable like movies. I don't feel guilty watching movies though. They feel more on par with reading a book or something. There's more substance to it. I suppose if I was trying to be a game designer I might feel better about it. And there are the occassional games that are very inspiring and artful, but I play more than them so I have all of these arbitrary experiences that are basically wastes of time.

But for the most part things are going really well for the movie so far. I only wish I had a casting director and a location manager to handle the supporting cast/background and the locations. Those are the two things I want to work on the least. Probably because they have to do with more scheduling and more people.

I'm also getting really antsy about what camera I'm going to be using. I still don't know because I still don't know what will be available. We're going to be on the cutting edge with this project, and there are two companies, Canon and RED who are pushing that edge and will probably both have new products out before then end of the year. But I really wish I had something to work with now. I'm really itching to just do some shooting and editing. I want to do a music video or something to satisfy my craving to shoot something.

That's part of the problem with being a filmmaker. I get myself worked up and wanting to make something, but it's so much harder to physically produce and practice than it is with many other mediums.

Almost Fall

It's the end of August. It'll be September soon, which means Fall is almost here...

That's both good and bad.

The Good: Fall is the quintessential filmmaking season. At least for me and my friends. It's not time to play/watch football, or eat soup, it's time to shoot movies....and build things. I don't know what it is, but it's appropriate as I'll be building many things for this movie.

It also means it's going to finally be cool outside...which is part of why it's a productive season. But man, summer in Shreveport is so inhospitable. I've forced too many productions in the summer that would have been so much more pleasant a few months later.

The Bad: It's already fall! I feel like I just moved back to Shreveport. The fact that I've been here almost 3.5 months is incredible. I don't feel like I've done enough work. Though I think I've finally got a winner for the script, and so I'll blame the slowdown on that taking longer than expected....and the weather.

But it finally looks like the cast and crew are starting to come together, and I'm very excited about every person I have on board so far. I'm so used to impulse casting and finding people who are available at the last minute and "working" with them, and here I have three leads that I'll be able to collaborate with for four months before shooting. Though all three have been a part of this in some capacity for longer than that. I just have a good feeling about the crop of talent I'm bringing together. It's something that's bigger than me and that's exciting.

Time to Start

15 days since draft 2 was completed. I've since rounded out a draft 2.2 that's more complete and rounded out. We have a full 91 page script now.

I've met with Shane, my engineer, and discussed plans for the rocket.

I feel like I'm right at the point where I have to fully commit to this project going forward. Not that I haven't already, but when it's a year away you take a more lax approach. It's this big thing you're excited about, and working towars, but it's not really real yet. But now that the script is done and we're 5 months from production it's really time to hit the ground running. I'm really going to have to pick up the pace. I'm excited, but it's also kind of terrifying. I'm about to get in over my head and I know it. But that's the fun.

In the words of Captain Steve Zissou, "No one knows what's going to happen and then we film it. That's the whole concept."

Mission Accomplished

July 31st, and I completed Draft 2. Clocks in at 84 pages. It'll probably be expanded a bit more. The ending moves a little fast, but at least I can move on to the next phases of preproduction now.

Hopefully this draft is a little more solid, and I won't do like I did on the first draft and start out loving it and then decide to completely start over.

I love how things evolve though and I hope that it means that things are only getting better. It's just interesting to me how new ideas can pop up out of nowhere. Things that seem like threads you would be planting from the start and carry all the way through, but today when reading through Draft 2, a couple new themes popped up to me by the end. And the movie almost became about something completely new.

It's the same plot. But there are new ideas. I know I'm talking in major generalities, but it's exciting to me as a writer. Sometimes it just feels like you're writing whatever appeals to you at the point of time you're writing. Sometimes I write too funny or too melodramatic and I have to go back and tweak it, but it's just weird to get to the end and go back and see that there's a whole story there that can mean all kinds of things now that you see it from start to finish.

I think I'm just carrying on. But I feel like writing can be a little more blind that it probably seems to people. You can always change things, and you never know how it's going to be until you stop. And even then and especially with movies, you still don't know what it is until you shoot it.

You can be a control freak and try and iron everything out completely, but I think even then, you still never really know.

But yeah, I guess it's time to start casting...and get feedback.

The (s)Low Down

Halfway through July.

I'm having a bit of a creative meltdown. I really wish the Scarlett was out so that I could shoot something.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day listening to my new collection of vinyl records and drawing out shots for GOS that I have stuck in my head. But that wasn't enough, so last night I wrote a short film that I want to shoot as soon as the Scarlett comes out.

I'm just getting antsy. I've outlined the script about 5 or 6 times. The latest outline is on my "drawing board" in my office. But the problem with outlining is that when you reach the end you feel done and it's hard to then go and write. I know this movie pretty well now. It's been gestating for some three years now with the feature being in the writing process for about 10 months now...and I only have one and a half drafts to show for it.

But I'm just so ready to make it. The writing keeps feeling less and less important. I feel like I should bring some other people on board to maybe bring a fresh take to it.

In other news, I just bought all the pieces for my editing computer in preparation for the Scarlett which will hopefully be out in the next two months or so. It'll be my first time building a computer from scratch, but I'm excited about it and hopefully it'll work because I'll be doing some very important work on it.

Hopefully, I can bring myself to finish the script before August. As much as I like coming up with stories and figuring them out, I don't think I have the patience or discipline for writing features. I just keep wanting to move on with production and forget about the writing because I have the story long before I have the script. And it's disheartening to get a lot of writing done only to later change your mind about it or decide you don't like it and it you have to do it all over again.

The Big Picture

It's interesting to kind of figure out what people's different expectations are for both a movie in general and for this project specifically.

The more I do this the more I realize just how different everyone's point of view is. I know this is all sort of vague, but everyone seems to just look for something different when reading this script. I'm mostly referencing reactions to the first draft as the second one is still underway. Some people look at the specific "moments" looking for some defining scene, others look at the basic plot, others look at the characters. Certainly all are parts to the whole, but increasingly I realize that it's very difficult for anyone else but me to really get the big picture until it's done. I guess it makes sense, but it's something that's important to be aware of when receiving critical feedback.

For instance, while some elements may not be by the book or what's standard as far as expectations go, sometimes that's the point, or it's there to serve another effect. And so without seeing it all, it can seem like a shortcoming.

It's also tricky because the script really is just a starting point for the movie. While I think writing is extremely important and a good script is necessary, it's still not everything. You can read scripts a lot differently than they'll be carried out. I think a good exercise for GOS might be to read scripts for other ambitious films. Like the script for something like The Life Aquatic or Eternal Sunshine; they're probably misleading, though it'd be hard to tell going backwards.

I guess ultimately there's no way to put the aesthetic of the movie on the page, and my job as the director is to help everyone perceive the pages in the right way. I mean if you have a scene of a guy fixing a bowl of cereal and eating it, done in a traditional movie of the week way can be extremely boring. But done in a certain way can be interesting.

It's important to just note that anything can be done in an interesting way, I think.

The Juices Are Flowing

I spent another night the other night keeping myself up thinking about GOS. It seems that nights when I'm not quite ready to sleep, I lie in bed and just think about all of the little pieces that make up this project. It's weird because it almost seems to be the clearest to me then...right "between dreaming and awake." Cheesy, I know. But it's strange how late knight thoughts tend to seem so different and surreal maybe. It sucks in the case of a movie project because it basically just gets me excited and it makes it harder to sleep.

It seems to have paid of these last few days as I've been really productive. I took myself to lunch at Superior today as I seem to be the only person I know that still loves that place. I brought my notepad and did some outlining of the new plot.

I've come to realize that writing has nothing to do with planning. Brainstorming sessions, plot oulines, character outlines, they don't work like writing professors tell you they do. You don't literally take from that material when you finally sit down and write. For me, at least, I don't put all my notes in front of me and try and figure out the scenes like math problems. All the "pre-writing" I do or even the real writing I do in early drafts, it all just serves to get me thinking about it. I don't write down ideas for records or to refer to later. Most sheets of ideas I have I never look back on. They're just a way to get my mind focused on thinking about the story so when I do sit down and type up the script I have a database of ideas that have been worked through in my head that I uncontiously reference or build from. It's like anything else where you just need practice. The more I write GOS the better it'll be...that doesn't mean the more I edit it. Because I'm not editing. I'm just writing it again and it's different and better.

I'm happy where the story is going right now. Though I was happy when I was writing the first draft which I don't like anymore. And it's overwhelming to think about how many more times I may do this before shooting. I don't want to make myself stop at any point, but given how much I've changed the story between Draft 1 and 2, if I start really planning a production based on any draft I may be wasting effort.

So at some point I'm going to have to pin myself to one draft and work it out so I can start pre-production for it.

I also listened to the "Making Of" commentaries last night as well as Ben's soundtrack. It all got me really excited about making a movie again. I don't know if it's just hearing about making a movie in general that got me excited or if it's more about hearing about me making a movie about my experiences making movies that got me excited about what I do. But I love Ben's score and how I will always associate it with my love for making movies and it just gets me pumped for production when I listen to it.

I really can't wait to see this project through.

Slowly, but Surely

Draft 2, is coming along well. I'm only 20 pages in, but I decided to start over from scratch rather than reworking what I had already commited to in Draft 1. So hopefully by just having the exercise of Draft 1 under my belt, I bring the best of it over while creating new material that better caters to the story I'm trying to craft.

But I really like how it's going so far. It's more confident than the first draft. I think I'm starting to get comfortable with the characters and their environment and it's making it easier to write.

I'm keeping busy too. At any given time I'm working on at least 2 websites if not 3 or 4. And Paranormalz is really about to take off and I'm devoting a lot of time to it.

Oh, and Shane has started engineering the spaceship, which is a fun process to go through this time around because I have a much more specific and sensical design and I have someone who knows what he's doing figure out the logistics of building it. We'll apparently be able to build it in 5 different sections so that we show it's progression throughout the movie.

Settling In

I now have my own place in Shreveport for the next two years. I've moved into my "office" complete with a dry erase "idea" board to make it seem professional, though right now it has a big sketch of Humpty Dumpty on it.

This week will mark the first time I feel like I have all the time in the world to dedicate to writing. My schedule is cleared and it's just me and my computer.

Hopefully that means I'll get draft 2 of GOS done.

But I have yet another project in the pipeline. A web series called "Paranormalz" created by my good friend, Keith. I'm helping produce it as well as designing the website and doing the post production work...and maybe at some point acting. It's an ongoing thing, but we'll probably only be doing roughly an episode a month so it shouldn't be too distracting.

You can check out the website at: www.paranormalz.com

We're shooting the first episode in two and a half weeks.

Not much more news on the GOS front. Still waiting on the RED. Still waiting for newer tech and better prices before I build my new editing rig. Though I just bought a new monitor.

I don't have a lot to talk about in the post so I guess I'll stop here.

School's Out Forever

Yeah. I graduated almost a week ago now. It was kinda bogus because I don't get my degree for another 3 weeks. The registrar can't even give me a proof of graduation to show my apartment people so I can get out of my lease for another two weeks. But I'm leaving Tuesday anyway.

I'm so caught up in moving and trying to get settled back in Shreveport that I haven't had much time to focus on GOS. Hopefully once I get there I won't have the continuous distractions I've had lately.

The good news is that we have a substantial budget. I've got $13,000 saved up so far. That's almost 3 times the budget of my last film, and I'm still 8 months from production.

I saw this quote on a friend's facebook status and it sums up exactly what I think directing is about:

"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I don't even know who that person is, but I like the way he thinks.

Despite being busy I have at least crafted a new outline for the next draft of GOS which is a decent departure from the first draft. I've made the relationships between the three main characters a lot closer and therefore hopefully more intense and dramatic.

That fairytale warm-up from my last post is also gaining momentum and may become problematic in scale in terms of interrupting pre-production for GOS. Either way I'm very excited about both and I can't wait to start making movies again. I've got a lot of pent up filmmaking energy right now.

Full-time Filmmaker

In 9 days, I will have graduated college and will then officially be a full-time filmmaker for at least the next year. This is the most exciting thing ever.

I don't think I've even touched the GOS script since my last post. Finals are distracting. I've got many new ideas though.

Moviesauce even has a new short based on a fairty tale poem that might serve as a warm up in the fall with the new equiment I'm getting for GOS.

I'm very curious about how much money I'm going to be starting with. I have 3k right now, and I'm wondering how much I might be accumulating for graduation. On one hand people get cars and trips to Europe for graduation so it could be a substantial amount, but on the other, when people just give you money I feel like they're less inclined to give as much as they might spend on a trip.

I know we're still way off from making the movie, but the closer it gets, the more the reality of the whole thing sets in. You start thinking about what all you have to do for such a big project and you feel lazy until you start getting it done.

It starts

It technically started a while ago. If you want to get really technical, it started around fall of 2005. That's when I started developing the idea for the first short film "Getting Outer Space", which I shot in the summer of 2006. It's viewable here (under films): www.evanfalbaum.com

Now it's April, three years later. I've been working on adapting the short into a feature length screenplay since the fall. I've been working on it for at least 6 months already.

I've assembled a partial cast and crew, though at this point I'm just trying to get through the final stretch of my education. I'll hopefully be graduating in 5 weeks and then it's full steam ahead on this film.

I don't plan to shoot until roughly January of 2010 so I've got quite a while to work everything out, and I intend to use that time fully.

One of the first things aside from continuing to refine the script is going to be to get a website up where I can maybe transfer these blog posts to as well as host other stuff that documents the process of making this movie. I want the production to be fairly transparent and being that it will be an extremely important project for me, I want to document everything pretty well. In case I can't shoot a proper "making of", I want to have this production diary.

But if you're looking for insights into the script or anything, you won't be getting them. I don't want to sacrifice the integrity of the film by saying too much. I just want the way I do it to be remembered.

I'd like to help build interest in the project too by posting frequent updates and insights into what we're doing and hopefully that will help to build somewhat of a fanbase of people that maybe feel like they too have some sort of stake in the project. I'd like to do a web series or something that documents it as well. Who knows what will happen at this point. That's the fun of the first post. I can look back and laugh at how clueless I was on day one...even though this isn't really day one.

But in a year from now hopefully I'll have a completed film that is something I really proud of. And that's when I'll look back through these posts.

I'm rambling now. At this point I don't think it's important to update more than once a week if that so don't get too anxious if there is in fact anybody reading this at this point.