Production Update #44: Great shoot... and another one on the horizon

A special thanks to everyone who pitched in on the Sunday July 12 shoot. We rolled about 400 feet of Kodak 7205 during the bright, sunny afternoon -- tracking 2 actors on horseback through some fairly remote countryside. But braving all those deer ticks, horse flies, and 5 foot tall thorny weeds was totally worth it. I screened the footage at Colorlab, and it looks terrific!

Thanks to:

* Aaron Janowski for taking so many still photos (now posted on Facebook). You grabbed 200+ shots in 4 hours, way more than we've taken during 5 years of production. And boy do we need them!

* Kenny Ditto for carefully tail slating each shot so as not to freak out the horses.

* Brian Belida for patiently getting that ND filter off the zoom lens (twice!) when it jammed... before Slade had a meltdown in the middle of nowhere.

* Gordon Masters for being totally Zen during the whole shoot. Wait until you see some of that ambience synched up with the picture. The birds. The stream. The grass in the wind. It really brings the footage to life.

* Novia Campbell for not stabbing your husband in his sleep after waking up with soar leg muscles for the next week (3 hours in the saddle can do that.)

* Alice Myers for acting as our veteran horse wrangler.

* Luther Myers for your patience in the heat as we took multiple takes at each camera set-up.

* And Bob Sapora for not dying in Seattle. We really need you to come home and help us finish this thing up...

Next up: We've tentatively set two shoots in mid-August:

Saturday August 8

Monday August 10 -- we'll pickup the last horse sequence with Talia & Luther in the paddock

Already confirmed for these days:

* Novia Campbell -- actor "Talia"

* Gordon Masters -- production audio recordist

* Bob Sapora -- cinematographer

* Jonathan Slade -- producer/director

More details to come as they develop...

Production Update #43: Another Summer Shoot…

To All the Heary Souls Who Still Think We'll Finish Slade's Never-Ending Indie Film Experience:

Yes, it has required a ridiculous amount of patience (5+ years), a good deal of cash raised from freelance jobs, and a near-foolish belief in the intangible, but we've finally reached the 70 minute mark -- that's right, 70 minutes of a 16mm feature film locked and in the can. Just 12 pages of script left to shoot to finally wrap this thing up. And the goal is to do this in the next 2 months:

SHOOT: This Sunday July 12, 2008 2pm-6pm at Luther and Alice Myers' Farm near Fridinger Mill.

We will be hiking through the tall grass and woods of the back country (including a little marsh) of Carroll County, so come prepared with long pants, hiking boots that can get wet, hat, insect repellent, sunscreen, and a water bottle.

The footage will be part of a travel montage -- 8 to10 "ride-bys" of 2 actors (Campbell, Myers) on horseback as they travel cross country.

That's why we'll need a few extra hands -- and strong backs -- to help carry the camera, tripod, slate and audio gear over rural trails and through a field or two. I just finished scouting out all the camera positions this morning and came home with a dozen deer ticks in tow.

And yes, we will plan the classic indie film meal break around 6pm -- probably pizza delivered from Pizza Garden in Manchester (as usual, I'll spring for that).

Barring bad weather, equipment failure, and other unspecified catastrophe, it should be a fairly straight forward, but physically challenging shoot...

If you have half a day, want some exercise, and need a cool item to throw on a resume (Production Assistant on a truly independent feature), I'm sure we can put you to good use.

As always, thanks so much to EVERYONE for their continued patience and faith in this project... or at least for humoring me and pretending you do.

Confirmed  cast & crew for Sunday July 12 shoot:

* Novia Campbell -- actor "Talia"

* Luther Myers -- actor "Luke"

* Gordon Masters -- production audio recordist

* Jonathan Slade -- writer/director -- I will be filling in for Bob Sapora as camera operator since he is on vacation on the West Coast.

* Alice Myers -- horse wrangler

As some of you know, I've been awarded an academic sabbatical by McDaniel College during the Spring 2010 semester to wrap up principal photography on this project, and to work on post-production and marketing for the film.



Production Update #42: A Short, but Successful Shoot

Thanks to everyone who scrambled at the last minute to pull off this half-day shoot.  We shot about 300 feet of color 16mm Kodak stock, and I hope to drive it down to Colorlab on Monday. If everything turns out okay (focus, exposure, framing, audio, no hairs in the gate) we'll have an additional 3 minutes of our feature completed. 

Steve Malcolm: Thanks for a wonderfully understated yet funny performance... and for bringing those two extra extension cords.

George Maurer: Thanks for driving us around in the meat truck on your day off.

Gordon Masters: Thanks for dragging yourself out to your third production audio gig in 24 hours. And staying awake enough to point the mic in the right direction..

Bob Sapora: Thanks for racing up Route 30 to help us get those beautiful 'golden hour' shots...

Novia Campbell: Thanks for letting us celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary together... by shooting film... with you in a wedding dress... a really scummy wedding dress, but...

Also want to thank Carol, Linda, Mary Kay, and Gretchen for once again allowing their husbands to work on this never-ending "hair-brained" project…

Production Update #41: Before the Green Leaves Vanish…

First a note on editing: I spent the latter part of August cutting every frame of footage we shot this summer, and we're now at the 60 minute mark -- that's 60 minutes of a 16mm feature locked and in the can. Just 18 pages of script left to shoot to finally finish off this project.

Which brings me to this weekend.

Tomorrow Saturday October 4, I've managed to wrangle up most of our dedicated band of indie film crazies to snag a few more exteriors before the leaves turn totally yellow.  We still need some green foliage in the background in order to match the sequence we're now working on.

And so:

SHOOT: This Saturday October 4, 2008 4pm-8pm at George & Mary Kay Maurer's Farm near Westminster, MD 21157.

Scenes will include:

1) Meat Truck: Ext. Truck Drive-by, left to right. [daylight stock] (George Maurer, Novia Campbell)

2) Guitarman housecall: Talia does another check-up; nothing wrong medically. Just wanted a little conversation [daylight stock] (Day player: Steve Malcolm)

3) Butcher house: Ext. Meat truck arrives. George drops off Talia. No ride to interstate. [tungsten stock/dark]

AUDIO Only: Sound of Meat Truck rattling along a country road (from inside of van, pickup George line: "You might want to hold on. It's gonna be bumpy." ; "Something wrong? You're awful quiet..."

Barring bad weather, equipment failure, and other unspecified catastrophe, it should be a fairly short shoot...

This film will probably kill me. But only because it'll take another 45 years to finish. Nobody said indie was easy!

Production Update #40: Last Major Film Shoot of Summer 2008

This weekend, August 9-10, we will attempt to complete the sequence in which our main character makes "house calls" to rural residents...

SHOOT: This Saturday August 9, 2008 from 1pm-9pm at the Dell's Dairy Farm outside Westminster, MD 21157

Scenes will include:

1) Dairy Farm: Talia completes house call on farmer; loses wedding ring in cow pasture [daylight stock] (day player: Jim Slade)

2) Dairy Farm: Talia walks on way to house call, past Holstein cows in field [daylight stock]

3) Old Schoolhouse: Talia asks for directions from man sweeping steps of school house [daylight stock]

4) Country Road: Talia walks on way to house call; long walk through telephoto [daylight stock]

5) Doc Flynt's Porch/Night: Talia & Flynt (stand-in) talk in the dark. [tungsten stock]

SHOOT: This Sunday August 10, 2008 1pm-5pm at Tony Sowers' farmhouse outside Westminster, MD 21157

Scenes will include:

1) Farmhouse Porch: Talia completes house call on Vincent, lice. [daylight stock] (day player: Robert Kachur)

2) Woodpile: Talia walks by woodpile on way to house call [daylight stock]

3) Meat Truck: WS Driveby on gravel road [daylight stock]

4) Crossing Small River: Talia walks past a Road Closed sign during her travels [daylight stock]

And yes, we will plan a meal break on Saturday -- probably pizza again from Pizza Garden in Manchester -- around 6:30pm.

We could also use a few production assistants on these shoots because we are moving quickly between multiple locations -- and we might need a few male PAs to double as extras here and there (passersby) on Talia's long walks...

As always, thanks for continuing to push this 'indie film" rock up the hill. Hope to see you this weekend...