I’ve been putting off this post until I had a final word on my DGC application (I figure a little superstition never hurt anyone) but the process is still ongoing and it’s been a very long while. So, I’m not going to talk about the DGC, just the other things going on in my film world.
Location scouting in waist-high snow.
The (second) biggest time ‘sucker’ lately is the short film I’m going to be making myself. I’ve got the script mapped out and partially written but the middle bits are bothering me. My brain is consumed with trying to figure out how to fix this problem but anything it’s come up with so far is ridiculous. I do have a working logline: A woman who gets lost during a solo hike, ends up a hostage with only a frightened little girl to plead with for her freedom. It’s a little clumsy right now and still needs work but the essence is there.
I’ve found the location I want to shoot at and am fairly certain I can do all the camera work in 2 days (with VERY early mornings and late nights). My cast will be 3 people and a dog (my own) and I’ve got 2 of the people locked in. I have decided I will be shooting 1080p on the Canon C100 (not the Mark II, unfortunately) because it handles low light well and will provide a bit of grittiness. I’ll need to get my hands on the camera before I shoot to make sure I’m comfortable with it (all my familiarity with it thus far has been virtual) but, right now, I’m thinking hand held and/or steadicam to add to that grittiness a bit.
I’m still working on my sound and lighting knowledge – either of these could easily break the movie if done poorly – but I think I’ve found a couple local courses to help augment my own studies.
I know how crazy it sounds to be doing so much of the work myself but that was the point of this little project. So far, I’m writer, producer, director, DP, cinematographer, sound tech and editor. I’ve already enlisted some extra hands for the shooting days to help with hauling gear, etc. but, otherwise, I’m determined to take on as much as I can.
Plus, it helps that I just finished reading Robert Rodriguez’s inspiring Rebel Without a Crew. His ignorance of how “things are supposed to be done” was actually responsible for a lot of the creativity in El Mariachi (as was a lack of funds) and, if nothing else, I want to try and emulate that same spirit.
That’s a lot of babbling (which is what happens when you don’t update 
a blog regularly) but maybe some of you are making your own first film or are just generally interested in the frenetic thought process. If not, oops.
I do have one final bit of news to share:
SOULLESS WILL BE SHOWING AT THE TORONTO SHORT FILM FESTIVAL ON MARCH 20!!!
