| The Slash's Blog - 2007 |
December 3, 2007 - 10:27am EST
Well, it's stopped snowing so much now, though it still seems icy, and my mom
seems to think that the power could still go out at any moment. I just finished
reading Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts. It was a good book.
Just rather overwhelming with all of the technical aspects and the fact that I
have never really tried to shoot a movie in my life. I still haven't even fully pulled
together an entire crew to shoot with, or all the actors. By the way (hehem) if
you're reading this and you're good at acting, drop me a line, will you? I've
acted in a movie before, I've been in countless plays, hell, I even practically
directed a play... but haven't ever been behind the camera. I should stop
worrying, I mean, it's not like the movie will be going on any website or
anything... oh, well, scratch that last part. I'm sure it will be fine though, I've
done crazier stuff than this before. Also, I've read up (like the previously
mentioned book) and I've been shooting a lot of stuff for practice, and I'm sure
it will be fine. I've learned a lot being on a film set, and I have people to back
me up. What's the worst that happens? I miss a shot? It's my first movie and
this production company's first movie, what do people expect? Then again, it
also has the chance to be brilliant! Okay, let's not get our hopes up here, but it
has the potential to be really good. Still not snowing... Jere Hochman (our
Superintendent of Schools in Amherst) is going to get skewered for not having
it be a two hour delay, and instead letting us off school for the day. But I'm not
complaining, it gives me more time to work on my shotboard. I had no idea
how much work this was going to be when I first decided to make this movie.
But it'll be good, you know, I have good people with me, and we'll pull it off...
We just might be a little like those ducklings up there for a little while.....
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 4, 2007 - 6:30am EST
Ah, what I do for my craft. Yesterday I shoveled the driveway and cleared off
the car, and shoveled the walk and shoveled the back porch. For what? Well,
partly for the money! Ka-ching. Well, actually I can only use half of what I
earned, since my parents seemed to think it is a good idea that I have some
money in the bank account for college. Still, money going to the movie though
is pretty good. Why am I writing this at 6:30 in the morning? Oh yeah, because
I have to go to school; another sacrifice of mine. Today probably won't be so
bad though, I'm gonna bring a couple of scripts and try and pitch the movie to
my possible AD (Assistant Director), my possible Technician, and a possible
PA (Production Assistant). It's really my lack of crew members that is holding
me back at this point in time. Once I have everyone I need in the cast and
crew, then I can really start scheduling rehearsals and Tech meetings. Not so
worried anymore about the quality of the film. Just gonna try and do my best
and get everything down. Sometimes I just wonder why they bother teaching us
all these different subjects in school when they could be teaching us awesome
subjects like, oh, I don't know... How To Shoot Your Very Own Movie! Nope,
that would never fly with anyone. Too bad, too - I know at least one person
who'd go to that class. Now either I'm hearing the noises inside my head,
which are not unusual, or I'm hearing my school bus. Nope, I checked, it's the
noises in my head. Can you be arrested for abuse of a blog? Well better get
serious, just to get on the safe side. Anyway, I feel like setting goals for myself
each day keeps me on task during this stressful process, like my goal
yesterday was to finish my shotboard, did I do it? No... But my goal today is to
talk to those three people and try to get them on board, I figure if I can do that,
I'll be well on my way to being able to move on past recruitment.
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 5, 2007 - 4:12pm EST
Well, the days definitely feel like they are getting shorter. I just realized that I
have, at most, 20 days to pull this entire movie together before we shoot it.
And that's not even getting to the editing I'm going to have to do
post-production. Although, it feels more like it's actually going to happen. I've
got myself a PA and an AD as well. Doesn't mean that it won't still be difficult, it
just means that I've got a couple more people around me who actually may be
interested in getting this movie to fly. I guess I sort of met my goal for
yesterday... not quite, but I'm well on my way. I think my biggest "block" right
now is the shotboard. I just can't seem to get myself to sit down and do it.
Besides that, I am now faced with the challenge of having to schedule all of my
actors and crew members to be able to make it to every shoot they need to be
at. Not to mention that I'm still not sure if the cemetery we'll be shooting at,
actually is the right place for us. It's not that I don't think it's a great shooting
location, it's just that I feel like it may not have enough heat... or places for our
people to alleviate themselves of certain needs. I have to say it's really odd
being in school with all of these people who don't know what's going on with
this (or that it even exists) or how much work it's going to be... They're just living
in a different world, I guess, from me. Every chance I get, I start thinking about
the logistics or the different shots I'm going to need, or who I have to pitch the
movie to next. It's definitely a great deal of stress, not to mention that as the
days go by and it gets colder, I can't help but wonder whether the climates will
be harsher on us than I originally thought. That's just me worrying again though.
I do that too much, I just need to breathe in - and out - in - and out. Ah, that feels
much better.
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 7, 2007 - 4:35pm EST
Ah, the weekend - yes the perfect time for relaxation and hanging out with
friends and ignoring school work and going about your business with the
feeling like you won't have to get up early tomorrow morning. If only that were
so. That dream came to an end at the period that followed that sentence.
Between the schoolwork and LSSE rehearsals and, oh yeah, that thing they
call "a movie," it seems that my weekend will be anything but relaxing. Now, I'm
used to work on weekends, but not like this. You see, remember how I put off
doing the shotboard for the movie? Well, it has to get done at some point, and
that means this weekend, and the owner of that particular job, is me. Then I'm
also going to put together the master schedule this weekend and send it out to
my cast & crew, and - speaking of - I still need two actors, and I need to find a
PA, a Props/Makeup Person, and I need to talk to my possible Technician who
has no idea that a movie is going to happen. I do seem to be under a lot of
stress right now. I suppose I brought it on myself, though. Now you're probably
thinking, "Gosh, couldn't he write about something interesting, rather than just
telling us his laundry list of things he has to accomplish?" Just Blogging what's
on my mind. And what's on my mind is the work I'm going to have to overcome
this weekend. Oh, I should also probably drop by Best Buy, to see if they have
extra-long cables that will run from our camera to the monitor. However, there
is good news (and it has nothing to do with that little Gecko) - I finally have an
AD, who I think will be perfect for the job, and someone who I think can
thoroughly back me up when I need it. I've got three great actors, three talented
crew members, and probably great support from my parents. With those
things, I think I can pull just about anything off.
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 16, 2007 - 8:06am EST
And the snow falls again. It sure has been an interesting week. A 2 hour delay
on Monday, a snow day on Thursday, and now my LSSE rehearsal has been
cancelled. It has been instrumental in helping finish much of my work. Not, you
know, all of it, but most of it. I went over to a friend's house yesterday for a
party, and we played in the snow for about 30 - 40 minutes. Any illusions about
how temperature will (or won't, rather) affect my film set, have been wiped
away. It was cold! I'm starting to rethink my sanity in deciding to shoot it in the
snow. Was I trying to make it hard on myself? I mean, I could've written a short
for the summer, or the fall, or even the spring; but no, I had to write it for winter.
Darn me! I just re-read that last part, and I've decided that anyone who's
reading this out there (which would make up a total of about three people)
must think I'm a seriously depressed psychotic. I assure you I'm not... not that if
I actually was a psychotic you would believe me. I should probably get off the
topic of psychosis and back to the topic of this blog, which I think would have
something to do with film making. Alas, my sorrows continue, for although I
have all the equipment I need, I still need two actors and preferably another PA
(I should mention, for the sake of my wonderful PA at this moment, that we use
PA loosely, as they will also be doing many other jobs as well. For those of
you that have never been on a film set, this means nothing to you, and you
probably should have skipped over it, for his sake though, I thought I should let
you know). I am working with a skeleton crew (sounds like Sci Fi doesn't it?)
but they will learn what to do, and it will be fine. Also, on the topic of my AD, if
any of you have viewed her bio in the Cast & Crew section of this website,
what she says about herself having no experience is nonsense, well at least for
my film set it is. She is the perfect person for the job, and has just as much
experience as the rest of my crew, movie making wise. That's all I have to say
on the topic of that. Just finished drafting up the schedule, and I will probably
put it on the site at some point, along with the call sheets for the film. I have no
doubt of many things about this shoot; the filming will be tough, there will be
some tears on the part of one of my actors*, a lot of hardship and lugging
equipment, but we'll do it, and pull off a great movie while we're at it.
- Joshua Wolfsun
*Only tears because she has to cry in
the movie, no real tears, god forbid!
December 22, 2007 – 7:14am EST
It’s early in the morning, no one is up yet, a James Taylor CD is playing, and life
is good. Especially good, because school is over for the break, so I can focus
on making this movie and I don’t have to worry about doing my homework or
anything like that. It is also good because over the last week I nailed down
practically the rest of my crew, my two “flash-back actors,” and I’m starting to
believe that this movie may actually happen. I still haven’t finished the
shotboard, but I’ll have time for that. I've probably been stressing out more than
my fair share this week, and I might have possibly told you about my stress
thereby dumping stress onto you (which will henceforth be referred to as
“stress-dumping”). If you were on the receiving end, sorry about that! At the
same time, I think that to stress is possibly the most healthy thing to do while
making a movie (like I have much experience with it), because as anyone who
has ever organized anything ever tells you; if you don’t take what you’re doing
seriously, no one else will, and it will never happen. However, that being said,
don’t stress as a rule. I learned through Building Harmonies, and now this
movie, that too much stress is not a good thing. It turns out though, that I had
nothing to stress about. I have everyone that I need, and everything is good. (By
the way, this blog is quite therapeutic, if you’re under lots of stress, you might
think about starting one.) With school over, and a full cast and crew, my life
should be a lot easier. Has it been stressful? Yes. Has it been a lot of work?
Yes. Would I want it any other way? No. No way. The two go hand in hand, the
pain and the happiness. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love this.
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 23, 2007 - 8:18pm EST
And so the countdown begins. That sounds really ominous doesn't it? Well, if
any of you have seen the schedule, today was the first meeting for the cast and
crew of "Keep Living." And both meetings went very well. Granted, only two of
my actors were able to make the meeting today, but that still went very well and
was very useful in blocking some of the scenes. The meeting with the crew also
went extremely well. They were all very hard-working, and I was surprised that
we were able to accomplish what we did today, testing wise, with the amount of
experience that the entire crew had. They all are brilliant people, and after
seeing how we worked together today, I could not think of a better team to have
put together. I am at a loss for words really. Honestly, I'm quite surprised; a lot
of times I write sort of grim "stressed out" stuff on this blog, but honestly, I have
very little to complain about. The crew is incredible, the cast is incredible, and
this movie is shaping up to be awesome. Sure, I had my times when I had my
doubts, and sure it's not gonna' be a jog in the park by any means, but I don't
see with this cast and crew what we won't be able to pull off. I have always
believed that this movie will be good, but now more than ever I feel like it's
really going to be great. These meetings with these people have assured me
that it's going to work really well. Yes, I did get the report that it's supposed to
thaw all week, but we'll work through it, and, yes, we are having some problems
with the sound equipment, but we'll work through it. And, as a really big one on
the plus side, it seems that we may have gotten a small monitor for FREE! How
incredible is that? I guess this movie is really happening. And there isn't a
better group of people I could be shooting with. Oh, and I also designed the
official "Riverwolf Productions" logo today with my mother (who, by the way is
very good at Photoshop); it took us about an hour, but I feel pretty good about
it. It's one of those times, right now, when I am truly awed. Awed by the fact that
something that started as just an inkling of an idea in my head one early
Sunday morning, has brought so many people together, and will actually
happen. It is times like these during my life that I feel truly blessed by the people
around me, and by our ability to accomplish great things. It is humbling. I don't
quite know why, but I have to say one more time, that this group of people, with
whom I am working, are truly incredible, and I would like to thank them for
coming along and joining this project. Maybe I need a Dr. Pepper - sometimes
this "touchy feely" stuff isn't so good for me. Anyhow, they're all great, and
things are looking up... except for that little problem with the sound... ;-)
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 27, 2007 - 7:59am EST
Well, it definitely has been an... interesting week, if nothing else. I've been
trying to work through the sound troubles, but it seems that we're going to have
to shoot with only one microphone, instead of the two that I had originally
planned to do it with. It's alright though, everything else seems to be fine, and I
even figured out how to get it to look like our camera is flying through the air,
without using a ladder. Overall, things are going well. We have a good camera,
good sound equipment, and a good cast & crew: Go figure. Then again, the
snow really has thawed quite a lot, so it's going to be a bit of a challenge to
make it look like our actors are actually shoveling in the snow. Why do I wake
up so early in the mornings? Then again, why would you know, I mean it's
possible that you are one of the three people who come to this site who don't
know me, and you would have no idea why I wake up so early. Unless, you're a
psychiatrist, cause then you could do an analysis-y thingy. Some people say
I'm crazy, and I may have to agree with them. It's the 27 hour countdown to
shooting, now. Our first shoot begins tomorrow at 11am, and the only thing I'm
possibly worried about is that some people might forget (we had a few people
forget about the meeting on Sunday), but it probably won't be a problem. I've
got a really good crew, and a really good cast, and it seems like - at this
juncture - that we will finish (grandly) what we started. Time to find some food...
- Joshua Wolfsun
December 29, 2007 - 3:46pm EST
Second day of shooting. It ended earlier than expected, and I made the right
call. I guess I should back track , though, to yesterday, when the first day of
shooting took place. In the morning I got everything outside. We were going to
shoot the first scene, hence the need for the outdoors. There was one
enormous problem, though: there was no snow on the driveway. In the first
scene, Joan & Mary go outside to shovel the driveway, so obviously the lack of
snow was going to be an issue. Except, we saved our collective ass when we
came up with a brilliant idea: Bring the snow to the driveway! There were piles
and mounds of snow left from when the snow plow had come and plowed the
driveway, so the whole crew and the cast members that were there pitched in
and we covered up (repeatedly through the whole day) parts of the driveway
that needed to have snow on them. That was a difficulty and slowed things
down a lot, but besides that, the shooting went extremely well on Friday. Of
course there is a learning curve, so my cast and crew didn't know exactly what
to do right off the bat, but as the day went by, things got much easier. Besides
the snow, it was #@$%ing cold. Well, it actually wasn't, but after standing out
there for five hours with only about two breaks, one began to feel cold. When
we all came inside, we couldn't move our fingers anymore, and one of the PAs
who was holding the slate began to shiver and shake it violently. Fortunately,
however, upon looking at the footage, it was great. And on the plus side, my
cast and crew didn't murder me on the spot. Today (Day 2) was much better.
We shot in a cemetery for scene 3, and so we didn't have to move snow. There
was also a lot less action in the scene than in scene one, which made it easier
(technically) to shoot. For Day 1, it took us 4 1/2 hours to shoot the scene; today
it really only took us 3 1/2 hours to shoot scene three. As previously expected,
my cast and crew work wonderfully with each other. We've had a lot of fun on
the shoots over the last two days, and I'll almost be sorry to say goodbye to it. It
has been a wonderful experience shooting with these people, and I think we've
grown closer... of course, many of them I see every day, but it might just be the
LSSE effect. The next stage of the "Filmmaking Process" should be fun as well,
though - after tomorrow I move on to the editing room. Tomorrow should be a
great shoot as well, and will be nice to not have to shoot in the freezing cold.
Shooting over the past three days has been fun, I've learned a lot, and I've got a
great movie coming, but.... I swear, never, ever again, never again will I ever
shoot a movie outside, in the winter! It's just too cold!
- Joshua Wolfsun
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| The Slash - Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Get it? No. The Slash: Writer SLASH Director SLASH Producer SLASH Editor |
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Riverwolf Productions
Riverwolf Productions