January is going to be a busy month for me. As I said before, three films are down, four to go. These four are all ATL jobs, and are every Friday-Saturday for the next four weeks when school starts up again on the 7th.
Week 1 – Director of Photography
This is a sci-fi period film, taking place in the 50s about a spaceship that crashes into a barn and a young boy is the only one that believes they’re good. The script has gone through a variety of location changes.
First it was interior, barn, night. Mysterious and dramatic. We have to shoot during the day, so we would have blacked out the outside of the barn to fake night inside.
Production team had some trouble finding a barn, so it switched to night, exterior, in a field – meaning it would be shot day for night, something I hate. And the director knows that.
I was able to convince the director to keep searching for a barn, and they finally found one. The only problem is the sides are open, so now it’s day, interior, which I kind of like.
When the director gives his story pitch to people that ask about it, they generally say, “Oh, like ET.” I think that by doing the movie in the day time, it will at least visually make the film different and break from the typical “aliens only crash at night” business.
Week 2 – Producing – The Return
This film is about a hostage situation in a dystopian future. One location, which makes life easy.
My main job with this is to get futuristic looking army vehicles. And the director doesn’t want to pay a lot for food, something I might have to talk to him about in the near future.
Week 3 – Production Design
Plain and simple, this film is about a guy that swallows a seed before his wedding and turns into a tree.
I just had a 20 minute conversation with the director about the science of metamorphosing from a human to a tree. Does he just become a straight-up tree with a suit? Or is he more of a hybrid tree-human, like an Ent?
I’m really looking forward to designing this film, it should be a lot of fun.
Week 4 – Direct
My movie. It’s about a guy that sells his soul for the corner office. I’ll probably, or at least try, to keep detailed updates, since I know the most about what goes into making this movie.
Since I’m last, and have been working on other people’s projects, not a lot is done with mine. I still need actors and locations, and just about everything else.
