New movie.

We started working on a new short last weekend, Overtime. It's going to be part of that anthology movie I mentioned a while back.

It's been interesting so far for many reasons. A couple of big ones: we're shooting on the relatively new Canon 7D, and we're working with cinematographer David Brower for the first time. David has forgotten more about filmmaking than I'll ever know, and watching him do his thing has been educational to say the least. Also, since he's taking care of the camera, I've actually been spending more time with the actors.

David even managed to find time to take some behind-the-scenes photos with his iPhone. Like this one...


Also, that Reel Blood I mentioned lives up to the hype. Looks great, cleans up easy. Woot.

This and that.

Chuck, Sanford, Tim, Michael, and I met down at Trap's on Sunday, and I think we finally finished up Interplanetary pick-up shots. I'll know for sure when we get the footage back from the lab, hopefully sometime next week. Here's Chuck about to get his lid on...



Melissa stopped by on Tuesday to do some ADR. She knocked it out of the park, as usual. It was great catching up with Melissa (and seeing photos of her new baby!).

Stopped by Eric McGinty's last night and heard the first bits of the music he is working on for Interplanetary. It's sounding awesome. And strange and cool and creepy... well, words can't do it justice. But hearing the direction McGinty is taking with the score has me even more excited about the movie.

And Erik Jambor informed me today that we already got a little Memphis press for the October Interplanetary screening...

"On Its Way: The Indie Memphis Film Festival"

Thanks to Jambor for the heads-up and The Bloodshot Eye for the mention.

Otherwise, it's just been day job and mixing/editing. As I expect it to be until mid-October (with some breaks for Rock Band 2 and the Sidewalk film fest).

Friday night pick-ups.

Went down to Sanford's (awesome) place to get a few pick-up shots of TV monitor playback stuff. And forgot the lenses! I really need to get my brain together. Anyways, after a quick trip home to get said lenses, we knocked out the shots pretty quickly.



We filmed in Sanford's workshop because he's been kind enough to store the console prop there. Which is fantastic, as I'm not looking forward to dragging it back up the stairs and cramming it into the condo. I keep hoping Stacey and I will get a place with a basement for storage of large props like the console, but, given the current banking environment, that's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Sunday pickups.

We filmed a few neat-o pickup shots at Wade Sand and Gravel on Sunday. But I only took one photo.



That's Trap with a video camera and a plywood/plexi shield he built to protect the camera. Protect from what? Missiles, of course.

Wrap day?

Still worn out from Sunday, which was the final day of Interplanetary principal photography. I think. We had some effects problems, which sucks because Trap and I actually spent some time testing out the effects ahead of time. Apparently, when it comes to using sparkler fireworks for simulating small rocket exhaust, all brands are not created equal.

And then there were a couple of afternoon thunderstorms. Rainy days on Mars. So we didn't get all the shots I wanted, but I think the ones we missed can be moved to the "pick-up" list. I'll know better after I get the footage back from the lab.

Here's actor Scott Ross in an interior scene we shot while waiting for the rain to clear...



And here's the rain as viewed from inside my truck...

Monday.

Yesterday was the penultimate day of principal photography for Interplanetary and picture wrap for Mia. Michael just sent me several good behind-the-scenes photos...





I'm in a panic trying to get the 20-minute Wrath of Con preview ready on top of the day job, etc. I'm really happy with the preview so far, though. Can't wait 'til some folks get to see it.

Busy weekend.

Played a Friday late-night drum gig at Marty's, got home about about 6 a.m. Saturday. Woke up in time Saturday afternoon to get over to Kyle's for some ADR work. Got home from that and packed up for Sunday shooting.

We got lucky on Sunday -- it didn't rain on us. We filmed some buggy footage at the quarry with actors Kyle, Michael, and Trap. I think we got some good stuff. And picture wrap for Kyle!

I am now tired and slightly sunburned.

Racing the sun.

Trap and I went out to Wade on Thursday and put together a plan for Saturday's shoot. Then we got to Wade on Saturday, and the rain started. Which wouldn't have been a problem, except there was a gaping hole in the roof of the building that was serving as our set. The dripping water was kind of cool (think the Nostromo from Alien), but it wasn't good for some of our props, so we had to move them around which screwed up our blocking. Then the bulb in one of our 1K lights blew, which screwed up our lighting plan.

On top of all that, it was an effects-heavy day (thanks to Jonathan and Wendy for coming up and taking care of the blood, guts, aliens, etc.), so we ended up a couple of hours behind schedule. Which put wrap around 6 AM, which meant we were racing to get our last shots finished before the sun started shining in and killing the illusion that we were filming underground.

But I think we made our day, and I think that's a wrap for Interplanetary interiors.

Saturday.

Went back to Wade for another Saturday night/Sunday morning shoot. Trap, John, and Sanford were the crew for the day, and they rule, so we made our day and got home before daylight.

Some stills...






Also managed to get a little more Wade exterior scouting done, too...



If things go well this coming Saturday, we'll wrap up interior principal photography.

Last of the 500T.

I just received the last* four rolls of Fuji Eterna 500T** film for Interplanetary.

*Assuming I haven't greatly miscalculated the amount of interior shooting we have left.

**I'll still have to order more 250D for remaining exteriors.

Exit strategy.

Sometimes I feel like George W. Bush, like I've initiated an expensive, dangerous, and likely ill-advised crusade without a clearly-defined exit strategery strategy.

When I got an email from a gentleman who is programming some films for an upcoming sci fi convention, I took it as a sign. A sign that said "make a plan." So Ted and I now plan to get a reel or so of Interplanetary ready to screen at the previously-noted convention in late May. Yes, that's May 2008.

Ted suggested we assemble the end of "Act 2" and the beginning of "Act 3," where the proverbial sh!t really hits the fan for our Interplanetary characters, and that's what we're going to do. It'll be great to complete this part of the movie because (1) from an editing standpoint, it will be the most difficult and (2) if any segment of the movie is going to entertain an audience, it's this one.

While I was in a planning mood, I went ahead and scheduled shoot dates that should wrap all of our interior scenes. If those dates come together, I'm hoping to finish up exteriors during a couple of weekends in May, and that'll put everything in the can except for some big effects shots (explosions!) and miscellaneous pickup shots.

I'll tell you more about the specifics of the convention after everything is firmed up. Until then, keep your fingers crossed for us.

Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Night shoot in one of the crazy old buildings at Wade, started around 6 PM Saturday and ended around 6 AM Sunday. Not counting the time Trap, Sanford, and Taylor put in on set prep. The place was filthy, which will hopefully play well on film, but all the equipment (and cast and crew) ended up covered in a layer of dust, which ain't good. But we got several pages in the can, which is good.

A few photos...

Photos (finally).

As any regular readers out there might have guessed, I never got enough time at a proper computer to do any blogging in Vegas. However, I did get some excellent photos of our first shooting day of 2008, courtesy of actor (and gentleman) Michael Shelton.

Just when I thought...

...I was getting caught up, this week kicked me in the arse. Filming on Sunday, Cutters recording on Monday, a nearly twelve-hour day job shift on Tuesday followed by an Exhibit(s) band gig Tuesday night... whew.

First part of Sunday's filming went well, after a hurried change of location (the quarry location we'd picked out had been blasted and, therefore, did not exist anymore). The afternoon was rough due to technical issues (we were trying to film an in-buggy conversation, but the actors couldn't hear each other--guess we should have built real working radios into the space helmets). All the same, it was good to have the camera on my shoulder again, and we had a great crew for the day, including Justin, who'd worked on Michael Clayton and, most recently, NBC's Heroes. Clayton to Interplanetary--how's that for contrast?

After wrapping for the day, Justin, Sanford, Hilleke, and I went down to Matthew's bar for beers and to cheer on Clayton via the Oscar broadcast (yay, Tilda Swinton!).

Things don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Another Exhibit(s) show tonight, a little filming on Saturday, and a Wilco show in Nashville on Sunday. I'm going heading out of town for the day job on Tuesday, but at least maybe I'll be able to get some blogging done in the hotel room.

It was a year ago today...

Happy birthday, Interplanetary. Production on what is becoming our Apocalypse Now began exactly one year ago, on February 17, 2007. I originally figured that we'd be shopping the movie around to distributors by now, but...

Anyway, we're looking to get back to production soon, maybe next weekend. And Trap and I got some good location scouting done today.

Maybe we'll be talking to distributors in February of 2009.

Catching up.

I'm now only one week behind on "Things..." and "Other Worlds Than These" posts.

Yay.

Just finally sort of getting caught up at the day job. And just about to finally get back on Interplanetary production.

We took January off so I could get caught up on post-production (didn't really happen--see previous complaints about day job) and so our pal Mike Harring could borrow the Crewless Aaton to shoot his first feature (did happen--see Mike's blog).

But Trap's been making phone calls and getting things moving. So, with any luck, we might film some more before February's over.

Saturday and Sunday.

We filmed pretty much all weekend -- Saturday at Hunter Cressall's place, on his awesome spaceship set, and Sunday at the quarry.

I think we managed to get some good stuff both days, in spite of the usual problems (not enough time, trying to keep our overused costumes together, making a fake rocket launcher look like a real rocket launcher).

Here are some photos from Saturday. Sokol stopped by and took some pics on Sunday -- hopefully he'll be kind enough to let me post those at some point.

Sunday at the quarry.

The crew has been lean lately, due to my organizational shortcomings as much as anything else. So it was great to have Jimbo, Hilleke, and Sanford join us "regulars" (Stacey, John, Trap, and me) yesterday at the Wade Sand and Gravel quarry. We filmed a few scenes featuring Michael and Amanda and grabbed a couple of pick-up shots with Kyle. And we narrowly avoided getting rained on. It was a good day all around.

Photos courtesy of Stacey and Hilleke.

Portraits from yesterday at the quarry.

Courtesy of Stacey and Hilleke...

Quarry day one.

After many scheduling mishaps, we finally did some filming at Wade Sand and Gravel, a quarry right outside of Birmingham. The cast and crew count was low, but we had a lot of fun. And I think we got some cool footage.

Stacy and Taylor, Trap's wife and daughter, respectively, came out early to set up the Mars Base Two exterior set that Stacy and Trap had built earlier in the week. Stacey (that's my Stacey) and John were there, of course. And Kyle and Michael did some fine acting, along with Damon, who was nice enough to come out early to film a small speaking role.

Pictures below, most courtesy of Stacey...









That's Stacy; Damon; Trap and incognito Stacey; Kyle through the video tap; Michael; John; me; Trap and Michael.