Updates!

A lot of stuff has happened since last week.

We had a really great meeting with our makeup department. There's going to be lots of cuts, bruises, rashes (eeewww) and blood! We've got another meeting scheduled for early next week to do some camera tests with the various types of blood we will be using.

We've had 5 more practices with Danny and I'm happy to report that we've got the fight down to a science now. Most of the sequences are blazing fast and look really cool. The three man fight sequence looks like it's going to chew up between 2 to 3 minutes of screen time, which trust me is more than enough. The fight is so rigorous that we need to take breaks after 4 full run throughs. However I might be short changing our stamina because this is based off of doing the run throughs after 2 hours of practicing.

Had some more camera tests at the actual warehouse location. To get slightly technical for a minute, we were worried that the florescent lights were going to give a strobe effect and that we were going to have to drop a lot (I mean a lot) of money on Keno's. Turns out after some tinkering with the camera we can avoid all that flickering. This is good news on several fronts, mainly it means I can save $$$ on those particular lights and put it towards some other toys.

We also shot some test plates for Nils, our visual effects guy. This will help give him some footage to practice with so we have a better idea of how to shoot this stuff on the day. I must say, adding visual effects shots to a film is very challenging process and I can see why old school directors want to avoid it at all costs!

Nils is also doing up some pre-viz animatics of the warehouse explosion sequence. Which is going to be a great help figuring out if the shots we've come up with will work out properly, or if they need some tweaking.

Props department is building a really cool bathroom sink for an elaborate shot that we came up with. It involves water, blood and face dunking. I'm really excited to bang this shot out (on the schedule, it's the very last thing we do) We're testing out the rig sometime at the end of the week.

We also did a photo shoot with Rebecca which was slightly awkward (on my part) and fun! We need couples photos so we can put them throughout the house, so Bjorn, Davin, Rebecca and I went to Kits beach. I was stupid and brought white (I'm super pasty compared to pretty much everyone else on the planet) and was pinging off of everything. I'm a bit rusty (putting it lightly) doing non-Gradual Upgrade interacting with other actors and felt slightly intimidated when we started. There's some really awkward shots in the bunch, however for every billion shots that Bjorn took, there's a fairly good one where my face hasn't ruined the shot (I'm a terrible picture smiler, which is why you see the grm/serious face on most of my photos)

Jim is pretty much cast. Had a great audition with a guy who can bring the intensity up to a trillion if he wanted to. Can't wait to get him in the same room with Rebecca!

Overall, things are coming together quite nicely.

Will update again when I find some time.

Travis

Tech Survey of Warehouse

The impossible happened yesterday! All but one of the department heads managed to come out to the tech survey of the warehouse location.

What is a tech survey you might ask? A tech survey is an opportunity for heads of all departments to understand the realities, possibilities and limitations for their given task.

For example, sound department had some concerns with humming lights, slight traffic noise in background and possible workers off camera, how much dialog was being said at once, how far apart where the actors?. How do we battle these things? This gives Max time to figure out the best way to achieving the highest quality sound possible.

Cine, had a lack of plug ins on one side of the warehouse for lighting. Also had to check breakers to see what lights did what, as well as how he was going to go about achieving mine and Davin's vision. Where was the fight going to be? How narrow was the space? Figuring all this out lets him know what kind of gear he's going to need on the day.

The assistant director had concerns for green rooms, bathrooms and a place for craft services to set up shop to cook food. He also had safety concerns with all the flipping, punching and rolling that's going on cement floor. I did a role on the ground just to see how stiff it was....very.

Visual effects had some big concerns about where explosions are going, what color costumes people are wearing, how we plan on shooting the scene. If we wanted to create new parts of the warehouse digitally, how Bjorn was going to light for the explosions, etc, etc, etc.

Then there's Davin and myself. We had to block out where all the characters were going to be at any given time. This helps everyone else on the crew know what's going on so they can plan better.

Our locations manager Lisa, also was along for the ride. She was our direct contact with the people at the warehouse. She helped negotiate price and times we are aloud to shoot. She got us a few extra hours the evening prior to shooting so Bjorn and art can go in and pre-light and pre-dress. That way in the morning everyone can hit the ground running and not have to sit around and wait for those guys to get their stuff done.

After our tech survey, Bjorn, Davin and I had a meeting to crunch numbers on gear rental. Boy oh boy, it sure is expensive to rent 35mm prime lenses...

We've added another meeting with Bjorn, Nils (3d guy), Davin and myself to really go over the visual effects shot in the film. One screw up here could mean months of extra post work!

Will keep you posted!

I'm off to a meeting with Nemo (one of the art guys) and then fighting all night with Danny and Davin!

Then an hour and a half of Yoga!

Travis

Paper Trail Pre Production Weeks 1 and 2

Hey all,

It's been a while since I left a blog here, and for good reason. Davin and I have been really busy prepping for Paper Trail.

My first week here was incredibly busy. The very first day Davin and I went outside and refined our fight choreography that we had come up with seven months ago. I'm happy to say that we've worked in a sequence which involves breaking a large window...should be fun.

Day 2 we went into the script and literally went line by line, word for word and discussed character motivations. Along the way we streamlined the script making it that much better. I also went to all our locations and measured out the rooms to create accurate schematics for our DP, Bjorn. Measuring out backyards sure is fun!

Day 3 we met up with Dae Young Danny Kim our 3rd fighter for the end fight sequence. This dude holds a 5th degree black belt in Taekwondo and could take you out with his lethal weapon stare! We trained for 4 hours in the Green Screen Studio at VFS and sweat out the beginnings of a pretty slick 3 man fight. Let me tell you creating a fight for 3 guys with 3 different weapons is a lot harder than it sounds. For reals!

Day 4 I met up with Rebecca Hay, who is playing the female lead. Spent a few hours just re-connecting with her and talking about life in general. Working with Rebecca is always a treat and I'm sure this time out will be no exception! After my meeting with Rebecca, I headed downtown and met up with Bjorn our Director of Photography. He couldn't meet long because he was teaching a class at VFS however it was nice to see him and start talking about various shots and lighting ideas. After Bjorn was called back into class, I zoomed across the city and met up with Nick, our AD and Ryan my credits guy (because the credits are going to be elaborate because we're elaborate people. Spent a few hours catching up with those guys (we were all in the same class at VFS) Nick worried over safety as only an AD can. I can already see how the shoot is going to go. Which is why Nick is the AD in the first place.

After all those meetings, I went back to Davin's and he and I went back over the script and began making up our shot list.

Day 5 I met up with Nemo and went over some art that he created for me. I must say, I'm quite pleased with what he did in between his busy schedule (he's a pro storyboard artist as well as a painter and comic book writer/artist. He swore that he was done working on smaller shows several months ago due to his hectic schedule, so I'm glad he made an exception for Paper Trail.

After a great afternoon with Nemo I Went back to the house and tuned up a fight sequence with Davin.

Day 6 Stole a bunch of old newspapers that were outside of a subway restaurant by the skytrain. They were going to be recycled so I don't feel bad. Also went to a comic shop and picked up 100 image comics for $20....ouch. Did somemore fighting, bought some protective gear for our forearms because we like to hit hard!

Day 7 Our props master, James came over to the house. We went over all the stuff we've got to build and or destroy. We've been very fortunate having him help us out. He built our weapons from scratch and they work great. He also showed us some moves with the short metal rods (he use to teach martial arts the exact style escapes me at the moment) that looked pretty cool. He also showed us some take down moves, using me as the human dummy...painful.

Day 8 Went shopping for costumes with Ricmond, who is doing wardrobe for all the characters in Paper Trail. We spent 5 hours picking out, Davin, Danny's and my costumes. We bought 2 of everything for me, just because I get thrown all over the place in pretty much any scene that I'm in. Davin's costume looks really cool. We're going to have him dressed all in white....mmmm.

Day 9 Camera test with Bjorn and Shane. We got the Red One all tricked out and Bjorn tested out a bunch of lenses. After he was satisfied with that we shot some test footage of our fight and over cranked the hell out of the camera. Then we tested handheld vs steadycam the fighting looks very different, should be interesting to see which way we decide to go.

After the camera test, Bjorn and I went off to the house location and talked shot lists and lighting for several hours. Lots of expensive ideas were thrown around.

Day 10 Met up with Danny at his Dojo and spent 4 or 5 hours coming up with the final touches of our 3 man fight. At this point it's all about finesse. After the fight, spent 15 or 20 minutes throwing myself through this giant whole in the wall that connects the kitchen area with the living room. Painful!

So that's what we've been up to the last week or so, and it's only going to get busy. Monday I've got a meeting with our 3D guy. Tuesday we've got a tech survey with all the department heads. Wed more fighting and Fri a meeting with Makeup!

Oh, and since I'm doing P90X, I train every morning at 8am for at least on hour....yarg!

Hopefully I'll have a vid to post on some progress soon!

Travis

Paper Trail Updates

Hello everyone. Sorry there hasn't been a post in a while, it's been really really busy around here in Gradual Upgradeville.

For those of you following Paper Trail, here's an update or five for you.

- We cast one of the roles which we're very happy about. Rebecca Hay will be playing the part of Sophia, the main character's girlfriend. Rebecca is a very gifted actor, we're thrilled to have her on the show.

-Davin has found us a major warehouse location, it's totally sweet. This is where the climax of the film takes place. You can check it out at this link. http://www.youtube.com/user/GradualUpgrade

- We also snagged a sweet house location, which for some reason is a real pain in the ass to do in Vancouver, so this is considered a major victory.

- Our prop weapons are being created from scratch as I type...very exciting.

- Davin is going to look very dangerous in this film...prosthetics...

That's it for now!

Please Donate and Eat Cookies!

Hey everyone,

Davin and I are starting our fundraising campaign for our new film.  What is our new film you ask?  Check out the link below.  

 

As one of our Fundraising events, we are working with the Bonté Foods Frozen Cookie Dough Program.  I have attached Bonté Foods Frozen Cookie Dough Fundraising documentation so you will be fully versed on their Program.
Here is where I need your help.  The estimated cost associated with this specific “Short” film project is $20,000.00.  As you can imagine, the more Frozen Cookie Dough sold, the more money raised for the Project.  Our Fundraising Goal from the Frozen Cookie Dough Fundraiser is $4000.00.   100% of ALL money raised through the various fundraising events will go directly towards the making of the Film – written, directed and produced by our Fredericton Film Makers.   
Can I count on your support by asking you to help me sell the Frozen Cookie Dough?  I will provide you with a sell sheet and all you need to do is sell the Frozen Cookie Dough (which really sells itself – by telling your co-workers, friends and family about the Frozen Cookie Dough) and collect the money.  Once the Selling Campaign is completed and I receive the Frozen Cookie Dough shipment, I will deliver your orders to you for distribution.  As a special thank you for your help, for every 5 cases you sell, you will receive one (1) pail (of your choice) of Frozen Cookie Dough FREE!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=92335791282&ref=mf

Creating a crew

Making a film is a monumental task and if you're smart you want to surround yourself with the best people that you can.  Sometimes money can get in the way and sometimes circumstances hinder the ability for you to choose your crew.

As a producer you don't really have to worry to much about the smaller details of who all your grips are going to be, you really only have to worry about your department heads, because it's up to these guys to bring on people who they know and trust and can work under them.

I've reached a point where I'm comfortable with the people I'm surrounding myself with and trust these people to bring other people into the fold because if I feel that my department heads are competent and hard workers then in turn they would want to bring on competent and hard workers because their name and image is on the line.  

This trust was not built overnight, but over a course of several films.  Some films that worked and others that have failed miserably.  Each of these films have cemented my thoughts on people I've worked with and I have made rules and guidelines about who I want to work with and under what conditions.

Of course I've made mistakes and some assumptions along the way about people and I've learned from those mistakes.  

I find one of the biggest mistakes that people tend to make starting out is making movies with their friends. Now before you sick the dogs on me, know that friends and friendship do have it's place in this world, but you have to be careful.  Once you move beyond, high school projects/just for fun/film school projects, movie making becomes a business and you are making a product to sell. Working with someone because of friendship or loyalty may very well end up ruining your film and your friendship.

Personally I keep people around that I know and trust.  I wouldn't say I'm "friends" with them, but I'm certainly more than acquaintances.  I was once reading an interview with Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame and he described the secret of their success as a business.  On stage they are the best of buds and have a great time, but when the lights go down and audience goes home they go their separate ways.  Basically they're work buddies.  That's how I feel about the film business.  

At the end of the day if you are a serious filmmaker then the movie comes first. I suggest before investing your money or someone elses moeny that you stand back take a moment a be objective as to who you bring into the fold.  

How hard can re-shoots be?

So Bitter Sweet SINphony has just re-wrapped and I'm slightly balder for it.

We wrapped the show last November and because of technical issues we had to fly back to Vancouver to fix things.  There's a reason why executives try to avoid re-shoots as much as possible!

As a producer there were many things that I had to do to ensure that the film got finished and all of this being done from Fredericton, NB.

I had exactly 4 days total to get everything shot.  As it turns out we were able to cram in, two and a half very busy days to get things done.  

Locations...It's six months later.  One of the bigger issues with locations besides trying to get them again, was trying to get them to fit in with my 4 day schedule.  Some guys can only let you shoot on the weekend, other guys at night, or early in the day.  As it turns out I caught a break and was able to jumble everything together and cut the shooting days down to 2 very busy busy days.

We lost our original house location, then I got it back, only to lose it again.  I was able to find a new house, but this one really didn't fit the story too well. Luckily Edgar met a guy on the flight up from Mexico who was more than willing to lend his house.  

I also had to re-negotiate getting the bar location (got that for free this time) as well as getting the crew back onto the Northshore studios lot.  The location we shot there was actually being rented out this time so we lost our office.  However on the day I noticed that the company that had rented it hadn't completely moved in.  I convinced security to let me in and Edgar (director) was able to get the shots he desperately needed to tell his story.

After that I had to make sure all our actors where on board.  Our main character had a big beard, so I had to make sure he was able to grow it.  If he was already committed to another show without a beard that could have derailed the whole thing.  Our lead actress was flying back to Mexico so our production dates had to work around her, as well as work around getting the gear and the rest of the crew....

Then there's the crew, how many of these guys moved on to other shows and are busy?  As it turned out most of them were able to come back with minimal convincing.  

After all those logistics you have to get into the smaller things like prop and makeup, which is getting out of producer territory and more into the other departments.  

The director of photography has to match lighting schemes that he and his crew devised.  The painful thing about doing this is you've had time to figure out how to light something better, however you can't go too overboard because it won't match what you've established previously.

And arguably the most important thing is getting the director and actors back on the same page to try and re-create what they had done 6 months ago.

I watched the dailies yesterday and am happy to report that the film is looking good and once all the layers have been put into place it should be a nice tight little story.