Well, I'm here at work, doing as close to nothing as one can do and still get paid for it. My boss, Chris Gifford, producer of "Clarissa Explains It All," is on vacation in France at the moment. Fortunately they've agreed to have me work for most of the summer break, which makes Dea extremely happy at the moment.
As far as THE DEMON FILES goes, things are slowly coming together. I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for any of this. I'm leaving that up to the Lord - he hasn't let me down yet. Of course, the biggest thing on my mind is that my wife has yet to give birth to my kid. Everyday we hope and everyday Dea gets more uncomfortable. Please let it happen today!
Chris Linn and I used his Dad's camcorder to record some of the locations yesterday. After scouting out the Orlando bus station for the Miles/Poole scene in the beginning of episode one, we decided to change it to the Winter Park train station. We recorded some different angles and I realized that I'm going to have to re-storyboard the entire scene to compensate for the new location. After the train station we moseyed (sp?) over to Lake Ivanhoe. After reviewing with Chris what shots I wanted, he suggested we use another lake, down the road from where we live. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of this lake, only that it has a nice flat area where we can film the stabbing. It'll be weird, though, cause the lake's surrounded by these beautiful rich people's houses. So, we're gonna have to go in early, film it quick and get out as soon as we can. We'll probably shoot that Saturday morning. I really need a solid shadow for the shot, so I'm going to have to check out the sun's location. I just pray it'll fall into our shooting needs. If not, I'll think of something else, maybe reflecting the murder off of the rippling water on the shore. Something will work.
Last night, while Dea took a late afternoon nap, I went into the babies room and read the script and character of Poole out loud. It was the first time I started looking at the script as an actor. If there's one thing I learned from HOMESICK (actually, there were plenty) is that once you start acting out the script, you have to put the goals as a writer behind you and focus on what works as an actor. The character you wrote may not be the character you act. It seems when the words are spoken and the action starts to come alive, well, the entire script takes on a life of its own. Rehearsing made me want to work with the other actors, reshaping, sculpting the script into something that will work. I can't wait until we read through and discuss the scenes. It'll be quite exciting.
Here's a list of the things I either need to get or do:
- Check out rental places for dollies that can made into doorway dollies.
- Buy high quality Hi-8 video.
- Get an anchor necklace (waterfront shops at Universal?)
- Buy white and black sheets from Salvation Army.
- Get three knives, two of which are identical.
- Guard uniforms?
- For Sale sign
- Polaroid film (continuity)
- Contact paper for Attic Scene
- Flood lights
- Chains for Eric in Prison (Home Depot?)
- Handcuffs (toy shop?)
- Teapot (Salvation Army)
- Scar makeup
- Tea cups
- Need picture for pseudo newspaper article (from PB)
June 30, 1993
Well, on the home front, Dea and I thought last night was the night, but we were wrong. She went to her weekly appointment and was 4cm. Went to the triage, they wanted her to walk around. She walked EIGHT HOURS, but didn't efface or dilate anymore, so we had to go home. Dea was pretty depressed. I'm just aggravated. Anyway, as Dea and I were walking on top of the parking garage at Arnold Palmer Hospital, I came across a way to solve the Ed - Storage Unit scene.
Across from the garage is a bunch of small warehouses/loading docks. Well, I'm going to have Poole get dropped off there then walk over to one of the garages and knock. Then, from the inside of Chris' garage, I'll film him opening/closing the door (with overexposing or back lighting to hide that his front yard is in front of the garage) and use his garage as a whole, as opposed to building flats and only using half of the garage.
If the warehouse doors are much larger than Chris' garage, then I'll try shooting from an extreme angle at Chris' house where you don't really see any garage door, only him standing at one and banging. I'd have to use the extreme angle because his garage door is painted white and the ones at the warehouses are primer brown. My only problem with the extreme angle shot is that, more than likely, there will be background seen and it would be different from the one shot at the warehouse. So, Chris and I are going to fool around with maybe taking a picture of the warehouse that SHOULD be in the background and attaching it to the camera, lining it up with the side of his house. Then, if we shoot from a long shoot, but zoomed in, than the background would then be out of focus. Hopefully the picture attached in front of the lens would have the same looking 'out of focus' and we could basically mask the background that way.
My next concern is, since we are also using Chris' garage for the police station interrogation room, that I'll have to light it much differently. I think, since Ed's storage unit is really just a garage, I'll light that fully. But, with the Police Station shots, I'll only use one or two light sources, creating dark shadows, and perhaps a little more mystery. It'll also hide the fact (we hope) that we're filming in a garage (that also looks a hell of a lot like Ed's place). I especially want to take advantage of the decorative air holes that are in the side wall of the garage. If I can light that well enough and maybe get a little smoke it could add interesting shafts of light while, at the same time, hide the garage door in the background.
My next problem, how to I fill it with smoke? Can't afford a fogger. Oh, the life of the no-budget filmmaker.
I re-storyboarded the opening sequence that used to take place at a bus stop, but now takes place at a train station. I think it will work well.
I checked the sunlight situation at the lake and, unfortunately, the sun rises on the other side of the lake, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle that. I may have to find another lake to shoot it at. You know, it just occurred to me that, perhaps Lake Concord, behind our apartments, may be able to be used. I think the sun will be in the right position for that. I'm just not sure if the buildings and/or trees will keep the sun from shining through. Also don't know if there's appropriate shore line to do the shot as I see it in my head. I may just need to rethink that too! My storyboards are just becoming suggestions at this point. Oh, well.
As I get closer to filming this thing I am studying movies, tv, etc, trying to see, in specific terms, what works and what doesn't. Even though I've always loved movie soundtracks with full orchestration, I am even more impressed as I study, just how much movies can add to a scene. Seemingly boring scenes silent become filled with tension with the steady sound of violins. I'm really looking forward to working on the music with Jack Sloss.
As far as post production goes, I'm not really thinking about that right now. My most important job is to get the damn thing on tape and transfer it to some higher format. What would be ideal (and also a miracle) is if I could some how get Shelly at CPN to let me use the equipment. But, the more I understand how Nickelodeon works the more I think that would be impossible. I mean, you need tape ops, editors, paintbox at times. Just too many people to scam. But, I also don't know CPN's exact set-up. Maybe they have an offline editing suite with lower formats or something. One can dream. I'll just have to see what the Lord provides.
Just talked to Chris on the phone. He suggested perhaps baby powder for smoke. I think I'll try that tonight. I'm going over to his house to check out the garage, maybe play with some lighting and bring along some baby powder. Jeanne Simon, here at Nick., said that renting a smoke machine is not that expensive. I'll have to look into it.
My next problem is the library. Don't know if I'll be able to pull it off here in Orlando. There's a library downtown that's close to home, but I've never been there. Don't know how receptive they'd be to me loading in a doorway dolly and such to film a few quick scenes. I'm going to try and stop by Saturday morning. If the microfiche is located in a back area, perhaps I can fake the dolly part and just sneak the camera in there, or, if they let me, do it in the back where no one would really see. Just have to wait and checkout the layout of the place.
Well, that's about it. Until next time. PFB
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