It's been a while

Certainly be a while. Sorry for not keeping up, I am a semi-lazy to moderately lazy individual. I apologize.

But the good news is that "Body" is nearing final cut, in fact in approximately 56 hours it will be declared a final cut. And it is getting great reception thus far.

I'll keep this blog going over the next few weeks with details about the entire production process, some photos included. Now that I have some time (though I am moving into my next project, currently titled, The Untitled Summer 2010 Project of Matt Williams. Long title. "Body" was once The Untitled Winter 2010 Project of Matt Williams. That's how it works.

But then once we hit the festivals, I'll be keeping daily updates on the festival circuit. September, October, and November look like they might be exciting times.

The best is yet to come!

One Week In

So, we've been working for about a week. Only actually 5 days we did work, because we had to cancel one day due to snow, and today due to some other issues. No worries though, we've gotten a lot done.

Yesterday we shot approximately 17 pages, which is likely the most we will ever have to shoot on one day. That was a lengthy scene, and I cut most of it together today. It's very rough, especially the sound, but what the hell can you do in 12 hours. So I am currently making a .mov of that scene and I'm going to burn it to DVD to watch on the tivy.

Everything is going quite well. No real big set backs yet. The weather is definitely the biggest issue. I fucking hate snow. Tuesday night we were doing this scene where the actress had to do a lot of stuff at the sink. She got really wet, and it was probably about 55 in the room. So we had to deal with some Stage 1 hypothermia. It didn't get too bad, she's okay now, but it's something we'll never let happen again.

Yesterday after wrapping that monster scene, Josh (the AD) and myself went into the green room. He immediately says to me, "I'm going to say something both awesome and kind of mean. You know your actors are saving your movie right?" Not really though. They are making my movie. This is a film about character. Backstory. Relationships. It isn't about plot. The actors will make or break this film. And they're making it.

I couldn't be happier.

And Tomorrow We Start!

So, we moved all our equipment in today. What a fuckload of equipment. It makes me feel really, really happy, because all of that equipment costs NOTHING. I sometimes get depressed thinking I spent $1500 on the location. Then I'm like, what the fuck, I have like $15,000 worth of equipment in there for free.

Thank you Wright State University.

Tomorrow, we film the first scene of the movie. For some reasons that I don't want to go into at the moment, the second half of the scene will be shot first. This is the opening scene. The actress is in her underwear and bra the entire day. But she's a trooper.

My AD and lead actor basically moved into the motel. We have three rooms, so I figure they might as well. It's awesome too because 100% of their time is devoted to this, which is fabulous. They're both great. Josh, the AD, is making fake blood as we speak, and from what I can tell, having a great time doing it. The man is awesome, I cannot express how amazing it has been to work with him. I really hope we will continue to work together in the future. This film WILL be better because of him, I have zero doubt about that. I have learned more in the past month from that man than I have since I started screenwriting. I could probably write ten pages saying how awesome he is, but I shall leave it at that.

My production designer is great as well. I spent a good majority of the day with her buying stuff for the set.

I have yet to meet our sound guy. I've been told he is a "character." So I'm pretty excited. Josh is a character. So they should mix quite well. I'm not really a character. They make it fun. It's worth having them there even if that was the only thing they did. Make it fun.

I also got acquainted with some women's clothing. Seriously, what the fuck is a size 5. What in the hell does size "5" mean? Five what? And all the types of women's underwear, goddamn. I guess I already knew that pretty much, I'm not a retard, but there really are a lot. I never thought about it before.

Here are some links to video from our rehearsals. I think I was running the camera on all these, but I'm not sure. The sound is shitty as hell, it was a mere consumer digital camera, what can you do. But they're kind of interesting.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2265831/MVI_0022.AVI

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2265831/MVI_0025.AVI

We start at 9AM!

I shall report back.

Found a Location!

So I haven't updated this in a while. I am a lazy person I guess. Being lazy and being a filmmaker don't mesh very well, but I do it anyway.

I've been getting increasingly frustrated over the past couple weeks because we've been unable to get a location. We need one location. That's it. A motel room. And you can rent those, obviously. So all you need is permission. That's the tricky part apparently. You'd be shocked by how many people just flat say "no." You would think they'd be thankful for my $1000+ and the fact that they don't have to do ANYTHING to the rooms during that time. But, oh well. Fuck em.

So I called a few places yesterday. A lot of places are owned/operated by Indians. I don't have a problem with this, but let's be honest, it is hard to understand them. So here's how one call went down:

Me: "Hi, is there a manger available that I could possibly speak with?"
Person: "No"
Me: "Is there a better time to call back?"
Person: (something I couldn't understand)
Me: "You say you are the manager?"
Person: (very slowly and condescendingly) "Sir. I am asking you who you are and why you need to speak with a manager."
Me: "I need to speak with a manager about getting some rooms for a few weeks."
Person: "Why can't you talk to me?"
Me: (at this point I've given up basically) "Because I want to talk to a manager."
Person: "Who are you?"

And then I hang up. First, why is this person interrogating me as to why I need to talk to a manager. I just do. Secondly, if I tell them who I am, are they actually going to know me? "Yes I am Matt Williams." "Who?" So what the hell.

I don't know why a motel, whose purpose is to make money, acts like little bitches when someone wants to GIVE them money.

So I called another place. And they were the opposite of that last jackass. Nicest people you could imagine. They said it would be fine. $200/week per room. Great rate.

So I went down there today and sealed the deal. Thus, I am very happy to announce that we do, in fact, have a location now. Given that we start in exactly one week, that's probably good. It's perfect too. Short drive from my house, two rooms side-by-side, second floor, on the corner to reduce our noise. Going to work out beautifully I do hope.

I'll be going back tomorrow with my DP to check the place out for specific lighting and stuff. But, we are good to go. And I am quite happy. This is a good day.

I will conclude by having you watch this awesome YouTube clip. If you've seen the film MIRACLE this clip is 300x better. If you HAVE NOT seen Miracle, watch the second link FIRST, and then the first link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CdJTfGiRCI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpTj_Z9v-c&feature=related

Amazing.

Nothing

Absolutely nothing. Nothing accomplished.

Spent most of my day at my aunt's new place of living trying to get the internet to work properly. After arguing with the AT&T people for a long time, who insisted the problem was within the house, I finally convinced them to check outside the house. And indeed, this is where the problem lay. Boring story though.

I guess I did chat with the DP over the phone about the visual style of the film. Which, by the way, will be a style similar to Ramin Bahrani's films, where the camera is tripoded, but loosely, so you get that handheld feel without it being too out of control. I want that life on the edge. I don't want a constricted frame. I want life on the edge of the frame. I think this particular story begs for it.

The only exception here are the flashbacks, which will be solid tripod, 35mm depth of field adapter. Also black and white, but that's a post-issue.

Don't want to give away too much on it.

Boring day overall basically.

H1N1 shot tomorrow.... yay....

Storyboards and the Script

So, today I met with the DP. We went over some of the storyboards today. The whole film will be storyboarded, and that process is almost complete. Hopefully I can put some of those frames up once I get a scanner working.

That was the only actual thing I did today in which I interacted with another person. Everything else involved me sitting at home breaking the script down into beats and preparing for our upcoming rehearsals.

In case you are interested, as I'm sure you are, I like to subscribe to the Stanislavski method of acting, aka "method acting." Stanislavski, for those of you who don't know, was a Russian actor and theatre director. Many of the American acting teachers -- Adler, Meisner, Strasberg, etc -- have roots in Stanislavski. Josh, the AD, is fantastic at working with this method. The man is a genius really.

And let's put this on the table -- I don't write the greatest plots in the world. I don't think anyone will ever be shaken to their knees from my plots. They aren't super complex. They aren't high concept. I'm one of those people that loves character. I love it. I'll watch a film with zero plot but great characterization. If somebody said -- here's an indie film, here's a big-budget Hollywood film, that's all the info you get, which do you want to watch? -- I would say, "the indie film." I love independent cinema. I love what it can do and the creative control they have. Some people are capable of doing what they want but still working within the studio system (Tarantino, Coens, etc.).

So, because of this fact, most of this film rests on the actors. I needed great actors. I auditioned probably 20 people for each role. I needed to find the best that I could find because this will be made or broken by their performances. So I put a lot of emphasis on the rehearsal and the acting of this.

A few people have asked what I'm shooting on. The answer is the Sony EX1. The EX1 is a $6,000 camera that shoots native 24p full 1080p HD. We are shooting with a 35mm depth of field adapter, at least for the flashbacks at any rate.

A few people have also asked if they could read the script. While I have sent it to one person, I don't really want to give it out anymore. This is one that I'd prefer to keep locked up until the film is done. However, I will post the first two pages, for your reading pleasure....

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

BATHROOM

A young woman, approximately age 20 or 21, sits on the lid of
the toilet. She wears nothing but a bra and panties. Tears
stream down her face, although it appears as though she's
getting herself together.

Most oddly, blood spots her upper body and her bra. Blood is
smeared across her face. In her hair.

HOLD;

She looks around the bathroom. It's brightly lit, yet
something is still strangely eerie about it. We cannot see
anymore than the body of this young girl.

Her name is JESSICA WILSON. She's attractive, slim, but
obviously not in a great emotional state at the moment.

She looks down at the bathroom floor.

A pool of crimson red blood collects. Drops fall from the
bathtub rim. She stares as drops of blood clunk from above.

She makes her best effort to stand. Obviously the emotional
stress of the situation is holding her back, but she manages
to get on her feet. She moves over to the sink.

She turns the faucet on. Hot water pours out, steam rising
from the porcelain counter. She grabs a bar of soap and
scrubs her hands the best she can. It's hard to get the
blood off. But she does her best.

She tries to get the blood off her face as well. She scrubs
as good as possible and finally gives up.

She hits the faucet and shuts it off.

She moves out into the

MAIN AREA

And dries her hands on a towel. Some of the residual blood
gets on the towel as well.

She looks at her hands. The grooves of her fingerprints are
still filled with blood.

She turns and walks over to one of the beds. There is a
shirt and a pair of pants lying on the top of the bed.
She grabs the shirt and sees it is sodden with gore. She
tosses it against the wall. The pants are, too, stained
heavily with blood.

She sits down on the edge of the bed and looks around the
room.

Drab carpet. Bland drapes. The typical staples of a cheap,
semi-rural motel room.

She notices a phone sitting on the night stand. She also
notices a cell phone beside it.

She grabs the cell phone. Cradles it. Examines it over.
She flips it open.

Runs down through the list of contacts. Finds ADAM.

She hesitates and then closes the phone. Glances over at the
bathroom again.

A tear runs down her cheek. She flips the phone open and
calls Adam.

The phone rings.

JESSICA
(sad; desperate)
Adam... Adam... I need ...

She cries a little.

JESSICA (CONT'D)
.... I need your help, Adam.

She wipes her eyes.

JESSICA (CONT'D)
I don't know... how it happened...
I need some help.

More tears.

JESSICA (CONT'D)
I'm at the Longwood Motel. Yeah,
same one. Room...

She glances at the telephone on the night stand. It has a
room number on it.

JESSICA (CONT'D)
...Room 214. Bring some clothes.
(beat)
Bye.

Friday 12/4

So, it's been a while since I updated here. I'm lazy, that's the way life is. A lot has happened in nearly one month.

I have cast everyone (though the film only has two characters). A lovely girl named Ashley is playing the part of Jessica, and a striking young fellow named Nick is playing the part of Adam.

So, this past Monday, we had our first meeting with cast and crew. We went over a lot of things, and ultimately decided to push production back to start January 3rd. Originally we were slated to start around the 16th of December. And I am surely glad we pushed it back.

Today marked our first day of rehearsals. We only got through 10 pages in a 4 hour rehearsal session, but it was awesome. My AD, a fellow named Josh Brewer, is absolutely phenomenal when it comes to working with actors. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, with sort of a dual focus in theatre and film. I couldn't ask for a better AD. The dude is amazing and finding locations and talking to people, and he's brilliant working with actors.

Tomorrow I meeting with our DP to go over the storyboards we have thus far. That's pretty much everything that has been accomplished thus far.

I can really feel this is going to be a great production.

Still searching for a scrip supervisor, though I do have some people that can fill that position.

Until next time....