Thursday, 27 May 2004

Days 6 & 7
DAY 6.

As was mentioned last week I was really nervous about the scene being filmed on day 6 and 7. Actually in the two nights we'd be completing a total of 6 very small scenes each only taking up 1/8 of a script page with the exception of the final scene of the night which was 6/8 of a script page. So, maybe the question on your mind is "What was being filmed?". I wasn't sure if I'd want to give the scene away but now I've decided that I'll include a small excerpt from my script:

25 INT. RAPUNZEL'S BACKYARD/SHED - THAT MOMENT 25

When she arrives at the SHED she drags her chair to the center where a BEAM hangs right above. Hanging from the beam is a ROPE with a NOOSE already tied. It's been waiting for her.

She centers the chair perfectly below the rope and looks up at it, ready to go.

CUT TO:


So now the scene has been set. How did it all go? I'm proud to say that the six scenes planned were completed successfully without any major injuries... I'll get to that in a bit.

The night started out great. I actually arrived at the location a few minutes later than everyone else. I felt good when I arrived `cause the company I was in was good. Juan Perez and Joe Giordano, the "other" producers were on set and they helped me out in a lot of ways. Having them there is great emotional support and it helps to see them `cause it reminds me of how much we've grown since the beginning. The location was actually at Asal's house, but there was a bit of a walk to the "shed" which actually doesn't belong to her... in fact it belongs to the neighbors. I had originally picked out that spot to shoot our scene about 4 or 5 weeks ago. It was such a creepy and dynamic location that this movie NEEDED that location. At the time, when I first saw it, Asal's roommates said they weren't exactly sure if it was on their property or not but we later learned that it was a part of a different house. There isn't anything separating it from the backyard so it would be hard to tell. Plus, the house and the entire property was empty. So, with no one living there it wouldn't be a problem at all, right? Well, just 1 week before the scheduled scene we noticed that signs were posted on shed that said "no trespassing". Oops, someone had purchased the house. Asal informed me that the new owners were stopping in every week to do some work to it and then I thought "should we ask permission?". Other members of the crew said "nah, just shoot there. We're here late at night anyway". So that's good advise... we'll just show up and no one will be there or know we were there. That was the plan. The sun was still in the process of setting while we set up our lights. Mel got into her make-up and costume and by close to 9:00pm we were ready to shoot.

Lighting that first shot was hard... lighting the second shot was harder... lighting the third shot was hardest. Because Melody's costume consisted of a black "velvet" hooded cape when we shot from behind her, in the dark, she disappeared. Every light we shot at her didn't help. I actually forgot how we finally got the shot but I remember it took about 30 minutes to light one single shot that'll probably take up about 3 seconds or less in the final product. Juan and Trevor were up on the roof of the house attaching two 250 watt lights to be aimed in the direction of our actress and getting it to look natural was a pain in the ass, but we did it.

So after that we moved over to the shed. We actually began our night at the side of the house, but the real meat of our scenes would take place in this barn-like shed. We had already set up the chair and tied the rope around the beam, (the pictures are available at our club) now all Melody had to do is step up on the chair and put the noose around her neck. I think this sequence alone consisted of approximately 20 camera set-ups. I had it scheduled over 2 nights because I knew it would take a while. Scenes like this require a lot of patience from everyone because there's really no dialogue at all. The shots are done and all you can hope for is that when it's all together it'll make sense.

We filmed the entire sequence in order, each shot moving us closer and closer to the moment when we would attempt to "hang" Melody. The last shot we did for the night was her putting that noose around her neck. It gave everyone the chills `cause it was all so convincing. It's an unsettling image (especially for me `cause I'm her brother and for Trevor `cause he's her husband) but that's what I was after. After we did that shot we picked up some inserts and then we wrapped. The next night we'd complete the scene, meaning Melody would have to kick the chair out from underneath her feet. The question is... would anybody be there to save her?



DAY 7.


29 INT. RAPUNZEL'S BACKYARD/SHED - THAT MOMENT 29

She puts the noose of the rope AROUND HER NECK. Then she raises her foot and pushes it gently against the back of the chair, tilting it just a bit. All she has to do is push harder.

CUT TO:


What a difference half a year makes! I remember writing this scene back in August of `03. In fact it looked really different back then. The scene was originally written to take place in a GARAGE.

After the first day of shooting Asal asked me where we'd be filming Rapunzel's bedroom scenes. I told her I didn't know yet. She offered her room. So a few days later I went to her house and checked out her bedroom. It was perfect. Of course I had to see what would be coming with it. I looked at the kitchen, the living room and then I asked "where's the garage?". Of course there was NO garage. So that presented a challenge for me. We needed a car garage for this hanging scene but without one I was starting to think that the rest of the house wouldn't work. But her roommate said "we have a barn outside". So I checked it out and immediately fell in love. It gave me a whole new way to approach the scene that I had already written and it was a lot fresher and unique. I would have never thought to place the scene in a setting like that because a location such as this "barn" would have normally been completely out of reach. But there it was right in front of me. That night I immediately went to my computer and began to re-write the scene to fit our new setting.

When we arrived for Day 7 everyone was in a really relaxed mood. We went into the house and watched the footage that was shot the previous night. But I must admit that starting a new shooting day is always difficult. Everyone gets there and immediately wants to socialize. Usually it takes one very brave person to say "okay, let's get off our asses and start working". But once we're into the scene I find it hard to stop. Before I get to the location I'm already prepared with my shot layout. All my setups are written down on a piece of paper and all I have to do is show everyone else the order of the set-ups. The first thing we had to do is a quick pick-up shot of Melody walking to the shed. After the previous night I looked at the footage by myself and realized that I had made a HUGE mistake. I forgot to shoot an establishing shot so the audience could know where the hell this scene takes place. It was a really easy shot to film. After we got through that we moved all our crap inside the shed and continued what we had started. Melody put her neck back into the noose and we picked up more pieces. That night we added two more actors... John and David. And of course there was the issue of Melody's safety since we would be hanging her. Well, maybe not exactly. So we started off by first creating a `stunt rope'. Trevor was responsible for that. We had a different rope that was used that would break very easily in the event that Melody accidentally fell. We put that rope up on the beam and had Melody slip into that. Creating a stunt rope was tricky and turned out to be a real annoyance as it kept breaking when we didn't want it to break. We'd be right in the middle of a take and you'd clearly see that it was a fake. So getting that right was difficult. At some point during the night John Bedard found blood on his hand. Somehow he had cut himself with a knife (a knife is used during the scene) and I was thinking "either he's cut or Melody is cut". But I guess it turned out to be him. But like a trooper he kept going. There's always a risk of someone getting hurt with these kind of scenes. When a weapon is used or a stunt must be done I get nervous. But everything came out good. I think the most pain anyone endured during this sequence came at the end of the shoot when we were filming a moment where a lot of dust and dirt is kicked up from the movement of the actors in that dirty shed. We all inhaled lots of dirt and started coughing. But that was the last take for the night and then we packed up.

On Sunday afternoon I was so anxious to see how the whole scene would look so I attached my camera up to the DVD player and recorded the shots in sequence onto a DVD-RAM. Of course I'm not a professional editor and my cuts don't look perfect but it was just to make sure that it would all cut together smoothly. And it does. Sometime soon I'll hand over all our footage to our real editor and he'll put it together using a computer-based editing program called Final Cut Pro.

So that was our biggest weekend. Bigger weekends lay ahead for our production as we get deeper into the making of this movie. We haven't even arrived at the scary scenes yet...

If you're a member of our Yahoo club then you have exclusive access to our photo gallery which has all of our Behind the Scenes pictures. If you look at those pictures you'll notice that Melody is wearing a WHITE GOWN. Those of you who are not directly involved in this production are probably wondering "is she the White Witch?".

This Winter season you'll find out. Until then... good night.

- Skell

May 27, 04

Posted by skelletonpictures at 10:42 AM PDT

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Tuesday, 18 May 2004

Day 5
I'll admit that while I'm on set I sometimes feel like I want throw a fit and cause natural disasters when things aren't looking very good. On the outside I laugh and I'm light-hearted and I'm calm (not to mention ULTRA cool... don't laugh) but internally I want to cry and scream and maybe even run away! Nothing ever goes 100% right on a movie shoot. It can't, and if it did what would be exciting about that? In the case of Day 5 things went slow and felt like the night would never end. We shot a scene that's the size of 4 script pages. That's a big deal. But it wasn't all simple dialogue. Melody had HUGE blocks of words to say in the scene and she wasn't prepared with her lines. After the night was finished I still wasn't convinced that the scene will amount to anything `cause her performance was also suffering, but that's not her fault. She had just arrived back from Texas and was experiencing jet lag... lack of sleep... lack of proper nutrition. But if editing truly is a gift from God then the scene will come out good. And I'm also proud of her for pushing herself the way she did.

I think the entire night was documented on Asal's Hi8 camera. That's going to be a new thing now on our set: everything will be documented! So maybe we'll publish that on our DVD. To be honest next week is what I'm really worried about. I don't know how I'm going to explain it on my journal `cause it's a bit of a secret. But it's going to be our first really active scene in the movie and there are plenty of lighting and safety issues to deal with. The next time I write in my journal I'll have completed that scene. Wish us luck!

- Skell

May 17, 04

Posted by skelletonpictures at 11:12 AM PDT

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DAY 4.


I think the most appealing aspect of directing and filmmaking in general is the collaboration. On a movie set everyone has an opinion, thought, or feeling about something. I've lived with this movie for a little over a year now. The story and the characters that I've created have consumed me. Every single day for the past year has been with a thought or new idea or feeling... it never ends. And it won't let me go until I have completed this movie. As a director and storyteller I have that obligation. So when I arrive at a scene that's about to be shot I've already seen it all in my head played out over and over. Yes, I've seen this whole movie. I know how it should look, feel, sound... how it "should"... but how is it coming out so far? Does any of it resemble what I've already seen? Well, the answer is actually no. It really doesn't look at all the way I thought it would look. But that's not a problem. If I had a 40 million dollar budget this movie would look different. I'd have every room and location designed the way I want it and I'd have more control. Of course this guerilla style of filmmaking that we're doing doesn't allow me that kind of meticulousness to detail and my vision is basically at the mercy of the four winds. And it's okay. It's okay because it doesn't necessarily look bad. In fact I'm happy with what's been shot so far. It looks really raw, and a bit dark but I guess that's what I was after to begin with. The performances are still really good and the people working behind the scenes are great collaborators. So far no back-stabbing or grudges or name-calling. Behind the scenes there are problems with the schedule. For instance the schedule that took me 3 weeks to put together is now unusable. I may have to recast a small part and all the dates are gonna be rearranged. Melody had to make a very unexpected trip to Texas the night before her scheduled scene and so I had to quickly fix that, meaning her co-stars were surprised by the new scenes being filmed. Additionally we lost another night, BUT... it's okay. Nobody panic, just breath.

Shooting night four was simple. No nerves for me `cause the 3 scenes on the new call-sheet were quick and painless and in a controlled environment. When I arrive at the location I'm happy. I see my cast and my small but dedicated crew. They're all sitting outside talking and relaxing. I join them for a bit while we wait for the other cast member to arrive. We talk about life, and more importantly we talk about movies. We're a group that cares about the craft and we want nothing more than to tell a good story. Once everyone has arrived we set up the scene. It's simple and ya'll have heard it before. You know what a director does, but what about everyone else? Let me introduce you to a very important member of my crew: Asal Khanghahi. Her job is tough, maybe the toughest. She has to hold an 8 lbs camera on her right shoulder, take after take... and those that know me know what I'm talking about. That's a shit-load of takes. Holding 8 lbs on your shoulder for take 1 isn't that hard. In fact it may seem easy and light. By take 4 you start to notice the camera feels as if it's gaining weight and 8 lbs becomes 15 pounds. By take 9 it's gained more weight and then by take 14... we'll let's just say I'm surprised she hasn't thrown the camera at me yet. Her job is to make sure the shots look good. And with our limitations that's pretty hard. So once she puts that camera on her shoulder she looks through the viewfinder and determines where to put the light(s). As we shoot I can see what she's filming by looking at a small hand-held monitor. So, that's what a Director of Photography does. Now, let's talk about Viktor Kovacs. He's my main (and often only) grip on the movie. His job is to hold things. So you're probably thinking "is that all?? He holds things?". Well, that is also not an easy job. Last week he had to hold a light in his hand while sitting on the floor the ENTIRE night! But what would we have done without him? What he did was very important and I'm really proud of him and excited that he's on my crew. And then that brings me to our good pal Mr. John Burnley. What the hell would I do without him? He's the guy who supplies the beer! But that's not all he does. In fact he's not only my slate operator but he's also one of the five key actors in the movie. But he volunteered to slate the movie on his off days and I'm really happy `bout that. *Also, it should be noted that I don't drink. :)

During the night we had a big discussion over a scene and how it was being played out. I LOVE these kind of discussions. It's not the kind where people argue and throw fits and there's really no right or wrong but it's important that everyone walk away from the discussion with a better understanding. David Perrone had a really difficult scene to do. Now, this isn't the kind of difficult where there's stunts or pressure or big movement. In fact it was very opposite. He had to simply walk up to a bedroom door and try to convince his "sister" to let him in. As I mentioned Melody was out of town so Burnley fed him the lines from inside the room. David is instructed to walk anxiously to the door and start knocking on it because his character needs to talk to his sister. She won't let him in and he gets mad, walking off frame. Seems simple, but there was an issue. His character is wearing something warm that must be taken off during the scene. On a movie set, everyone's main concern with a scene is "Does it look real? Is this believable? Would this character really be doing this, or saying this or acting this way?". It's important when making a movie that everything feel REAL. And the actors, more than anyone, need to understand every action and emotion that's being played. So David had an opinion about his coat and what should be done with it during the scene. I said "Take off the coat while you're talking to her through the door". It's natural to be doing something like that but he felt it was awkward. On screen it looks great. Director Robert Altman is probably most famous for one thing he does really well in all of his films, and that is to have multiple characters talk about different things all at the same time. In other words 2 or 3 different conversations. It's a tough thing to orchestrate but he does it well and it looks real and natural. In fact this happens all the time in real life where 2 people in a room are talking about THIS and 2 other people are talking about THAT. I'm sure for the actors playing the scene it must feel kind strange but who cares? It's real life.

Anyway, we got through the scene and in my opinion it's a great moment and I'm proud of what we accomplished that night.

Posted by skelletonpictures at 11:12 AM PDT

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Tuesday, 4 May 2004

Day 3
Question: How many idiots does it take to mount a camera onto a tripod? The answer is two. Juan (executive producer) and I were having a devil of a time setting up our first shot. For some odd reason the camera wasn't sliding onto the quick-release tripod head like it usually does. First I tried to do it (I'm supposed to be the expert) and then Juan starts laughing at me because it wasn't working. So then he steps in and tries... it wasn't working for him either. Some of this was put on camera. Asal quickly grabbed her little hi-8 camera and begin filming one of the most embarrassing moments in White Witch history. Finally I realized the reason it wasn't going on was because the camera wasn't attached to the quick-release plate correctly. It was on backwards. We're not exactly sure who was responsible for that but we assume it was Jim, our assistant camera operator who was absent that night. It's not necessarily the fact that we couldn't put it on that's embarrassing. It's that it took about 8 minutes before I finally discovered WHY it wasn't working. Oh well.

That night was somewhat difficult. It required 6 set-ups in about 4 hours. It consisted of 3 characters, 2 major speaking roles, one cramped room, nearly two pages of very intense dialogue and a lot of staging to do. I actually didn't know where that scene was going to be filmed until 2 nights before we were scheduled to shoot it. Asal told me the previous week that her bedroom would be perfect for RAPUNZEL'S bedroom so I went to go look at it. Turns out she was right. Her house also happens to be at the ass-end of Fremont in a district known as Mission San Jose. When I arrived on Friday night I began by first working with the actors to stage the scene. They go through the lines while I walk them through the motions. Juan was there to give me some advise on how to make the scene more intense. When you read the lines to any script there are two ways to do the scene: Slow or Fast. We tried it slow first and Juan saw that it lacked any energy so we talked about how to give it a stronger edge. I had the actors speed it up, raise the volume and it worked out better. And there was a safety issue because one of our props was a knife. That's dangerous and as great as you want the scene it's also really important that everyone remains safe.

Melody Sterner, who plays Rapunzel wasn't saying a line in the way that I wanted. When you're a director you face that challenge. What happens when they're not doing it the way you think it should be done? What kind of words are you supposed to use with actors? Or should you even try to get it how you want it? See, every director is different. It's not an exact science. I've heard some directors say that it's dangerous to get into an actors process and that telling them you want it done "This way" is bad. In the case of this situation I just told Melody what I was hearing wrong with it and I didn't necessarily tell how it should be fixed. I basically just told her how I didn't want it. She fixed it and we moved on. As a director I also must listen to other peoples' opinions. I can either say "yeah, that's a great idea" or "dude, fuck off". But the great thing is that their ideas are usually really good. Burnley had an idea to add a special BEAT (this is like a pause) during this tension-filled moment between brother and sister and the moment worked. So Burnley, my hats off to you. Burnley's another actor so he knows how to coach them a bit.

Before the night ended I eliminated a set-up (we didn't need it) and we left on time.

What did I learn that night? Let's see. I learned to make sure that the quick-release plate is screwed into the camera correctly and if I have a problem like that to make sure that it's in private so no one can laugh at me. Until next time, good night.

- Skell

April 29, 04

Posted by skelletonpictures at 9:54 AM PDT

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Tuesday, 20 April 2004

"THE WHITE WITCH" Now Filming



PROLOGUE

The night before our first night of filming was a little rough for me. I'm the kind of person who just naturally looks stressed or un-rested but that's due to my nature physical presence... and the fact that I don't usually sleep very well and I have poor eating habits. Naturally there would be some nerves. I haven't had to direct anything in TWO years. I was worried that I had forgotten how to communicate with people and on a movie set communication is the most important part of directing. Very late on Thursday night I finally slithered into bed with my TV on (it's the only way I can sleep). And the movie that was on was Poltergeist 2: The Other Side. Instead of sleeping I tried watching the movie. After only about 30 minutes I had to change the channel. Full House was on so I watched that instead and it put me to sleep FAST.

The next day was when it would all begin. I knew which scenes we would be shooting and the CALL SHEETS had already gone out to the cast and crew. One whole year had gone by and it was finally going to become a reality. I was anxious to see how it would look and how everyone would feel about the whole process. But I had to wait until 6:30pm before my ride would come pick me up to go to the location. Before I start there is something everyone should understand.

There are 3 types of movies that are made today:

A. THE STUDIO FILM: which is made by Hollywood with LOTS of Hollywood money.

B. THE INDEPENDENT FILM: which is made with a low to modest budget (usually between 700,000 dollars to 20 million dollars). It's independently produced but there's usually a studio involved eventually to help release it.

C. THE GUERILLA FILM: which is made with "out of pocket" money by artists who are trying desperately to maneuver around the studio system because the studios won't give them the time-of-day.

Can anyone guess which kind of movie "The White Witch" is? Anyone? Anyone?

If you guessed A. you need to stop dropping acid. If you guessed B. that was a good guess but where would a nobody like me scrounge up 700,000 dollars? If your guess was C. then you guessed RIGHT!

So now that you have an idea of what to expect out of these first two days I'm gonna go ahead and try to explain it as I saw it. I promise to be as honest and candid as possible. And for those of you reading who have joined our cast but have not yet worked with us, please remember that each day is different and we can only pray that the mistakes made once will not be made a second time. Here it is as I experienced it. Enjoy!

DAY 1.

Call time for crew was 7:00pm at Juan Perez's apartment in Fremont. Two scenes were scheduled for that night. One was an exterior and the other is an interior. The sun goes down at right around 8:00pm so first shot is scheduled at 8:15pm. My production manager Viktor Kovacs picked me up from my place and we arrived at 10 minutes before 7:00. As our small crew began to arrive we started to set everything up. The cast arrived on time which was great. What I loved about the first day was that we all knew that there wasn't enough room in our schedule to waste any time and I'm a very anxious person. I just wanted to get that first shot off ASAP because that's what thrills me more than anything!

When John Burnley arrived I was ready to start shooting. But before I go any further I must explain something. The scene that was being filmed called for a prop gun. I don't want to give any important plot points away so that's all I'll say. I don't own anything that resembles a gun and I wasn't comfortable using a real gun so I made some calls earlier that week and eventually found somehow who owned the gun that we would be using. I told him what time we were gonna start and what time to arrive at the location and all was understood and confirmed. So John Burnley, who plays a character named Ethan, shows up and grabs his sides (instead of using the whole script he's given the exact pages we're shooting). So he sits down inside the apartment and begins reading. Meanwhile, outside I'm setting up the first shot with Asal, our DP (camera person) and Jim Campbell who's Assistant Camera. They're both lighting the shot and setting up the camera with a crew of 3 other people to make sure everything looks natural. As we're doing that we all begin to realize something. The neighbors have children that were running in and out of the apartment. That actually wasn't so much of a problem because they were quiet and interested in what we were doing. But then something else happened. In that same apartment we started to hear YELLING! There was a guy in the next house who was yelling in Indian and he didn't sound happy. He sounded like he was on the phone. All of us stopped what were doing and listened. Then the yelling turned to CRYING. Oh God, that's bad. There's an Indian dude in there who's obviously really upset about something and we're out there making a movie. Eventually the guy's emotions simmered down and all was quiet again. For a brief moment I wasn't sure what was going to happen.

8:00pm comes around and we must begin shooting soon. I went back inside to see how Burnley was doing and he's still reading his lines. And then he told me why he was concentrating so desperately. He wasn't prepared for the scene and didn't know his lines. That's a scary thing to find out when you have to start in 15 minutes. But it gets worse. At about 8:10, only 5 minutes away from take 1, I realized that our prop gun had not arrived yet! And you can't shoot this scene without the gun in the scene. I figured it's no problem, I'll just call the guy on the phone and make sure he's on his way with it. But I couldn't get through to him. 8:20 comes around and we have not started yet. Finally someone made a suggestion which was instead of using a gun maybe the weapon could be changed to a baseball bat. GREAT IDEA! So I asked Juan if he had a baseball bat and he says "No". Well, we needed a weapon of some kind. Juan, who has a great sense of humor, had some great "out of the box" ideas for weapons. He showed me a plastic sword and then my favorite which was a tiny little plastic squirt gun. Okay, so we had a good laugh about it but it was already 8:40 and we needed to get started. Juan's best idea finally comes around. He says "I got a hockey stick". Yes, now that's much better. He showed me two different sticks. One was a hockey stick that he said he had used when he was very small and the other one was handed to him by the famous Wayne Gretzky! So naturally I chose the latter one.

Anyway, 1st shot was at 10 minutes to 9:00pm. We were already 50 minutes behind schedule. Luckily nobody was angry at me. Everyone was still in good spirits and having a good time. After completing 2 set-ups outside we moved everything inside to shoot a 4 page scene. By that time we had about 3 hours to shoot it. This scene required multiple set-ups and the lighting was really challenging. Inside the apartment it was very hot and stuffy and somewhat unpleasant. The shots were coming out okay and the acting was fine but time was winding down fast. There were 4 characters involved in the scene and a lot of complicated dialogue. Believe it or not we actually finished everything that was scheduled ON TIME! And by on time I mean just barely.

Many mistakes were made on my part. I wish I could have communicated to my cast a little better. But maybe I'm still trying to get used to this whole process again. Better planning would have helped out in some of our problem areas. But the night was over and day 2 was just around the corner.

DAY 2.

Although day one had it's set-backs and issues I still looked at the evening as a success. Everything that was scheduled for the night was shot and we all walked out of there feeling good about it.

For day 2 things would be different. Viktor and I arrived a few minutes late, but not because of negligence. We stopped at the market and picked up some water and juices for the cast and crew. When we arrived we found that some of the other crew members were looking at the footage from the previous night. Personally I don't like the idea of the cast looking at themselves because obviously they're going to criticize their work and it could end up being depressing for them. John and David (our leads) spent most of their time outside rehearsing their lines for the night but Burley watched the footage. He's experienced enough to know that all footage looks bad until it's put together and music and sound effects are added so he was okay with it. As for me and my point-of-view, I was a bit disappointed with how it looked. I thought the performances were there for the most part but visually I feel I could have done better. And any problems with the performances are entirely my fault. As a director it's my job to be analytical and to bring the best out of each actor. I clearly made some mistakes. After watching the footage I then showed them my last effort... a 6 minute movie called "Fucked". To my surprise everyone seemed to really like it.

So after the sun went down we moved our stuff outside. Juan took me aside and told me how the night would go. I was happy to hear that he was ready to take a more active role in the project. He knew what had to be done to make it a successful night. I would work strictly with the cast while he guided the crew in setting up and lighting the shots. In the past I've always been torn between the two parts of the job... cast and crew. What I have to do is make sure that my DP knows the scene and the order of the shots so that I can leave that all to her. As she does that I can work with the actors to make sure they deliver a strong performance. So, all of that sounds kind of simple, right?

And it would have been, if not for the party that was going on in the recreation room which was only feet away from where we needed to be filming. When I arrived at the Apartment I noticed that they were there. I was hoping that the party would be ending soon. Unfortunately it was just beginning. And of course there's nothing we can do about it. The scene that was being filmed involved a lot of high tension between the two lead actors. That night I was thinking "We should have filmed this last night instead". But that was not going to happen. The first thing we had to deal with was a lighting issue (the night ALWAYS starts off with a `lighting issue'). I had originally set up the shot in such a way that would have been impossible to light (with our limitations). So again we had to improvise. We re-planned the shot so we could use natural light from a nearby light source and began to shoot. As all of that was happening we'd hear laughing, talking, music and stuff like that during each take. This is all happening at about 9:00pm which is about the time we started shooting... 1 hour later than planned. It seemed that during every take there was a problem. The party that was going on involved a LOT of kids. You can imagine how stressed I was. As the night went we did take after take and this time it wasn't because I was over shooting but because there were not only sound problems but also our camera kept shutting down. The reason that happened is because during the previous night we were operating the camera with a battery, instead of the battery-pack which plugs into a wall outlet. The Battery eventually ran out of power and when we left for the night nobody thought to recharge it. So we had to hook up the camera to multiple extension chords which made it more uncomfortable than it already is for Asal to operate the camera. We assumed that the reason the camera kept shutting down is because some of the extension cords weren't plugged in correctly. So the whole night we had to deal with that. A great performance would be halted because the camera would automatically lose power. And at the same time everyone is REALLY cold. I think we had to shoot the same shot 12 or more times. But it wasn't my fault, I promise. AND, to make things even more complicated for me, my monitor stopped working and I wasn't able to see anything that was being filmed. Typically I would look at a hand-held TV and I could get a good idea of how everything looked. But not that night. I had to wait until I got home to see it all.

After we finished that scene we quickly shot one more scene out there and we called it a night. The miracle of the whole thing is that we actually finished 1 hour earlier than expected. After the main cast left I stayed behind for a while to talk with Juan, John Burnley and Viktor. I did one quick pick-up shot to complete the scene we had filmed on Friday night and then that was it. When I got home that night I did some tests with my camera to see if the problem with the camera was truly because of the extension cords and I discovered that it wasn't. The problem is with the cord that connects the camera to the battery-pack. It's not exactly broken but it will continue to cause problems in the future.

So there you have it. First weekend of filming was completed. We ran into some problems but nothing ever stopped us, we just had to be creative and work around the issues. As for next week... that's a secret for now. Lots of work to be done. Until next time... good night.

- Skell

April 20, 04

Posted by skelletonpictures at 5:00 PM PDT

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Wednesday, 14 April 2004

Director's On-Set Diary
"MAKING THE WHITE WITCH"

A DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY THROUGH HELL


by Gaunt Skellington


INTRODUCTION

Okay, so maybe it's a bit presumptuous to think that making this movie will be a journey through hell, considering we haven't even shot the movie yet. I can tell you right now, from where I'm sitting that it hasn't exactly been a cake walk. I've decided that if I'm ever going to learn anything I'm going to need to start documenting my mistakes. For the purposes of drama I will try to leave out any victories I experience, because really, who wants to hear about things going right... right?? People are fascinated by suffering, and trauma and disputes and the like. It's what made Jerry Springer so popular. So I'll try to accentuate the negative for you guys and maybe everyone will be happy. But for now.... let's see, where do I begin?

CHAPTER 1: THE URBAN LEGEND

Why the hell would a movie about a hitch-hiking ghost appeal to audiences? I really don't have the answer to that. It's weird because when I tell people that I'm making a movie about The White Witch people get really excited. They tell me that they grew up hearing this story and it always scared them.

A dead girl wearing WHITE wants a ride to San Francisco. That's basically it. What's scary about that?

The appeal of the story, for me, is that there's so many ideas of who the girl is. In some versions of this legend she's a teenage girl, and in others she's a mean `ol hag and in others she's a melancholy bride. And the list goes on and on! So there's a bit of mystery to it all. Plus the story takes place in a DARK canyon. So imagine your driving through this DARK canyon and you see a woman in white.... do you know immediately which version of the story was true? Do you pick her up? Make eye contact? Slow down? Speed up? What exactly should you do if you see a ghost? That is what's appealing about it. Because we DON'T know. We're always going to fear what we don't understand and that's why people love this story. You can lay in your bed and play it out in your head and most-likely you'll have nightmares. I thought about it a lot and that's how this whole thing got started. So now let's move on.

CHAPTER 2: IT'S ONLY A STORY

My Confession:

I, Gaunt Skellington, have SEEN THE WHITE WITCH.

Do you believe me? No? Well, good, because it's a lie. I've never seen her nor do I believe I ever will. I don't even know if I truly believe in ghosts, PERIOD. I once thought I saw a UFO. I couldn't explain why this little silver thing in the sky kept rising and rising above the clouds at a very intense speed. But I don't necessarily believe in aliens. But I enjoy thinking about it. What if there were aliens? I thought the movie `Signs' was an interesting movie. It put really ordinary (and often boring) people into a fairly intense (but still kind of boring) situation. Now I mentioned that it may have been kind of boring, but that doesn't mean anything. I happen to really enjoy what others may refer to as `boring' movies. But it's pace wasn't what thrilled me, it was the idea that this Alien invasion could possibly happen. It was believable because the characters were like me, boring. And I connected with that. We've all seen enough horror films to know that the bimbo blonde needs to at some point be taking a shower, right? What good would a horror movie be without the naked chicks? In the very popular 1996 Wes Craven Epic `SCREAM' we learn the rules of the horror genre. The movie was entertaining because it had 30 year old teenagers talking about horror films when they were IN a horror film. That's funny and clever. They talk about the mistakes and make all new mistakes for us to scream about. I remember sitting in the theatre watching this movie and being more entertained by the audiences reaction to the movie than the movie itself. People were literally screaming. But I couldn't understand why. I'm more terrified by films like `Ransom' than `Scream'. The Ron Howard thriller was scarier because that scenario takes place all the time in this country and it's unsettling. But I bet you that most of the audience members in `Scream' either didn't see `Ransom' or weren't effected by it. That's what separates audiences, I guess. There's those that understand REAL horror and those that just like to watch people get brutally massacred in front of their eyes.

Now, take a film like `The Sixth Sense'. Anyone see that one? That movie was GOOD (in my opinion). No one gets slaughtered on camera, there's no naked ladies or the 30 year old teens that are trying to score with them, and the movie never glorified the use of illegal drugs. BUT it made LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY. Just about everyone saw it and talked about it and LOVED it. What was successful about it? If the movie didn't have it's big twist at the end would it have still be as popular? It contained a small and melancholy boy who we all sympathized with. I was hooked by the fact that this boy reminded me of me when I was a kid. Another film that did really well at the box office was `The Ring'. Wow, that movie was pretty scary. But there were no naked girls, old teenagers, or drug glorification. So what's going on here? I've noticed that post-modern horror seems to be finally dying away. With the exception of `The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' audiences seem to be going for the quieter, more psychological films. And I actually liked `Chainsaw Massacre'. Every once in a while it's still fun to see teens get SLAUGHTERED.

***

What was the point I was trying to make with this chapter? Has anyone figured it out `cause I'm lost. Oh yeah, I'm trying to get to how I conceived the story of the White Witch. Does anyone still care? If you do, I'll explain it now.

It was MANY years ago. The year 2002. I was a passenger in a small car, riding around with one of my good buddies. We would always talk about movies. Although he and I always clashed when it came to films we both agreed that it would be spooky and fun to take a late night drive through Niles Canyon. Why would that be spooky? Because we both had heard that there's a ghost in there. How exciting. We both decided against it (there was a Wendy's near by and we were both starving) so instead we came over to my place and watched a movie. But along the way we discussed the possibilities of what could happen if we did encounter this hitch-hiking ghost. First of all, the back of his car was FILTHY and there was no room for passengers. So we thought if we were to give this girl a ride she would have to sit on my LAP! Imagine that... a ghost sitting on my lap. What happens next? Let's not talk about that, I want to keep this story clean. Of course I had heard in just about every version of the legend that the ghost will NOT take a ride in the passenger seat, she will only sit in the back. Well, if that were true than we were screwed `cause it would have been impossible. So the dollar menu at Wendy's was looking more and more enticing. We never actually talked about it again. We did mention very quickly that it would make an interesting short film. And I'm glad I never forgot that. A year would go by before I would take that idea seriously.

Flash forward one year. Now it's March, 2003. I was doing some researching on a screenplay I was writing but I was frustrated that I couldn't write it fast enough. I new everything about it but there was one thing that I was still not sure about. I wanted the movie to contain some information about the legendary `Secret Sidewalk of Niles Canyon'. The Secret Sidewalk is more fact than fiction. It does actually exist, there's no BS about it. People really do hike up it to find a desolated area where they can get stoned or drunk. I've heard it's kind of a dangerous hike. But I had also heard that there's a satanic church somewhere around there. And some believe that the KKK have meetings very near by. That part of it is legend. I was online one night, looking for info about the Secret Sidewalk and I came across an interesting chat forum. It appears that another fellow was researching the Sidewalk and started the forum. As people were writing about the Sidewalk other people were submitting stories about OTHER Niles Canyon Legends... one being the White Witch. As I was reading the stories I became fascinated by the idea again. I remembered how a year prior we were joking around about the possibilities but I never really took it seriously. But now that I was alone, thinking for myself, I began to consider the horror of it all. Some of the stories submitted were by people who claimed to have really seen the ghost. I didn't believe them but I wanted to believe that it could be true. What if? How would I truly feel if I were to see a ghost in a white dress. Maybe if I had never heard the story I wouldn't know she was a ghost, but I DID know the story and I WOULD know it was her. A floating, visual memory left behind for me to see... what an idea! I had a vision of me in a car, looking at the side of the road and seeing her. All I could think about was NOT wanting to stop. I'd want to just speed by and never go back. I'd want to go home and try like hell to forget about it. I'd be terrified. Why? She didn't do anything, she was just walking. But still, it was the idea that she's a GHOST. A woman who was once alive and now dead and somehow I just saw her. Forget the screenplay I had been writing... The White Witch had SPOKEN.

CHAPTER 3: THE SCRIPT

When you're a nobody like me who has no money and a crappy job that shows no potential of making any real money you try to write movies in a very practical way. In other words I knew of the limitations from the very beginning. I try not to romanticize my ideas and think in a realistic way. So there would be no special effects, no explosions, no car chases or dangerous stunts, or Computer Graphic Images. That's easy to live with. I wanted to make a simple movie about a ghost. That's all. At first the idea was maybe TOO simple and ultimately boring.

IDEA A: Two dudes are driving through the canyon, talking about how funny it would be to see the white witch and they end up seeing her. Running time: 15 minutes. It would be shot hand-held in the back seat in a documentary fashion.

My little sister was in the room so I told her the idea. She yawned.

IDEA B: Two dudes are fascinated by the story and drive through the canyon. They see the ghost and are terrified so they don't pick her up. She begins stalking them until they give her a ride. Running time: 30-40 minutes.

Little sister says "I want to be in it!" (she literally yelled at me... oh and I should mention that she was 20 at the time).

So let's modify that story a bit.

IDEA C: One dude and a GIRL are driving through the canyon...

Little Sister didn't like that idea, she didn't say why.

IDEA D: One dude, the dude's friend and the 2nd dude's 14 year old sister are driving through the canyon...

Little sister liked that idea a lot more. She looks young enough to play 14.

So now that I had a VERY basic plot (a retarded monkey would have come up with the same idea) I had some real work ahead of me. What was the movie REALLY going to be about? I've always liked the idea of there being a subtext in a story so I was going to try to come up with something. I sat at my computer and tried to write a treatment. A treatment is basically a short story version of your script. It doesn't necessarily have to include dialogue but it helps writers to format their story. I'm terrible at writing treatments because I'm usually too damn anxious to write the script so I trashed the treatment. It was lame anyway. I remember I was having a hard time coming up with good names for my characters. I knew I wanted them to be in high school because I needed them to be somewhat frail and inexperienced in life. I finally settled on some names but there was one thing I was clueless about: how it would all end. I honestly didn't know who the White Witch was in my head. I never even really had a clear picture of her. Usually writers know the outcome of their story but I went into it completely blind. I decided I would do my best to listen to the characters and hopefully they would be interesting enough to make people care about them. Sometime in early April I began to write my first page where I introduced my lead character, Emerson. I remember that as I began writing I really didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it. But page 1 became page 2, and then page 3 and by the end of the night I was somewhere around page 10. After that I was relieved but then I stopped for about 3 weeks. I went 3 weeks without writing anything and I became discouraged. Maybe that's all I could write. Perhaps it just wasn't interesting enough to me. Oh, I remember why I stopped... because I didn't have enough time. I would go to work (at the local cinema) come home on the bus (where I napped) and then when I got home I'd think about what I was going to write but I wouldn't keep my stubborn fingers on the keys long enough to make a difference.

So now I'm going to make a serious confession and this is a big one. It's kind of important to the rest of this story and that's why I can't keep it hidden. So here goes.

I spent a lot of that time glued to the TV watching American Idol! How embarrassing! But I'm going to clear something up right now before the thought even enters your head... I am a heterosexual! Nothing against homosexuals but I am 100% straight! Okay, so now that I've got that off my chest.

The only way I could write my script was if I took some time off of work so here's what I did. I took the whole week after Easter to just spend time with my script. On Easter Sunday my sister, future brother-in-law and myself took a drive through the canyon so I could get a feel for it. After that drive I knew what I had to do. The next day it was on. I woke up early the next morning and begin WRITING! If I remember correctly I think I actually finished the script by the end of that week.

When I first set out to write the script I remember that I was dead-set on it being no longer that 45 pages at the most. But by 45 pages we hadn't yet arrived at the climax! So in the end my script totaled out at 62 pages. Too long for a short, and too short for a feature. But there wasn't anything I could do. That was the story I wanted to tell.

After I printed my script I put it in my bag and I traveled to my work place to show it off. I knew no one would care but I would try anyway. While I was on my bus, headed toward Newark from Union City, I over-heard 4 other passengers talking about the White Witch as our bus passed the entrance to the Canyon. That made me feel better about what I had done, knowing that people still told that story. It's very inspiring when you already know you have an audience for your movie.

Needless to say that when I arrived at the theatre with my script nobody gave a shit.

CHAPTER 4: SO, NOW WHAT?

My first draft of the script was completed and I thought the world of it. My sister read it but she didn't seem too thrilled. She still wanted to be in it but it wasn't a big deal.

Another woman who I always entrust with my first drafts took a gander and she was confused by the ending (that's never a good sign). There was also a complaint that there was too much `language' in it. That was cute.

My good friend Juan Perez had still not read it and I really needed him to. He and I had tried to make another movie before and unfortunately it didn't work out. I later rebounded with a 6 minute piece of crap called "Fucked". Nobody saw it. Good. But Juan had always been there with me through it all. He co-wrote the "other" movie we had tried to produce and later operated camera for a day on the set of "Fucked". We always shared a passion for movie-making and we both dream of one day making it big in the movie industry. So I called him and told him that I had finished this new script and he said he'd read it. Almost 2 months after completing the script I would actually hand it over to him. It took a while and I can't remember why. I'll admit that I can sometimes be a very distant friend and it's one of my many despicable flaws. I finally met with him at the Florence Bar and gave him a copy. He said he'd read it and that was basically the extent of it. A couple of weeks later I talked to him on the phone and he had this to say: "Um, yeah, it's definitely a work in progress". OUCH! How do you respond to that? I probably agreed with him. What I've learned over the 3 years that I've been writing screenplays is that you're always in love with your first draft until you've read it a few times. Then you begin to despise it. So yeah, he was totally right. The script sucked. That's what he really wanted to say. So a few months would go by and my little sister would get married in July. My original plan when I began writing the script was that I'd be finished with it long enough to plan it and film over the summer. Well, that obviously didn't happen. At the wedding I reunited with a very good friend of mine named Joe Giordano. I used to work with him a few years ago and he too had an interest in movies. Though his interests were a bit different. He knew about the script and offered to help me if I needed his help. And so I said "Let's meet next week and talk about it". He agreed just because we're friends and it sounded like it might be fun. On July 14th we had our first meeting. At first it was just Joe and myself. Juan didn't show up, but that was fine. We talked all the time so he wasn't missing anything. Later that evening my other friends Michael Tebow and his sister Jackie showed up. We sat around a table and discussed the script and how we would shoot it, where we would shoot it and stuff like that. My biggest concern was regarding the cast. I had originally written the script to include people that I knew personally but they weren't available. So everyone suggest putting an ad on Craigslist. There I would be able to find cast and crew. It wouldn't cost any money and we could get people to work for either dirt cheep or for free. Of course we opted for FREE `cause I didn't have any money. We all left that meeting feeling like we knew where we stood and where to step forward without falling into a crack. Sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way.



CHAPTER 5: PRE-PRODUCTION

Throughout most of this experience I've had two great guys to help me out. Joe and Juan have proved to be much smarter individuals than me and without them I'd be completely lost. Though I'd be lying if I didn't mention that we were ALL very ignorant.

In the past we've worked with other passionate people to make our movies. My production company `Skelleton Pictures' had only completed one other project and it was only 6 minutes. Plus it had a title that's fairly reproachful (I swear I had no control over the title). I wanted Skelleton to be bigger and better. We're a few misfit filmmakers with a dream and all we want to do is tell stories. Director's like Kevin Smith, Peter Jackson, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, and I think the Coen Brothers started out doing what we're doing right now. We knew we didn't have any real money to make this movie but I strongly believed that when you have as much drive as we have then money isn't necessary. And if you're lucky enough you find actors and crew members who feel the same way you do and will do the work because they're passionate about their craft. Celebrities will act for money and fame... Actors will act because it's in their heart, money be damned! That's what I was counting on when we put out our ad on Craigslist. Joe is a far more resources person so he was put in charge of handling all that stuff. Personally I hate computers and I become defeated by them very easily. So the ad went out a few weeks after our first meeting and we were all ready to get going on this project. We tried for a "cattle call" style audition in San Mateo and, well....

The night before the audition I was really excited. I knew I'd be meeting a LOT of people that day, and why not? Skelleton Pictures is making a new movie, didn't you hear? Who wouldn't want to be a part of that? First of all, we had planned the date which was Saturday, August 9th. The time would be from 9 (or10) am until about 6. Everyone agreed that with that big of a window we'd have PLENTY of room to meet everyone. The next day we'd meet at Juan's place to review the audition tapes. Of course we'd need a few hours for that. So Saturday morning comes along, and I wake up early and put on my best outfit (You gotta look professional at these things). Juan picked me up LATE. But that always ads to excitement of it all. Now for some reason we figured that it would only take us about 20 minutes to get from Union City to San Mateo. Well that was not the case. First of all we got lost after we got into San Mateo. The stupid Yahoo! Directions program gave us BAD directions! We took a wrong turn and we were seriously lost. The time that our auditions were supposed to start was moving up FAST. And I'm thinking "all of those people are gonna be waiting on us!". So we finally ask a guy at a gas station for directions and it turns out the building was right around the corner. We get there with just enough time to quickly clean up the place (our first audition was held in a basement below a business). After parking we jump out of the car and run down to the basement, quickly clean it up and are ready to open the doors to allow the HUGE horde of aspiring actors who wanted my movie on their resume! But... there weren't ANY actors waiting outside. Why not?? This is a NEW MOVIE BY GAUNT SKELLINGTON!!! Oh well, maybe it was a slow week for Craigslist, I don't know. We waited down there for HOURS, with not ONE person showing for an auditions. There I was sitting on the couch in this dark basement, wearing my good (but very cheap) suit and nobody to impress. I think Juan and Joe could see the depression. The system had beaten me. Who cared about Skelleton Pictures anyway? We're just a bunch of punks. But as I sat there waiting I had some people to keep me company and cheer me up. Joe's wife Denise, who's a GREAT conversationalist was there along with Juan's good friend Tammy who's always a joy to be around. My sister Melody and my new brother-in-law were with me to keep my mind occupied. And THEN, finally someone showed up. It was a gentleman named Travis. When he walked down those steps into the basement I was shocked. Joe, Juan and I quickly ran into a separate room together and when he came in to meet us it felt great. We had somehow reached someone who was willing to give us a chance. He was very nice and did a really funny monologue. We collected his head-shot and application and just like that we had done our first audition! As he left the room the three of us knew exactly which role he'd be perfect for. In the coming hours after Travis left us we met 2 young women, both great performers. The last girl we saw for the day really impressed me by how natural she was that I added a character in the script so she could be in the movie.

Obviously that would not be our only audition. As we left for the day we all knew what would come next. Joe put out another ad on Craigslist. I had also placed 2 other ads on other Bay Area casting sites. Our next 2 audition were held in the month that followed. One was in Fremont and the other was in Sunnyvale. We learned from our previous mistake and insisted that people make appointments with us ahead of time. So instead of waiting for random people to show up we had everyone set up a specific time to meet us. Some people showed up as promised and others didn't. And even though our auditions weren't HUGE I wouldn't consider them failures in anyway. Out of each audition we met some wonderful people and our cast was coming together. It happened slowly but at least it eventually happened.

As all of that was happening it became obvious to me that I had aimed too small in regards to my script. Both Joe and Juan had great suggestions for me on how to make a stronger story and I began to work on revising the script. Plus I had been getting so many people around town telling me how excited they were about this movie that I felt some things would need to change to meet their high expectations. Juan had always had the idea that I should extend the script into a feature. I was against it because I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of attempting another big project since the other one left a bad taste in my mouth. But Juan had it right the whole time. He made some very strong suggestions on how it could work and I came up with other ideas. The character that I had written for my sister underwent the most substantial change. She went from being a 14 year old annoying tag-along to a 16 year old... well, I don't want to give it away. Suffice it to say there was a major face-lift. Instead of only one character with a character arch I gave all 3 of them newer, more interesting dilemmas. Scenes were added, dialogue was freshened up and it was ready to be handed out to the actors that we were hoping to hire for the movie (by hire, I don't mean paid). Because screenplays are so expensive to duplicate and mail out I could only send the script to key members of our cast and crew. Some have stayed with us and others have dropped out. We had the worst time trying to find the boy who would play Emerson, the lead. No one who attended our auditions seemed to fit the part and I was really beginning to lose hope. Then another cast member recommended a classmate of hers. They were both in an acting class together. I met him in person and he fit the role perfectly. At around the exact same time I had just hired another young man to play the other leading boy. So it appeared that our cast was assembled and we would begin shooting. The date that we had set was October 17, 03. The one big issue at the time was that we didn't have a CAR that the characters would drive around in. We figured we would do our best to improvise something but it never came to that. On the day we were scheduled to begin filming I was visited by one of my young actresses. I'll never forget. She said "I got some bad news". It turns out the boy who was going to play Emerson had decided at the last minute that he didn't want to be in the movie. I was crushed... no, upset.... okay, I was totally fucking pissed off! How could this happen! The day we were supposed to start. I was so excited and then I realized I had been PUNK'D! So I went home that night, again feeling really defeated and called everyone up to tell them that filming had been canceled. Sadly this would become an undying trend.

We finally scheduled another audition date. I was praying that this would be the last. Aside from the ads we put out I was looking around to see if anyone I had known shown any kind of potential and it was a lost cause. But I do need to make special mention of my good friend George who came to the rescue. See, I had been working for Century Theatres for quite a few years. Throughout the years I've met a lot of great people, and I don't just mean other employees, I'm talking about patrons. George and his friend Richard had been regulars for a while and it was ALWAYS a pleasure to be serving them. The two would see just about every film that came out and I could always count on them for a deep and honest review. One day while I was at work I was telling George that I was having difficulty casting my lead. And he mentioned that he knows a young man who's an aspiring actor that would probably like a shot. I said "send him my way!". So just a couple of days before our next audition I get an email from this young man named John Bedard and I schedule the appointment. When I finally met him on that Sunday afternoon in November I didn't think it would work. He looked a bit too clean-cut for my taste and I have this rule that all teens in my movie need look battered and traumatized by life. But I met with him and he was a nice guy. He came in to do his monologue and kept messing up. The speech he was doing was very wordy and complicated and I can see how anyone would have a difficult time with it. He got through it but I wasn't necessarily sold on him. Another young man named David came to meet with me on that day. He also looked really clean-cut and his monologue was somewhat dry so I wasn't totally sold on him either. I was about to give up. I went home and reviewed the tapes and begin to see things a bit differently. I needed to put these two kids together to see if any kind of chemical reaction would take place so I set up another meeting. And that's when I realized that these two guys were PERFECT. They both read through the script, and understood the characters and really allowed themselves to be vulnerable and in some ways even humiliated and I think that's what a good actor needs to do to be great. A few days later I called them on the phone and told them we'd be working together on a movie. They were excited. Now we could finally make this movie.

During the passed few months other people have dropped out of the project. We began in August. Eight freakin' months have passed and we hadn't even begun to shoot. Along the way I lost my second production manager, script supervisor, hair/make-up person and, others. Other people join in so it kind of equals out. Our DP is a wonderful person and I'm anxious to start creating the visual look of our movie with her. Our highly creative costume designer began designing the white witch's costume very early in pre-production and I'm excited to see all of her efforts come to life. Our cast members are some of the most dedicated creatures I've ever come across and they've proven to me that there really are ACTORS out there. I'd be lying if I didn't say that it surprises me that they haven't given up on us yet. I'm not sure if it's the appeal of this ghost story or if it's just that they pity me but I'm hoping for the former. We all have the same goal with this movie, which is to bring Fremont's most popular Urban Legend to life. Now, to all who are involved in this movie: Let's make `em proud!

CHAPTER 6: SHOOT NOW, ASK QUESTIONS LATER

You're all thinking "when will this stupid story end??". Don't worry I'm getting there. This is the last thing I'm gonna write before we begin shooting. We start filming on Friday, April 16th, which is only 2 nights from now. Needless to say I'm very excited but also a bit nervous. I have sold the shit out of myself and now it's time to deliver. Here's where we find out if I'm the biggest fraud or a modest genius. It's gotta be one or the other and I'm obviously hoping for the latter. But time will tell. From here on I will be submitting a new entry after each weekend that we film so all of you 2 people reading this can follow along. Like I mentioned at the top, this is my journey through hell. Along the way I'm hoping to stop by heaven a few times but I'll try to keep that to myself. In the meantime.... let the drama begin!

- Skell

April 14, 2004

Posted by skelletonpictures at 9:59 PM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 17 April 2004 6:06 PM PDT

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