I'm notorious for making things on the quick, well fast (I know people who can go faster), so when I decided to make my Feature it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.
Two weeks have past and so far here are the pre-prodution results (1 week to go):
- Script 80% done
- Cottage where we are filming over 4 days booked
- Cast of over 10 actors acquired (50% are also experienced crew - that handy/clever), a few minor characters left to cast.
- Major Props and Costumes purchased (total is ~$40, thank you thrift stores and fabricland sales!)
- Film permits requested
The following week
- Finalize the Script
- Cast Read-through and Cottage Logistics Planning (carpool already sorted)
- Collect Film permits
Issues encountered
- Cottage selection was slower than expected, mainly some places got back very slowly and did not answer all the questions sent the first time.
- Casting was partially limited to actor's availability and not all of them have cars (nor did I want everyone to drive up as there is not that much parking, despite the cottages being remote), so a Complex Carpool plan had to be made.
Advantages to the Way we did things
- Choosing a fixed shoot date then looking for cast, although this limited our choices somewhat, there is such a huge pool of local talent we actually ended up having more interest than spots so choosing who was not difficult. We will likely use this method more in the future.
- I often Cast then write the script, this time I co-wrote it with Glen Sloan (professional screenwriter) where by I gave him the story and snippets of scenes and we worked together on the plan of the movie and he sat down and did the heavy typing. What this allowed us to do was write the script to match the actor availability to ensure I could shoot the movie up at the cottage without having scenes where two actors who are to at the cabin at the same time or limited time did not occur. That will hopefully help things out.
Conclusion:
Pre-production is in the bag, production is around the corner, with luck it will go as smoothly or better. I'm really looking forward to those two weeks!
Two weeks have past and so far here are the pre-prodution results (1 week to go):
- Script 80% done
- Cottage where we are filming over 4 days booked
- Cast of over 10 actors acquired (50% are also experienced crew - that handy/clever), a few minor characters left to cast.
- Major Props and Costumes purchased (total is ~$40, thank you thrift stores and fabricland sales!)
- Film permits requested
The following week
- Finalize the Script
- Cast Read-through and Cottage Logistics Planning (carpool already sorted)
- Collect Film permits
Issues encountered
- Cottage selection was slower than expected, mainly some places got back very slowly and did not answer all the questions sent the first time.
- Casting was partially limited to actor's availability and not all of them have cars (nor did I want everyone to drive up as there is not that much parking, despite the cottages being remote), so a Complex Carpool plan had to be made.
Advantages to the Way we did things
- Choosing a fixed shoot date then looking for cast, although this limited our choices somewhat, there is such a huge pool of local talent we actually ended up having more interest than spots so choosing who was not difficult. We will likely use this method more in the future.
- I often Cast then write the script, this time I co-wrote it with Glen Sloan (professional screenwriter) where by I gave him the story and snippets of scenes and we worked together on the plan of the movie and he sat down and did the heavy typing. What this allowed us to do was write the script to match the actor availability to ensure I could shoot the movie up at the cottage without having scenes where two actors who are to at the cabin at the same time or limited time did not occur. That will hopefully help things out.
Conclusion:
Pre-production is in the bag, production is around the corner, with luck it will go as smoothly or better. I'm really looking forward to those two weeks!
