Final day of Principle Photography

I spent the three days prior to the shoot checking multiple online weather services, since rain is a factor beyond my control, and with much of my cast just days away form taking off for college, it was unlikely I would be able to reschedule. Mason Speta had did the impossible, maneuvered around 12 people's conflicting schedules to line up the 3 days I needed, so we were going to shoot "Rain-or-shine."
    
Well the rain held off; so I made a mental note to offer a sacrifice to the "God of filming on location.."















Luck was further going my way when I received calls from both Kat Wanger and Hunter Dunn, each back in town, each asking if they could be of any help. Considering my total "Tech Crew" is comprised of my dad and myself; sure, I'm always happy to have any help I can get. The thing is, both Kat and Hunter are talented actresses; so I could not resist the opportunity to find someway to work them into the film.
While it was too late to write major parts for them, I was glad I was able to get them screen-time.



Getting ready to kill off an obstacle .

Got to love the taste of stage blood.

  

Shoot Day 2, Eye of Dispel

This was the second, and final shoot day in Highland Park. Since we had Dakota barking when the doorbell was rung, I've added the dog into the script, this is the second time I've added a dog belonging the family that was nice enough to let me film in their house, in this case my Aunt and uncle.

I got my dad up just before 7:00am, Jack got to the house a few minutes later, we picked up Cat at her house, by the time I dropped off Cat it was after 1:00am. That's a long day, in fact it's almost two long days, but the whole cast hung in there.

Dwight traveled a long way, and still was 20 minutes early, Cat wasn't feeling well, everyone moved around schedules and woke-up, on a summer day, hours earlier than required for school - I promise, the dedication did not go unnoticed.  I want to thank Heidi and Jimmy for letting us use their house, unable to make a sound in their own home. I'm glad about them not freaking out over the stage blood, and for cast members kind enough to clean it up. (The shower really looked like a crime scene. and we were not even filming in the shower.)

We went out to this small outdoor mall in Highland Park to shoot the scene with the heroic trio of Scoobies. I was worried about getting this one done because it's shot  in one long take and in a populated place without a permit; so I suspected this will be tricky. I had a fear that we would get kicked out of the place, but it turned out the business were cool about us being there. We ran into another small problem, four annoying 12 year-olds with skateboards- very loud skateboards. Erika asked them nicely, I didn't think any boy would say no to her, but I was wrong.  Cat asked nicely, then hinted there could be some potential pain to them if they did not keep quite for a few minutes, I think that got their attention and they moved along.  

We had a lot to shoot today and for some unknown reason, the pressure resulted in the cast periodically breaking-out into singing extended passages from various musicals- what can I say, this is sort of a unique group.

Handsprings wins Viewers Choice Award at the Chicagoland High School Film Festival.

Last night as I sat in the auditorium watching each of the films presented, I found parts of each film that impressed me. I know the amount of work that goes into making even the shortest of films; so I felt a connection to each person that submitted a work.

I am very happy that "Handsprings" won the viewers choice award at the Chicagoland High School Film Festival. I credit my cast and friends Riley Nelson, Erika K. Marks and Meursault Poiccard! Whatever short comings my film might have had, the acting was "Spot-on," and was the reason the film worked.

Hand Springs: In the can

Principle Photography has been completed and all 3 SD cards have been uploaded, and backed up onto two external drives. I have also uploaded all of the audio files off the Tascam, and yes, backed those up as well. When dealing with computer files there is almost no way to be over-careful. this I learned one morning when I woke-up, came down stairs only to find that as we slept, some criminal entered our home, grabbed two Mac Book Pros, my mom's purse, and assortment of other items, then used our Audi as their "Get-a-way car." Insurance paid for things that were lost, but my Mac Book had my 98% completed movie "Project Shoeshine," all 380Gigs and over 1,000 hours of work. Thanks to back-ups, I was able to retrieve all of the data.

After a careful check of every clip, and assembling a ruff cut, I found a few "B" roll images that I wanted to re shoot. Two involved exterior shots of the car driving down streets needed to make room for the length of the voice-over dialogue; so once again I had to get the car washed to keep continuity. The car wash had a long line, I'm rather patient except when I'm counting down hours of remaining light, especially when I know this will be the last weekend before the leaves change. I'm happy to say I got the final outdoor footage done in time to keep the lighting consistent.

Hand Springs filming underway

The first day of shooting is always both exciting as well as a bit scary. All of the writing, planing and preparation all have lead up to the moment when I call action and performances are captured. I am fortunate to have talented friends that are kind enough to volunteer large quantities of their time. Of course even with that generosity, I am still pressed for time, and with out a real crew to expedite matters.
Maybe this would seem obvious to many, but I must admit I was a bit surprised, when I went out the night before a shoot, when I found the Candy Canes are not readily for sale in the first week of September.


Here are a few stills from the shoot.

Starting Production of "Hand Springs"

It looks like our cast is: Riley Nelson: Jack Erika K. Marks: Meg Cullen Welch (Meursault Poiccard on facebook for some reason): Scott We'll be filming on 2 of the of the following days in August: 18, 21, 24, and 25. The only exception to this may be stealing Riley after rehearsal some day that week to film him walking home as it takes place later in the day, which is unlikely to happen.

Returning Home shoot at Sam Perry's House

Caroline Chu: This is really dramatic-looking June 29 at 3:03pm via mobile

Lane J. Lubell Indeed, it is. That said, these still have to be color corrected, so a lot of those shadows won't seem QUITE that soap-opera-like, but it's supposed to be dramatic

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