On the Set: Day 9

I am so proud of my cast and crew right now. Today we not only did everything on the call sheet (and it was a lot), but we also grabbed the one scene from last week that we had to keep bumping. In other words . . . at this moment . . .the night before the final day . . . we are 100% where we should be. That is spectacular.

We shot at the comic book store once again. We had almost the whole cast on set today, so there was quite a crowd. We started with some Berner scenes and then trucked right along to some Evan scenes. April and Atoki were both there to do a bunch of Mia/Andrew scenes as well. And once again, Laura made things run nice and smooth by acting as a production assistant.

Tomorrow is our final day, and we're going out with a bang. Again, we've got almost the full cast. We've got some monster scenes to shoot, and a lot of action coordinate. It would've been nice if our last shooting day were relaxing, but it's going to be, perhaps, our most challenging day yet. I think I'm up for it. Here goes nothing...

On the Set: Day 8

I'm going to make this one short because tomorrow is going to be a long day and I gots to get to bed. Today we shot at the offices I work at. The highlight of today's shoot for me was that we did a scene with my college friend Chris Wyant. Chris is in my old short films (including "Warm Milk 2," of which my production company's name is based), and his appearance in this movie represents a bridge between two distinct eras of my life. I don't know, maybe I'm getting too deep, but it really meant a lot to me. Plus he's good company and he's hilarious, and he did a scene today with Ben where they both had the whole crew laughing.

Afterwards we headed over to my place for a few more scenes. Today's scenes look distinctly different than other scenes because the camera went handheld much of today (for what will be a major flashback sequence). Things went pretty smoothly overall (with the exception of some rooster crowing from the neighbors). Laura stepped it up and acted as our production assistant, and it wouldn't have been such a smooth day without her, so huge thanks. Vinny Bove wrapped today, which is kind of hard to imagine since he's been such a big part of this.

I went to sit with the crew in their hotel room tonight and plot the next two days at the comic book store. Bottom line: It's going to be rough. We've got a lot to do and little time to do it. I find myself a little upset that some scenes will look inferior to others because we'll be forced to rush. Hopefully with some expert planning, we'll use every moment of our time to its fullest. Be warned though...tomorrow's entry might be very stressful. Oh check this out...

Cola sitting at her desk! We had to do an impromptu Target run to get that shirt for the scene, but it looks good so all is well. Special thanks to my coworker Winnie for lending us her office, doing the breakfast run, picking up Chris at the train, and being awesome and super-friendly to everyone.

First look at Bagged and Boarded!

As promised, here are a few random production stills from the film. There hasn't been any editing yet (or color correcting) so there's no guarantee that these particular shots will be in the movie. I just wanted to show you guys a (non-spoiler) glimpse at what we're dealing with. Click the images below to enlarge! Tease tease tease.

I'll throw some more up over the next few days. Maybe I'll even cut a nice little teaser too. Just keep checking on the blog.

On the Set: Day 7

Today was the last of our second chunk of filming (four days in a row done!). We were able to get back inside the store for a reverse angle of a shot, and then we were able to do all of the exterior shots that were on the call sheet. We're still one scene behind right now, but we're not in terrible shape.

Since this was our third day at the store, our production is starting to stir up interest in the local area. Some fellows from the neighboring gaming store were hanging by to watch, and we also met an awesome kid who I let call some directions. Things went fairly smoothly for the most part, and Mr. Bob Socci wrapped his production on the film today!

Garreth gave me my 1TB hard drive and I've just spent the last two hours looking at footage. Wow. A lot of these scenes look amazing. Like...too amazing for a goofy little movie. I was surprised a few times at what scenes came out looking the best...there are a few in there that I didn't think too much of at the time but they look amazing in reality. And the camera really loves our three leads...they look great in nearly every shot. I could stay up and watch this footage all night, but I've got work tomorrow. We're done shooting until Saturday, and I miss my team already.

Final thoughts? The end of production is in sight and I can't decide how I feel about that. I'm going to get to bed now and force myself to dream about this thing being a hit. Stop by again tomorrow and I'll throw a few hi-def productions stills up. PS - I totally just dozed off at my computer before publishing this.

On the Set: Day 6

Today was our second day shooting at the comic book store. We had to limit as much of the action to the back of the store as possible, which changed some of the original concepts but not too much. We got to do a dolly shot, which brought on a really cool dynamic-angle in the store's aisle. We also got to do one of the bigger scenes that we missed from yesterday.

We knocked out most of our goal for the day except for one important scene. Unfortunately we won't be able to get to that scene tomorrow because Tim is in it and he's not scheduled to report (he'll be homing playing Halo 3 instead...bastard). This forces me to schedule this lost scene onto next week's call sheets, which already look full. We'll get it done somehow. It's a big help that we're going to be allowed to shoot a little inside the store tomorrow before they officially open.

I must mention the brilliant Alex Adams, who had us all laughing with his scenes. Hilarious guy, and he was also good enough to take a trip with me to the Apple store down the road to buy a 1TB Hard drive. We also had a fun cameo today from Fred Nicotra, but I didn't really get to watch it because...well...I was busy driving to the Apple store down the road with Alex and buying a 1TB Hard drive.

Tomorrow's agenda: we shoot inside before the store opens and then get the hell out. We spend the rest of the scheduled day shooting scenes dealing with the exterior of the store, and we wrap. Challenges: Dan our lighting guy won't be able to make it, and we seem to have no replacement. Without Dan, and without our production assistants (Laura has classes and Carla is really sick), our crew will fall dangerously low.

Thoughts: During my trip with Alex to the Apple store to buy a 1TB hard drive, I was telling him about how a big portion of my time on this project has dealt with problem solving and crisis management. Knock on wood, it's been okay so far. It just sucks that I don't get to spend more of my mental energy basking in the glow of how awesome this whole thing is. The cast and crew are all great people who I'll miss when we're wrapped, and I only wish I could spend more time on the set enjoying how great they're all doing instead of trying to keep my brain six steps ahead. Plus they've all been patient with this first-time-director and they've helped me learn from this whole thing. I hope one day I get another shot at a feature and utilize my new knowledge of the whole process.

On the Set: Day 5

Today was our first day shooting at the comic book store. This means it was also Tim's first day on set (even thought he is one of the two male leads). I am blown away by the generosity and hospitality of the store's owners, and when filming is done, I'm going to plug the hell out of that store.

Things went pretty well today, and my three leads each turned in great performances. I also got to do my cameo as a customer, so that's taken care of. I just hope I don't wind up looking like Abe Vigoda when I'm seen in HD. And what would a shooting day be without some issues? Today Mike the DP got progressively sicker as the day went on (he'd better be resting right now), I had no production assistants for the second half of the day, and this was the first day we didn't get to shoot everything on the schedule. We didn't get a chance to do one scene, which we'll hopefully be able to get to one of the other days in the store. Or else I'm screwed.

Tomorrow we shoot at the store again, this time with the hilarious Alex Adams. We wrapped earlier today than usual so I got to come home and relax a little, and I anticipate going to bed before 2am tonight.

On the Set: Day 4

Today was my favorite day yet. We started with an outdoor shoot near my house and did one of the first fully comedic scenes of the production. It was also the first day of production to feature both April and Atoki, and they were brilliant. April can act like a casual person and completely make it look real (it sounds easy in theory but it's surprisingly hard). Atoki's timing was great and he led to some hilarious moments in the scene. And of course, Jonathan continued to make Berner someone that everyone will remember in the end. Laura was a kickass production assistant today. Props also to Angela for swinging by twice on her day off to help with make-up.

We were actually having a decent outdoor shoot until it started drizzling. Fearing a downpour, we rushed through the last shots and wrapped on that location. Only thing is, the damn rain never came. Nevertheless, we were actually a little ahead of schedule. The danger with that is that then you relax more and in the end, you somehow get way behind schedule.

Now I'd like to point out the hero of the day today, and hands down that was my mom. Originally we were going to have our lunch at the park, but again, we feared the rain. So she let seven strangers come to her home and eat there. She and Laura prepared us a great lunch. But she even did more than that. She let us film in her basement (on very short notice), and she even prepared it for our shoot. She cleaned it up, left boxes neatly organized (because we needed them), and even duct-taped the logos on the boxes so they wouldn't show. How great is that? So mom saved the day and allowed us to have a great shoot for the basement scene. I love you mommy.

And man, is the basement looking good. We shot with Jennifer Stone, and Sean King made an appearance as a zombie. His makeup looked great. I want to quickly plug Sean's own movie, which is called Lost Suburbia. Jen also looked sexy and kickass in her costume, and her performance was wonderful. The whole scene played out really well and I can't wait for you guys to see it.

So final thoughts...I'm feeling good. I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow because we start in the comic book store, but at least we're not shooting anything outdoors. Tomorrow is Tim's first day, which is really funny considering he is one of the male leads. I'm confident in him, Angela, and Jonathan, so I'm not worried about them at all. Oh yeah, one more thing...tomorrow we shoot my scene. Yikes!

Wow, only 3 days in and having a free/coherent moment seems like an unknown dimension. Overall shooting has been fantastic thus far. The crew and cast are great people and fun to be around. It is however very tedious work. Tedious work which requires a great length of time. Per day, 11 hours on average. A good portion of the scenes we've got in the can already has taken place outdoors which basically translates to we froze our asses off for a good SEVERAL hours. Luckily a little something Vinny has referred to as "actors adrenaline" kicked in once action was called and we suddenly just stopped shivvering and forgot about being cold...Until however 'cut' was called.

Despite being physically drained and slightly under the weather I'm extremely pleased with the way takes have turned out. We've had some technical difficulties here and there but it wouldn't be a full scale production without these little hurdles which is what makes it all the more real.

Ralph has miraculously managed to keep his composure at the most frustrating and mentally exhausting of moments and has really gone above and beyond to make sure that we're all as comfortable as possible. I can't wait to get my butt into the comic book store already so that the real mayhem can ensue. They're gonna need a tranq-gun to stop us when Tim, Jonathan and I get started.

On the Set: Day 3

I despise how I look in the picture above but I didn't take many pictures today, plus my mug hasn't appeared in an "on the set" entry yet. I did do some video today, which will appear online in the near future.

So this morning, following that tasteful last paragraph from yesterday, I had what was the worst night of sleep ever in my life. I woke up confused, and would fall back asleep to terrible nightmares. That really sucked. This morning I picked up Jonathan at the train station, did a little Starbucks run, picked up Angela, and met Bob and the crew on the set at the little motel. The motel was the only location for the whole day, so it should've been a quick shoot, right?

Nah.

Much of the shoot was outdoors, so we dealt with the usual "wait for quiet and constantly adjust lighting for the sun" griefs. We got into the motel for the indoor shots, and once again we were somewhat rushed so a lot of ideas I've had for months had to be compromised. That, mixed with some other stuff that I don't feel right mentioning, led to a rough day. Hopefully it looks good though. I foresee a tough...tough editing process in the future.

I should mention some good though. Jonathan had his first day on set today and he was great, and also an absolute pleasure to be around. He's going to go far. Angela was also great and I can really tell that she's growing into the character. She always comes in prepared and I'm very proud of the job she's doing. My crew continues to be a lot of fun to be around, and they're totally my type of people. And big ups to Sam at the motel front desk for being cool and calling me his friend. He's getting a mention in the end credits.

We don't film again until Saturday, so it's back to work for me tomorrow morning. After the night I had last night, I'm actually afraid to go to bed. Directing is fun but it's making me realize how much I miss just writing. What's funny is that this entire experience has already forever changed me...and yet there's still so much more to go. I'm trying my hardest to muster up all of my courage for this one.

On the Set: Day 2

So much worth going over. I should finally acknowledge my spectacular crew by name. On sound (sitting on the left in this picture) is Abe Dolinger, sitting at the camera is my DP Mike LaVoie, pulling Mike is Dan Boyar, and kneeling down with a lovable smile is Garreth Manwaring, who is our AC.

Yesterday Mike and I scouted a few locations together, including the comic book store and a bar out in Riverhead. This bar is owned by the brother of a friend of mine (a girl who's dating my old buddy). We drive all the way to the bar, and as soon as the owner arrives, he gives me a "oh, didn't my sister call you?" See last Tuesday, the bar was to hold a banquet event, but it got rained out so the event was bumped to today...our film day. Only thing is, no one bothered to tell me. And no one would've told me if Mike and I hadn't driven to the bar the day before the shoot.

This left us less than 24 hours to find a new bar or cancel the shoot.

Our film's lead Angela not only found us a bar by that night, but it was also a bar that's much closer to us, and it's also much much better than the one in Riverhead. This morning we shot at Union Square in Holbrook. HUGE thanks to Mike, the bar's owner, for saving our shoot and my ass.

Because we found a local bar, and because we got to shoot earlier, we were able to squeeze an extra scene into the day. But first, after the bar, we drove to another park to do a scene with Angela and Vinny. I'll say it again: outdoor shoots suck. Especially on Long Island. Especially when the sun's on the way down.

Last it was off to the motel room that we'll be shooting at again tomorrow. We unloaded and decided to shoot a quick scene with Angela and Vinny. The motel room is friggin' tiny. And kind of shady. It fits the character of Peter Whales who lives there, but it will make for a tough shoot tomorrow. Tonight was a short scene but it actually looked really good in the end. I can't wait for you guys to see some stills from these shoots.

It's tough to throw such vague summaries up here when there are already so many good stories to tell. I'll say this though: I'm exhausted. I know that I'm not doing as much physical work as my crew, but the emotional exhaustion is heavy. There's a lot riding on this, a lot of money going into this, and a lot of pride on the line. When things get rough, and they do, the instinct to run is through the roof, but you can't because you're too deep in. So you keep truckin' forward, hoping that what you're making might actually be a good end product. And all the while, your personal life goes through such extremes...involving so many emotions...that you don't even know how to act or what to do with yourself. I'm just kinda reflecting out loud here...I guess my point is that you can never prepare for the emotional toll that something like this will bring on. I wish I could write the pages of reality like I can with my stories.

On the Set: Day 1

Today we began production on "Bagged and Boarded." We started bright and early at a large park and went the full day there, shooting what would be about three major sequences in the film.

Here's some of what rocked: We had very nice weather (even if it isn't what's considered ideal "filming" weather). We had our two actors pretty much bang out their scenes with pretty much no flubs. If today is any indication, we're going to have a pretty boring blooper reel. We had a great crew, each with a great personality. We did some nice shots that, to me, looked pretty damn good.

Here's some of what sucked: Noise. We were shooting in a large open park the entire day and at each location, there seemed to be some sort of issue involving a source of noise. Throughout most of the day, there were constantly planes in the air (guess we were by an airport, something that no one ever caught during location scouts). Then there was the sound of gunshots at one point. Yeah that's right. Apparently there was some type of shooting range nearby. That sucked.

We did shoot a behind-the-scenes video and I'd love to get a cheapy little "Side Panels" video up soon, but I don't want to make any promises. Tomorrow Mike the DP and I scout two locations and review a little footage, and then the next day we're shooting again. Final thoughts on today: I had a lot of fun and I'm feeling good, but I also have a different perspective on the characters. My goal, especially with Cola, is to alter her personality in future scenes so that it contrasts heavily with how she did today (to show two sides of the character). As an editor, I see myself trimming some of these scenes down to improve the cadence of the film (but we'll see what happens when I really start editing). Also another final though...to hell with outdoor shoots. George Lucas got it right...controlled studio environments! But seriously, I think today was a great start and I can't wait to get to some of the more comedic, light-hearted sequences.

How the hell is it September 2007 already?????

Christ, I feel like I just started this blog with that "hey, I wanna make a movie nyuk nyuk nyuk" post. Now, production is starting the day after tomorrow. I had like 10 months to prepare yet here I am cramming all these last minute arrangements together. I'M BUGGING OUT.

Now that I got that out of the way, here's some news.

-Been talking to Mike my DP (Director of Photographer, not "double penetration" you pervs). We figured out the style of shooting and tossed some other ideas around.

-I put the call sheets together for the first few days of shooting. Call sheets look kind of intimidating at first but they actually turned out fun to make. In a bigger production, someone such as an assistant director would take care of that. I'm also a bit of a control freak so I didn't mind making them.

-I made hotel arrangements for the crew to stay on Long Island for the consecutive filming dates. Hotwire.com is the best site on the Internet for that, hands down. They give you a ridiculously low price without telling you the exact hotel (only the details and idea of location) until you decide to buy. The prices per night that I got for Holiday Inn ranged from $69-$89.

-Angela just sent me a text that says "balls" and nothing else.

-Apparently when shooting with hi-def, every freakin' blemish on the human face shows up, and make-up don't look that great either. Angela ordered an airbrush make-up kit, which is considered to be really the best way to do make-up for HD.

-The crew seems to finally be finalized. I'll post those credits soon. I should also mention this awesome lady Carla who's helping with production and catering.

-Laura Stone (no relation to Jennifer Stone) has been making some of the major props we'll be using including Purgatory Comic bags, zombie gear, and a diagram of a penis.

-Congress is made of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

-Most of what the cast will be wearing has been figured out at this point, except for the lead since she has the largest wardrobe in the film. Oh and here's some fun: I still haven't found two locations for later in the week and also, I still need to fill some minor roles. Ah, film making.

I think that's everything. I'm sure I'll drop another update in the very near future, and I'll get at least some pictures up from the first day of production. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go walk into traffic.

The "Your Line in the Movie" Contest!

Well we start shooting in about 4 days but that doesn't mean we can't still have fun with the script. Nows your chance for you to have a line in "Bagged and Boarded," the first motion picture from Warm Milk Productions.

The "Your Line in the Movie" Contest!

Here's the scenario:

Our lead girl Cola and her boyfriend Danny are walking out of a restaurant. Danny says something referring to their dinner date that makes Cola laugh. Cola verbal response optional but not necessary.

What does Danny say? YOU DECIDE. Foul language is okay, but it might be a little out of character for Danny. I think that's all you'll need to know.

The winner's line will be featured in the movie! Plus, the winner's name will be featured in the movie's end credits as something like "Movie Line Contest Winner." So you'll want to leave your name with your entry. Otherwise I'll have to credit "anonymous."

• Leave your entry in the comment section of this post.
• For the love of God, leave your name with your entry.
  
• Enter as much as you like!!!
• Anyone can enter. Even if you're in the friggin' movie.

The deadline is Monday September 17th 12:00PM eastern time. Roll in those entries!!!

New Side Panels Video!

Here's a brand new Side Panels documentary. This is a short one that really won't give you too much insight into the movie or anything, but it's still good fun. Here we get a peek at the shenanigans that occurred during a half-cast rehearsal.

Major props to Tim, Alex, Angela, Bob, Vinny, and Howie for coming out today. It was a very productive day and although it got tiring, it was worth it.

Back from Vacation!

Howdy folks, I have finally returned from a week-long trip to Florida where I hung out with Mickey and his crew. Now I'm back and jumping into this movie headfirst as we shoot in two weeks and there is still waaaaaaay too much to get done. Tomorrow we create Jennifer Stone's costume for the film, and on Saturday we're going for another full cast rehearsal.

Good to be back and see lots of comments from the last post. Feel free to caption me and my pal Pluto while I get back to work. Talk to you all real soon!