Random Halina Updates

Here are some random Halina updates. Hence the title of the post.

• DP Mike is shooting this on his brand new Sony PXW-FS7. That's a true 4K internal camera with interchangeable lenses, onboard 4K and 2K. Highspeed 2K up to 280fps (I just ripped that from Mike's blog). There was a delay on his cam shipment so it started looking like he wouldn't get this in time for our shoot, but it came!

• Cheryl the Production Director, DP Mike and I met on location yesterday to block the scenes and sort the production schedule. It's looking good - definitely not a tight shoot like Purgatory Comics was, where we were shooting 9-12 pages per day. This one is less per day, which is good because come 4pm, we're losing the sun. Why is that important?

• We're shooting without HMIs. Not a big deal - many shoots forgo the HMIs, especially indie ones like this. Just something that's different from Purgatory, when DP Mike had his own lighting package which he's since sold.

• The crew is formed with the exception of a few minor positions. It's over twice the size of the Purgatory crew. Also, this time around, I put the crew together (DP Mike formed the Purgatory crew). The good side of that is I kept the crew local; I filled most of the positions with Long Islanders that came highly recommended. The bad side is that assembling the team myself took me away from other stuff for about a week. Next go around I'm hiring an Assistant Director.

• Because of the larger crew and inflation of crew costs since Purgatory Comics, this short film is going to cost me about 2/3 what Purgatory cost. Let's hope that extra cost shows in the final project...

• Last a small tease - I have one actor who did a cameo in Purgatory Comics doing a cameo here too (well two, if you count me). Just a fun surprise.

That's where we're at! A small cast rehearsal is coming up this weekend, and then it's a week until shooting!