Rain on the RTO

Rain on the Road to Opportunity.
Besides filming chase scenes, we have been chasing the shortening hours of daylight and the changing season that brings more clouds, rain and cold. We have been lucky. Until last weekend. We had a big crew signed on for some outdoor filming, but the weather forecast and then the rain, forced us to quickly rewrite our shooting schedule--and move it all INDOORS!
Finally, we had to postpone all together. Meanwhile, we gained some more crew--including actors--for upcoming scenes.
No one said the Road to Opportunity would be easy!

Same place, same time?

It only appears that way.
Three actors:
the main character Julio (played by Diego),











SWAT officer 1 (played by Basil)

and SWAT officer 2 (played by Tom).


The chase: involving all of the above.

The film shoots: on three different days.
Julio on November 27,
Basil December 4th and 10th,
and Tom on December 10th.

Post production: will have all three at the same place at the same time, thanks to editing.


Film editing: something of a Rubik's Cube experience, itself.

Dolly with an engine

We have tried dolly shots before, using a simple dolly (used for moving furniture) but it was too bumpy. For these running shots in the chase scene, we used a car. We had to drive over 20mph to catch up with the SWAT guy. That would have been too fast for a dolly.

We set up a tripod in the back seat, rolled down a window and shot as we tried to match the speed of the runner.

In this case, the SWAT actor, Basil, probably ran a few miles because it required many takes, trying to match his speed. We'd either get ahead or fall behind. Finally, we got a print, and Basil could hop into the car for a break and some behind the scenes shots.

Sometimes things work out (even with the Rubik's Cube factor)!

Our second SWAT officer, Tom, was on standby for his turn in the SWAT gear. We had to take turns, because our budget only allowed us to buy one uniform. In case you're wondering what we collected to piece together this uniform, we will post something on that later.

Filmmaking burns calories

. . . if you have to run up and down a hill like our SWAT actors (and crew) did


--about 20 times.

And to avoid worried attention from bypassers, we had a sign that clearly indicated we were making a film.

We were right behind a movie theatre, so people arriving for a film were also seeing one being made.

No problems. We have gotten to know the security guard at the top of the hill, and he is cheering us on!

.

Chase scenes - action and reaction from the public

Running in a SWAT uniform brought in a lot of phone calls to the police station!

More on this, along with photos, a little later tonight!


Later:
Despite the "Filmmaking in Progress" sign, and efforts to notify the police,
and talking to neighbors, etc., people were calling into the police station--45 calls! So several police officers were dispatched to check it out.
More later.

Turns out,
after the initial serious approach, they noticed our "filmmaking in progress" sign, our camera on a tripod, and our friendly hello's. The officer chatting with us took an interest in our project, asked questions about the uniform and said there was nothing illegal about what we were doing. It was simply causing so many people to call in to ask what's going on, so they asked that we choose more discrete (or indoor) locations.

It was another Rubik's Cube moment.

Media Attention

Our Film Production process was recently covered by "The Reporter" newspaper published an article in yesterday's paper regarding our current production "Road to Opportunity". There was a photo and caption on on the front page with a story on the cover of The Word section.

Film Industry

Just in case you're asking if one can actually work in the film industry, the answer is yes. Our teacher, Mr. Carillo, works in the industry, and explained that it employs so many people in everything from carpentry to cinematography. Click here here for more information about the film industry. It's wide open.

--Alex

Sounds familiar. . . in India

Just got a note (posted in the comments link, Dec. 6) from a filmmaker in India who said he (or she?) could relate to our descriptions of what we are running into while filmmaking.

Most of this blog's readers will be local or from the west coast where there's a lot of filmmaking. The note from India, though, reminded me that anyone might read this. Clicking on the small site meter at the bottom of the page shows me where people are viewing from.

Film Festivals

People ask where and when they will be able to see our film Road to Opportunity.
Every year our school enters its student films into the Buckingham Independent Film Festival (click the link here or on the links column).
Most of the films screened are shorts, but if some longer films are allowed, maybe we'll have a chance to show ours. The competition is open to shorts only, so we probably won't be able to enter as a competitor, but it would be great if there's a chance to screen it here at Brenden Theatres. If not, there are many other film festivals. It takes time to find the right festival that matches one's work. There are also online sites where independent filmmakers can upload their work for online downloading/viewing. We'll let you know when it is showing somewhere.
Meanwhile, we just have to concentrate on getting our Road to Opportunity paved!

Scooter kicks

The scooter scene will have to wait until we find a scooter that one can ride
without getting kicked off.


I guess if something mechanical had to go wrong, it's better it was the scooter and not the camera!




Another Rubik's Cube moment.

Rolling. . .

Cameras rolling.



Oranges rolling.






We had a large crew on Sunday and met at a friend's home on a hill.

Thanks, Fisher family!
It was cold and windy, so our actors wore coats between scenes.
We featured orange trees and oranges, as written in the script.
Try to get an orange to roll down a hill just as you wish, and you'll be rolling all day!
We got it, though, after lots of takes and laughter and improvised engineering: How do you rehang an orange on a tree after it has already been picked?

How do you make (on cue) an orange fall, or appear to fall, off a tree?
How do you get it to roll down a hill right past the camera and stop--rolling!

Archives & posting notes

From the archives link (see Archives in right column margin) you can check the postings (back to November 4th) for more pictures and words about planning and how things keep changing.

You can also click on comments if you'd like to post a comment or question to us. Some will be posted on the website. The film crew (or other filmmakers) might like to post their own notes about filmmaking here.

PS: the photo above is of our cat, Moka. We wrote a scene for her to appear in, but she didn't show up at the film shoot, so a friend's cat, Tux, got the part. Well, even I am not in the film. --Alex

SWAT

How do you run around town, dressed like a SWAT officer, and not attract attention? That was our question. More about this later. . .

Chase scene

Our actor, Diego, got a good workout on Saturday. He did a lot of running for a chase scene which involved lots of different locations and angles. In one shot, we found a quiet road where all traffic lanes would clear from time to time, where I could stand on the center divide with my camera while Diego waited for a safe moment to run across several traffic lanes. He was running toward a block of housing, but in the editing process I will digitally turn that scene into a gas station.

Nevada-Mexico Border

Diego, Alex, and I (Basil) caravanned four hours to arrive in the middle of nowhere (Lyon County, Nevada), but it was worth it. We scouted the region south of the middle of nowhere and located the perfect place to film our “border-crossing” scenes. I built false border markers replicating the real signs used in the Sonora Desert, along the U.S.-Mexico border. The temperature that morning was a mere 18 degrees FAHRENHEIT, but by the time we started filming, the weather was more reasonable (around 62 degrees). Based on the dailies (raw footage), our trip to Nevada appears to have been a success.

Planning an Interstate Excursion: Nevada

We have scouted (via internet) for sites that could resemble the desert border crossing to California. In order to film these false border scenes, we will travel three hours to Nevada, where desert is plentiful. Our lead actor, Diego, can drive and is willing to drive there too, so we're going this weekend before it gets any colder. The temperature was 24 degrees this morning, but by afternoon it gets above 60 degrees. Diego is supposed to be crossing the hot Sonoran Desert in in a t-shirt--hope nobody catches pneumonia. We'll shoot extra footage, including extra scenery in case we need to do some compositing work in post production editing.

Night Shots

The day was short, but we worked with it, using the fading light, and then the darkness and traffic lights. We made the most of what little light there was to work with.

Back to Work

Our film is back on schedule! We had two weeks of uncertainty over the availability of our main actor, Jorge. Jorge is a seventeen year-old resident of California who originally came from Mexico with his family in search of a better life. His story was the inspiration for our film, "Road to Opportunity". Although he is no longer the main actor, we will continue to stay in touch as he has been a vital asset to our project.

Yesterday, November 12th, 2005, our crew met with Diego (our new main actor) to film various construction scenes in rapidly developing Solano County. The goal may seem over ambitious: Make "Norcal" (northern California) appear to be "Socal" (Southern California). However, with fastidious location scouting, the director sees this goal to be feasible.

Location Scouting

On 9 November, 2005, Alex and Boss scouted out various locations throughout the region (Solano County). We were transported by Kathy and her son, Vinnie, who have provided valuable connections for our Production. Their acquaintance with the region also serves our ambition to find the best possible filming locations without driving to the actual Los Angeles, CA (the implied location of our film).

Main actor lost!

It's about as big a change as we could foresee:
we lost our main actor, who has too many other obligations. But he will stay on as a consultant.

A big twist in the Rubik's Cube! A twist in the plot of our filmmaking story!!

Audio clips

Here's a sample audio clip of me knocking. Later we might also post some voice-clips from a scene. I would like to post some original music being composed for our film. Stay tuned. . .

Current Project: "ROAD TO OPPORTUNITY"

AB and team are currently working on a feature independent film project. Our movie, “Road to Opportunity”, is a comedy-drama about a Mexican illegal immigrant who crosses the border into California with high hopes and naive expectations. The film is currently in the cinematogaphy stage. Completion of the project is set for January, 2006.

Trip to AFB

Our film team took a trip to Travis Air Force Base in October, 2005, during a special “Air Fair”, in which we received full access to the military aircraft on display. Our main actor at that time, Jorge, walked alongside the largest Aircraft in North America, the C-5 Galaxy. Garret (in black) and Kyle (in beige) provided technical support in that event. This scene was not in the existing script, but the director, Alex, saw it as a special opportunity. As a result of switching actors, we may not be able to utilize the scene after all.

Meanwhile. . .

Meanwhile. . .
I'm a student. . .
and homework happens.
By Sunday night--like now--it better happen.
And so that is where I'm going--right now.
trig.
an essay.
the school broadcast prep.
now.

Snap Shots - Action

Scene one, take two. . .action!
Cut. Check that again. . . what about. . .
Yes.

Snap shots.

Trying to capture behind-the-scenes action.

Lots of that is spent sitting, standing, watching, listening, waiting. . . problem solving. It's not what you first think of as "action".

Lining Up Cast and Crew

It has been fun to work with a larger crew this time--we have about a dozen crew members and a cast of students and adults--but it takes a lot of phone calls--and several phones--to line up even a few to be at the same place at the same time.

So much for planning. . .

Planning. That's probably good for lots of things. Even filmmaking. Even when nothing goes as planned.
It's like having a script--you're glad you have it, even if you have to keep changing it.

Rubik's Cube

Have you ever played with a Rubik's Cube? You have to twist the segments to line up all like colors on each side. Just when you think you've got everything lined up, you turn it around and see it's not! That's what happens to film-shoot plans. You've got all your film crew lined up and then the main actor can't make it. Or the actors are lined up but a location plan falls through. Or it rains. Or. . .
So you have to like playing the game--the cube--for the times things line up and even for the times when they don't.