Location, location. . .

ANOTHER LOCATION:
Fortunately, there are still family-run businesses who can make the decisions on the spot, without having to refer to other authorities. One of our primary actors (and musician) Juan Rodriguez, was able to offer us his family’s Woodland restaurant, El Charro, which has been in the family for generations. They are always closed on Sundays, so they offered it to us for as long as we needed that day. And because we were nearby extended family and friends, we had enough (if we wanted) to fill every chair in the café scene.

It was a long day---for the generous and patient crew, actors and extras.

____________ Click to enlarge photos.___________

Assorted shots:
Adjusting lights, filters, boom, audio. . .
and actors.

Seek, find, ask. . .

LOCATION PERMISSION:
We approached a business (a franchise restaurant) with the request to film a scene in one of their locations. We started by talking to a local office representative, who listened to our presentation and took our information. Later, we heard from a regional rep, who reminded us how difficult it is to obtain permission. However, she asked me to send more information that will be forwarded to another corporate office for a final decision.
Even if we don’t obtain permission, we learned more about business.

What's in a name? Check your tagline.

Here’s a fun article and list of “Great Film Taglines”: http://www.filmsite.org/taglines.html . Tim Dirks, the author of this copyrighted website, wrote the following explanation:
“Introduction: Taglines (often called slogans) are catchy, enticing short phrases used by marketers and film studios to advertise and sell a movie, and to sum up the plot, tone or themes of a film. Many films have multiple taglines. Composing ad copy for posters and trailers is generally the first step in marketing a film and setting a strategic direction for the product. These 'sound-bite' epigrams are often placed on either film posters (above or below the film's title) or on the merchandise itself (DVD or video cassette box, etc.), to reinforce what the film is all about. Some films do not have a tagline at all, and instead choose to provide evocative images to convey the meaning, mood, symbolism, or setting of the film (i.e., Chinatown (1974)). Some taglines are quite obscure, unrecognizable and forgettable. Often, the best taglines are for very inferior films.”

Here’s a list we have drawn up for our film, Road to Opportunity: Do you have a favorite?

Rain time-- what to do

Culture effected by weather.
And so it is here in California. We forget rain for so many months of the year, that when a few drops fall, and then a month of rain falls, we wonder what to do.
Here’s a list of some things we did:

Rain— time to do CG (which means composite generator). There is software that allows the user to create 3-D objects and environments. We will need this is many instances (link to more details).
Rain— time to do music. We had been putting this off as a post-production matter, but being we couldn’t film, we had a few good sessions creating original music that we plan to develop for the film (link to more details).
Rain— time to watch some movies (as we aren’t able to edit our own now). Our film teacher Mr. “C” (Carillo) told us about the documentary “Lost in La Mancha” that describes the making of a film where everything that can go wrong does.

RAIN— time to rain some more. Flood watches and then evacuations. It didn’t include us, but it but a serious tone on things.

Rain— time to review our script. Rain storms good for brain storms.

Rain— time to review our tagline ideas.

Info on a card

Meanwhile, in filmmaking, our film industry-experienced teacher, Mr. C, reminds us of the business aspects. It’s integrated into all the work, including permission forms.
We have been keeping a lot in one binder, so that there are less places to look for things—less loose sheets to lose. We didn’t yet have a simple way to give out our contact information to people we meet, so after many times writing our number on a scrap of paper, we designed a business card.

Business aspects

Meanwhile, in filmmaking, our film industry-experienced teacher, Mr. C, reminds us of the business aspects. It’s integrated into all the work, including permission forms.
We have been keeping a lot in one binder, so that there are less places to look for things—less loose sheets to lose. We didn’t yet have a simple way to give out our contact information to people we meet, so after many times writing our number on a scrap of paper, we designed a business card.

SOUFI FILMS

New Year, new blogsite.

We have an easy-to-remember blogsite set up. It simply links to this site. It's easier for some to find us this way. .

SOUFIFILMS.blogspot.com.

I have jotted down notes--lots of news--and I'll be posting more pictures, too.
Soon!

Winter break---time to work? If we're lucky

Winter Break—and time (we hoped) to catch up with our film production schedule.


It was also a time to catch a cold, go on vacation, and watch the rain fall. Everyone did one or more of these. We all watched the rainfall and there was even flooding in some areas.

We used to live in a place known for rain—the Pacific Northwest (Washington State) though we lived in the dry interior. We lived a long time in Beautiful British Columbia which was both beautiful and rainy. It was so rainy that a mere drizzle called for a walk in the park or a chat on the street corner with a friend.