Finley Wade, a feature film

Pre-production Blog

April 30, 2010
We're getting close to our start day - May 8. Met up with cameraman Jonathan and wardrobe lady Kerrie around 9 this am. First stop was Payless for some shoes for our lead character Finley. Buy one get one half off, so we got two. Always good to have a back up. They didn't have the 2nd pair at the first place so they gave us a $3 off coupon (in addition to the half off) and directions to another Payless store. With shoes in hand, next up was the electronics place for polorizer filters for the lenses we will be using. One 52mm, one 58mm and we're back in the truck. We swung by Rosie's for a production meeting. Ran through all the changes to the schedule and last minute needs, including additional crew. Finally got lunch around 2:30. Stopped in at Access Tucson, the public access station, to get their downstairs conference room for one scene in late May. They close for June, due to budget issues, so our timing is good. After that, we hit a couple of party stores for some small props for our photos shoot on May 8th. Several characters are seen throughout the film, in photos. Lastly, we hit the Unicorn, one of our locations to pick up a t-shirt for Simone. (Michele Loera) The Unicorn is a great neighborhood bar if you're near 8060 East 22nd Street check it out.

In the photos below, that's me and Jonathan at our production meeting. Next to it, some of our props.

Up for the weekend; storyboarding continues, costume fittings with the actors and more nighttime field tests with the lenses. 7 days and a wake up to May 8th.

More later,

Melissa

April 27, 2010

Met up with Jonathan, my camera operator, at Joe's Pancake House for breakfast. Well, after he accidently went to Ikes, which is across town. (well, most likely I wrote Ikes in my reminder email instead of Joe's. We'll blame the tiny keyboard on my LG phone.) Once he got back to my end of town, we chowed down on pancakes (him) and a Denver omelette (me) Did you know a western omelette is a Denver omelette with cheese? No? A lot of waitresses don't know that either. Of course, the ones at Joe's are tops. When the dishes were clear, around 9:30, we attacked our shot list and Jonathan sketched storyboards while I described what I wanted to see. Once we got past my inability to visualize that the passenger side of a parked truck is next to the sidewalk, things went pretty smoothly. We finished the boards for our first shoot day and realized it was 1:20. I left a big tip for our waitress and headed home to work on more shot lists while Jonathan went someplace else.

More later,

Melissa

April 25, 2010 Why do birds fly through it?

Our weapons instructor, Ben, met members of the cast and crew at my house for a gun safely class. Even though all of our guns are non-working stage props or plastic replicas, it's always a good idea to take all guns seriously. After the class we headed out to the firing range for some hands on experience. Several characters in the film either fire weapons or defend themselves and we needed the actors to look like they knew what they were doing.

It was a really windy, cool morning and I froze in my shorts and t-shirt. A ball cap from the car helped a bit. While I stood in the back, out from under the overhang waiting my turn, I watched with amazement, the number of birds that flew through the area. You'd think with all the bang, bang, bang, they'd stay clear.

Ben brought along a .38 and .40 pistol. Both May and I hated the .40. Way too much kick. We liked the .38 and did pretty good at 5 yrds and 10 yrds.

More later,

Melissa

I was so good, the camera couldn't catch me but here are my targets. The top one is at 5yrds with a .38. The bottom one is at 10 yrds with both a .38 and .40.

April 24, 2010 Strolled the Cemetery

Jonathan and I wandered a cemetery today scouting spots for a short but pivotal scene. I've always loved the serenity I get from cemeteries and this place is just lovely, with huge Evergreen Trees shading the graves.

We started our day signing up The Unicorn, a fabulous bar in East Tucson. Walked next door to a gun store and chatted with an instructor for a while while we drooled over the sexy guns in the cases. Got some bullets for tomorrow's day at the firing range. Trying to get all the actors, who fire guns, to the range for some instruction. All our guns are non-firing replicas so everyone needs to know what the real thing feels like.

I've included a photo of what Finley's gun will look like.

Jonathan is working on our blood splattering device and I'm still writing shot lists.

We're getting close now. Thanks so much to everyone who has pledged. If you're considering a pledge, now is the time to do it. We need $880 and have only have 56 hours left.

More later,

Melissa

April 21, 2010 Hey idiot behind the wheel, turn right at the next light

Hit locations yesterday with Jim, our sound man, Rosie, our production coordinator and Jonathan our cameraman. All the places that Rosie found look great and shouldn't have too many sound issues for Jim. Rosie brought along her GPS to help me navigate but I couldn't hear it talk (it talks!) and couldn't read the screen cause of the glare so she finally made me pull over and let her drive.

We still need to make a portable battery source to power our lights for a couple of night shoots in parking lots. We have blueprints for a contraption and Jonathan and I will work on that this week.

The camera stabilizer that Jonathan built looks fantastic. In the picture, it's outfitted with our behind the scenes camera, the DVX100A.

Today, I've got scene breakdowns to work on and we've got some blood splatter test footage to shoot later today or tomorrow.

More later,
Melissa

Older Entries | Finley Wade Homepage