Production continued on scattered weekends throughout November, December and even into January. By this time, we knew we were really pushing our luck. Everything had just dragged out for too long and we had to do whatever possible to make things go faster and get the picture wrapped. Some of the things that ended up being very time-consuming are only on the screen for seconds. So let this be a lesson to those planning micro-budget movies... avoid flashbacks! The production journal continues...
November 4, 2004
A few fragments from the sequence I mentioned a few days ago. I'm really excited to do more with this technique.
In other news, I finally have pulled things together after about two weeks of constant problems. I think the number one trait you have to cultivate when you are making films is insane persistence. Anytime you try to do something outside of the ordinary, the world is against you. The ability to cope with these problems is ultimately going to determine whether you succeed or fail.
Now my editing system is back in action, we are about to build another hugely ambitious set and various things that could have been problems have become things that will ultimately benefit the project. If everything had gone as planned, SEX MACHINE would be a very different movie. But I don't know if it would actually be a BETTER movie. Once you get 30 or so people contributing or helping out, it kind of takes on a life of it's own. And that's one of the things that excites me about filmmaking.
We have pulled together an incredibly diverse group of people and the result is pretty exciting. When I think that I wouldn't know some of these people if it weren't for the movie, it makes me thankful for the whole process.
Everything has dragged out for about 2 months longer than I had originally planned. But we are really just putting on the finishing touches, adding production value and smoothing out the overall flow of the piece. I will have some cool stuff to show you very soon.
November 6, 2004
Here's another fun little shoot. For me nothing beats a morning of half naked girls, razorblades and karo syrup blood.
This effect was put together quick and on-the-spot by Leah. Cumulative cost was probably around $10. Ghetto! This is for a very quick flash in the movie, but it will turn your stomach. In this photo, Erika wonders why she every got involved in this project. Leah tries to convince her it's going to be good for her career.
Freshly sliced wrists. Interestingly enough, when we were shooting her close up, Erika got very method and actually sliced into the skin on her wrists. It wasn't deep, the cuts looked like cat scratches. But it scared me a little bit nonetheless.
Yep, there was a lot of blood. This is such a brief scene in the movie. It will only last seconds. But the attention to the little details are going to make a huge difference. Erika's performance in this scene is as good as anything in the movie.
We had to put this scene together last minute when one of our props was unavailable. It worked out great. Thanks to Shogo for shooting it, Leah for FX, Erika for the great attitude and intense performance and to John for keeping the volume down on the OU game in the other room.
November 7, 2004
This is how we make movies ghetto-style. One Honda Civic + 1 Stickypod + 1 fearless D.P.
Shogo prepares the camera for some hard driving highway action. What you see is the Panasonic DVX100 mounted to the roof of the car with a device called a StickyPod. Shogo is standing in the passenger seat with his upper body poking out through the sun roof. This pic was taken in the parking lot behind John (Frank's) apartment. You can see Frank's green car in the background.
Now we are actually on the highway. Shogo is hanging on for dear life, pulling focus and trying to get a cool shot. Pulling focus is pretty hard at 70 MPH but he pulled it off. This shot is taken by John (Frank) who is in the passenger seat of the car being shot.
This shoot happened on Sunday, November 7, 2004. We were chasing the sunlight.
January 27, 2005
Things are really coming together nicely at this point. I think we actually have a movie here. This weekend, I am lucky enough to get the chance to bring the core group of actors back together and shoot a revised ending. Something just wasn't right about the ending as it was in the script. On paper it might have been fine, but once I got a chance to see the characters brought to life, something didn't feel right.
So Monday morning, I woke up and banged out 7 new pages. That's what we're going to shoot this weekend. Weather permitting anyway. I'm also going to try to cram in a few shots that will just smooth things out at various places in the movie. Once again, this is a complete luxury that is only made possible by the fact that we are shooting on DV. Current timeline for finishing... revised cut by the end of february. Digital effects done by the mid-april. Final cut on May 1st. I'm going to try very hard to stick to those dates, but I originally thought we be done shooting by the end of October, so what do I know.
January 31, 2005
We got most of the cast together this weekend and shot a few new scenes for the ending as well as a few inserts. As glad as i am to have the movie basically done, there was a sense of melancholy as well. Things are definitely winding down and people are drifting off to other things. We shot the very first scene and the very last scene. Now I need to get the movie down to 90 minutes by the end of February.
Note: Strangely enough, in our last real weekend of shooting we shot the beginning and the ending of the movie. Our intention from the beginning was to shoot the opening scene at the end of the production, because we figured our skills would be more up to the task by then. Ultimately, it resulted in the opening scene being a lot more rushed than I would have liked. But we got it shot and the end result at least tells the story, even if it's not as stylistically interesting as I had originally planned. That's the way it goes. Now on to post-production hell...