End of Photography*

After getting up at the ungodly hour of 4 am, I loaded up some camera equipment in my car and hurried off to meet up with Rick (DP), Tim (AD) and Joe (AC) to grab our sunrise B-roll shots. Now I'm used to 4 am wake-ups in this business, but the bottle of champagne** that we drank last night as we watched the first day of rushes (and the beer we out for afterwards) didn't make it any easier.

The headache soon cleared, however, and it quickly became apparent that after all the hurried, chaotic action of the movie set, a nice 4 person crew driving around guerilla-style is a pleasant change of pace. We had some fun discovering shots that may or may not work but they really are beautiful to look at in any case.

Following that, Rick and I went back to Filmworker's Club to watch the rest of the rushes and consult on the initial color correction. After a quick viewing of all of the footage, including today's work, I feel pretty safe in saying that we have a movie in there somewhere.

Next stop.....post production.

Joe

*I hope

**Courtesy of my brother Matt. Thanks, my man!

Shoot Day 4

This was the last official day of photography for Salvaging. And while this may feel like a broken record situation, it was yet another day filled with everyone's best performances and efforts. The list of people I am indebted to grows daily but the fruits of our labor should be well worth it.

I would love to say more right now but since tomorrow entails one more early wake up in order to get some needed B-roll and establishing-type shots, I'm off to bed. Besides, the experience hasn't really sunk in enough yet to be able to put it into words anyway. G'night and thanks.

Joe

Shoot Day 3

Another monster day filled with shot after shot and angle after angle. When wrap was mercifully called and the dust settled - literally - I'm told we completed 40 set ups. As big a movie day as any project I've ever been involved with in any position. It's something that can only happen with a crew as good as we've got just doing what they do best. I can't say enough about Chicago film crews in general and our crew in particular. This schedule could not be completed without them.

And did I mention the crew?

Just making sure.

Joe

Shoot Day 2

Another shoot day in the can and I can't be more grateful. It was again completely packed from sunrise to sunset with the full, unyielding effort of everyone involved. Our last shot of the day is the shot that will end the movie and because it was all one long take without a cut, it had to be pretty flawlessly executed for it to work. On top of that it was the classic "we're losing light" scenario so the pressure was on. I think we ended up with at least three takes that we can be proud of and I feel like it is really a great shot - definitely worth the 13 takes that it took to get there. I'm thinking I owe everyone involved a lifetime supply of those Reese's peanut butter eggs that come out around Easter, you know the ones I'm talking about. Man those are good!

Also, Meg is sitting next to me and said to say "Hi" to Linda and Claire because she knows you're reading this. See ya on set.

Joe

Shoot Day 1

Thanks to the great crew and cast, Salvaging Day 1 is in the can. We had a pretty big shot list and it is only because of everyone who came out today that we were able make our schedule (almost). I am now fairly exhausted and there are three more days like this to follow so that's it for now. More later.

Joe

Prep is Coming to a Close

Had a great table read with the actors on Monday. We were able to go through the script twice and get a good feeling for how things should feel as we move from scene to scene. This was the first time for all of us to be in the same room and to let all of the characters play off of each other a bit. The best part of the reading was witnessing each of the cast members bring something of their own to the characters and it was very gratifying to watch it unfold. There should be some great moments to catch on film.

As you can see in the picture below, a big piece of the puzzle fell into place yesterday...we found the car. I am now the proud owner of a perfectly trashed 1984 Mercury Grand Marquis, essentially the same car as the Ford LTD that I was picturing when I wrote the script. And she still runs like a dream, which is important because we found it in Schaumburg and I had to drive it all the way back into the city where the shoot will take place. It was a smooth, comfortable ride - even though the AC has long since died.

Today was packed full. Pat (the producer) and I started at the the insurance company to drop off the money and get our policy in place for the shoot. No turning back now because it is a non-refundable, short term policy. If we did have to pull out for any reason, it will be without the cash we just dropped. Therefore, it's full steam ahead. That was followed by a few hours of schedule/shot list refining, then wardrobe fittings and finally another rehearsal session with the cast (and the Mercury). We were able to add in a little blocking session as we rehearsed because we had Rick (the DP) with us. Hopefully this will give us a leg up on things when we get to the locations to shoot.

Next stop...production.

Joe

And Don't Get Me Started About the Weather...

Had an impromptu tech scout the other day and it's made a world of difference. To have the producer, the AD, the DP and myself together to look at all the locations and discuss the shot list has taken a huge load off of my mind. It was like downloading a hard drive that was too full and now I'm running smoothly again. It was getting so bad that the night before said tech scout, I slept for about three hours and the rest of the time I spent wondering where I was going to get the LTD (or whatever the hero car ends up being) and are we going to get enough crew members together and where are we going to get a motorhome that won't drain the budget and on and on and on...

Anyway, having the brain trust out to see the locations is a big step forward in the process. Now we are all getting on the same page and can work together to solve the problems that will arise as we hit the street. Every time I hear a story about some producer-writer-director-actor-editor-musician-etc. making a film all on their own I am immediately filled with both awe and skepticism. I really don't know how somebody can do all of this alone. More power to them if they can, but I can't.

There are still a few obstacles ahead but this train is starting to roll and more cars are hooking up every day.

Joe

12 More Days To Go

With the cast in place (mostly) and the locations shaping up, it is down to the nitty gritty of prepping for Salvaging. We were set to shoot next weekend but it is so busy in Chicago this summer that no one is available to work on the movie and the equipment resources are a little tight as well. We were forced to punt and move the shoot to the following week when both the crew and equipment situation is much more favorable. It is great that film work in the city is finally at capacity but it sure makes it tough to get a no-pay short film together. But pushing a week will definitely help my preparation because I can always use more time to plan.

So now that the two week countdown has begun, I'm hard at work on the final details. I've finished the first draft of the shot list and am diligently refining it as I type it into the computer. It remains to be seen how useful the list will be but at the very least, any time spent thinking about the shot sequence has to have some value. My hope is that having the list will make decisions a little easier and therefore faster to make while out in the middle of the street with a whole crew around me looking for answers in quickly fading daylight. And it will allow me to concentrate on the actors' performances.

Speaking of which, it will soon be time to get a table read of the script together with the actors. It will be the first chance I have to get a sense of their views on the story and what we need to work on before we get to the shoot. That will lead to rehearsal sessions. I'm hoping to get two rehearsal periods together before the shoot but we'll see what's possible as the time gets shorter. The waiting game is coming to an end...

Joe