Month: January 2013
The Grays 25/01/2013
Almost one week to go until the production of “The Grays” and now that we’ve got the locations, everything seems to be falling in places.
Together with Laura we’ve worked out the shooting schedule and it seems that we’re able to fit the whole filming into three days.
The script still needs breaking down, and I have to visit the location to work out the possibilities of scene blocking and camera movement.
It’s getting more and more exciting.
The Grays 24/01/2013
Today I booked the studio to film the interrogation scene on 6th of February.
Even though Laura won’t be able to attend, I’m also organising a meeting with the lead actors next Thursday to rehearse some key scenes.
The Grays 23/01/2013
Yesterday I e-mailed an actor who was really excited about the role of Detective Jeffrey. He got the part.
Today we had an hour with Laura to talk about the props, needed for the shots.
Gangster Squad – my first film review
A good old- fashioned gangster film comes back with a bang, now even better. Based on a true story, Gangster Squad is about a tough cop John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), who is dedicated to put an end to the mighty evil gangster’s empire.
As the LA’s drug baron and club owner is protected by local police and politicians, John O’Mara has to fight his crimes with crime.
With a gang of six law enforcers against an army of mercyless goons, does John O’Mara have any chance to defeat Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn)?
Full of action, gun-fights and explosions Gangster Squad will definitely not disappoint the fans of this genre.
The Grays 22/01/2013 another audition
Well, having prepared a registration form I quite knew what to expect from this audition. Only two actors signed-up, but I still went there an hour earlier hoping for someone to turn up unexpectedly.
One of those two actors mixed up the dates, so he lost his chance (for the second time) to star in our film and made me continue the search for another detective Jeffrey.
Another one arrived early, he was a cheerful and friendly guy, pleasant to talk to. He got the role as a twin, because of all candidates he looked the most similar to another twin, who had already signed the contract.
That’s all for now. Even though it’s not my thing, I find the experience of organising an audition very useful, as with every time it gets better.
One person came – I’m not giving up
Erotomania 21/01/2013
Finally got together with director Nauris for the second time. As he is still in the scriptwriting stage, we talked about the visualisation of the part he has already written.
As the film takes place in just one location, which is already secured, we decided to go there next week and take some camera and available lighting tests.
“15 on Schizo” 21/01/2013
Met with Sonia, filmed random helpful people for the installation. I invited a couple of people to participate myself. As we only filmed people’s eyes, we did it in an hour and a half. The shoot was short, but efficient
The Grays 29/01/2013
Just because I don’t have time to post in my blog doesn’t mean that I am not working on my project. In fact, closer to the filming dates I’ve got more work to do and this is why I didn’t write a lot of posts recently.
Most of my free time I spent thinking about blocking of the scenes, making location plans and doodling storyboards.
As I spend a lot of time traveling by public transport, I find Celtix Shots application for the mobile phone an awesome and extremely useful thing, as it allows me to work even on the go. With its drag and drop preset pictures it is a perfect tool to create professional location and shooting plans without the computer.
I am also trying to develop my drawing skills – creating a consistent recognisable character throughout the storyboards, also trying to draw facial expressions, body language.
Today I’ve visited the location where we are going to shoot most of the film. As Laura was responsible for the locations, we will be filming our film at her house and the amount of space puts me in huge limitations. There is just enough space for actors, but lighting these rooms is going to be quite a challenge. I will also have to fake the position of windows in the room, and that requires some thorough planning.
A Journey Through a Dream. Music video. 19/01/2013
I’m writing this blog from the filming location. Aurelija, Anastasia and I met to try out the camera movement for the tricky part of the video, when in one long shot you could see the same person twice. We tried it several times, but we found out that it would not work with the tracks. It wouldn’t work with a steadicam either, as it would be almost impossible to stop at the certain point for several times. For this shot we would probably need a hydraulic dolly, which, unfortunatelly, we cannot afford.
Update:
During the rest of the shoot we worked out the sequence of shots to replace the tricky one.
I gave the footage to Aurelia and she is going to edit it.
The Grays 19/01/2013
I put myself together and arranged another audition on Tuesday. Hopefully, for the last time. I created a Google document with times and spaces for contacts, and it’s quite a few days in advance so let’s see how it works. If it doesn’t – I’ll give up on being a casting director.
Art Kavali 