Monday, August 30, 2010

"Blood Therapy" - Day 3

8-14-10

That's a wrap, folks! Principle photography is finished!

What an amazing day! Everything came together so effortlessly. The actors were amazing and the blood f/x were yummy! I could have done without it being 87 degrees in my kitchen while we were shooting, but you take what you can get during Memphis summers. But the cast and crew were troopers, always professional!

You know what I loved about today? Those little moments that make me giddy about being a filmmaker. I witnessed several of those today. A heartfelt line, an intense head movement, a gleam in an actor's eye... those little moments are special to me. Seeing it happen before my very eyes and because of something I wrote is one of the greatest feelings a filmmaker can experience. I hope I never forget that.

Something kinda wicked and cool happened during one of our scenes. It was an exterior attack sequence. It was about 9pm, and while we were discussing the shot, one of the bats from our trees flew right through our little group. It was creepy watching him zig zag through us!

All in all, it was a wonderful shoot. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with this talented group of people. Having seen the rough edit coming together, I can honestly say that this is our best yet. And it's all thanks to our amazing Cinegore cast and crew!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

"Blood Therapy" - Day 2

8-8-10

We shot two scenes today. The shoot went great. We even finished ahead of schedule! Craig did a great job with lighting. This is as much his design as it is mine. I just told him what I'd like to see and he works his voodoo magic to make it happen.

Craig is already hard at work on getting the tentative edit done. The pool scene from the 7th came together nicely. And the footage from today is looking good, too.

One nice thing about finishing ahead of schedule is being able to sit around with cast/crew and just chill. Talk movies, or whatever. I like working with this bunch!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

"Blood Therapy" - Day 1

8-7-10

Day 1 is in the can! The pool shoot went better than I ever expected. We came prepared and we kicked butt! The actors and extras were great, the shots went off (mostly) problem-free, and I had some of the most talented filmmakers supporting me today. Couldn't ask for a better shoot.

The underwater shot that I got turned out great! A big thanks to one of our actors (Rodney!) for assisting me. Couldn't have done it without him.

Unfortunately, the crane shot that Craig planned got ruined. A brand new tape was no good and didn't record properly. Ahh, such is no-budget filmmaking. Fortunately, we had alternative shots planned. Whew!

Just saw a very rough cut of today's footage... me like!

Friday, August 6, 2010

"Blood Therapy" shoot begins!

It has been a while since my last update, but I am pleased to say that we have been working on various projects (update on that later) during that time. And tomorrow, Aug 7, we go into principle photography for our latest project, "Blood Therapy"! I am very excited about this one! It's a script I wrote back in January and began pre-production on back in April for a summer shoot. The stars have finally aligned and it's time to shoot!

Blood Therapy is about a guy who must learn to embrace change before he can discover his true self. It's a horror short that I wrote and will direct. It stars some of the best in Memphis: Christian Walker, Don Meyers, and Duane P. Craig. I'm honored to get to work with these fine actors.

Check out a lighting test Craig and I did for the shoot. Please pay no attention to me in the pic or the sloppy background. It was simply a lighting test. :)



"Blood Therapy" will be shot in a film noir style. The dark tone of the film lends itself well to this type of design.

I'll be updating this blog as production rolls along!