Progress

So Zach and i have been editing this thing for a while now, and just recently got together last week to finally put the whole thing together for our first completed rough cut.  It was awesome going through it and actually "watching" scenes for the first time.  I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with excitement at times and Zach and I were literally screaming at parts.  

I'm currently working on making an ILL trailer which will be dropping August 8th along with the new website (which i heard is gonna be craazzayy).  I'm trying to use a new program for scoring that i've never used before.  I've been messing around with it trying different things and will eventually pump out somethin rad. Can't wait.  And can't wait to keep working on getting this movie to a finished product.

I'm extremely proud of all the work everyone has put into this movie.  This is definitely something seriously special, and it's going to be huge.  Never have I been involved in something where everyone has been so passionate about and dedicated soo much time and effort towards.  To a point where it's fanatical.  I have definitely never taken on an editing project of this scale before and I have for sure learned some things in doing so.  It's really coming together now and starting to look amazing.  I am proud of the work I and Zach have both done so far and will continue to do.  We've gotten a chance to get creative with some of these scenes and hopefully everyone will enjoy them.

This past weekend was cool.  We had a 830 call time on Austen Rd. which amazingly is about a 30 second walk from my house.  So I walked over for call and we shot some car mount scenes around the neighborhood.  The weather was nice out so i decided a jacket wasn't necessary.  But being outside all day combined with my immune system running at it's lowest ever since starting filming, i caught a cold by the end of the day.

The car mount is SICK! It is a suction tripod with straps that attach to the hood of the car.  It also has a bar which attached to the tripod mount that allows it to stick to the side of the car and shoot through the door window.  I stole this picture from Brianne's blog. Thanks Brianne!  

Anyways, since my house is so close to set, i had the whole crew over to eat lunch.  Max (our dog) loved every second of it.  There was nothing more exciting for him than tons of people, and tons of people.. with FOOD.

Speaking of food, Becky showed up on set sunday with an amazing surprise.  A real meal of Pizza, pasta and salad, and it was Amazing.  She definitely lifted everyones spirits and after lunch  we all had the energy to tackle a very difficult murder scene in the living room.  We really only had one real shot with this because working with fake blood and carpets doesn't really allow second chances.  I'm pretty sure it was the first time a lot of us had really worked with fake blood before (i know it was mine) and i think it is going to turn out really cool.  Props to Justin's fake blood serum which looked mad good, and tastes like candy. Jess was amazing, I wont tell you why because of contractual reasons, but when you see the movie you will know why. 

Update

Man, these past two weeks have flown by.  We had a potential opportunity (because there are no such thing as problems on the mercury cycle, only opportunities) early on in the NY shoot.  I had noticed that a conversation scene we had shot had potentially not past the 180 degree rule of continuity.  Both Jessica and Greg had both been framed on the same side which would have been a problem that potentially would have needed to be re-shot.  Thankfully, Justin Whitkin strolled through and said "call me crazy, but wouldn't it work if you just mirrored the footage?"  By mirroring the footage it flops everything on the left side of the frame to the right, and greg being framed originally on the right, now appears on the left.  Normally this effect doesn't work because if there is any sort of writing on someone's clothing or in the background of the frame, it appears backwards and is blatantly jarring.  The mirror effect, which 99% of the time never works, by some stroke of god did work this time and solved the opportunity and we were able to rest easy. Thank you Justin.

This past weekend Zach's parents were nice enough to drive down from Massachusetts with a power generator and help us shoot some night shots on a creepy dead end road.  Without them the whole night would not have even been possible.  Despite some surrounding opportunities and confusion with wardrobe and locations, we were able to get some decent work done.  It was a very cold and dark night and i think set up times suffered due to the circumstances (baring i mind that they were very tough lighting setups).  I think since our set backs limited what we were able to shoot on top of the cold conditions, a leisurely work flow resulted and shooting was not as efficient as it could have been.

Sunday was a good short shooting day.  I made my first cameo of the film and my friends Joe, Kevin, Katie, and Michele were nice enough to help us out as extras.  Little did they know their roles in the film would turn from background extras to having their own dolly close ups with lines! Haha this is why we hire the best talent around.  I will make sure to buy them all drinks  for their services.  On top of that i think our Crane set up and break down was the most efficient yet.  Everyone out shooting at CLA on sunday was very focused and efficient and resulted in good teamwork all around.

5am graveyards

So the blog is finally up, and it is currently the second NY shooting session on the Mercury Cycle.  We all were up at 5am shooting a lot of nice graveyard footage and followed it up by beasting plates at the King Buffet.  Everyone worked real well together this morning battling the ice, and cold to make sure we could get the shots that we need.  The footage looks real nice and the early morning natural sunlight was worth get up for.

There's a bit of chill time now before we begin filming again in about an hour or so and we just discovered Bobby's hidden talent as a rapper, and he's actually pretty sick.  Zach and I are now doing what we can to maybe use one of his self produced beats for a trailer which we are now starting to put together, so be on the look out for the first real peek at footage from The Mercury Cycle.

Time to go set up for tonights shoot.  Hopefully everything goes smoothly.  I am considering wearing three pairs of sox, with toe warmers...