Alas, Christmas time is nearly upon me and I don't have a single thing wrapped. This includes all of my purchases for loved ones to be opened Christmas morning, as well as the principal photography for the up and coming mega blockbuster, Zombies During Third Period... Again. Despite the best efforts by cast and crew alike, shooting on the movie is one thing that will not be wrapped in time for Christmas. I guess that Zombies really are the gift that just keep on giving. However, to say that we will not be able to finish shooting the movie on the date that has been typed on our schedule, is not to say that things are not going well. I am confident that the images that we have captured (in brilliant 24p High Definition), are going to cut together and form a picture that everyone involved will be quite proud of. And despite all indications to the contrary, we have been able to answer one of the most important questions that has been plaguing us on this shoot. "Will there be any actual Zombies in this Zombie movie"? I am very happy to tell you, gentle reader, that the answer to that question is "Yes". There are going to be Zombies in this Zombie movie. I've seen them with my very own eyes. I've even seen a couple of them get, well, melted, for lack of a better word. The only thing slowing down the production is that, as it turns out, filming Zombies under combat situations, is a lot more challenging and time consuming, than filming teenagers talking about Zombies. A good example of this can be seen from last Monday's shoot. Cast and crew put in a very long nine hour day, in the dark for most of the day, in a large unheated space, to capture a sequence that is just over three minutes long. In the world of stop motion animation, where an eight hour day yields somewhere in the neighborhood of two seconds of finished film, this would be considered moving at light speed. However, in the world of Zombies During Third Period... Again, where dialogue scenes have been the order of the day, this seemed a bit slow and somewhat painful. However, as someone who wishes to be a real live, honest to goodness filmmaker, I must admit that there is something to be said for actually seeing a battle take place on screen, rather than just placing someone in front of the camera to talk about said battle. No matter how much easier and expedient of a choice that may be. And there is the matter of the footage itself. It may have taken nine hours in a very dark and cold room to capture those three minutes, but those three minutes look pretty good. I suppose when all is said and done, that is all any of us will remember, and that is what will make it all worthwhile. So, while we may not have reached our first goal of having the film shot by Christmas, the larger goal of making a film that everyone can be proud of, is still very much alive. Comic Con is ever approaching and is still in our sights, and our new hope is to have all of the Zombies "in the can" before the start of the new year. I may not have been able to get everything wrapped in time for Christmas, but it still looks to be quite Merry nonetheless. So with that, I say Merry Christmas to you, gentle reader, and I look forward to seeing you in the new year.
Well, it seems like only last week that I was sitting here musing over the laws of physics and how they could effect the filmmaking process. Overcoming the inertia of sitting still and turning filmmaking dreams into filmmaking nightmares....... I mean realities, is one of the most difficult obstacles for the fledgeling filmmaker to overcome. A contributing factor to this most diabolical of phenomenon, is none other than "The Problem of Perfection". I can hear your voice even now, gentle reader. "What is this, how do you say...... problem of perfection"? Simply put, the problem of perfection comes into effect when said would be filmmaker, is paralyzed into inaction by the fear that their would be film, will not be perfect, or great, or pretty good, or even watchable. When faced with the idea of making something bad, some filmmakers will opt instead to make nothing. Such action, will in turn take away one of the key ingredients necessary to becoming a filmmaker
Comments
Post a Comment