Last Updated: December 04
Procuction Journal

WOW! I can’t believe I haven’t updated the site since October. Tons of stuff has happened since then, such as:

1. I somehow talked an awesome composer by the name of Andrew Skrabutenas into working on the movie

2. Andrew completed the score, making the movie sound way better than I’d ever expected it to.

3. And the SFX/VFX were completed.

With all that done, I can only conclude that the movie is finished. So… here it is!

Greetings to those of you who are keeping the faith (or are still being harassed about my movie 3 times a day.)
I was going to write a huge production update talking about how the pick-up shoots are finished, the edit is completed, and the special effects are starting to look complete; but I figured I may as well just show you.

Well, the angry voices that shut-up for a few weeks every time I update my site seem to be getting louder, so I suppose it’s about that time again.

The movie is still coming together nicely. I’ve fallen into 3 highly productive habits over the last few weeks, these habits include: not sleeping, not going outside, and of course, not spending time with family and friends.

With this cocktail of anti-social behaviour, I’ve been able to go out in the middle of the night and record sound effects in the field. I’ve discovered that the best time for this is between 12 and 4:30AM, because pretty much every normal person is sleeping between these time, and so there’s ZERO ambient noise in my backyard (except for the occasional coyote, frog, or bat that gets freaked out by my flashlight).

As far as filming goes, it’s technically finished. However, sometime in the next week, we’ll be having a couple sessions of “additional photography” to patch some holes in the edit.

I’ve now given up on setting release dates, since I’ve missed 2, which seemed easy at the time. This awesome movie (and I can now say with confidence that it WILL be awesome, if you’re one of the 10 people who’ve seen bits of it, you’ve got no idea what it’s going to be) will be finished when it’s finished. However, I don’t think it’ll really be very long now.

Anyway, it’s 11:45 now, and I plan to spend tonight working on a composite shot which makes 5 shots into 1 shot (We don’t need no stinkin’ cuts!), and possibly going out to shoot some burning debris element shots.

Until next time…

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I last updated the Production Journal. I suppose I’ve just been too busy working on the actual movie. I’ve been spitting out VFX shots left and right, composing music, working on Sound FX, and trying to schedule actors for the last couple days of shooting.

Saturday, August 12th 2006 was officially the longest day of shooting on The Wizard’s Dilemma. 10 hours, non-stop, 8 or 9 scenes, 120 takes, 55 minutes of video, 11.7gb of data. I’m surprised Jim and myself survived it more-or-less unscathed.

The goal was to film EVERY shot which required Jim to be in full makeup and costume, so that we wont have to go through the painful beard application process again (until the next episode, maybe.) I believe this goal to be a success.

Bottom line: filming is nearly finished. The last day of filming will be this Wednesday, and then it’s just a simple matter of finishing all of the audio and video that makes up the movie! Simple! YEY! Cake for all!

And as a special “second to last day of filming” treat, I’ve finally put 5 new pictures into the gallery (the first time I’ve added to it since it went up back in May)

-Mike

Yesterday was the best filming experience I’ve ever had. Everything went very, very well. This is probably due to the fact that this was pretty much the first time I’ve ever shot an interior scene (crazy, I know. but when your choice is between a beautiful outdoor location and a hovel interior, the choice is a bit of a no-brainer.)

What’s kind of funny is that unlike most movies which go on location to film exteriors, I have to go on location to film interiors, and stay at the ‘back lot/yard’ to film my exteriors. Crazy, yet oddly convenient for a film like this.

Shot 2 scenes, the opening scene of the movie (which now that I actually see it, seems like watching your parents argue for 45 seconds, followed quickly by some violence), and a short scene in the middle of the movie (well, one half of the conversation. All of Rory’s lines were shot months ago.)

Anyway, I’ve just finished cutting the footage into the edit, which brings the current runtime up to just over 8 minutes.

Sadly, it’s looking pretty unlikely that the movie will be done by the end of the month (the target release date). I’m now aiming for the first week or two of August for the release.

Good news and Bad news.

Good news:
Finally got some shooting done yesterday

Bad news:
By the time Jim’s makeup was applied, it was about 4:15, and the location I’d picked for the light it has at around 1:30 was now in direct sunlight for the bits I wanted to be in shade, and then in shade when I was looking for sunlight. Clearly, I am an unqualified production manager.

Anyway, I’ve bitched about weather and similar problems enough in the past few news posts, so I think it’s about time I gave it a rest.

Over the past week I’ve been working on music for the battle scene. It’s come together quite nicely, although somewhat disjointed and random. But it’s a battle, right?

As far as overall production goes, I’m feeling good about a release at the end of the month, with a trailer in about a week or two.

Until next time…
END COMMUNICATION!

We were all set to shoot 35% of the movie today. There would have been only 1 more day of shooting, and then it’d be all Special Effects & Chocolate from here on in!

BUT NO!

All this morning/afternoon it was beautiful out. Sun, white puffy clouds, birds being jerks, the whole bit. Jim (Wizard) and Maggie (Rose) were all ready to shoot a bunch of scenes, but we had a few chores to do first. That’s ok; we were going to be filming by 4, which leaves plenty of time to get the filming done. As soon as we’re about to get The Wizard into his prosthetics, BAM! Clouds over, starts raining, various Norse gods start laughing at me… but I will have vengeance!

I’m working (shooting video, but not the fun kind) on the weekend, and that will require some prep, so who knows when The Wizard will once again pick up his staff. Hopefully soon.

Just thought this looked cool, figured I’d share it with the world. I’ve been screwing around with 3D particle explosions.

Figured it was about time for a progress report, so as to make it look like there is progress.

I’ve been working on the script for Episode 2 (so as to have some direction while finishing Episode 1). I’m about half way through (in other words, page 5), and I guess it’s looking pretty spectacular. This time around, Rory (SPOILER! Highlight to read) has dialog.

In other news, I’ve got two (2) effects shots finished off… mostly… I guess… AND a few more will on their way.

All of the footage I shot way back in the mists of time (3 weekends ago), has now been edited into something which flies like a Walrus stapled to a duck. This isn’t really much progress, as I did most of that a while ago; HOWEVER, the edit now includes the first piece of completed music! The FIRST music cue finished is the FINAL music cue. How’s that for a temporal anomaly?

Anyway, as a reward for your continued patents (both of you), I picked a frame at random from the edit for your viewing pleasure! BEHOLD! Frame 1921 from edit s11-s13:

All the footage from the weekend has been captured and logged, and I’ve got 2 sequences cut together.
The “oh no! I forgot [x] shot, my movie is ruined” anxiety is starting to lift, thanks to a very successful green-screen test.

Rory, looking more bad-ass than one would think possible

It’s raining even harder today, and Rory’s going home at dawn. Faced with a bunch of shots left to do, I did what any self-respecting digital filmmaker would do: Shot Rory on a greenscreen and hoped to high heaven that I’ll be able to key and composite him into shots of The Wizard later.

Shot all day, then did a marathon Star Wars (Ep. 1, 2, and 3) viewing. After that, I drove Rory to the train station at 6am and went to bed. Good times.

Rory came out on Friday, and filming has begun. The plan was to film yesterday, but because of shitty weather, it got bumped to today.
At around noon, Rory and I started getting Jim’s beard ready, by 1:30 the Wizard stood before us!
Takes some getting used to, I’d see him out of the corner of my eye and think some crazy homeless guy had broken in.

Got the first shots off without much of a problem, Rory shoots at Jim, Jim runs for cover. Simple stuff.

Towards the end of the day we went over to Lillian’s for the ending sequence, where we’re shooting all the dialog. Guess what? It started to piss down rain. Managed to shoot most of the required dialog before the rain got too heavy, and the footage looks ok. However, missed a whole bunch of shots, which transition from all the ACTION VIOLENCE into the CLIMACTIC DIALOG!

I am pleased to report that plans are well in hand for the first shoot this weekend. Rory is coming out on Friday to be abused physically, mentally, and emotionally while we shoot the battle sequence at the end of the show (as well as some other scenes).
I spent most of yesterday and today pouring my brain onto paper in the form of Storyboards. The Wizard (Episode 1) might not suck as much as I initially expected.

Clearly, I should NOT quit my day-job (if I had one) and become a professional storyboard artist.

Today I decided that starting a production journal wouldn’t be a bad idea, since The Wizard’s Dilemma has been in pre-production for 2 months now. This is mostly just to fill space on the website, but also to make it look like I’m actually getting anything done.

The major development today was that the prosthetic beard for The Wizard is now complete.
I began by drugging Jim, then painting his face with liquid latex while he was unconscious. After a few coats were on and dry, Maggie and I began applying hair fibres (unravelled knitting wool type stuff, I’m too cheap for actual Crepe Wool)

The beard application nearing completion. More hair will be added on the day of the shoot to cover the edges