Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, October 13, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #106
I'm back this time and I'm wide awake so I can give a real update on what's going on. So in 7 days I will be on set of my first short film. How exciting right? Well I'm excited but mostly worried about making sure that everything goes smoothly. This past two weeks has been filled with mostly searching for the right crew members to make me look good. PA's, DP's, AD's, Grips, Gaffers, Sound Mixers, etc. All these people and I have to pick the right one. So the pressure is definitely on to make the right decision and to make it fast since our shoot day is quickly creeping up on us. My Producer and I have been playing a daily game of tag team to get things done and to keep them in order which is definitely a challenge. However, if everything on the set runs smoothly, all of this chaos and disorder will definitely be worth it.
Oh something interesting that I did two weekends ago was to star in my Producer's student film that she had to produce for school. I figured it would be a great way for us to see how we vibe on set and it would give me further insight into the whole acting process so that I would be able to relate to my actors a lot better while directing them in my film. I'm totally glad I did this little exercise because it definitely showed me how much of a challenge it is to act a certain way when you are not necessarily in that mindset. Acting is hard work and doing this film really made me appreciate what actors do and the hard work and dedication that they put into their craft.
As far as the crewin up detail, I hired an Assistant Director today which is going to hopefully take some of the load off of my shoulders. We found some really great sound guys who have worked on a lot of much bigger projects but like our project enough to work on it, so that's definitely a blessing. I think once I have everyone hired I'm going to finally be able to take a breather and really focus on what I'm going to say to my actors this Thursday at rehearsals and on set next week. I really am looking forward to working with all of these very different people who all saw something in this little ole project that came from a corner of my brain. It's all very surreal but I am definitely looking forward to delving into this journey with them.
To all of my folks out there who want to help out in other ways, please consider donating what you can since we're still struggling to make this happen with a very minimal budget. The more donations we get, the more things we can get to make this film reach it's full potential by looking as best as possible.
I'm going to try to do one last post on here after rehearsals on Thursday which will probably be my last post until after we shoot. Keep your fingers crossed. And again, the donation button is to the right :-).
Shequeta
Oh something interesting that I did two weekends ago was to star in my Producer's student film that she had to produce for school. I figured it would be a great way for us to see how we vibe on set and it would give me further insight into the whole acting process so that I would be able to relate to my actors a lot better while directing them in my film. I'm totally glad I did this little exercise because it definitely showed me how much of a challenge it is to act a certain way when you are not necessarily in that mindset. Acting is hard work and doing this film really made me appreciate what actors do and the hard work and dedication that they put into their craft.
As far as the crewin up detail, I hired an Assistant Director today which is going to hopefully take some of the load off of my shoulders. We found some really great sound guys who have worked on a lot of much bigger projects but like our project enough to work on it, so that's definitely a blessing. I think once I have everyone hired I'm going to finally be able to take a breather and really focus on what I'm going to say to my actors this Thursday at rehearsals and on set next week. I really am looking forward to working with all of these very different people who all saw something in this little ole project that came from a corner of my brain. It's all very surreal but I am definitely looking forward to delving into this journey with them.
To all of my folks out there who want to help out in other ways, please consider donating what you can since we're still struggling to make this happen with a very minimal budget. The more donations we get, the more things we can get to make this film reach it's full potential by looking as best as possible.
I'm going to try to do one last post on here after rehearsals on Thursday which will probably be my last post until after we shoot. Keep your fingers crossed. And again, the donation button is to the right :-).
Shequeta
Thursday, October 2, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #105
OOoooh it's been a loong time and a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. I'm gonna try to keep it within a few paragraphs so you don't hurt your eyes reading..lol. So I finally think I'm hitting my stride. You know how sometimes you feel like you're completely lost and then something happens and God reminds you that you're right where you're supposed to be? Well that's what's been happening for the past few weeks with me and this film.
So after weeks of praying to find the right student producer, I had a friend at USC (thanks Codie) send out my ad and I got two responses from two young ladies. I sent both of them the script and two days later I met with one of them. About halfway through our meeting, we both discover that her first cousin is one of my many Godmothers back in NC and that she used to spend summers in my tiny hometown of Salisbury or Spencer and East Spencer to be exact. Even more ironic is the fact that my Godmother/her cousin had just mentioned me to her in July and told her I was working on a project. So we were definitely supposed to meet and so far things are great. She really knows her stuff and has been a BIG help in pulling stuff together.
Last week, we did three sets of auditions. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a lotta fun and a lotta hard work at the same time. I definitely have a new respect for casting directors and for actors. We saw some really talented folks that left me wishing I could have just picked them all and fit them in somewhere but unfortunately that's not how this business works. Not only do you have to find talented actors, you have to find folks that might be able to look AND act like the characters they're auditioning for. So that made the selection process quite tedious but I'm certain we've made the right decision.
Okay I must end here...my eyes are heavy with sleepy...Check out the rest later and check out my other blog in the meantime http://www.theblackhollywoodfiles.com/
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #104
I'm totally sorry to all. Been a really busy couple of weeks. So what's happened since the last time I blogged on here. Well I've been meeting up with lots of wonderful DP's, Producers, etc. that are all interesting in working on my film. It's been really exciting to meet up with folks and to hear their kind thoughts about my project and how they figure I can pull this off. As you can probably tell from my Rayven Choi website, I'm still nowhere close to my $5500 goal but after talking to Oscar, a friend and fellow filmmaker, he convinced me to move full speed ahead on making it happen. I don't have a lot of frills when it comes to the set design and if things work out like I plan I won't have to pay for the location I have reserved. Fingers crossed.
This past weekend, I put out my casting notices. And like everything else in this whole process, it's something that I wish I would have done a few weeks earlier. However, the reluctance and downright confusion I've been in on how to make all of this stuff happen has had me dragging my feet. It's scary. Especially when I haven't made the budget that I was originally trying to meet. However, Oscar told me a story of how a guy at Sundance (Oscar's short film was an official selection in Sundance) made a film with a budget of $300 bucks with a MiniDV video camera (like the one sitting on my floor) and took home the grand prize at the Sundance. I can't tell you how much that story inspired me and reassures me that I too can do this!
I'll just have to masterfully or not so masterfully plan out the whole process. My whole idea with shooting this film was that it would look gritty and real so the kids who'd see it would be able to see themselves in the characters I created on page. It doesn't have to look Hollywood glossy, it just has to look good enough. So that's what I'm going for from now on with this film. I want to get the shots that are good enough and that get to the grit of what this story is about instead of trying to make it look good for Hollywood. I'm just gonna do my best and if I run out of money, which I pray doesn't happen, I'll just have to come back and shoot the rest later. I'm gonna do my best to cut as many corners and get as many donations in other forms from folks who believe in what I'm trying to do with this project.
So back to my casting process. It's been a real eye opening thing from a directors standpoint and from a person who used to pursue commercial acting. I find that when I'm looking through all of these headshots it's not the really pretty or really fit folks who stand out, it's the regular people. I suggest to any actor who's out here trying to make it to definitely have a few different kinds of shots that show them with their normal day to day look. I think when most writers write and when most directors cast projects, the main characters aren't these made up people with all this perfect hair and teeth, they want someone with some characteristics that will make them appear different on camera. Otherwise, everyone would look alike, and who wants to go see that at a movie. So far, I have a pretty good pool of candidates to pick from for about 4 out of 10 of my main characters who aren't extras. Hopefully, by the end of this week I'll have all the rest of my folks so I can get my actors on the ball.
To conclude, before this blog gets any longer, I really wish I had talked to Oscar weeks ago about my project so that I would have felt more confident in my ability to get this film done and could have set things in motion a few weeks sooner. But everything seems to happen for a reason so maybe it was supposed to happen this way. Check back next week, I PROMISE I'm gonna post a new entry :-). I should hopefullly be on my quest for auditions and will hopefully have some video footage of auditions to talk about.
Oh and an interesting piece of information to all of my Wolfpack folks out there....why did my DP graduate from Chapel Hill and one of the Producers I'm meeting with the same. Tarheels and the Wolfpack working together...who would have figured that...lol
Until next week...
Smooches,
Shequeta
p.s. Be sure to check out my other blog www.theblackhollywoodfiles.com
This past weekend, I put out my casting notices. And like everything else in this whole process, it's something that I wish I would have done a few weeks earlier. However, the reluctance and downright confusion I've been in on how to make all of this stuff happen has had me dragging my feet. It's scary. Especially when I haven't made the budget that I was originally trying to meet. However, Oscar told me a story of how a guy at Sundance (Oscar's short film was an official selection in Sundance) made a film with a budget of $300 bucks with a MiniDV video camera (like the one sitting on my floor) and took home the grand prize at the Sundance. I can't tell you how much that story inspired me and reassures me that I too can do this!
I'll just have to masterfully or not so masterfully plan out the whole process. My whole idea with shooting this film was that it would look gritty and real so the kids who'd see it would be able to see themselves in the characters I created on page. It doesn't have to look Hollywood glossy, it just has to look good enough. So that's what I'm going for from now on with this film. I want to get the shots that are good enough and that get to the grit of what this story is about instead of trying to make it look good for Hollywood. I'm just gonna do my best and if I run out of money, which I pray doesn't happen, I'll just have to come back and shoot the rest later. I'm gonna do my best to cut as many corners and get as many donations in other forms from folks who believe in what I'm trying to do with this project.
So back to my casting process. It's been a real eye opening thing from a directors standpoint and from a person who used to pursue commercial acting. I find that when I'm looking through all of these headshots it's not the really pretty or really fit folks who stand out, it's the regular people. I suggest to any actor who's out here trying to make it to definitely have a few different kinds of shots that show them with their normal day to day look. I think when most writers write and when most directors cast projects, the main characters aren't these made up people with all this perfect hair and teeth, they want someone with some characteristics that will make them appear different on camera. Otherwise, everyone would look alike, and who wants to go see that at a movie. So far, I have a pretty good pool of candidates to pick from for about 4 out of 10 of my main characters who aren't extras. Hopefully, by the end of this week I'll have all the rest of my folks so I can get my actors on the ball.
To conclude, before this blog gets any longer, I really wish I had talked to Oscar weeks ago about my project so that I would have felt more confident in my ability to get this film done and could have set things in motion a few weeks sooner. But everything seems to happen for a reason so maybe it was supposed to happen this way. Check back next week, I PROMISE I'm gonna post a new entry :-). I should hopefullly be on my quest for auditions and will hopefully have some video footage of auditions to talk about.
Oh and an interesting piece of information to all of my Wolfpack folks out there....why did my DP graduate from Chapel Hill and one of the Producers I'm meeting with the same. Tarheels and the Wolfpack working together...who would have figured that...lol
Until next week...
Smooches,
Shequeta
p.s. Be sure to check out my other blog www.theblackhollywoodfiles.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #103
Okay so I know I didn't post last week and for all two of my readers out there, apologies. So what happened last week...? Well last week I put in a few calls and had the local universities send out some ads about me crewing up for my film project. Got a few responses thus far and waiting until the end of this week to contact folks after I gather up a few more resumes. I tell you, getting the money to do this film has been a true test of my faith and patience. It's like sometimes I feel like I should just give it up and that I'm never going to make my September deadline to try to get at least a rough copy of it done to submit to Sundance. Then I'll get a donation of $160 and will get back motivated although I'm still a ways off from my $5500 budget.
There is some good news for this week. I was driving to get some take out at one of my favorite restaurants in Encino and took the short cut to get there. The same short cut I use to get there almost every time. But this time it hit me that this is the road the kids in my story drive down before they get into their fatal accident. Although there are certain parts of the road that have palm trees since the location is right across from a golf course, there is a long stretch where it's just random green trees and dirt.
Perfect for the scene I have in mind and perfect that it's not one of the busiest streets in LA so hopefully it won't be a problem to do the night shoot the script calls for. The plan is to stay ambiguous with the location of my story since I want folks to feel like this same story could be in any city, state, or town.
Well folks, that's all the news I have for now. Hopefully I'll have even better news next week.
There is some good news for this week. I was driving to get some take out at one of my favorite restaurants in Encino and took the short cut to get there. The same short cut I use to get there almost every time. But this time it hit me that this is the road the kids in my story drive down before they get into their fatal accident. Although there are certain parts of the road that have palm trees since the location is right across from a golf course, there is a long stretch where it's just random green trees and dirt.
Perfect for the scene I have in mind and perfect that it's not one of the busiest streets in LA so hopefully it won't be a problem to do the night shoot the script calls for. The plan is to stay ambiguous with the location of my story since I want folks to feel like this same story could be in any city, state, or town.
Well folks, that's all the news I have for now. Hopefully I'll have even better news next week.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #102
Okay so after taking last week off to write a pilot to submit to Fox this week I'm back on here to give y'all the spill on what's happening with my short film project. So I've been pretty much scouting locations for this project for sometime now and had a location in mind but the person who owns it kept on giving me the cold sholder so I pretty much gave up on it. Which has turned out to be a a great thing because if I had actually gotten that location I wouldn't have found a location that is EXACTLY what I envisioned when I wrote the script.
So I was out and about last week and stopped by the Red Cross to check out their multipurpose room to see if I could possibly film it there. After dropping by there, I quickly discovered that I really wasn't feeling it. I mean I'm from North Carolina where the Red Cross is usually in it's own building so I was a little disappointed when I got there and realized that they were nestled inside of a business park. So I left there and headed over to do a little work when somehow I made a wrong turn and ended up on a street that I had never been down before. While on this street, I happened to ride by this little park and something just told me to stop...So I did.
Once inside, I spoke with the young lady who worked there and she allowed me to give myself a little tour of the building. Downstairs I found two rooms that would be the center where the kids in my movie meet up with the convicts. Upstairs I found a room that I could easily turn into the bedroom scene from the beginning of the script. Outside, I found a charming courtyard that would be where the juvenile delinquents in my film go and hang at before they go into the program. And here's the kicker...they had SODA MACHINES!!! Y'all just don't know how worried I was about having to find somewhere that had a soda machine or about the possibility of having to find a soda machine to use for one of the most important scenes in my film where my main character befriends another main character.
Oh and another fun fact about this location is that the screenwriters of the Wizard of Oz used to live here...Totally cool!
I really think this is the place that I was destined to find and shoot this film at. Now all I have to do is come up with the money I'll need for the permits to shoot there. And that's where you all come in. I'm still trying to get to $5500 and so far I seem to be stuck at $1800. All I've been asking folks to do is to make a donation of $10 or $20 bucks...or more if you can afford it. I guarantee this is gonna be a hot project once it gets going and you all will definitely be thanked in a very profound way (-:
Donations can be made above and here's a link that shows pics of this wonderful location I found...
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-9-shadow-ranch.html
So I was out and about last week and stopped by the Red Cross to check out their multipurpose room to see if I could possibly film it there. After dropping by there, I quickly discovered that I really wasn't feeling it. I mean I'm from North Carolina where the Red Cross is usually in it's own building so I was a little disappointed when I got there and realized that they were nestled inside of a business park. So I left there and headed over to do a little work when somehow I made a wrong turn and ended up on a street that I had never been down before. While on this street, I happened to ride by this little park and something just told me to stop...So I did.
Once inside, I spoke with the young lady who worked there and she allowed me to give myself a little tour of the building. Downstairs I found two rooms that would be the center where the kids in my movie meet up with the convicts. Upstairs I found a room that I could easily turn into the bedroom scene from the beginning of the script. Outside, I found a charming courtyard that would be where the juvenile delinquents in my film go and hang at before they go into the program. And here's the kicker...they had SODA MACHINES!!! Y'all just don't know how worried I was about having to find somewhere that had a soda machine or about the possibility of having to find a soda machine to use for one of the most important scenes in my film where my main character befriends another main character.
Oh and another fun fact about this location is that the screenwriters of the Wizard of Oz used to live here...Totally cool!
I really think this is the place that I was destined to find and shoot this film at. Now all I have to do is come up with the money I'll need for the permits to shoot there. And that's where you all come in. I'm still trying to get to $5500 and so far I seem to be stuck at $1800. All I've been asking folks to do is to make a donation of $10 or $20 bucks...or more if you can afford it. I guarantee this is gonna be a hot project once it gets going and you all will definitely be thanked in a very profound way (-:
Donations can be made above and here's a link that shows pics of this wonderful location I found...
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-9-shadow-ranch.html
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL...ENTRY #101
So, folks have been asking what's new with me and this upcoming short film project I'm working so hard on. Well, as you know, I've been fundraising like crazy and applying to grants to try to get enough money to start production. So far I'm up to $1730 with around $3770 to go. Every donation I get keeps me motivated and makes the wheels churn a little faster so thanks to those who've donated!
As far as movie stuff, I've started looking for locations where I plan to film. Been letting some industry folks read the script so hopefully they'll be anxiously awaiting the finished product :-). Had an exec from Warner Bros. personally call last week to tell me how much he enjoyed the script, so that was big. I've been calling around to youth detention centers to find some kids to interview for the documentary portion of the film. Plan to start shooting that in the next few weeks.
Patiently waiting to see if Hollywood gets turned up on it's heels again at the end of this month if the actors go on strike. This should not effect my film since my project is so small and will not be union unless I decided to go that route. Which would definitely be a no if they decide to go on strike. I would just use non union actors...something I've been kinda leaning towards anyways.
Anyhoo, this is the first of plenty of updates to come about the status of "The J.H. Gunn Project." I'm gonna try to post something new every week to let y'all know the progress I'm making with it. Again, thanks to all of you who've made donations and thanks to everyone for your support. Keep checking back for updates.
Smooches (0:
Shequeta
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
