Well, things have been moving right long, which is both gratifying and terrifying. It's always scary for me as a project builds momentum. It's the time before anything has actually happened, and everyone is full of expectations and counting on me to pull the whole thing together into a cohesive whole. But really at this point it's all ideas and feelings and my less-than-graceful organizing skills. It's like the old cliché about the top of the roller coaster, except I've built the roller coaster and this is the maiden ride, and I'm a little worried I forgot something really important like bolts. Like I said, things are moving right along.
I started a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo. I posted the link before and I'll post it at the end of this blog. I was feeling a little strange about it. It's uncomfortable for me to ask people for money, though it was certainly something I needed to do. The response has been amazing. The site has raised more money in 24 hours than I thought it would in a week. Unlike Kickstarter, on IndieGoGo you can keep the funds raised even if you don't meet your goal. This is why I chose this route, because even if I don't raise another dime, the money raised so far will help a great deal. I also know that as an independent filmmaker I'm going to HAVE to get used to asking people for money. At least in this format, the people don't expect to make the money back! Talk about uncomfortable, presenting to investors who want a profit will be a lot tougher than this sort of open ended “give-if-you-want” deal.
Yesterday, I had a production meeting with most of my crew. It was good to get them together, most of them didn't know each other so introductions were made etc. I gave everyone a basic rundown of the schedule for the next 7 weeks and we discussed crew positions I still need to fill and locations I still need to find. I'm supposed to turn in my production book with all my crew positions filled and my locations secured at the end of the week. We'll see how that goes. I'm pretty close to having all those things worked out.
Next weekend we will shoot most of the green screen stuff. We'll be taking still photos and video of the actors doing scenes that take place in the main character's head. The idea is to make two-dimensional puppets of the actors and then video tape them acting out the scene. I'm also going to get the scenes with the actors on video for a number of reasons. These are the scenes that will allow for the most creativity so I want to have all options available to me. Besides, the whole puppet thing may look like shit. As fate would have it, Jim Henson's daughter is bringing a puppet film festival to UCA this week. They'll be doing a 2 hour work shop on Friday where we'll build puppets and make a movie. I am SO there. I hope to get a lot of practical ideas and creative inspiration. What great luck.
Below is the link to the IndieGoGo site. Please go by and take a look, donate if you can, and pass it along regardless of all that money stuff. Thanks!
