Day 9: Long-Winded Rhodes

. . . okay. Now Season 1 is officially and completely wrapped. Huzzah!

The Hero's Journey

I've only seen the rough edits of two episodes and already I've begun outlining Season 2 -- okay, that's an understatement. Last night, I completed the outline for Season 2. It's subject to change and it will most certainly be fleshed out, but it's there, on cyber paper, ready to go.

It's such an interesting thing plotting out a second series of adventures for characters you've already played with. Season 1 is by no means a complete story, yet I spent so much time crafting Season 1 that it feels like I've already told Derek and Annie's story and it's time for me to find new characters to explore and new stories to tell. So now I get to sit down, reassess the characters, the journey they went on, and get to plot out the next part of their journey.

I've always known the big picture. I know what's going on and ultimately how it will end. It's the small details that I get to play with now. I get to decide how long the story will be. I get to decide how long it'll take people to figure things out. I get to decide what giant leaps or what baby steps the character development takes. One great example of this is Evan Johnson's character Derek Fisher.

One of the themes of the show that I want to explore a little more heavily is the concept of a hero. What is it to be heroic? What does that mean in today's society? I would like to deconstruct and then reconstruct The Hero. The Hero Project has been challenging the traditional trappings of The Hero and it's something I'm completely on board with. By the end of Season 2, I want to be able to present Derek Fisher as my example of what a hero is. Speaking in comic book terms, Season 1 and 2 of Remnants is Derek Fisher's origin story. The climax of Season 2 is Derek deciding what kind of hero he's going to be. Any and all subsequent seasons will be exploring that decision, dealing with the fallout, and testing his theory.

I can only hope that it'll start a conversation that has absolutely no end in sight. I love me some long-winded conversations.

REMNANTS: The Facebook Fan Page

Remnants is on Facebook now! Become a fan and get the inside scoop on what's going on and what's coming up!

And trust me. There's stuff coming up.

Demosthenes Lives!

Demosthenes.

It's a name with a lot of weight behind it. And it's under that name that an anonymous blogger has begun writing about the things they feel are important for us to consider and reflect upon. It's a blog that exists both in our world and in the world of Remnants.

And it went live today.

http://demostheneslives.blogspot.com/

Let's Get Together (Yeah Yeah Yeah)

We need music!

We have a composer for the show (one Michael Goldsmith), that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is music that our characters are listening to (and possibly dancing to) in the show itself. What I would like to do with this is create an opportunity to show off some local bands and/or artists. But I'm not going to limit it to just local bands and/or artists. Anyone can submit a song. Here's what you do:

• You pick out a song (or selection of songs) that you would like to submit.
• Send an mp3 of the song (or selection of songs) to tsfogg@gmail.com
• Boom. That's it. If we like the song, and it fits into one of the scenes, it will become part of Remnants' soundtrack.

We are not in a place where we can pay anybody for anything (sorry, we're trying to get there). But here's what we can offer you:

• Exposure for you, your band, and your music. It's going to be in a web series, which anyone in the world can click on and watch for free.
• Links on our website to your website.
• At the premiere (which will be held here in Chattanooga), you will be given stage time to play a 3 or 4 song set as well as a table to sell your merch.

We're not looking for any particular genre. Whatever you have, whatever kind of artist you are, we'd like to hear it. Or if you know someone who's trying to get a little bit bigger of an audience, link them to this page.

I look forward to hearing what you've got.

Interregnum

So Season 1 is all but wrapped. We have two scenes that still have to be filmed and we're checking our calendars and seeing what will work even as I blog to you about it.

It's a strange lull. I want to say production is wrapped, but we still have these two little scenes to shoot. We couldn't shoot them last week because our actors weren't in town -- which we knew and had planned for. And we were fine with it because we knew last week was going to be crazy enough.

And boy was last week was crazy. But by the grace of God, we stayed on schedule. We accomplished everything we set out to do. I was worried about time and overlapping schedules, but in the midst of the storm, a great calm came. Every actor and every crew member showed up if not punctually, completely early. I watched last week pass by me in absolute amazement. No-one called to cancel. No-one got stuck in traffic. One actor did get lost on his way to the set, but we were able to save him from deepest, darkest Apison before too much damage was done.

And the snow! The snow was a complete Godsend. If anyone was harmed, injured, or waylaid by the snow, I'm very sorry. But it was just what I and our web series needed. Not only does it add the kind of atmosphere to our climax that money can't buy, but it actually allowed several of our crew members and one of our actors to stay on set for a couple extra hours, allowing us to get all the shots we needed. It was wonderful, it was beautiful, and I was on my knees in thanksgiving later that night.

So Season 1 is very nearly wrapped. Loren is in Nashville right now, editing -- if he's not playing Mass Effect 2. And in the near future (the next week or so), he'll be back down here and we'll be shooting the ever-important second episode.

I can't wait and I'll keep you posted.