Shooting Schedules Are Fluid

Found out last night that one of our actors wasn't able to get off work for the shoot tomorrow. Since said actor is in every scene we were planning on shooting tomorrow, this puts us in something of a bind.

There are only two scenes, in fact, that remain to be shot that doesn't feature said actor. So we are going to push for shooting those scenes, as well as one scene with the actor early in the morning so they can still get to work.

I'm not complaining, but this -- more than genetics -- is why I'm bald.

UPDATE:

While we had secured the location for the scenes we still need to shoot, we had secured them for a different day. We weren't sure if we would have access to them tomorrow. But we just word "that'd be fine." So tomorrow will be quite productive.

The Restlessness Before the Storm

In the musical Nine there is a song called "My Husband Makes Movies." It has been playing on a loop in my head all week long. Weeks like this make me love my wife all the more. Weeks like these make me appreciate her so much more. Weeks like these make me feel sorry for her.

My husband makes movies.

To make them he lives a kind of dream.

I don't sleep well during production. My brain, which is often a constant playground for thoughts, ideas, scenes, characters, and dialog, absolutely refuses to shut off. I lay in bed, wanting to sleep, but story boarding next weekend's scenes instead.

Some men catch fish, some men tie flies,

Some earn their living baking bread.

My husband, he goes a little crazy

Making movies instead.

The lack of sleep makes me cynical -- which, for the project is okay. The Ruffians is a very cynical and judgmental look at the world around me. It's less okay in my day-to-day life. People annoy me. Society frustrates me. I snap at people. And the lack of sleep makes me a little less guarded and I show me true emotions a little too often, a little too raw. I find myself wanting to lock myself in my car and scream at the top of my lungs, just to see what emotions come out and see what the root of my frustration is.

My husband makes movies.

To make them, he makes himself obsessed.

He goes for weeks on end without a bit of rest,

No other way can he achieve his level best.

I often find myself envious of people who can just go home and do nothing. I wonder what it must be like to get off work, eat dinner, and then relax. Because I don't. I can't. My brain won't let me. I look to the day with equal portions of excitement and fear when my brain relaxes and allows life to happen without trying to make sense of it in a bigger context, or reap interesting nuggets out of it for the current or next script.

Some men read books, some shine their shoes.

Some retire early when they've seen the evening news.

My husband only rarely comes to bed,

My husband makes movies instead.

It's torture, to be sure. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Random Frames of Ruffians, Episode 1

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.

Day 8: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Day 7: There's SNOW Business Like Show Business!

and on the seventh day . . .

I can't wait for people to see this. I've been working on this story for the better part of two years now. It has taken two years of writing, rewriting, and completely changing the story-telling medium to get the story and the characters where they are now -- and where they are now is nothing short of fantastic.

I can't wait for people to see this. I think it's going to rock some socks off. I'm so proud of all my actors, they're turning in performances of a lifetime. I'm so proud of my director. I've known Loren for nearly nine years now and to see him take charge of a set, to watch him coax those performances out of the actors, and always coming up with new and exciting ways to shoot these scenes (even when he doesn't feel like he has) has been a rare pleasure for me. I've never known someone as long as I've known Loren and to be able to mark his growth, to be able to see where he was and now where he is, is a real treat. I'm so proud of my crew. And when I say crew, I should really say Brian. We've had other crew members on set, but Brian has been our constant. He's been there every day, setting up and tearing down lights on a moment's notice, and somehow, always with the boom mic in hand.

I don't know if I can stress enough how thankful I am for everyone. Nobody is being paid to do this. Everyone is sacrificing their time and energy to tell this story. I appreciate each and every one of you so much. I am now going to spend the rest of my life trying to hire you.

And now, Day 7. Our last, big crazy day. I've prepped and I've prayed. Let's do this.

Day 6: Interrogation Techniques

Day 5: Running & Dancing

Day 4: Fratenizing with the Enemy

Wibbly Wobbly Timey-Wimey Stuff

Three days in and I can't believe it's only Tuesday.

Friday went fantastic. We had two cameras to speed up production, but the soggy ground and shooting in the confines of a car set us back. In the end, we stayed right on schedule, beginning and ending right when we said we would -- which is good. Which is fantastic. I had hoped that we would end sooner, what with us using two cameras, but -- again -- shooting around the frame of a car severely limits the amount of interesting angles one can get. And with such limited space, it's harder to choreograph two cameras at once. But the day went well. Matt and Bri were fantastic.

Saturday we relaxed. Come sundown, we went to house we would be shooting in (thanks again, Erika and Brian!) and prepped it for Sunday. Not much had to be done. The house was dressed. We just needed to clear paths for the camera and make sure family photos weren't going to be in too many shots. Of course, since our two stars are actually brother and sister, and it's their house we were shooting in, some family photos were okay.

Sunday was a long and fast day. We began at 9am and wrapped at 4:20pm. We had scheduled all of the mother's scenes (played by Nina Jones) for that day and so we were able to complete all of Episode 3 and then bits and chunks from about half of the other scripts. We were at our most efficient on Sunday and it paid off. By 4:30 we were headed home, absolutely exhausted.

It's an interesting kind of exhaustion that comes from a film set. We weren't physically exhausted, but were mentally depleted. Loren was in bed by 8pm and Kelly and I followed suit at 10pm (couldn't miss Big Love).

Monday went swimmingly -- and I wish that were a pun. The ground was slick and moist, but no awful puddles prevented us from doing what we needed to do. It was a more physical day, involving a big chase sequence. We weren't as efficient as we had been on Sunday, and so our arch nemesis reared its ugly head.

Time. Time will always be against us. We have to find a way to stay proactive and efficient with our time. Otherwise we're going to hit the end of the week and have big chunks of episodes that still need completion.

I have faith in us and our crew, so all this wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff doesn't scare me.

Just worries me.

A little.

Day 3: Inner Circle

Day 2: Blame It On The Rain