recording studio

Well, let me tell you.  My job is way cool.  I would go so far as saying that my job is cooler than yours.  This can be debated, but I'd probably win.  

Last night, Dan called me and asked if I wanted to go with him to see some of the songs from the soundtrack get laid down.  Naturally I said yes.  So I grabbed my camera, and off we went.

 

Recording this soundtrack is a little bit different than for most films.  Most of the time, you will have a composer take the final edit of the film and match the music to it.  The director will normally note where the music cues should go, and the composer goes from there to create the score.  To me, music is a very important part of a film.  I love some of the movies that I do solely because of their soundtracks.  For this film however, because the story is essentially about a rock star, we have to create a few of the songs that the band will sing ahead of time.  There are scenes where we show music videos as well as some concerts and such. Because we are actually showing the characters as they are playing the music, most of the scoring is done beforehand.  Once the film is finally cut, then we will go back in and put the rest of the music cues in.  

Basically, in the script, Dan wrote out some lyrics that were important to him - leaving the job of composing and "melody-izing" (you like that word?) the song to the professionals.  I've had this really awful version a song in my head every time that I've read the lyrics in the script.  To be quite honest, I have been really nervous about the songs because of that.  In my head, it's always come out to be this terrible rap/reggae type thing - which is ridiculous because I don't even like rap nor reggae.  And the two should definitely never be correlated in one song.   That would just spell disaster.  But I digress.  This is once again why I am not the one in charge of this area.

No, that honor goes to Josh Goode

Josh wrote the soundtrack to Dan's last film, Striking Range, (which can be found in most Blockbusters - if you are curious).  Josh has not only won an Emmy for some of his work, but he is also a musical genius.  Basically, Josh takes the lyrics that Dan wrote, finds a melody and then writes it, arranges it, plays it, and then spits it back out to Dan - who then makes his notes for Josh - who then makes the necessary changes for Dan - who then is amazed at the final product.  Yup, that's pretty much how it goes with them.  It was very cool for me to see Josh in the studio working his magic. 

The best part is, that now I have Josh's version of the song in my head - not my version.  Thank goodness.  I really can't wait for you all to hear it in the movie.   

Now for more pictures.  

Troy Baker - this picture may look posed, but it's not.  

Me - a picture of me filming behind the scenes stuff

  

 

This is a very multi-dimensional picture.  Josh is on the guitar and notice Troy, Me (bright orange shirt) and Jeff Rodgers in the reflection.  That is art.

  Wider shot of the studio

the scary board

Hanging on two C-stands right outside my office is a huge, menacing, although quite colorful, white board.  A white board that we have lovingly dubbed, "The Scary Board".  Ah yes, the constant reminder of all of the most pressing and "scariest" stuff that we have to figure out before we start the cameras rolling on the 15th of January.  That date is coming fast, and our board keeps getting more full. 

 

On Monday, we had our first big production meeting.  Production meetings are an interesting beast.  There are so many decisions that have to be discussed and decided.  I took notes - and now that I'm looking at them - I don't know why I did.  I tend to write down things that I already know.  Things like "we need crew".  Duh.  

One of the big issues that we are dealing with is our camera set up.  As this is a low budget, we would like to shoot on HD.  We feel that this will give us the best possible quality for what we are wanting to achieve.  There are so many things that go into making these types of decisions.  We have to look at not only the best HD cameras that are out there, but the best ones that we can get for the budget.  We are also looking at numerous camera lenses to give the HD footage the look as if it was shot on 35mm.  Most of the movies that you see - with exceptions of course - are shot on film.  To those who can tell, there is quite a difference between the digital footage, and the actual film.  So, when you are shooting on HD, adding certain lenses can make it feel like the feature was shot on film.  

This is where Ron, our Director of Photography (DP), comes in.  Ron's job is to paint the picture of what you see in each frame.  He works with the Gaffer (basically the guy in charge of lighting), to help set the mood of the scene.  I have much respect for DPs.  Not only do they need a creative side, in order to create beautiful pictures, but they also have to have the technical savvy to achieve the looks that they need and want.  There is much to learn from the DP - things that I am looking forward to learning.

Tuesday, we went location scouting.  I find location scouting rather enjoyable.  Especially yesterday.   It was beautiful outside.   

Finding locations is usually really easy, or really difficult.  In my limited experiences, it has never quite been in between.  We have found about half of our locations so far.  We have a lot more to find.  Hopefully it won't lean more towards the difficult end.  

Yesterday we went down south to Burleson.  Burleson is about 20 minutes directly south of Ft. Worth.  We were very pleased with some of the looks that Burleson had to offer.  Also, the fact that it is fairly close to the production office is also a plus.  Now that we have looked around at some possible places to film, we have to go to the city and business owners and ask for permission.  Some phone calls and paperwork later, and an old abandoned warehouse becomes a thing of beauty on film.  

PICTURES

Ron and Dan

Dan - fun with shadows

possible concert hall

Malt Shop

Me deciding what to eat

Mike, Dan, and Ron

Exterior Malt Shop

Downtown Burleson

  

thus is begins... pre-production

Our production office in Ft. Worth suddenly has more people in it.  It's kind of strange to hear other voices from across the room.  Usually, the office has two people occupying it.  Dan and me.  It's usually pretty quiet around here.  But, not today.  

As I overheard Dan saying today (and so decided to steal it and repeat it here), there are basically 6 steps to making a movie.  These are at the very basic and broad level.  

Step 1 - Development.  This is pretty self explanatory.  The movie is written.  From there more people are brought in to expand those 90 some odd pages into a movie that you see on the screen.  

Step 2 - Pre-Production.  More on that later.  

Step 3 - Production.  Where we put the "film in the can"  More on that later as well.

Step 4 - Post-Production.  (see how easy all of these terms are?)  This is after (post) the production, where the editing, scoring, and coloring take place.  

Step 5 - Distribution - When we have the final movie, together and done, we begin to shop it out looking for distribution - hopefully to a "theatre near you" - to blatantly  use the cliche. 

You know, now that I come to think of it, I can only think of 5 steps.  I wonder what that 6th step was that he was talking about?  Maybe the wrap party?  

Anyway.  

This week, we have more or less "officially" started pre-production - step numero 2.  What does this mean?  Well for one thing, it means that there are more people in the office.  But for other things, it means loads of paperwork, emails, man-power, phone calls, location scouts, casting sessions, script revisions, budgeting issues, and Dr. Pepper - drinking lots and lots of Dr. Pepper.  Or Diet Coke if that's your thing.  

Stewart, our Unit Production Manager (UPM)/First Assistant Director (1st AD)  arrived on Monday and began a process called "breaking down the script".  This is basically where you go through the script page by page and figure out which days certain actors are playing when, a list of the props and who is using them, figuring out the schedule and so on.  It's a tedious job, and one that I find exciting for the first 5 pages.  Then it's boring.  Very boring.  But that's why Stewart is here.  Breaking down the script is not so boring for him.  Thank goodness for that. 

Lisa, our Production Coordinator arrived this morning.  She took over the front desk and will start coordinating the production.  ha.  More on that process later.  There is much more to it than those simple words.     

And so, the process has begun.  Things are rolling into place.  I feel like we've had to kick the ball pretty hard to start the rolling, but it is in fact moving.  This is a very good thing.  

let me introduce myself...

As I check my email, find myself making appointments and eating a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, I am struck by how difficult it is to abruptly start a blog.  I suppose the most cordial thing to do would be to introduce myself and explain a little bit about what is to be expected here.

My name is Courtney, and I am the assistant to Daniel Millican, an independent director out of Ft. Worth Texas. I became his assistant in May of 2006.  Dan's company, Serendipitous Films, has successfully completed 3 other films, all shot in and around the DFW area.  Dan writes, directs, edits, and produces all of his films, so to say the least, he knows a lot about all the different aspects of filmmaking.  But this is not going to be an assistant trying to impress her boss about how many good things she could say about him.  This is going to be introducing you, the audience, to an inside look at the methodology it takes to make a movie.  

So welcome to The Imposter.  Please visit the website link to the right to see a little bit more about the actual movie.  I will be discussing more of the behind the scenes aspects and giving you a look inside.  

Your very own "making of featurette".