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And we keep going on. Now that our school Spanish Play was finally shown and ended its run (it was very popular and liked by most people), we have more time to shoot Stranger in Peril. This week has been and will be very busy concerning production of the film, actually. We’re gonna shoot one of the final scenes of the film – the climax of the movie, actually – in a small warehouse at school this Friday. It’s a single scene, but it’s quite long, and the shooting will approximately three hours. I know it’s not much time, but it’s all we’ve got.

Because of the programmed filming on Friday, yesterday I had to go to buy some props yesterday. The scene is not precisely “actiony”, but I nevertheless needed some stuff like fake knifes and fake blood. That was easy to get. I also had to buy some rope and fake guns; the former I could get, but the latter I will have to buy tomorrow. Apart from that, today I managed to create and print some stuff at school to “decorate” our set…

SPOILERS AHEAD

The scene we’re gonna shoot supposedly takes place in a secret place where the bad guys are hiding. (There’s a whole complicated situation taking place in this scene too, but I don’t want t reveal it – it would ruin the surprise and make this website and the film itself pretty pointless.) The set we’re using – the small warehouse – is creepy enough: really dusty and dirty and dark and full of old stuff. But since it’s kind of an operations place, (a temporary one, but a planning site nevertheless), I decided to print stuff like maps and “spy photos” (you know, pics of people the bad guys might be spying) and all kinds of stuff. We’re also having three or four laptops in there to make them seem more “technological.” It’s nothing fancy, but I think this place is gonna give tons of atmosphere to the scene.

END OF SPOILERS

So yeah, I have most of the props, my actors are ready – I believe so – and I’ve revised this particular scene in the screenplay to make sure it works. Oh yeah, I’ll also have some lamps and stuff to light the set – it’s a little too dark -, and a couple of blue filters to make it look colder and creepier. 

Yup, I’m really excited, and I’m pretty sure Friday’s gonna be a great day. I’ll write another update this weekend related to Friday’s shooting, and possibly post a couple of production photographs. (Some of you don’t know how my actors look, right?) I might post a couple of storyboards I’ve drawn for the scene too, but that I might do later today, or maybe tomorrow. I’ll see.

Sebastián “GG” Zavala

Shooting has begun (06/09/08)

So, today we have tons of news regarding my small film project. Firstly, I must inform that, now that we have finished our final draft of the screenplay, we have given the suspense flick a title:

Stranger in Peril.

Yes, I know it sounds clichéd, but that's kind of the point. This is an old-fashioned suspense film, and I believed it required a cheesy, old-fashioned kind of title. (On a side note: the literal translation from Spanish would be Stranger in Danger, but I decided to change it for obvious reasons.) I really like it, and I hope all my readers like it too.

Additionally, I must also announce that pre-production has ended, and that principal photography has begun. We started last Saturday (06/07/08) at 7:30 am, and finished at 1:00 pm. We shot most of the scenes from the beginning, which take place at the house of the protagonist and at a nearby park. Preparing the scenes wasn't complicated at all, and the shooting itself was problem-free. We shot a couple of scenes more than once, of course, as the first try was never perfect, but I think the shots I ended up with a really good. Performances are not professional, of course, but they aren't bad either. This first experience as a director was really good... I'm having tons of fun.

Now, considering our school play is getting closer and closer and we're having more and more rehearsals, I think shooting will come to a temporary hiatus. We won't probably shoot until the last week of this month, but it's all right. I have until August, more or less, to present the finished movie, and since it's not a complicated project at all, I shouldn't have any problems.

I think I'll start posting the picture's credits. Yeah, I know you don't know any of these people (basically only my cousin and me), but I nevertheless want to post, at least, the names of my actors and part of my crew. They deserve all the credit in the world. Just go to the menu on the left and click on the link.

Well, I'm kinda busy, actually (I have to draw some storyboards for a brief-but-potentially-exciting fight scene that occurs late in the proceedings), so this'll be all for the moment. I'm really excited, and I'll be looking forward for the next update. Take care guys!

Sebastián "GG" Zavala

Pre-production (05/23/08)

I'm sorry, for those of you who are interested in this little project of mine, that I haven't been able to update so often. I've been really busy, with school, reviews, social life and other works, which, include of course, pre-production of the movie itself, which is just starting.

Yup, you read well: pre-production is starting. We hadn't been able to do much about the film because: a.) I hadn't bought my camera, b.) I had been in the jungle, and c.) we spent a lot of time rehearsing for our school play which, by the way, is coming off nicely. The good news is that I've already bought an (expensive) camera, and that play rehearsals are gonna be more "forgiving" next week, so... next week the cast and crew (which includes me) are gonna do our first reading of the screenplay.

Storyboards are starting to be drawn (by me) and I'm already organizing the filming schedule and all that, so that it can fit the time tables of my cast and crew. It's gonna be a pretty hard shoot because of our budgetary restrictions and our limited filming schedule (we all have limited free time), but I think it can be done. And yeah, I promise to try to update more often. Expect another (more detailed) update soon!

Sebastián "GG" Zavala

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