Pre-Production

Here's where we are at.

We will be meeting on Monday March 15th at 6 pm for a Pre-Production Meeting and Script reading. The meeting will be held at a East Side Marios, 750 Queenston Road, Hamilton, east of the LINC, and dinner is on me.

Ed Grainger has filled the role of John. Thank you Ed.

Unfortunately James Harris and Martin Birthelmer will be unable to participate in our current project. So Garrett Taylor has generously filled the role of Syd. Thank you Garrett.

If I am unable to find someone suitable to play Luke before our March 28th shoot date, I will fill the role myself.

Yesterday I completed 13 lighting setups in my basement, to pick a visual style for 'Conversation'. Here are some stills from the test.

#1 is the natural lighting of the room, practical lights only. Effective but boring.

#9 is a standard Hollywood 4 light Studio setup. Much better detail.

#8 is the same as 9 but with less light on the background. I like this one.

#10 is the same as 9 but with no fill light. Terrific contrast but muted colour.

I'll show everyone all 13 setups at our pre-production meeting, but I am pretty sure we're going to end up using some variation of 8, or 10.

Thoughts?

Where we are

It's now one month to go till our shoot date, Sun March 28th at 10 am at Caistor Community Centre.

A snag: Our hopes are with Anson Martin who has just suddenly lost his job and may have to move. He may be understandably unable to fill his role of playing 'John'. Best of luck Anson!

If anyone wants to be Anson's understudy, let me know please.

We will be meeting on Monday March 15th at 6 pm for a Pre-Production Meeting and Script reading. The meeting will be held at a restaurant and dinner is on me. I'm still hunting for the best deal on a private room.

This meeting will give everyone a chance to suggest script changes and contribute creatively to the project. We will also get a feel for how the script sounds and iron out any bugs.

What we still need:

Dartboard

Poker Table

Empty Booze Bottle

If anyone has one of these please let me know, thanks.

I now have a tripod and I think I have all the lights we'll need. I'll be running lighting tests this week to set a visual style for the film.

After that the only thing left is to build the flats, for the set. I've put it off to last because it's expensive and I'm still figuring out the best approach.

One month!

'Conversation' Pre-Production

Hey! Sorry for the delays. Needed to clean up my bills from December before spending any more money on movies. Also been working on two scripts.

The First Draft of 'A Conversation With The Devil' is finished.
I have transcribed it here. It needs work so if anyone has any suggestions on how to improve it I am all ears.

If you are interested in taking a role please email me or txt me. If you don't have my email or phone number, please leave a comment here and I'll get back to you.

I have my camera, a Panasonic DVX100B and I love it. I also just today received a portable monitor for use with the camera, for easier focusing and lighting control and so the actors can review their performances on-site.

Big news. We won't be shooting 'Conversation' on location. We will be shooting on a set. I shit you not. James and I have worked out a plan to build flats and set them up in a rented hall. This will allow us to do cinematic lighting, move walls for wide shots, have lots of space for equipment, food etc. and generally have full control over the shooting environment. I'm really pumped to see how it works out.

Anyone who wants to help build the flats or who has workshop space or woodworking knowledge etc. please contact me. I have a place to store the finished flats, I'm just not sure where we're going to build them.

The tentative shooting date for 'Conversation' is:
SUNDAY MARCH 28TH from 9 am to 9 pm.

I'm deciding between two halls to rent, once I've made a deposit I'll confirm the date and time.

Thanks to everyone for the help so far. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Press Release: New Project Begins

Emergency Exit and T.D. Fuhringer are proud to announce a new short film project, 'A CONVERSATION WITH THE DEVIL', to be produced in early winter 2010.

The story features four characters (and a possible 5th in flashback) telling outrageous stories during a poker game.

The first draft of the script is 60% finished and should be ready by Monday the 28th for those interested in playing a role or providing constructive criticism.


The Roles:

The Host: Smokes a cigar, wears an expression of perpetual amusement, has the bulk of the dialogue in the second half of the film.

Syd, The Real Estate Agent: Greedy, simultaneously charming and offensive, is the skeptic of the group.

John, The Alcoholic: Never sober and never wants to be, hints of deep seated anger beneath an easy going facade.

Billy, The Kid: Vain, dresses like a drug-dealer and tries too hard, ends up seeming even younger and more needy that he really is.


ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN PLAYING A ROLE PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP.


I'll also be looking for a location to shoot the film. Once it's secured, we'll nail down a shoot date. Anyone who wants to help be crew, maybe do some camera and sound work is also welcome.

I'll be posting UPDATES EVERY MONDAY, so stay tuned. Thanks!

The Assassin

Emergency Exit Films presents 'The Assassin' by T. D. Fuhringer

Click here to watch in High Quality

Final Thoughts on The Assassin

It is done. The Assassin is finished.

For our first time, it's not bad. I give us a 3 out of 10, with ten being Saving Private Ryan and zero being anything by Uwe Boll. We have music, the sound is pretty good in some spots and Doug's delivery was often quite enthusiastic.

We learned a lot, which was our purpose. The lighting, coverage and most of the blocking were a disaster, but I already have great ideas about how to fix those problems on our next shoot. We can build on the parts that worked and make them even better next time!

It took me from Sept 14th to Dec 14th to get a three and a half minute short film finished. I have a great deal of newfound respect for the people who assemble a movie. Especially the editor and the composer.

My favorite parts were the shoot itself and writing the music. My least favorite parts were the assembly cut and hand-syncing the sound. But it was all a learning experience. Among many other things, I had to learn how to compose music to write the score!

Thank you to Andrew Caton, Caitlynd Trowbridge, Doug Dick and Scott McEachern for all their invaluable help. There would have been no movie without you.

I'm glad it's finally finished and I'm very much looking forward to our next project, 'A Conversation With The Devil', which goes into production in the New Year. Anyone who is interested in taking a role please let me know.

Peace.

We Have Picture Lock!

I've finished editing "The Assassin". The picture is now 'locked' so that I can finish the effects, sound and music without worrying about changes to the editing. The sound is pretty much finished and I'm writing the music now.

The movie is turning out very different from what I'd planned but it certainly is interesting. It's shorter than I'd planned, less than 4 minutes but it plays better short. I've learned so much and can't wait to shoot our next movie!

It'll be done before Christmas, I promise.

____