Movie Extras Needed

Want to be in a movie?

We're gearing up for our April/May 2009 production of Under Jakob's Ladder--a full length feature film that tells the story of a man imprisoned during Stalin's regime in Ukraine at the outset of World War II.

And we're looking for a whole range of volunteers of all ages to serve as movie extras.

So, if you live in the Hudson Valley region -- in and around Chester/Monroe (just north of New York City), this could mean YOU!

To find out how you can audition, go to our website...

The Sheepskin Coat Arriveth

We got our sheepskin coat yesterday. Shipped to us all the way from the Netherlands...

That's good news since the sheepskin coat is one of the important costume items in our feature film, Under Jakob's Ladder.

The real Jakob did indeed own such a coat; one that came with him to prison when he was arrested during Stalin's purges. (A Russian sheepskin coat was almost a necessity for people living through those frigid winters in the Soviet Union.)

And our coat not only will dress our protagonist, but it will also act as a plot device. (But we can't give away any details about that!)

Props and costumes. They're beginning to come together.

It's on to ordering our uniforms next...

This Time Last Year: Our First Blog Post

This time last year... we posted the first blog post to this blog. Although, technically, it wasn't our first blog post...

Confused?

Actually, if you count our original blog for 'Liars and Lunatics' (which began March 2, 2007), this would have been our 83rd blog post. You see, the blog changed names when the movie changed to Dear J. And we decided this blog wasn't just about that one feature film.

So, that means we've actually been blogging for almost two years now!

And to date, while if you count the number of blog posts in this blog, this is our 93rd blog post. Counting the former blog site, it's our 175th blog post.

And while that's peanuts compared with those who blog everyday (frankly, we just don't have the time)... it's been pretty consistent over those two years. If you don't think so, you try making movies and blogging all at the same time!

Why is the Sky Green?

Can you trust the weather forecast?

Sometimes.

Sometimes not.

When we were shooting our feature film Dear J, we had to keep an eye on the weather forecast, especially for one of our key outdoor scenes. As the first Friday approached, we had scheduled filming in Flushing Meadows Park. (This is the site of the 1939 and 1965 World's Fair. And, it's the site of the annual U.S. Open Tennis competition.)

The weather forecast predicted sprinkles of rain for the Friday morning. We could deal with that. But by the time we arrived, the weather had turned... worse.

When we arrived, another film crew packed up their equipment and left. But not us. It was raining cats and dogs, but we figured we would film anyway. Umbrellas and raincoats protected the camera. The actors, Joe and Maya (role of James and Paige) were great sports about running around in the rain. (They were supposed to be having a picnic in the park. They just did it in the rain!)

Good thing we didn’t have to worry about sound!

However, later, when we got to our next (indoor) filming location, we discovered that a tornado had touched down not too far from where we were filming. Come to think of it, that must have been why the sky was a sickly green color!

(Yes, we know that the color of the sky in the photo looks blue. That's color correction for you...)

Ranking the "Pips"

Do you know what a "pip" is?

There are quite a few definitions. Everything from the name of the main character in Dicken's classic Great Expectations, to the name for the little bulb that Lily of the Valley flowers come from, to the dots on a pair of dice.

But for our purposes, pips refer to the shoulder insignia indicating an officer's rank... In our case, the rank of a Soviet NKVD officer (which would be worn on the collar, not the shoulder.)

Ah, yes... we're still working on researching the uniforms that we're going to need for our feature film, Under Jakob's Ladder. And that means we have to know what kind of pips to get, and how many...

For example, enlisted men wore triangles... junior officers wore squares... senior officers wore rectangles... and the big wigs wore diamonds. And do we need red or green?

We've been looking for reasonably-priced pips on ebay. There seem to be a lot of Star Trek pips for sale. Not very many Soviet-style pips.

If we go with the Star Trek ones, do you think anyone will notice?!!!

"Dear J" and the Digibeta Caper

As screenwriters, we're always trying to create conflict for our characters; after all, conflict helps make a good story, right?

A good story, perhaps. Movies definitely need conflict. It's why we watch films... to see the hero overcome all sorts of obstacles. But we'd rather keep the problems out of real life.

Well, sometimes life imitates art. Have we tell ever told the story of the "Digibeta Caper"?

While maybe it's not worthy of its own film, but it certainly was a time full obstacles that we have to overcome... all to get our film Dear J transferred onto a digibeta tape.

And it all began so nicely. We had sent off what we thought was a good tape, only to get an email saying it was "a bad dub"; that the video was jumping up and down.

Okay, now to get a good dub.

Thursday. After re-doing the master, we drive it down to the production house for the transfer. We are told that the guy who does the transfers would pick it up that night. Because we don't want another "bad dub", we attach a note saying something like: "Phone us is there is a problem... even if it's late at night. We need this asap."

Friday. Saturday. Sunday. We hear nothing, so we assume that all is well and that the transfer has been made.

Monday. We call to see how things are going. The answer is not encouraging. The guy went on vacation over the weekend!

Tuesday evening. We get a call. Yes, there is a problem and the dub can't be made.

(It took them how long to tell us this?! Let's see, Thursday to Tuesday...)

We talk to a few different people on the phone, trying to figure out how to fix the problem so the transfer can be made. What comes of those conversations is having to re-render the movie one more time; this time in a different format...

Wednesday. Rendering usually takes several hours. But this rendering takes something like 12 hours... Yes, we start to render the movie around 11:00 am. Although we arranged to bring it in to the production house at around 2:00 pm, we can't. It just keeps rendering. Finally finishing around midnight!

Thursday morning. We jump into the van and head off to the production house. We hand the new rendered version over. This time, the transfer guy is on the ball.

Friday. We get the call that all is well and we can pick up our digibeta.

Friday afternoon. We post the thing in the mail. The stress lifts from our shoulders. Our digibeta caper is over...

Fade Out. The End. Roll the credits.

Why Sunrise Matters

Did you know that there are websites that will tell you the exact time when the sun will rise? Down to the hour and minute.

Soooo... Why should it matter when the sun rises (or sets)?

For us, as filmmakers, it does. And the reason? It's all about scheduling for principal photography. Whether we need to know when it will be dark outside since we have to shoot a night scene... Or whether we want to shoot at magic hour...

On our last film, we wanted a sunset over the skyline of New York City. So the day was scheduled accordingly. We can only work our SAG actors for eight hours (plus a hour for lunch) before paying overtime; we try to stick to those eight hours.

So, yes, if we were shooting today, it'd be a good thing to know that sunrise is at 7:05 am (and sunset is at 5:13 pm), comes in pretty handy for us filmmakers. And that tomorrow, it'll be 7:04 am (and 5:15 pm for sunset).

And unlike weather reports, sunrise/sunset times won't change on you! So, what will they be in April?

Take a look for yourself...