A screen cap from one of the videos we shot.
I'm still not sure.
I've been working on a script now for about 6 months. If you're just writing a screenplay then you have only to worry about things like character and plot and structure, and how to be entertaining. You can write whatever your imagination tells you to write.
Now, if you're planning on actually MAKING a movie of your screenplay, then your process is about 1000 times harder. Everything you write needs to be something you can shoot.
EVERY location has to be one you know you have access to. EVERY prop has to be something you can get for cheap, or make. EVERY action that a character takes has to be something your actors can do.
It's a nightmare.
Anyway, I've set most of this movie in an abandoned asylum. I've been to one such abandoned asylum a few times just to shoot pictures and explore.
My brother and I went back last month to do some tests. This time we went during the evening, and stayed into the night. This asylum has guards that drive around on carts on occasion. I was curious what they'd do if they saw lights on in a building. I brought my lights.
We had only been there in the fall/winter months before. You have to walk about half a mile through the woods to get to the asylum. The trail is normally pretty clear. This time...it was not.
It's downhill to the asylum. We get there and start doing some tests. We get some interesting shots, and some promising results to what I was looking at. (no details yet)
One of the tests involved a road flare. I have a shot of a guy lighting one, and then throwing it down the hall to light the hallway. I wanted to see how it would look.
Well, the flare being lit looks cool. Walking with in slo mo looks good.
The toss? Well...not so good. When a road flare hits the ground, it goes out immediately. We tried it twice--same exact result.
And road flares aren't cheap, considering they only last about 15-30 minutes each.
I lit up some of the hallway to see how much it would take to work. It's easily doable with two big lights, plus either a flashlight the actors will use or the road flare(which is only in two scenes).
We heard a chopper at one point flying pretty near the building, but no spotlight ever hit us. No guards ever came to see what was up. It'll be stressful as hell to shoot there, but I've done worse.
The tough part is the in/out of the place. Parking is non-existent. There used to be a parking lot across the street to park in, but they've blocked it off now. Most of the other places near there say they will tow you if you park there.
The walk in is long. The walk out is worse, as it's uphill. So after working some grueling hours, we gotta carry the equipment uphill and out every morning. (we'll be shooting mostly nights)
We won't be dragging in a cooler, I can tell you that. So everyone's gonna have to carry in their own food/drink. That's not fun.
Since we're filming this so cheap--I mean, 80% cheaper than ANY movie I've ever made--nobody's getting paid. I'm relying on actors who are willing to do me a favor here, but I'm at the mercy of their schedule. I'm trying to keep it to 8 shooting days, which is nuts, but even that's hard to get everyone's schedules in line.
Will it happen? I'm not sure. I'm starting to get a little more serious about it though.
