The Production Continues!
(July)
July 1st 2002 - Tadeo receives a phone message from our DP Chris he finds out that he won't be able to be at the store shoot due to an emergency. So this scene was shot by our Camera Operator Armando Ballesteros. Tadeo said they came up with some great angels & everything should look great. They also shot the conversation between Angel & Isaac as they walk down the street. But according to him, they 'kick ass' part of the day is when they shot the initiation scene at an old warehouse loading area. Tadeo said this should look 'F-ing' great once timed properly in development. Some slo-motion, blood splattering, evil Reaper in the shadows looking shots! Can't wait to see the rushes. Tadeo also said that they've been taking pictures of these shoots & as soon as I get them they'll be up here for you to see (see below). Also this day Tadeo finally hears the CD that our composer Greg Martin sent us. He loves the music for 'Pumpkinseeds' but isn't too fond of the 'Downlow' themes. He tells me to contact Greg & tell him to work the music with the same themes used in 'Broken Warning'. He also tells me to have Greg listen to the soundtrack of the film 'American Beauty', that is the music sound he's looking for in this film.
The Store Encounter & Conversation
The Initiation
July 2nd 2002 - 11:00am - Tadeo informs me that they will be shooting Isaac trying to get a hold of Angel on the phone & shots of him walking down the busy street as he decides what he should do. These are the scenes just before he enters the church. Alas I am working like a slave at my job & can't be on the set again. As soon as I hear how all has gone I will report it here. On a side note, he tells me that he is just about to have a nervous breakdown with all the little problems with this production. He tells me it reminds him of a film he recently seen about the life of Orson Wells on his production of making 'Citizen Kane'. I tell him that our film will turn out 'F-ing' fantastic because he is paralleling ol' Mr. Wells - Orson was 25 years old when he made that film - Tadeo is the same age now.
4:20pm - I receive a call at work from Tadeo telling me that today's shoot was canceled because our lead actor Tony Sancho, who plays Isaac, was in a car accident & is too shaken up for today. He tells me that we will shoot another scene tomorrow where Isaac's character has a short but somewhat heated conversation with a lady & her small son sitting in front of Angel's apartment. He will need my car for the shots & we will meet at 6:00am sharp.
7:45pm - Tadeo calls me again & tells me that tomorrow's shoot is off. Not only does the child actor for this scene have other plans that day, but I find out that Tony Sancho just now got out of the hospital!!!! Fortunately it wasn't as bad as I thought & found out that Tony only had a few bumps & bruises (luckily). I find out that he was side-swiped & was pushed into a parked car. Funny thing is that is just about what happens to someone in another short screenplay I wrote that we might someday shoot. Again, luckily a few bumps & bruises was all there was. Tony's doctor tells him that he should rest up for a few days. Shooting is now postponed until our next big day - July 10th.
11:10pm - I email our composer Greg Martin to let him know of Tadeo's requests. Earlier today I have also been looking around for some original Rap composers so we can have some original club or party music for the film. I have two connections from some coworkers & talk to one composer who sounds extremely interested in helping us out. I ask him if he can send a sample of his work to which he says he will send me something soon. We need this original music for the tunes at the party, from the car radio, or just incidental music here & there.
July 4th 2002 - Happy Independence day! This would be a great day to drive around & get some insert shots of the neighborhood shooting off fireworks and all. But we've decided to take the day off. We shouldn't have.
July 9th 2002 - I have to meet Tadeo someplace today at 10:00am. That place is the neighborhood newspaper organization The Southwest News-Herald. They contacted Tadeo finding out that we were making an independent film here in the area & wanted to interview us for an article. After an hour with journalist Yvette Presberry, we went our ways, Tadeo to settle some business for tonight's shoot, & me off to work again. But plans are set for me to rush home after work so we can shoot a scene of Isaac arriving at Reaper's party (a scene that we had to push back due to some weather problems). The scene went along smooth & we made arrangements for tomorrow's big shoot. One that I had made arrangements to take off of work so I can attend. Note: this morning I received my car back from the repair shop due to a leak coming from my engine. It ran fine on the way to work but on the way back home (to the location) it started to act up again leaking like a drooling monkey (?)! Once we wrapped for the night, I worked out arrangements to get it back to the shop tomorrow morning. This would mean it wouldn't be used for the shots at the beginning of the day (or might not even be ready at all that day!) Ahhh, these headaches again.
July 10th 2002 - Big day, I mean BIG DAY!!! My day started out bright & early due to the fact that I had to get my car back into the shop to repair it (again). This is most unfortunate because it is needed in today's filming, both during the 'Hamburger Joint' scene & later at night for that 'Big' scene. Tadeo had worked around the shots so we wouldn't need my car at the Hamburger joint, instead the guys would be sitting at a bench that he had rented. Crew call began at 10am & we started shooting at around 11:30am. But this was after we had to recast an extra's part. One of the girls that are needed in the scene couldn't attend so the quick thinking of our Production Manager, Adrian Cortez, decided to scout the area for a girl for the part. Fortunately we found Melody, an aspiring actress working at a nearby Travel Agency that had taken interest in our busy film location. Once Tadeo approved her she was made up, introduced to her friend in the film, Pricella Santiago, & was explained her blocking for the scene. Also dropping by to the location was a photographer for the Southwest News-Herald. He took plenty of photos of us in action for tomorrow's article they would be doing on our film. The biggest problem of this day (even during the night shooting) was for our top notch sound tech Dan Shiller. See we were filming at a food stand on one of the cities busiest streets. Trying to hear the dialogue was almost impossible do to the various trucks & motorcycle's that passed our way. He did the best he could & everyone is hoping that we have enough coverage & that the scene wouldn't be too ruined. Temperatures this day were of a comfortable sunny 79, but as filming hurried on, some of the crew started to heat up due to frustration & exhaustion. Hey it happens, but eventually things cooled & work progressed. Around 4pm I got word that my car was back to normal (well, it was running again). So as Tadeo completed the last shots I took off to collect my auto & then rested up for tonight's shooting.
8:00pm - After a tiny dinner I arrived at Tadeo's apartment & made ready for the 'Big' scene. This tension building scene occurs in Angel's alleyway when he's approached by an unknown vehicle. After some quick rehearsals to make sure all looked real enough filming began. The scene should look visually stunning, again thanks to Chris. It was a great location with a cobble stone street & shadowy brick walls. Unfortunately the obstacle again continuing for Dan our sound tech was trying to work around the speeding traffic of a nearby highway. Eventually the scene was complete & we wrapped around 12:20am. A completely exhausting day for everyone indeed.
A news article on our film appears in a neighborhood paper, the July 11th Southwest News-Herald. Click here to read it.
July 11th 2002 - Today starts out pretty simple & ran quite smoothly as we shot the scene where Isaac rushes to Angel's place to pick him up. The only real nuisance was due to some barbecuing alcoholic old men across the street yelling at us every once & a while. Acting along with Tony in this scene are Tatiana Suarez'pico & SAG actor Eric Ambriz (who has the lead in our upcoming feature 'Greasepaint').
July 13th 2002 - I make a few calls & find out that they do not make blank cartridges for Perry's revolver, so we're going to have to shoot around seeing the gun actually firing in the film's opening scene. This really sucks but the film's still gonna kick ass!
July 15th 2002 - I take the day off work today so I can attend today's filming - The critical last scene of the film. This was all shot on a soundstage at Chicago's Columbia College. We arrived at 10am & as Tadeo & Chris set up the first shot, rehearsals were taking place in a room down the hall. Lead actor Anthony Sancho who plays Isaac trained the other actors some stage combat routines for the beating of Angel's character. After that I began to make-up Michael (Angel) with for his 'beatin up' look. Completed we began filming the final scene in the film. Everything was going pretty smoothly but time was running out. We had to be out of there at 5pm & some of the crucial final shots were rushed & altered to availability. This to the dismay of our actors who were trying to concentrate during this really emotional scene. Even at the last minute we were stretching things a few extra seconds running around, dabbing & pouring blood here & there. Nothing like time running out to get things done. Once completed we quickly struck the set & vamoosed out of there. Hopefully we got all we needed. Two more days of shooting to go. Thursday for some pick-ups & Saturday to shoot the opening scene in the film
July 18th 2002 - Today is a real easy day - The calm before the storm. Today we shoot some pickup shots of Isaac & Angel just walking around in their neighborhood. Shot around 26th & Kedzie, the 'Little Village' area was invaded by your favorite filmmakers just shooting away at what looks cool for the film. Below are just a few shots of what we accomplished. The final day of shooting looms ever closer!
July 20th 2002 - The final day of shooting - Well we still need to get a few pick up shots here & there but this is the last BIG day of shooting our film. A bright, hot, and beautiful day was the setting for Angel & Isaac to be chased through a peaceful neighborhood followed by a rival gang. Once the shots were worked out (changed a bit from the original script) things went along pretty good. But on occasion there were some more of those heated temperatures causing little squabbles here & there. The first shot taken that day was of Isaac & Angel running through a prairie field. This was quite dangerous because 1) we didn't have permission to be shooting there & 2) the weeds were littered with large rocks & garbage - not to mention snakes! After about 6 takes we felt we had it all, but on that last take is when our actor Roberto slipped & twisted his ankle. But being a trooper after a few appliances of ice he was ready to continue - continue on to the scene where he gets a glass bottle smashed on his head! Not to worry because we were using sugar cane fake bottles (actually they weren't sugar cane but made of some kind of chemical, as asst. dir. Jason Davis found out after he tasted one & nearly got sick). Roberto again being the actor trooper he was took about 12 hits in the head with these bottles, twice being cut by them (actually on one occasion Chris actually filmed a shot of one of his cuts for some authenticity in the film). So when you see the finished film, watch for the real blood! As the sun grew hotter we continued on to completing the days shoot buy filming a few shots of the cars speeding through the peaceful neighborhood. Soon after some local children who were watching our progress received some autographs from our stars & director Tadeo Garcia called those famous words all working on a film love to here, "That's a wrap!"
That's A Wrap!
July 31st 2002 - Tadeo takes off in flight to the sunny land of California to get our film developed. In fact he will be getting this done at CFI (Consolidated Film Institute) in Hollywood Center Studios, a place where a lot of big films are produced & screen their rushes (like the recent 'Road To Perdition'). This developing can be done here but due to there being limited production houses in Chicago the rates are sky high! Out in the glittery land of movies there are countless places for this to be done - and much cheaper. As of now I wait anxiously by the phone for any news.
On to
Copyright ©2002 Roger B. Domian