Finished!

I know that they say that there’s no prize for finishing first… but they should make an exception. And after they make that exception… present it to us, In the Red, because we, uh, we finished first. And now that we’re done, our minds are free to focus on things other than the movie. One thing I’ve been thinking about is, “What if we actually spent our day longboarding?” We couldn’t express that, because everyone would just assume that we forgot to title it, then they probably wouldn’t even read it… it’s a bummer, and I don’t really want to think about it. However, I feel like I’m rambling… or rather ramblin’. Well, I gotta go make Bye Bye Imbusch better. 

Love, 

Elwood

xoxoxo 

Warning to Independents

Winding down. There are only a few more scenes to shoot which are going to take place at my (evan) house and maybe one or two more cutaways that will be done in class. We have been playing around with different types of ideas on how to open the film. Originally the beginning consisted of seven minutes of dialogue with the overly handsome me and James, but that was cut out. So along with a few other tweaks the opening will need to be perfected. Girl is now the new cameraman because of Merrigans dedication to the lesser important things in life like lacrosse. I’m not sure if lacrosse can take you anywhere past college but thats OK Merrigan has a grim future anyway might as well start early I guess. Girl does a good job with the steadycam and all and will be a worthy replacement. A few more days of editing and shooting and we will be wrapping up and helping the other slacking crews on finishing up their films. In the red will be the film to beat in my eyes and im looking forward to seeing what the other movies bring to the table. Regardless of awards the festival will be one of the best yet unless of course any independent wins anything then all hell will break loose and may god have mercy on their souls. Mango out.

Full Swing

So we’re pretty much in full swing right now. And, as the fella says, “Fuller the swing, fuller the problems.” We’ve been experiencing some sleepy hallway-esque audio problems, and thanks to them, we can fix the problem right away. We feel that these problems are only compensation for how awesome our other scenes are. It’s karma. But not the movie Karma… The movie’s In the Red. Oh, and Lucia’s dad should have a starring role next year. It’ll be weird because he’s not a student, and his daughter will have graduated, but it’ll all work out, because he’s awesome. He came in to help us out with our scene, as a favor, and pretty much rocked out right in front of us. Nailed EVERY line. His scene is sure to be a hit. 

The Buzz

Now there are those who run from the curse of Matt Landry and there are those who embrace it. This crew is trying to exorcize it. The film marks another first in film festival history: the first remake. James Elwood rewrote his brother’s old screenplay and is attempting to do what Matt Landry could not—win an award.  The script is very funny (and to be honest very far removed from the original) but the key to making this film work will be the acting. For this movie James teams up with Evan both in front and behind the camera. The two work very well together and are two of the film festival’s most natural actors. So far, this studio crew has run into the most problems with keeping on schedule. But they seem unfazed and are confident that they will get it done. The Buzz is at a low hum right now but if there is a sleeper studio film, this would be the one. 

Buzz Analysis: A Tall Frappuccino, no whipped cream.

Can Nick Swardson’s publicist find this blog?

This Blog is not only a method of filling you in on the progress of our movie, but also a challenge to Nick Swardson’s publicist. We’ve made lots of progress since my last blog. This time, we’ve filmed things! First off, Pete Katsaros is the man, and TWICE the Greek that Lee Kazis could ever dream of being. We just finished a scene with him that is of great importance to the movie. Yesterday, we filmed the scene that was probably my favorite to write. It involves not only jokes about over politically correct teachers, but also Asians. (no jokes featured about politically correct Asians) Also, I came up with a name for my co-star/co-director and I. James and Evan will now have our titles be “DirActors.” And we’re pretty much here to out-handsome the competition. So good luck, Nick Swardson’s publicist. You’ll need it.

Schedules

We have been busy editing the scenes we have shot. Since the unexpected half day on Tuesday, which lead to Midyears being pushed back a day,  we have had to reschedule some of our scenes. We have also received new props for some of our scenes that will be shot later, when the snow starts to melt. 

~Molly Brennan

First day of shooting

Today was the first day of shooting that will make it to the final cut. Me (evan) and james worked pretty well together and did not seem to be all that rusty having not been in front of the camera for some time. The tackle scene which we shot two days ago was shot again today giving james a few more bruises than was intended or necessary probably. The whole steady cam situation seems to be worked out and merrigan is doing very well working with it. We are getting many different angles for almost every line giving us a lot of variety when it comes to editing as to which we should use. Molly has turned out to be a huge asset because she has kept us on track and made sure we did everything. She makes up for the lack of attention to detail that me james and merrigan have. Overall I say we will definatelty be shooting for best picture fo sho.

Steady Cam isn’t steady

This week was one of our pre-production week which means long film classes, but still important.  I had the job of setting up the steady cam so we could start shooting.  Unfortunately, setting up the steady cam is very difficult and it takes a very long time.  There are weights on the camera to make it perfectly balanced.  We are filming the entire movie with the steady cam so this is very key to get it just right.  We had a very successful week otherwise and we start the fun part soon: Filming.  The upcoming weeks are gonna be fun.  James has clearly been wasting his time making funny pictures of himself, what a slacker.

-Merrigan

In the Red begins

Well, here we are. Unzipped productions has returned. This time with an actual crew/experience. Also, this time, rather than being blueberry, we’re “The last Mango in Paris.” Our movie is “In The Red” and with most of our pre-production taken care of, we PLAN on starting the filming process tomorrow. We might not actually do that… but it is what we plan on. If what’s happened so far is any indication, this is gonna be one sweet little experience. So, because time is of the essence, blog ends… now.    

                                                                        – Elwood