Loc. Recce 5 - Common Room
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
The photos from yesterday's location recce are now live on flickr. Lots of corridors, and lots of instances of my camera being stuck through open doorways.
It was a big day of location recce-ing today. I walked from my house to the Royalty Theatre where I met Sharyn and Maxx. We went in and spoke to the people that manage the theatre, and my notion of using the theatre for the shot with lots of costumes in it is not going to happen, sadly. I've not yet entirely ruled out the chance of using the theatre for the one dressing room shot in episode 2.
We meandered on down to the Arts Theatre next door. They were much busier, much more booked out, but much more helpful. We then went down to the Bakehouse Theatre, where I took some pictures of their dressing room. We then headed to the Balfours building, to where the Fringe headquarters had been earlier this year. We headed for the university. I made this video:
We tried to check out the uni theatres, but the man in charge was busy. Maybe later today, I'll be able to go in and check it out. Sharyn left at this point, but thankfully Maxx stayed with me and we roamed various university buildings, finding quite a few cool sites, but perhaps not yet finding the place we're after. The search continues, with the clock rapidly running out. I want these locations found by Thursday next week, damn it.
I must ring after 11am on Monday morning about the Odeon Theatre.
Location Recce 4 - Darklit Hughes
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
Yesterday I headed down to Adelaide Uni for a bit of a preliminary location recce. I was very late in doing so, and didn't get there til about 4:30. In the hour or so I was there, though, I did manage to check out about 3 buildings, and take a fair whack of shots. Plenty of photos on the flickr site, if you care to click the pic.
This is one of my more successful shots.
In earlier posts, I have congratulated Sam Hastwell winning Shoot The Fringe! and Christine Williams and others for their nomination in the Short Screen Awards. Well, things just jumped up a notch.
My little sister found out yesterday that the film she starred in last year, Two Thirty 7, is a late entry in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard category. Congratulations, Clemmie! My little sister in a film at Cannes. I'm so proud.
Had a meeting today with my Director of Photography, Maxx (he of Blind Portrait fame). We pored over the script and tried to work out how the show should look, and how we can get such a look while bearing in mind things like shooting ratios, actor availabilty and, most of all, time. It's going to be "interesting", as Maxx puts it, which means difficult. I'm up for it, though; with proper planning, we can pull this off. My fingers are, of course, crossed.
We've worked out a tentative shot list, though this is subject to dramatic change once we have a location. Speaking of which, we have a major location recce on Thursday. If any of my classmates want to come to this, I'd love you to be there, so give me a call for details. Photos will, of course be posted on Flickr soon after. I'm doing a preliminary location recce tomorrow afternoon, so I might take some photos then.
Other business:
It's been a busy weekend, with two location recces and a few laffs along the way. I was late to both, for which I hope I will be forgiven. Photos were taken by about three people per recce, so photos will be passed on to the respective directors for posting. Stay tuned to their blogs for the pics.
Saturday's recce was for Ben's film, Tidy Town, and included a southbound venture to Old Noarlunga and McLaren Vale.
Sunday's was for Maxx's film, Blind Portrait, whereby we explored Uraidla, Summertown and surrounds, though I was only there for the last two hours. 'Twas fun.
This entry has apparently "gone viral", and can be seen on YouTube.com and elsewhere. It's a pretty cool entry. Jesus, why am I still talking about Firefox?
Too bad we didn't make an entry. We need to do more side projects, everyone. Who's with me? Next time something like this comes along, let's jump on board.
Entries have begun to surface from the FirefoxFlicks competition I mentioned a while ago. This one is interesting, because they use... yep, animal suits.
I oughta sue. Anyways, not the best entry (I've only watched a few thus far) but it's an interesting post-script, I suppose. Check 'em out if you've got time: there're some good ones.
Furthermore, these videos are hosted by Revver.com; their website hosts videos for free and puts a clickable ad at the end, for which the poster of the video can then get money. For any of my colleagues who are not averse to whacking an ad at the end of their film, this could be for you.
In the words of the great Professor Farnsworth, "Good news, everyone!"
And good news it is indeed, as we have our second podcast up on-line. This installment is being hosted by Maxx on blindportrait.com, so thanks be to Him for that.
In this most wafflous of podcasts, we touch on some upcoming plans for pre-production next week, including location recces and shot list stratagema-ramas. Then we just crap on about shows we like. It's part Suit Up!, part Geek Speak Radio (a more awesome podcast than mine). Check it out, give me feedback, and make fun of my lack-lustre voxpoppery.
Get the podcast!
I decided last night to tinker with my blog layout. It took a long time and a lot of tinkering, despite being little more than a new paint job. My HTML is pretty rusty, and I have little concept of CSS or JavaScript, but I think it looks okay. Please let me know if you think it is hard on the eyes, hard to read, or buggy in any way. This is far from the final product, that's for sure.
What is unsure is whether I will be able to make it to Maxx and Ben's production meetings today, though I will definitely try my hardest to do so. If I do get stuck, though, my apologies to you guys.
Other projects I am working on in my spare time include an iPod friendly version of my script - just for kicks - though that is definitely on the back burner with all the other stuff I have on my plate.
Also, I reported last week that Aussie WonderWorld was not yet found anywhere on the 'Net, and that this would be the first place that the two words were seen together. Well, Google has since caught up. Good on 'em.
My trip away was cut short by one day. The good news was that it meant that I was able to attend the production meeting at Montezuma's in Glenelg. It was nice to see everyone in such a social setting, but it was brought down a bit by the fact that three of the group were absent. I'm sure they had their reasons. My girlfriend Amy came with me, so the numbers were boosted by one to a total of seven.
The meeting itself was perhaps not as productive as it could have been, but it was fun nonetheless. One major plus was that we were all able to give each other some feedback on the scripts. Ben's is very funny, and he got a lot of positive feedback about it. Maxx's script still needs some work, though the visual's are going to look great. Adam is getting very involved in his research which is fantastic, and presented us with a list of actors that come recommended by him. Stan had gone to mass on Easter Sunday at St. Peter's Cathedral and is on the prowl for a potential narrator; Amy is going to help him in his search through her work. Sharyn has been busy with re-shoots on the film she worked on over the summer, Family Demons, but has started sending character profiles and scripts to casting agents around town this week. You can keep up to date on all their productions by using the links on the left of this blog.
Further production meetings are happening this week, and I've got a bunch of stuff to do as well. I'll keep you posted on what I get up to this week, including looking at a bilby costume, further location scouting, a trip to SA Casting, and my mission to make a second podcast during the holidays, plus our production meeting, scheduled for Friday at Sharyn's house.
The nominess have been announced for the inaugural Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Programming Created for Non-Traditional Delivery Platforms (including computers, mobile phones, iPods, PDAs and similar devices). The new award was created to compliment the rise and rise of hand-held and online media created specifically for said devices..
“The response to this new Emmy Award has been phenomenal,” said Peter Price, President/CEO of the National Television Academy. “In a little more than two months time from our call for entries to the deadline, 74 entries were submitted – more than any other Emmy Award category. These represent a broad cross section of what is being done in the broadband arena, and the six nominees display outstanding use of the media, including multiple feeds, interactivity and cross-media approaches as well as entertaining video content.”
Read more at EmmyOnline.org
And in keeping with a major theme of "Suit Up!", i.e. masks, I recommend that everyone go see V For Vendetta which is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
Costume Recce 2 - Kool 4 Kats Monkey 2
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
Earlier this afternoon, Sharyn and I visited three different costume shops to find some more animal suits, namely:
Centre Stage Costume Hire, Shop 2 South Rd, Glandore SA
Kool 4 Kats Costume & Acessories Hire, 6 Windsor St, Unley SA
Flim Flam Costume Hire, 310 Greenhill Rd, Glenside SA
Check out the awesome photos, and feel free (read pressured) to leave some comments on what you think of them.
And now, I'm so late for my animation class it's not even funny. The distracting nature of this blog stikes again!
Edit: Two addendums. First, as note-to-self, there is a bilby costume at Kool 4 Kats which I must check out next week. Secondly, my animation class finished last week, i.e. I drove all the way down to school, and for nought. And I could have been blogging my ass off instead. It kills me.
Marion Cultural Centre 6
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
From a recce that Sharyn and I had today at the Marion Cultural Centre, their green room specifically. Overall our thoughts were that it was too modern, too clean, too small and, most glaringly, too expensive: $75 per 5 hour use.
More prodcutive was the costume recce we had later that afternoon. Photos uploading very soon.
On advice from my classmates and teachers, I can announce the new name of our theme park. That also means that this is the first place on the Net that the two words appear together (i.e. it satisifies my desire to not get sued! So, call meAussie WonderWorld!
It's the most wonderous adventure theme park that you'll never get to see.
Leigh just handed me back my third draft. We had a chat, and he had a lot of positive things to say about the script. I'm feeling pretty good about it at present. Still so nervous, but much more confident. Phew.
While I was waiting for Leigh's feedback, I was amusing myself with iMac's Photo Booth software. 
Duh-huh-huh.
I've been trying to educate myself a little bit on RSS and feeds in general. It's a bit of a headache. As a bit of an experiment, I've syndicated my feed through FeedBurner, and as such you can now subscribe to the Suit Up! podcast through iTunes. As I said before, this is just an experiment at present, so don't take this as permanent in any way. For the purposes of this experiment, I have uploaded the podcast file to my ISP's paltry 10MB WebSpace allocation. I'll find something better soon. As a result, though, you can now download the mp3 from a direct file location, as opposed to clicking on a link on the MAPS website.
Note also our shiny new feed icon ( 
). I might make it a different colour at a later date.
So, in the words of Tobias Fünke, "Let the great experiment begin!"
Download the first "Suit Up!" podcast (again)
Director at large...
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
More photos - and more costumes - are up on the Flickr page from our costume shop recce last week, with new photos care of our producer, Sharyn. Thanks for the wonderful photos, Sharyn!
Costume by Vivonne @ Theatre Costume Shop, Adelaide.
I stayed up aaaaaaall Monday night finishing my scripts. Let's hope they're not too much drivel... but I fear the worst.
I'll let you know what initial feedback I get... but I'm terrified.
Our very first production podcast is now being hosted on the M.A.P.S. website. Just a little something I recorded this morning; not much chop, but you've got to start somewhere, hey.
Suit Up! podcast #1
I'm spending way too much time on this dread blog and not enough time on writing scripts. Curse you, addictive blog!
Speaking of spending, I'm thinking about getting a paid Flickr account and, of course, registering a domain name for the show. All will be coming soon, I assure you. Once I have the moolah, that is. Moolah is something that I don't have a lot of at the moment, though, and fundraising will commence soon. Moolah and inspiration, that's what I need.
Note to self: put PayPal donation link on this page!
Also coming soon is an address so that all you lovely people can contact me in relation to the film.
EDIT: Email address is now up! (see Links section to the right).
For anyone who is interested, the minutes from the last "Suit Up!" production meeting (28/3/06) are up on Sharyn's blog (and have been since Tuesday!).
kangaroo-adam3
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.
In other news, we did a bit of a recce to some costume shops this week. We'll have to another this coming week, because I was ludicrously unorganised for it. We'll get 'em next time.
It looks like we will without question need to hire the costumes, which is a bit of a downer, but all part of the world of film-making. We've just got to see what we can do with what we have available.
Adam Lemmey wears "Male Kangaroo" by Vivonne @ Theatre Costume Shop, Adelaide.
An extremely interesting example of viral marketing and audience interaction is that for the yet-to-be-released movie, Snakes On A Plane. The film has generated a massive cult following based solely on its deliciously unorthodox title. The title was also the only reason that star Samuel L. Jackson signed up to do the movie; when producers wanted to change the title to Flight 121, he said he would only do it if the title stayed as Snakes On A Plane.
From IMDb.com: "In March 2006 New Line Cinema, due to massive fan interest on the Internet, allowed for a 5 day reshoot to film new scenes to take the movie from PG-13 to a R-rated film (originally the film wrapped principal photography in September 2005)."
Get Your Music Featured In Snakes On A Plane (and watch a short teaser clip!)
Snakes On A Blog - fan blog
Wikipedia: Snakes On A Plane
Image taken from Snakes On A Blog.
