6/20/10 Production Journal & Pics: The best laid plans of mice and men...

I didn't write a production journal after the 3rd shoot. There wasn't much to say. The shoot went smooth. The crew is awesome, Adria Firestone made her appearance in the movie and was great... I mean, I could've written all of that, but I felt it would be beating a dead horse. How many times can I say how great a group of people is working on "Blaming George Romero?"

But anyways, I had a feeling I would have something to write after last night's shoot. Up until last night, the shoots had all been relatively simple. They were all indoors. The worst technical problem we had was a little noise at one point on Thursday, and even that went away. But yesterday was a true test. We shot a BBQ scene of the movie... Outdoors, after sunset. There were so many variables, especially considering that we couldn't really start until sunset. What about neighbors? We had lights (lots of lights) and even though it isn't the loudest shoot of the movie, its still a group of people talking and laughing outside. I had the fear that any minute, a neighbor would get sick of us and call the police, and that would be game over for us.

Thanks to whatever luck that I am still running off of on this project, we didn't get a single complaint. We had a possum come into the backyard a few times, and buses go by, and wind blowing trees that made us have to retake a few shots, but all in all we got lucky. Plus, the weather was beautiful.

Now, I could tell you that everything went super smooth, and we got all of our shots, and the BBQ scene is wrapped completely... I could tell you that... but if you are taking the time to read this blog, I will tell you some behind the scenes stuff. The truth. We started shooting at 10pm. We knew the entire time that every take we were pushing our luck... with the neighbors, with nature, with the Broadway bus which for some reason decided to run on time last night for the first time ever. As we progressed through the night, banging out takes, it occured to myself and the crew that we could finish every shot in the BBQ... it may take awhile, but we could do it... BUT we would not be able to get as much coverage as we wanted. We would be sacrificing quality, for the sake of time... and none of us wanted to do that. So, we looked at the schedule and decided to break it up. We would shoot a good portion last night, and come back and shoot the rest on another night.

And I think it was worth it. I think we had a fantastic shoot, and there were so many factors that went into it. It was the first shoot that had the entire group of 4 friends (they are in most of the movie, but everything we've shot until now hasn't had the whole group). So, for me, it felt like we were really getting into the movie... the real meat of the movie... These four people are the heart of the movie, and last night was a great introduction to the group. We also had both AD's on set, the amazing Billy Dautrick and Miriam Cortez. Having these two on set just makes me relax all the more. We had the hospitality of the Graham family, who let us take over their backyard from 8:30pm-2am (and are letting us come back to finish up there!). And best of all, we had a great group of people doing what we love... making a movie.

Now, I have to give big thanks to my brother, Isaac, who came on set and stayed throughout (even though he didn't have any scenes last night) to chronicle the night in pictures and video (and helping us with continuity). The pictures below might be my favorite of the shoot so far for all of the reasons listed above.

Okay, we reach the end of the blog. Few quick things to take note of before the pictures: *The website is very close to completion and looks great so far, *We still need donations to indiegogo.com to help us make the best movie we can... We still have some zombie days, and we really want them to look great... with your help they can. *The 8X10's are in and just need to be autographed before being sent out to those who donated $50 or more.

That's all. Thanks for being a part of this experience.

Stay tuned!

Sam

Actor, Writer, Producer

"Blaming George Romero"