March 12, 2006
First Day of Production

From my relatively short experience in filmmaking, I have discovered that the first day of shooting usually sets the feel and pacing of principal photography.  Today was a painful day.  Right away we were having problems.

Amy & Angela were shooting today and the goal was to be able to wrap Amy in one day's shoot.  The location was the Palatine Park District reference desk (which was closed on Sundays).  I felt it seemed like a good location for a hotel front desk and certainly a good free location.  Jeff Greene secured it for us and we were ready to go!  Amy & Angela were great, on time, ready to go...  But alas we began to have technical problems.

Austin was helping keep the set pretty calm, even though we were running 90 minutes behind schedule.  Normally, I don't mind if we're behind schedule, but on the first day, running that far behind usually makes me nervous.

While Austin was fixing the problem with the M2, we began to encounter a whole other issue.  We had believed that the location was secured since it is a Sunday.  Apparently, even on Sundays the gym is wide-open to the public until 10 o'clock, so the sounds of basketball shoes squeaking, people yelling and having a grand old time was going to be an issue...  But one we'll have to figure out in post.

Austin decided to scrap the use of the M2.  He seemed pretty bummed, but he was ready to move.

I have worked with Angela on numerous projects.  I love working with her and she seems to tolerate me so I feel we have a pretty good working relationship.  Today, she scared me a little.  Rachel Bergman is not an easy character to understand or to play, simply because of the different mental states she has to pass through throughout the course of the film.  Angela got REALLY into the part, which was great!  Right after the first take I was starting to feel really good, but then the camera was off and Angela was still Rachel.

Luckily, she wasn't the homicidal side of Rachel, but instead the depressed, scared, alone and potentially suicidal Rachel (note the sarcasm).  This continued throughout the day and I'm beginning to worry that this film might start to drive her a little crazy.

We're not planning a long shoot.  In fact, we have the opposite scheduled.  We have an insanely short shoot scheduled.  The whole reason why we are shooting this week specifically is because it is the one week Angela will be in town for at least another 2-3 months.

Austin and I sat down with the schedule and broke the whole feature down into four primary shooting days.  Meanwhile, Austin & I are still in classes and will be attending those between shoots.  I'd be surprised if we get any sleep this week.

We had fifteen scenes scheduled today.  We only shot seven.

-Michael P. Noens
Director

March 14, 2006
The Case of the Crazy Woman & A Mysterious Caller

Everyday it's something new.  Since we didn't finish all the scenes in the apartment last night, I'm trying to figure out when we are gonna pick those up.  You see, this is the problem with making a feature film in just four days.  If we only had Angela on Thursday, everything would be peachy, but we don't and so we need to make this work.

Another new location today and we will be here for the next two nights until we wrap principal.  We are shooting at a Motel 6 in Palatine, IL.  We booked two adjoining rooms to give us more space to work.

Austin brought his HUGE jib arm which I was really excited about.  When Austin and I started meeting to discuss visuals I was blown away with a lot of the ideas that he had.  Much of my response contained, "We can do that?"  We shot some of my favorite shots ever today.  When you can walk away from a film set saying that, you know it was a great day.

But there is a price for greatness...  And the price is no sleep.  More on that in a moment, back to the shoot.

We started with Ange's big entrance shot (using the crane) and then moved on to get some of the bathroom shots.  Ange's focus remaining completely in the moment even when we're out.  Her determination to get this performance as best as she can make it is inspiring.

Enter Stephen Pratt, who plays the voice of Magus.  Stephen got to lounge around in the other room while we were shooting other shots, preparing to make his first call.  Setup took a little longer than expected again, so there was a lot of downtime for him.  At one point I walked into the room and saw Stephen had made himself comfortable on the bed, stretched out watching some movie on TBS or USA or something.  He looked content.  But he'd probably tell you that he was contemplating how to kill me (not for any vindictive reason, just because).

Seriously though, Stephen's focus was right on the entire time.  I felt he and Angela played off of each other quite well.

It was weird being back here.  In 2003, Marc Muszynski, Angela and I were at this same hotel shooting a short film of the same title.  And now, three years later we're back.  Making this small idea something bigger than we had first imagined.

So earlier I mentioned getting no sleep...  It is 8:33 in the morning on Wednesday.  After wrap this morning, Austin and I packed the car, leaving a few things in hotel room, and drove into the city to take Austin back to his place.  I then proceeded to drive back to my place and park.  I have a class in about 25 minutes that will go to almost noon.  From there, I need to drive home and get ready for this evening's shoot.

Oh, yeah...  Tonight is gonna be fun!

-Michael P. Noens
Director

March 15, 2006
Beware the Ides of This Fine Motion Picture

Today was the Ides of March...  That's all.  No other reason for the title.  I usually forget about this day, which makes sense, of course, because you don't really celebrate the Ides of March, unless you regularly celebrate the death of Julius Caesar...  I'm sure someone does somewhere.

I'm on my eighth wind right now, so forgive me if I babble about nothing.  But regarding the wrapping of principal photography...  WOOT!  I can't believe we did this picture [for the most part] in just four days.  Right now, the sun is up and shining.  I have class all day and I really don't feel that tired.  I'm gonna have to go a total of 72 hours, it appears without sleep.  Right now, sleeping to dream sounds pretty good, but I probably couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.  I'm so thrilled that we accomplished this extremely difficult task.

Of course, since we were all sleep deprived [except for Angela], it may turn out to be some kind of drugged-out feature once we've rested some...

I am just so pleased with the dedication to this project by everyone.  Angela's performance is absolutely incredible.  She has gone above and beyond my initial vision.  Stephen must have been pretty bored over the past few days, but he was always on the ball, ready to go and give Angela as much as possible.

Amy was a pleasure to work with.  I had never worked with Amy before and only shot for a day, but she was focused and such a pleasant person to work with.  I also feel that Amy brings a level of comic relief to the film that wouldn't be there without her.  It wasn't in the dialogue or the direction either.  Amy brought Carrie to life for herself as well as the camera.

Jon also had a short shoot and we'll need to pick a few things up due to a late night shoot on Tuesday, but we'll get it done.  I've directed Jon before for the stage and getting to work with him for this picture was even more fun.  Jon has a very relaxed, easy-going attitude.  He's always prepared and full of energy.  Jon's always ready to make the first take the best one.

All-in-all, we've all worked extremely hard.  We've given it our all, and even under pressure.  Hopefully we'll get moving on the pick-ups soon for a late 2006 release.

-Michael P. Noens
Director