We had a great time yesterday working with our weapons consultant, Ben, yesterday. Here are some pictures of May Parker pointing to her great bullseye and one of cameraman, Jonathan Ziegler, doing some shooting of his own. Here are Melissa's targets from the day's shoot (a literal shoot). We also captured some great behind-the-scenes footage which we will include shortly!

Jonathan and I wandered a cemetery today scouting spots for a short but pivotal scene. I've always loved the serenity I get from cemeteries and this place is just lovely, with huge Evergreen Trees shading the graves.

We started our day signing up The Unicorn, a fabulous bar in East Tucson. Walked next door to a gun store and chatted with an instructor for a while while we drooled over the sexy guns in the cases. Got some bullets for tomorrow's day at the firing range. Trying to get all the actors, who fire guns, to the range for some instruction. All our guns are non-firing replicas so everyone needs to know what the real thing feels like.

I've included a photo of what Finley's gun will look like.

Jonathan is working on our blood splattering device and I'm still writing shot lists.

We're getting close now. Thanks so much to everyone who has pledged. If you're considering a pledge, now is the time to do it. We need $880 and have only have 56 hours left.

More later,

Melissa

Hit locations yesterday with Jim, our sound man, Rosie, our production coordinator and Jonathan our cameraman. All the places that Rosie found look great and shouldn't have too many sound issues for Jim. Rosie brought along her GPS to help me navigate but I couldn't hear it talk (it talks!) and couldn't read the screen cause of the glare so she finally made me pull over and let her drive.

We still need to make a portable battery source to power our lights for a couple of night shoots in parking lots. We have blueprints for a contraption and Jonathan and I will work on that this week.

The camera stabilizer that Jonathan built looks fantastic. In the picture, it's outfitted with our behind the scenes camera, the DVX100A.

Today, I've got scene breakdowns to work on and we've got some blood splatter test footage to shoot later today or tomorrow.

More later,
Melissa

Yesterday, Kerrie (wardrobe), Jonathan (camera), Ruth (Penny) and I hit Goodwill on 4th Ave for some good stuff. It was yellow tag half price day and I almost wet my pants when we found a trench coat for Zelda for 5 bucks. Kerrie outfitted Jack's friends (who will be seen in old photos), Penny, and found another outfit for Zelda for just a few bucks more.

Still looking for a suit for Finley that doesn't have pin stripes. Will keep looking at thrift stores in the area, then will hit garage sales this Saturday.

We rounded out the day by meeting up with Jeff Scotland (Jack), had a burger at The Grill on Congress Street, then had coffee with May Parker (Maggie), Very excited about May being available for the film.

In May's first audition, she came across in a nice enough way but didn't really make me sit up and say, that's Maggie. I did like her look, so I asked her to come back and read again. At her call back, she completely nailed the tough chick who runs the cop bar where dead Jack used to hang out. Maggie had to be likable but she also had to have an edge. She told me later, she was pissed off about a bad afternoon and it really came through in her reading.

This week, Jonathan is making some prop guns and finalizing changes to the camera stabilizer, and Monday morning, Rosie (production coordinator) will take me, Jonathan and Jim (sound engineer) around to check out our locations.

Did a little scene deconstruction with cast members last night.

The first photo is me and Cuffs. He, and about 30 others guys, auditioned for the role of Tony, Finley's cop cousin. He was a little young to play Tony, but there was something compelling about him. We invited him to a couple of callbacks and had him read with a few different cast members. There was no getting around it, he was just too young to play a guy who'd been on the job for a little too long. But, I couldn't stop thinking about him. So, I wrote in the part of Tony's partner. It was a perfect fit and helped to create a dynamic that the script didn't have before.

Our two leads, Finley and her method actress girlfriend, Zelda, are played by Shanna Brock and Elizabeth Leadon. I wrote the role for Elizabeth and after watching Shanna work in another film, I figured she'd be the favorite for Finley. Before the first audition, I got a call from Shanna with questions about one of the sides. (short scenes used in auditions) Turns out she'd run into Elizabeth someplace and they were coordinating their audition. I might have let it slip that I wrote the role for Elizabeth and did Shanna know her? Their work before that audition really paid off and I knew we'd cast our Finley when I saw the two together.

The last photo is Ruth Trushin who plays zillion year old Penny. I kept apologizing at auditions, Ruth, you really don't look a zillion years old! After one reading, I knew she was perfect fit for Penny.

Jonathan, our prop designer, and his wife Kerrie our wardrobe lady were also there to talk, well, wardrobe and props with the actors. Jonathan's also running our camera, a Canon T2i. We talked over lenses and the cinematic style I'm looking for.

More meetings with actors today and this weekend. Saturday, Kerrie's got some thrift stores to hit for the shirts that two of the characters will wear when they're shot. And I still need to set up a day at the firing range for all actors that shoot guns. Should be a lot of fun.

More later,

Melissa

oh, and we all got a little too hyped up from way too much caffeine. So, today's meeting is props over eggs at Joes. If you live in the Tucson area, you have to hit Joe's on the Northwest corner of Kolb and Golf Links. And, I just looked at the clock and I'm late so more later.