Blog.
First Day of Filming
With day one under our belts, we are feeling really good. Finished an hour twenty ahead of schedule even with sticking in an extra boom shot.
A boom shot looks cool whether you are on the ground looking up or in the air looking down. How about that blue sky!
And this is only part of our caravan. The Hitchhiker serves as Hair and Make-up and Wardrobe’s comfy headquarters (courtesy of Scott…Kathy’s neighbor growing up…)
Barry, Terry, Kathy and Vince talking shop while watching pelicans flying and bullheads jumping.
Day 1 and no one complained about the food.
7 Days and Counting
Picking up odds and ends at Cinequipt. Won’t be long now. 7 days! We’re saying “I wish we had another week,” but I think even if we had another week we’d be saying that.
Part of the crew at our nightly production meetings that are scheduled to last half an hour but last an hour and a half.
We just test drove the RV. Love the fan on the dash air conditioning. We have to think of a name for her because just calling her RV seems unfair.
24 DAYS AND COUNTING
Secret location #4
We got another prop today. Actually, this one lies somewhere between a
prop and a character. Rented from Ryen (in the blue t-shirt) and
delivered by his gang from Luverne.
RV brave
57 DAYS AND COUNTING
Secret Location #3
Our biggest prop…and you’ve heard it before…is that old RV. Even that sounds easy when you think we also have to find an old pickup with a broken windshield and a flowering apple tree in July (that we can cut down). OK. I tell myself…let’s break it down….we only have to find about 12 props a day…that’s not so bad. But then you miss a day and suddenly you have to find 24 and you miss a few more days and before you know it, you have to find 72 props…in one day! I’m sweating just writing this down. Sorry, gotta go see if I can find that pickup.
69 DAYS AND COUNTING
We’re shooting mostly in southwest Minnesota. Not Minneapolis. And not The Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Southwest. Known for (if it’s known for anything) fields of corn, alfalfa, soybeans, cows and above average people.
Why here? It’s really not because we like to make things as difficult as possible. It’s because I (Kathy) grew up here, we have great access and it’s kind of a secret. The location is one of our characters. I can’t think of a film that shows this part of the country as affectionately as we’ll show it. You’ve all seen (and love) the wide open spaces of the upper Midwest but not the intimate winding, grassy banked creeks and wooded river valleys, honeysuckle windbreaks, meadowlarks, prairie grasses…
We’ll show it the way you don’t see it when you drive through on interstate 90.
Secret Location #2
Today.
Nothing went horribly wrong today. I sent out sides for actors needing a video audition. Vince and I reviewed video auditions and looked at 2 old Winnebagos*. Vince finished the contract for our casting director and I found a key to my Dad’s 31 Chevy (which runs like a top) that we thought was gone forever.
Tomorrow we’re meeting with our wardrobe/color pallet person and scouting locations.
*When you’re looking for a 70s Winnebago you have to realize it’s not going to look new inside.
72 DAYS AND COUNTING
Welcome to the YellowHouse Film blog. We are using this as a count down until our principle photography begins. Sort of a journal and sort of a to do list.
I’m not giving you our backgrounds here. We’ve done that other places on the site and if you were interested, you’ve already read them. Mostly we’re going to be talking FILM FILM FILM and how these two indie film makers are going to make it to DAY 1.
If it was 72 days until the end of the semester or 72 days until your mother-in-law moved out, it would seem like forever. But having 72 days until principle photography on our first feature film begins…THAT, will be here way too soon.
“It’s like a full time job with no pay,” says Kathy
Secret Location #1
Some days I feel like we are in the same place as we were 6 months ago even though we’ve been working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Then, when I go back and look at my list, I see that we actually have a lot of things we didn’t have 6 months ago.
1. We have a screenplay.
2. We have most of what will be an amazing crew.
3. We have have been certified for the Minnesota SNOWBATE film production incentive by the Minnesota Film and Television Board.
4. We are funded.
5. We have a website.
6. We have 2 (two) facebook pages (which may not sound like a big deal to most people but it is to us)
7. We’ve secured tons of locations…and I’ll be posting one un-identified location per post until I run out. How’s that for building some excitement around the film?
8. We have a working title and about 500 others just waiting to become the ‘one’.
9. We have lodging and meals all set for everybody.
10. We’ve held two rounds of auditions and holding the third this week.
11. We have a payroll service and accountant.
12. We have a bookkeeper.
13. We have met and engaged with tons of local people and support.
This is a list of headings representing millions (I’m exaggerating…but it is thousands) of details. The list is making me tired so I’m going to sign off for today. ps. and if anyone knows where we can find a 70s Winnebago that’s like new….please let us know.