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Posted by
stagedradio May 28, 2007 -
1,558 views
I can't believe it's been more than two months since we released my first film, Haunted R&R Station. It's been an incredible ride. I'm now set to leave June 1 for a week of pre-production days before we begin shooting Mars Attacks Mt. Pleasant - a full-length comedy based on my Chicago stage show, Mars Attacks Chicago.
We have about 30 crew members in place; more than 15 actors; and more than 250 extras - ready to go to work June 8 for two weeks of shooting on location in the small town of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, the same site where we shot Haunted R&R Station.
The toughest part of the journey, for me, was releasing the final production version of the screenplay - or letting go of it I should say. But the camera angles are embedded now and crew and cast members have their copies. Second to the script, was preparing the final production schedule, which we decided to release on our Web site to the public over at www.dimenovel.com.
Some of the scenes required us to get permission to close down streets in town, and since their main street is also a state highway, permission requests had to go out a month in advance, so those outdoor scenes had to be planned first.
The cast has fallen into shape very well, and I think we have some extroidinary regional actors to take over what was once a Chicago stage play.
Our equipment was added to with the recent acquisition of a boom microphone, and some new lighting equipment.
Shawn Galligan, who was assistant director on the last film, is returning as our production manager. This time we're adding many new crew members that we did not have in the first round, including a costume designer, make-up artist, gaffer and special effects coordinator, as well as many production assistants to wear many hats.
This last week is closing down fast, as I still have to finish camera angles for the web pilot we are creating at the same time - Main Street 15666 - episode one, Black Box. And we decided to shoot some video for tv360.tv with a Thursday upload deadline.
We will most likely not be producing daily uploads from the site as planned as our Web crew never quite came together. We wanted an editor on site working with a behind-the-scenes DV photogrpaher; and then someone to upload to major video sites. I'm not ruling it out, so stay tuned to dimenovel.com in June, but it doesn't look like we have the crew to pull that one off.
You can read all about our cast and crew at the Web site; and soon after shooting; while in post production, we anticipate the film having its own Web site too.
