March - Month in Preview

For the next few months of production, I will be making these types of entries at the beginning and end of each month, aptly titled "Month in Preview" and "Month in Review". For the MiP posts, I'll be going over how I generally expect the month to go in terms of the film. For MiR, I'll go over how the month really went, what goals were/weren't met, and how I could learn from what occurred.

So I'll be starting this short series with...

March

In a perfect world, this will be last month of pre-production.

The read-through with the main cast is this Saturday, and there I'll be getting an overall feel for the cast chemistry for the first time. It is also when I'll be able to get schedules sorted out. Keep in mind that several of these kids are seniors in high school, and this project is just one of many that they have on their plates. Once I get a clearer view of scheduling, I'll be able to properly secure my locations to shoot sometime in April.

I also need to complete my prop shopping this month. I have a complete list printed out, and several I know I can obtain without hassle, while others I'll need the American Dollar for.

And costume shopping! Costume shopping is going to be very important. I can't have these guys wearing shirts from 2018 when they're supposed to be in 1999.

The trickiest part of this is going to be "band rehearsals". It's going to be interesting teaching a mix of people who range from fair instrument proficiency to never having picked up a pick how to play these stupid af songs. It's going to be disjointed, but I'm counting on that. Just so long as it's the right kind of disjointed...if that makes sense.

I'm really not too worried about cast rehearsals, because I'm not too worried about people sticking to the script. As long as these interactions feel real, that's all I want. And if all else fails, the script is there to lean back on. It's a support, a site to build upon.

I re-watched This Is Spinal Tap yesterday. That was a film that really shaped the direction I want to go with this film. As far as I'm aware, there was no set script on that film whatsoever; they were just THAT good at bouncing off one another. Of course, there was HOURS of footage they had to go through to put the story together. But it's still brilliant.

This isn't going to be anywhere near that, but it's going to be fun. :)