I took the day off to go scouting around with Tim for some locations again. To the zero people reading, you may recall that previously I went out but did not have much luck convincing the various people that A) I had any idea what I was doing B) I was serious C) I was not a pornographer. My hope was that perhaps someone with - what do they call it - people skills might have better luck. I'd been waiting a couple weeks without much movement but we finally had the time today and headed on out.
First stop was that same convenience store I found a month ago. I had left my name and number on a napkin and I can't figure out why I never heard back. Anyway, this time the guy there seemed to be an authorized dealmaker for the establishment and after Tim got to talking he opened up. He seemed fairly enthusiastic and promised he'd bring it up to his partner and get back to us. We also got His card this time - which is the sort of thing a normal person probably would have done last time. We roughly blocked out the scene and tried to figure out all the CG background stuff we'd need but once we get the OK I'll take our DP out so he can sign off and we'll start pre-viz for real. Fingers crossed. This place is basically perfect - the tough part will be figuring out the camera moves and then replacing everything around it so it looks like we're in the middle of a city.
The goal then is to transition around the side of the building like the last shot above. We'll cut to a new frame for our Alley shot. Conveniently that was out next stop - Marietta Square. I'd taken a quick drive by there a while ago and I thought that there were probably some good spots hidden among the old buildings, and poking around on google street maps confirmed it. I guess objectively it was a really nice day, but seemed way too hot for April. However it was worth it as we found some absolutely terrific spots. All we need to do now is figure out how to get permission to shoot, decide how to power the lights (extension cords from friendly businesses or generator) and decide which of the awesome alleys are best.
I'm not exactly sure how Tim will be able to blend them all together for our long long zoom shot but he swears he can. I guess worst case if the FX don't work we can just use one segment, although that will be way less cool. I'll be sending emails to Marietta tonight to start figuring out who can authorize us to shoot in the alleys - I don't know if they are public or private property. I also Really hope they don't want to read the script or ask what exactly we're shooting in the alley. I doubt the Marietta Square Historical Society would be big on hookers giving BJ's in the alley for their tourist material.
On the Super Excellent Good News front, we have secured a location for the motel room scene. Good PR/news writing would totally dictate putting this information at the top of the post, or at least alluding to it in some subheading, but whatever. I demand more of my nonexistant readers. We had stopped for gas and were just about to start going down the list I'd made based off review searches. Basically I searched for cheap motels in Marietta and then the ones with the worst reviews went on the list. "I'm glad I asked to see the room first." "Floor was filthy and furniture falling apart." "I think there were drug dealers outside." Congratulations, you went on my list.
While pumping gas we noticed a really, shall we say "well-used" motel next door. It was one of the great older ones with exterior room entrances and based on the numbers of lawn chairs and plants along the balconies I'm guessing it's one of those extended stay places. I could possibly more accurately say flop house for truckers, meth heads and child molesters but A) I don't like jumping to conclusions B) They are lettings us shoot there, so in my book - they're good people. Long story short, we talked to the lady at the counter, spoke with the owner and he said "Hell, long as you don't shoot the outside I don't care what you do." That's a Bingo!
The room actually turned out to be nicer on the inside than I was hoping, but maybe we can ask for a room that was not as recently refurbished when we go to actually shoot. The best part is that it's only $36 a night.
We still have to figure out the exterior for Bob's house, the Restaurant and a couple minor things, but today was excellent progress. The restaurant looks to be a choice between a very nice fast food type place that we know a manager of, or doing major set dressing on a meeting room or possibly using a recently out-of-business place. We've got a call into a realtor about that now and I should have a secision in a week or so.
The next stage in pre-production is a quick meeting with most of the actors this Saturday. I just want to get everyone on the same page and answer any pertinant script questions they may have. COmbined with the stunning recent success of Kickstarter I think things are going very well.
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