Day 1 was frought with nervousness and excitement as we were let in by security to use the main lecture hall I spent many an hour in during my time in the film studies program at my alma mater: The University of Tulsa. The first scene shown chronologically in the movie’s timeline was the scene where Oliver (our protagonist) meets his wife-to-be, Julia in a classroom.
After seven months of pre-production, gear acquisition, screenplay revisions, and logistic wrangling, we yelled “Camera’s up! Quiet on the set! Action!” for the first time. It was a surreal moment as I thought, “wait… this is actually going to be in the finished product…” Currently the first time we rolled is what’s sitting in the rough edit as the best of the takes, and I hope it stays in.
Scenes filmed:
-Oliver & Julia’s meetcute @ The University of Tulsa
Oliver: You’re brother’s worried about you. Wanted me to give you a message if I could find you.
Roger: Why isn’t he looking for me?
Oliver: Who says he isn’t?
.:Excitement
This Saturday we bring all of our equipment out for the first time to shoot something that will be a cornerstone of Greyscale and most likely will make it into the trailer: Oliver and Julia meeting in college. We’re shooting at my alma mater, and even in the room where I spent many hours taking the night film classes. It’s fitting. And we even have the head of the film studies department standing in as the professor in the classroom.
John (our brilliant DP) and I went to the location and blocked out every single setup for the day. It’s quite an experience to go from 7 months of imagining the scene in one’s head to being on location and visualizing how things will run. I’m sure seeing the footage and then editing it will being other new levels of excitement over the project.
.:I’ll be in my _______.
Due to the generous donation of time and effort of Dave & Lory Dunlap… we now have a trailer/motorhome. Mostly for when weather gets bad, or we need cook something… or an actor is feeling persnickity… Just another step that makes this feel more real.
.:Casting
We’ve finally made our selections for the roles based on those that came out to the casting call. Calls and emails should go out this week.
.:Pictures
You’d think I’d have more to say 2 days before we start principle photography… I’m mostly speechless (excepting for above sentences…) and can’t believe Greyscale is finally coming to life. It is a humbling and awe-inspiring feeling and the feeling is the undeniable payoff for all of these months of anticipation.
I’ll leave you with a few screenshots from last Saturday’s equipment test/callback for one of our roles.
