Friday, March 30, 2012

Earrings: Pre-Production Part 1

For the past several weeks, I’ve spoken to many of my friends around the blogosphere about the film I’m making next month. I’ve been hesitant to discuss the movie on my blog for a few reasons: 1.) Because the last thing I want is to come across with any shred of a oh-look-at-me-I’m-making-a-movie douchebag mentality, and 2.) Because for four and a half years, And So it Begins has been about movie watching, not movie making. But, because of the fervent support I’ve received from many friends (bloggers and drinking buddies alike), I figured what the hell, let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

In exactly two weeks, I’m flying to Los Angeles to shoot Earrings, a film I wrote last September. Earrings is a short that will be part of an assumed anthology. I’ve spent the past two years writing and reworking 10 short films that are (very) loosely connected. Earrings is just first in line. I’m going to spend as long as it takes filming all 10 shorts, and eventually release them together. But until then, Earrings will stand as its own film.

I’m not going to describe in detail what Earrings is about, because I still want some piss to be in this thing by the time you see it. But know that it concerns a young woman who is lost in her grief. It’s going to be dark and brutal and (hopefully) not very hopeful, which is exactly what I’m going for.

Enter Catherine.
photo by David Muller
Catherine and I have been good friends for a number of years, and when we met, we both had separate dreams of moving to LA and making it – her for acting, me for writing and/or directing. She has much larger balls than I do, which is why she’s been out there for two and half years already. I’m close to moving, but not quite ready. Earrings could change that.

It’s funny, in my original script for Earrings, I had a male as the lead. When Catherine showed interest in the project, I spent a month rewriting the film so it could star a female. Catherine and I have very similar outlooks on art. We thrive on the bleak, we embrace the darkness. For example, the second I walked out of Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I texted her and said, “You could do that.”

(Soon after casting, I sent Catherine this picture, and told her that the emotional and physical darkness of her Earrings character will be similar to…)

Catherine and I have been developing and tightening Earrings since December, and on April 14, we finally begin shooting. Pre-production has, thus far, been a complete blast. In addition to prepping for acting, Catherine has been essential in making sure the LA side of this projects runs smoothly. This means hiring supporting actors, putting together a small technical crew, scouting locations, and on and on.

I live visually, as if everything I see could be manipulated better if it was on the screen. Because of this, the best way I know how to direct an actor is through visually comparison, which is why I always rattle off a list of movies every actor should see before we begin filming. 

So, to give a little perspective on the type of character Catherine will be playing, last month I sent her Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Blue

Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers 

and Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar – all films based around the sufferings of women. 

And it’s tweets like these, in which Catherine and I discused Juliette Binoche’s character in Blue, that are perfect evidence as to why I cast her:

To sum up this inaugural post, I’m extremely excited about this project. I am humbled and honored that so many of you have shown interest in it; it has only made the pre-production process that much more memorable.

I’ll be posting about Earrings often, at least twice a week. The posts will always show up on this main page, but I’ll continue to store them in the "EARRINGS" tab directly under the header on the top of this page.

If you have questions about the film, PLEASE ASK. If it’s story related, I may not be able to answer, but anything else is fair game. I’m overwhelmed with excitement to go on this journey and I’m grateful that I have such supportive friends who are willing to go on it with me. Thanks again.

26 comments:

  1. This is fucking awesome, Alex! So glad to be hearing about it. I like the idea of a short film anthology... reminds me of Altman's SHORT CUTS, although your stories seem like they will be much darker. Congrats on getting through pre-production, I hope shooting will be a blast. I'll be sticking around to hear more. Good luck mate.

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  2. It sounds like your off to a good start. How many pages is the script?

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  3. @Tyler Thanks so much, Tyler. Your encouraging tweets were one of the main motivations I had to start blogging about the film. Can't thank you enough for the push!

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  4. @Gregory Roy Script is 18 pages, but I treat all of my scripts like an outline. I'm a big fan of having the actors stay in character and carry on for hours while I film them doing things pertinent to the material. My films have very little dialogue, so there's a lot of emotional expression that's up for interpretation.

    I expect the final film to be 15-20 minutes long, but who knows, inspiration may take hold while I'm in LA, and it could wind up being longer.

    Thanks for reading/commenting!

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  5. Good luck Alex, I can't wait to see the final product, I hope everything we'll turn out great!

    Your project sounds very interesting, but I guess the thing that got my attention was "Earrings is a short that will be part of an assumed anthology. I’ve spent the past two years writing and reworking 10 short films that are (very) loosely connected". I had a similar thought, once, but I couldn't get myself to do it. It's not because I don't have ideas, I just don't think I'm a good enough writer to be able to make them justice or properly explain what is in my head! But I guess you gave me a push, maybe I should start writing things down more often!

    Oh, are you shooting all 10 and then releasing, or one by one?

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  6. That is awesome. An anthology of short films is fucking cool.

    In fact, I've been re-visiting and re-writing an old script idea I had years ago. In fact, it's a two-part film of sorts. I'm currently outlining a 7-part prologue series of short stories for the main feature that I'm going to write afterwards. I have a lot of it in my head.

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  7. I have no idea why would you think that writing about it was a bad idea. You know we will love to hear about it more.All the very best and Keep It coming..

    Did you get that permit to shoot in LA Parks?? I remember you talking about it Twitter.

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  8. @Diana Diana, if my film gets you to start writing scripts, then I will die happy. No one is good at screenwriting when they first start. You write a movie, think it's awesome, read it a few months later and realize it's garbage.

    Point is, you're a good writer, but I consider writing to be a skill, and like all skills, they must be practiced.

    Write your scripts! You may not be happy with them at first, but they'll only get better as you reshape them over time.

    Do it to it!

    Also, I'm shooting them one at a time, and releasing them one at a time. That's the plan for now!

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  9. @thevoid99 Awesome man. I was going to get into this later in another post, but I don't plan on writing/directing all 10 films in the anthology, I just plan on having a part in them.

    I'll get into more detail on this later, but if you have a script you'd like to see filmed, I'd love for you to consider allowing it to be part of my anthology. Like I said, more on this later, but keep it on the brain...

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  10. @SDG Thanks man, that means a lot. My main hesitation was that people might take these posts as me bragging or something. But since I've surrounded myself with a solid group of folks, I don't think that'll be the case.

    As for the permit, that's probably another question I shouldn't answer just yet

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  11. This sounds so brilliant!! Flying to L.A to shoot it and everything!!! With all the pre-production you've been doing I'm sure it'll go well (I'd definitely volunteer my help if I was in the vicinity, haha). Can't wait to here about the process!!

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  12. Glad to hear about this project Alex. I have a much smaller scale project coming up that I hope to have finished by the end of May. I worried about sharing as well, but this has given me some confidence.

    Thanks.

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  13. @RuthThanks Ruth! Much like Tyler, you're one of the main reasons I felt compelled to start blogging about the movie, so... thanks!

    How cool would that be if we actually worked on something together someday?

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  14. @Max Yeah man, in terms of sharing info about your project, I say go for it.

    I can already tell that the positive reinforcement from my peers here will be nothing but good throughout this process.

    Good luck, keep me posted!

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  15. Congratulations! This sounds incredible and honestly I can't wait to see your movie. I'm sure it's going to be amazing with influences like that. And your leading lady is just gorgeous!

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  16. @Sati. Thanks so much, Sati!

    And I'll definitely pass your kind words over to Catherine. Thanks again!

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  17. Good luck with the shoot! Reading your plans makes me anxious to see your short films, (or even read the scripts) Do you hope to enter the finished product at a film festival eventually?

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  18. @Chris Thanks man! Actually, with this first outing, I have no plans of entering it into festivals. I'm using songs that I do not have the rights to, so in doing that, I'll never been able to distribute it for monetary purposes (which includes submitting it to festivals).

    If I come across some original music that I can license, then that would be awesome. But for now, I'm cool with just releasing it online.

    Thanks for reading/commenting!

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  19. This sounds pretty awesome, man! Best of luck, and I am looking forward to reading more about it.

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  20. @Eric Thanks dude, that's really kind of you to say! I gotta tell you, the support I've been receiving from people like yourself is truly invigorating.

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  21. Late to the party, but I get to take the whole journey in one go at least!

    Great idea for making your own version of the decalogue, great vision from the very start. If only I had such visionaries in my film classes.

    You're certainly very lucky to know Catherine too, few actors I've met have been able to discuss a film/performance in the same way as she does Blue.

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    1. Yeah Catherine is very open to all kinds of films. Blue may not be something she'd go out and buy (or see without knowledge of), but when I sent it to her, she watched it right away and was completely game.

      Looking back at my anthology comment, I had planned to do every film on a much smaller scale, and film, edit, and release them over about a year and a half. That was so unrealistic of me. If I didn't have a full time job (and also had unlimited funds) then maybe, but as it is now, gotta get paid!

      Catherine and I do have a few new ideas in the works right now, but we both need a break. Earrings really drained us. Time to chill out and recharge!

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  22. Any film preparation that involves Kieslowski is starting out right. I look forward to catching up and seeing where this went.

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    1. Awesome man, I really appreciate your interest. Blue was a huge influence on Earrings. Its color, its look, its pain - I love that film.

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    2. Posit: No great director has done more great work in a shorter period of time than Kieslowski from 1988-1994 (Decalogue/Veronique/Three Colors).

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    3. I might have to agree. I mean, the man could do no wrong there.

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