Skip to main content

A Christmas movie?

I am very excited about being hired to direct a Christmas movie for next year. I have been working extremely hard on preparing for our production which will begin at the end of this month. The star of the show is a dog who saves Christmas with the help from one special little girl. I am still waiting for the final word from the producers as to which actress will play as the little girl but I am confident that we will have a strong leading actress for the part. For the Santa in this movie we are trying to create something different from the traditional Swiss chalet style Santa. I want our Santa to be believable counterpart to the main character who is a very bright young girl.

 

This week I have been scouting out locations and prop shopping with my art director. We checked out some great prop facilities in the valley earlier this week. The first stop on our list was "History for Hire". If you have ever been there, then you know how amazing this place is. They have every period prop that you could possibly imagine.

 

As far as locations for our North Pole we found an amazing old factory location in downtown Los Angeles that we will be adapting for our Santa's workshop and living area. The location has so much character and has really grown on me. I hate to use the term Steampunk but that is sort of the inspiration for the look and feel of this version of Santa's world. The best part about finding this factory locations is that is has so many various locations in one central place. Shooting in this warehouse will enable us to shoot more than half of the movie in one location. So far of the places we have scouted we are convinced that we can lock our shoot down to just three locations for the entire movie. We will have the warehouse in downtown, a house possibly one we've already scouted in Simi Valley and a movie theater. The theater we are looking at now is an amazing old theater with a Gothic motif inside and a more retro look on the exterior. So far everything we have been looking at has added new depth to our story. Each location has pushed our creativity to the next level and each challenge has helped us forge a stronger connection between the story and the design.

SANTA'S DEN AREA
 
EVIL VILLAIN'S LAIR

I am continuously surprised by the amount of production value we are getting out of the locations we have found here in L.A. and by the quality of crew members who really care with a passion about what they are doing. Everyone on board for this production so far has been amazing. Each person has gone above and beyond my expectations. I only hope that we can all continue down this path until the end and come out with a movie that each of us will be proud to show to the world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday Life Drawing with the Ringmaster!

Last night we had a very special drawing session. The Ringmaster was in the house! Jennifer surprised us with a magnificent costume, we had a new artist join the group and the best part of the night (I dare say) was Jenny's home made peach cobbler a la mode. Delicious! Before everyone showed up Jenny and I debated over what music to listen to. We both believe that music has powerful influences and that it's important to pick the right tunes before drawing. Having said that, agreeing on music is not always the easiest thing to do. For example, my pick for Thursdays circus theme was Mr. Bungle . Jenny disagreed with my musical choice, calling it geeky white guy music and instead suggested we listen to Louis Armstrong. These are obviously two very different artist but in the end I had to agree with Jenny's pick. Something as hardcore as Mr. Bungle would have been to distracting to listen to. We made a compromise and settled on Louis Armstrong for drawing and Mr. Bu...
2 comments
Read more

Monday Night Drawing at Buckwild Gallery in Venice!

       At the end of December last year we attended an art show at the Buckwild gallery in Venice. That night we met the gallery owner and talked with him about the possibility of hosting weekly figure drawing sessions in the space. We quickly came up with a plan and were soon on our way to getting things ready for our first meet up. Jennifer began advertising while my dad and I built ten new drawing benches for the class. The second Monday of January was our first session at the new location and to our surprise the night was a big success. Jennifer brought her amazingly good chocolate chip cookies and every seat was filled .      Next Monday will be a special drawing night in honor of Valentines day. We have a lovely couple modeling for us, so if your local and want to brush up on your drawing skills come on down. For more information about our Monday night figure drawing sessions check us out at www.meetup.com .
Post a Comment
Read more

DIY PCB - Etching your own (Printed Circuit Boards) at home.

    Here's a quick tutorial on etching a custom PCB at home. All of the materials can be found at your local electronics store or online. Here is what you'll need to get started. MATERIALS: sodium persulfate(toxic stuff) 1 sheet of copper clad board(also pretty toxic) acetone, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls glossy photo paper 1 sharpie marker TOOLS: 3 plastic containers(got mine from ordering won ton soup) 1 rough side of a dish sponge or 1 sanding block  laser printer(or access to) ironing machine Dremel or small hand saw PCB Software ( EAGLE ) (CAUTION)  The materials use in this tutorial are toxic, dangerous and even deadly if not handled properly. Make sure to wear protective gear and to work in a well ventelated space. It's a good idea to wear gloves and a paper mask while following these steps. GETTING STARTED     We are going to start out with our circuit already exported from EAGLE, the so...
1 comment
Read more