Filmapalooza!

Lock and load. Film stuff is gettin' REAL.
This is the last week that we have our film classes (except for my three elective courses, whatevs). So basically, what this means is that my Mondays (class from 10:40-7:45) just got a whole lot easier.

...Right?

WELL not quite. I'll admit I'm sort of basking in the calm before the storm-- at this juncture we have the final draft of the literary screenplay, a draft of the technical screenplay, and the shot list.

SPEEDY FILM VOCAB SESH

Literary screenplay: The script with all the dialogue, character description, and action.
Technical screenplay: A mangled version of the literary screenplay filled with information on the shots, locations, sounds, props, costumes, and any special camera stuff.
Shot list: A list of all the different shots that will be in the movie, as in what each shot will be. We've got close-ups out the ying yang.

OMG CLOSE-UP

...Sorry, I just wrote an essay on this movie. If you haven't, you MUST see Carl Dreyer's La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. It's a silent movie, but holy moly is it good. Emotionally exhausting, but good.

We now return to our regularly scheduled shenanigans.

Now that all our script stuff is done, the tedious part of the filmmaking process is about to go full-swing. We need to find the locations of where we're going to shoot; meet with casting agencies to find our actors; draw storyboards (little cartoon panels of what each shot will look like); draw blueprints of the blocking, lighting and camera placement... a lot of stuff. All I can say is, thank goodness we've got production managers to help fanagle all the permits and paperwork and junk.

OH and did I mention that we're making our movie in Czech? Yup. English subtitles. So I've got to rassle up some Czech friends to help translate the script. As director, one of my biggest worries is the potential language barrier that may arise when I'm working with the actors. It's likely that we can find Czech actors in their 30-somethings who speak at least a little English (enough, anyway), but there's a little kid in our movie, and it's going to be very difficult to find a 6-year-old boy who speaks English. I suppose we'll have a translator of some kind on set, but... still. Madness. If one year ago someone came up to me and said, "Hey Jessica, you're going to make a film in Czech," I would probably have responded, "What's Czech?"

MADNESS! I love it.

Speaking of things that I love, my fellow Whittier College friend Chelsea is studying abroad in Copenhagen this semester and she is visiting Praha! She gets here tomorrow and I am quite excited.

OH! And before I go-- I'll leave you with this bit of depressing information. Halloween is not a big deal in the Czech Republic. Had I not known yesterday was October 31st I wouldn't even have been able to tell it was the Halloween season. Someone placing a little bare, uncarved pumpkin on their doorstep is going "all-out" with Halloween decorations. Since Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday, this all made me very

My American FS cohorts and I dressed up and had a little Halloween party of our own, so at least I got to celebrate in some way. But still... I only ate one piece of candy last night. ONE. Upsetting? I'd say so. Sigh... I suppose the vast quantity of trick-or-shots is a small consolation.

YOU know.