The Tragedy at Emmitt Whistle's: Production Part 1

We had our first day of filming! I spent the day before with Phil, quickly trying to pull everything together. We only shot exterior scenes so that made my life a little easier.

This house that we're using is terribly great. The inside is old and a little stinky, but the roof, the front door, the door knobs, and the windows are all super modern. To make the windows look old, Phil suggested we adhere wooden dowels/moulding on the windows to look like window panes and it worked! We just used spray adhesive. I couldn't believe it was so simple.

My mom and sister were in town and they got to help out in the art department. I'm actually really glad they were there because I was short staffed in the art department. Ali, the costume designer, was also a huge help on set.

This is my first time being a production designer on a larger production. I've only ever worked in the art department on bigger productions or been the production designer on tiny films. I didn't really know how to do it, frankly. I wanted to keep looking in the camera monitor to see what everything looked like, but I wasn't sure if I should be doing that and I didn't really want to get in the way. I'm also always second guessing myself.

For the next shoot, my goals are to be more confident and communicate with Hunter (DP) and Drew (Director) more efficiently and even stick my nose in the monitor more.


Here's a behind the scenes film Eric Homan made from the shoot:

https://vimeo.com/110094932

Pictures to come!

The Tragedy at Emmitt Whistle's: Pre-Production Part 7

What a week! Last week at this time, we had a messed up blue room, no props, no wardrobe, no nothing! I'm happy to announce that we have the right color blue in the bedroom, most of our props and wardrobe for Emmitt! This was brought to us in part by Drew's family, my family, an antique shop whose name I need to get, teamwork and collaboration! I was getting pretty nervous about getting everything, but it's falling into place.

Last week, when Naomi and I went out to the house to finish painting, I made the blue room worse instead of fixing it. I tested the blue on an illustration board then I did a brown wash over it, I thought it was going to work out pretty well! I forgot to take into account the texture of the plaster walls...I also did not apply the wash very evenly, making it a hot mess. I fixed my mistake by repainting the room because my mistake shouldn't affect the project. All my actions must serve the project.


On Wednesday, we set out to work on the house. Heather and I painted the front door, started the exterior windows, and linoleum-ized the nasty counter.

Ali and I went thrifting a few times over the weekend and week trying to get Emmitt's clothes together. Ali is a master thrifter. She can spot the perfect pieces across the store. I'm so glad she was with me. Teamwork wins again! 

We're still missing work boots/wife beater in terms of Emmitt's costume.

The Tragedy at Emmitt Whistle's: Pre-Production Part 5

We painted most of the house last Friday and I saw way too many spiders. Here's a photo Phil Garrett, our professor, took of Heather (Art Director) and me when we were painting the kitchen:

Now that I've seen the space and received a floorplan from Drew, I was able to draw up some sketches of the space. I'm starting to map out where different props will go.

The first go around of sketches:

Quick color studies I did last week: 

 

The blue paint I picked out was deceiving! It was a lot brighter than anticipated. I tried some test swatches at home this week to see if we can stain the wall with tea or do a brown wash over it to neutralize it. 

I grew up living in an old farmhouse and when we moved in, we found an old refrigerator in the basement. I fell in love with it. I had so many plans for this fridge! I was even going to turn it into a bookshelf at one point. However, my parents always wanted to get rid of it, but I begged them to keep it because I would use it someday I promised. We had that conversation many times throughout my life and a couple weeks ago, I called up my Mom and told her I finally had a use for the refrigerator!

 So in a few weeks, my mom and sister will be coming to Ohio with the beautiful refrigerator in tow. 

We have the fridge and now just need everything else! 

The Tragedy at Emmitt Whistle's: Pre-Production Part 4

We have a location and it's perfect!! I am SO happy. It needs some loving though. I went out with our Director, Drew Theiss, on Wednesday to the location to get some measurements, pick paint colors, and keep cleaning everything.

I made a budget or a guess-timation really. I've made plenty of budgets before, but none so vague as this one. It's unsettling. I don't like the ambiguity of it. 

We have a costume designer now who assures me she's great with a small budget! She's very passionate and I think she's a great addition to the team. 

Balancing time is definitely hard for me, actually that's not the real problem. I have a hard time setting limits for myself. I don't like to say no to opportunities and I've had to do that quite a bit lately, but this project is the most important thing to me and I won't sacrifice it at the expense of anything. I'm sacrificing other things instead, but I think it's worth it.

A few weeks ago I started gathering images for reference boards because visual reference is the best kind of reference. It'll make our lives easier when out shopping for furniture and props, we'll know exactly what type of styles and shapes to look for. It can also be posted and shared with friends and families because I think if we can borrow a lot of the props it would be best. If I say, "we need a table," everyone is going to come up with a thousand different styles of tables, but if I show you a picture and say, "I need a table that looks like this," we're going to have much more consistency. 


The Art Department has to kick it into full gear these upcoming weeks. Here are the tasks I've assigned us to do for the weekend:

Art Department Game Plan

Ania: 
Mood Board for Jasper

Mood Board for Stranger
Mood Board for Doctor

Mood Board for Fabrics: curtains, rugs, blankets, sheets (look at 40s and 50s patterns & styles)

Heather:  Light fixtures are the most important for Friday. 

Reference sheets for props & sets
   Living room: toys, light fixtures, 

   Kitchen: utensils, appliances, dishes, (stuff that would be in the kitchen, patterns and shapes of the dishes, etc.) 

   Study: bookshelves,  chairs

Alexis:
Budget Estimate

Breakdown Files into Movie Magic 

Finalize paint colors (talk to Phil after budget approval about purchasing)

List of repairs for house

For Monday:

Ania:

Storyboard progress? (I know you're working on them, but I would talk to Hunter about them.)
Location Reference (take the photos from Facebook and arrange them in a collage)

Heather:

Reference sheets for prop & sets 

  Dining room: tables, kitchen table/chairs, 

  Entrance: Picture frames, curtains

Alexis:

Set design sketches for each room (top, perspective- 2 angles)

  Kitchen

  Dining room

  Living room

  Entrance

  Study

  Bedroom

Finish Breakdown Files into Movie Magic