mise-en-scène

Saturday morning, the morning before Xmass eve, Jac and Simonne ventured to the location to do some scouting. There was no one at the Eco Resort, Christmas time, so the duo sneaked in to take a look at what the big land looks like at this point in time.

Not a big change from what it was like in 2013, the last time our team was there, fortunately, all the interesting things that Jac remembered were in place, he wasn’t clear of the details in his memories so he was eager to see for himself if what he though could be used for the film was as he had it in his brain.

One of the places he was thinking of was an area way below the spot where some scenes in Dead But Dreaming were filmed, where there’s a construction that could be used as the spot where the Crucified Three will be scourged mercilessly.

From Jac’s perspective that day, he saw that the construction is very convenient for the purposes of the film. The stables like construction is bare and it could easily be transformed into anything the director’s imagination can muster, and right across it there’s a nice flat area that can be the setting for the crucifixion. It’s nice and flat, up to a point, and there are great views all around it.

Another area he loved is one he thought of as a probable area to be used as the ‘temple/market’ place. He was immensely happy to see that is was practically all set, it only needs some interesting decor with linen, leather and other appropriate textiles, as well as cardboard, plywood and other like materials to create walls, backgrounds, and so on; a tower in the background can be easily decorated to look like the temple area. There are some interesting walls that can be transformed.

Jac and Simonne talked at length about the potential of the location. Jac was happy to tell her that he has all he needs for the film and that the trip itself was illuminating. It was long, very long. It takes over an hour to get there from where they met to take the bus, which is not downtown, but it is centric.

But the journey itself was not easy. They took a ‘minibus‘ most of the way, then they had to take another ‘minibus‘ to reach another area in the way, and finally they took a taxi that took them to the very spot, waited for them to take them back all the way to the far away station of the “Teleferico” for them to go to their respective homes. It was pretty complicated.

The question was how to get all the extras, bits and day players to be at the location in time? The solution was obvious, renting a bus and setting up three areas along the way to pick them up, the same bus would take them back to their chosen stops, everyday, after they were done with their scenes.

The transportation cost for the extras will go into the budget as soon as we get the costs of the bus rental per either trip, or day, or whatever is the best solution and price.

The principal cast and crew will lodge in the very nice, ecological, comfortable ‘cabañas‘ at the resort during the entire production. That will give the team the chance to work at a steady and fast pace, all day and night.

Another important issue that was settled was that of the crosses. Although Jac didn’t decided the exact spot where to build them, he got an idea of the general area. He knows what he needs, and, interestingly enough, there’s a timber market on the route to the location that sells logs, of all sizes, and cuts them to order. That means that he can go there just before the production, buy the wood he needs, have them cut to his instructions and voila, ready.

So, the Location Scouting Mission was a huge success! Next step, locking dates and organizing the ‘building’ of the sets.

How are the orders for the costumes, crosses, and other props for the Seditiosa film progressing?
wanttoknowmore

We have one person, our production manager, getting all the estimates from the people that will make the props, like the swords, lances, and others. She’s also going over the materials we have and we need for the costumes. The funds from the IndieGoGo campaign have not been disbursed yet, we expect them to be in our account next week, according to the information in their page. As soon as the money is in our hands, we’ll proceed to contract the people, give the advances and so forth.

The crosses is a different matter. They have to be partly built in the location. A week or so before the shooting of the movie starts, he’ll go to the timber place with a couple of people who will be in charge of building the set, he’ll buy the wood and have it transported to the location, which is 5 minutes away.

It will take a couple of days to set those crosses up, test them and so on. We’ll have video of the actual setting up and testing with the actresses. It will be fun. They will carry their logs, go up the crosses, test their capacity to withstand the stress, we’ll figure out the set up, sedile, no sedile, all that jazz. We’ll have a pretty good idea how it will all work.

By that time we’ll have the entire cast, costumes, props and so on and so forth. The date for the shooting will be set and we’ll begin the production of the film.

The first week of January we’re shooting a scene for 69 with crowds at a club. We’re using the occasion to cast all the extras we need in Seditiosa. We’ll have them all right there for two or three days.