Official Multimedia Production Blog
Yay for some screen captures from Dr. Hedd!
A teaser trailer may ensue.
Wow… I can’t believe we finished. Sorry for the lack of updates, but it’s been a busy, chaotic semester. I worked of four flicks other than my own (one which should have counted as ten) in addition to maintaining ye olde GPA in both English and Film. Whew.
The shoot? Oh, yeah. It was a synecdochal representation of the rest of this crazy, crazy semester. My cast and crew endured some long hours, harsh temperatures (not a joke, even though we were indoors), and a few crew members are probably still experience PTS episodes.
I don’t even know where to begin, but in a nutshell:
Anyway, the dailies came out beautifully and the real editing will begin within the next week or so. I’m still syncing the last of it, but I’ll post a few clips when I get the chance. (Nothing before the actors get their DVDs of some dailies, though!)
We have less than a week left until the shoot. While I’ve been alternating between curling up in a fetal position and running in circles around my living room in excitement, my lovely A.D. Justine and 2nd A.D. Jacqui, and of course producer Amanda, have been working to keep this shoot on-schedule and in control.
What’s been done?
I’m about to go to the first full-cast rehearsal. Can’t wait!
Cast and crew are LOCKED! I’m ecstatic. I’ve never had a production where I was SO enthralled with every single person working on it. The cast is amazing, the crew is both talented and friendly, and Amanda is producing all of our lives on top of the film.
And rumor has it we might have a location locked by Monday!!!!!
The one casualty in all of this? My favorite character, Billy’s best friend Willy, has been demoted to a background artist. He will be missed by “Team Willy,” who fought so hard to keep him as supporting role.
So, we had our first 4 hours of casting today. Very exciting! Sixteen extremely talented actors showed up, and there should be many more next weekend. We’re already having an extremely hard time choosing (expect fistfights soon!)
Special thanks to Amanda and Justine for sitting through my ridiculous adjustments and to Lexie for dealing with the meanies in the printing lab!
So I’ve started my favorite part of the pre-production process (maybe even more so than the writing): casting. I think auditions are a wonderful way to meet incredibly talented people, and it’s the first time I get a chance to see the characters of the script come alive.
We’ve (Producer Amanda, A.D. Justine, and I) already received 208 headshot submissions… after only publishing one breakdown! I’m expecting a lot more once we add the breakdowns to a few more publications.
This weekend we’ll start having people come in to read. Eek! I can’t believe this is happening so quickly! Now if only we could find a hospital… (We’re open to suggestions!!)
As promised, there’s a new layout on the main “Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper” website, featuring the new logo.
Let me know if there’s any glitches with the site.
In other news, semi-related to the film, I went to the copy shop today to print more hard copies of the “Dr. Hedd” prospectus (links to a PDF). It took an hour longer than any visit to make copies should take. You see, I seem to suffer from an acute case of what I like to call indecision-papier. The clerk handed me an entire pamphlet of every weight, texture, and color of paper you’ve never thought of. I looked at her as if she was insane.
“I’m not planning a wedding here.”
“Oh, then just plain copy paper?”
“You think? Jeesh ….. Wait. Oooooh. Is that robin’s egg blue?”
After sixty more minutes of trying to discern the difference between ivory and off-white and running my sweater sleeve up and down the sample spiral binding to make sure it didn’t catch (it did), I finally decided on plain white 20lb copy paper, no staples please.
Needless to say, it felt like the first time I did my own laundry… Freshman year of college. Second semester.
Here’s the new layout for this blog, featuring a logo we’ll be using until a) somebody (not me) draws something better or b) I get some production photos that will work better. Anyone receiving a prospectus will recognize the logo from the cover page. Also, it will be featured on the still-somber-looking website shortly to lighten up the mood over there.
A few updates on how pre-production is going:
I’m also starting to do more concept drawings, sketch some rough storyboards, and will be meeting with my lovely producer Amanda to get the ball rolling on several other pre-production projects.
If you’re looking for me, I’ll probably be one of those jerks at the Astor Place Starbucks who is hunched over a screenplay or doodling camera moves on napkins.
At least I’m not one of those pretentious ones at Think Cafe. (Ok, I do go there for my lit. papers… which might be worse.)
I’m happy to announce that we’re officially accepting your tax-deductible donations to “Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper.” Here’s the low-down from our official website’s donations page:
Making a short film is never an easy task. As “Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper” enters production, the cost of film stock, equipment rentals, art direction, transportation, craft services, and other related expenses will need to be met. This unique opportunity for a team of student filmmakers to tackle the technical and artistic challenges of creating a cinematic portrait of life and death will be impossible without outside financial help.
We appreciate your tax-deductible donations, whether they be in the form of funds or supplies. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail the director at talia@fauxboheme.com.
“Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper” is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of “Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper” may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Please send contributions to Talia Mazzarella at 400 Broome St., Apt. 902A, New York, NY 10013.
Checks should be made payable to Fractured Atlas, with “In behalf of ‘Dr. Hedd and the Grim Reaper’” in the memo line.
You can also donate online by going to this website.
Sound easy? It is! And it’s perfect timing for a last-minute 2007 tax deduction! As stated above, I will be extremely grateful for any help I can get. We’re especially in need of craft services (i.e. food!) for our shoot days, so if you’re a restaurant in the NYC area go ahead and contact us!
If you don’t want to donate money or goods, there are plenty of other ways to help. While these won’t give you a tax deduction, they’ll certainly give you good karma:
Again, I can’t express enough thanks for the support I’ve already received. My crew is beginning to come together and I am amazed at how much effort they’ve put in while this project is still taking its first baby steps.
Halloween is over… at least, officially. I’m still munching on last night’s candy.
Since I’ve posted more about Death, I thought I’d mention the real protagonist of the film, Dr. Hedd. I put a lot of consideration into how I wanted to shape Dr. Hedd’s character. As his name not-so-subtly implies, he is a man driven by science and logic who works in a world that crosses paths with the concept of death and all of the non-scientific aspects of that concept.
As a cardiologist who works directly with his patients, he can’t help but deal with the more “blurry” psychological, emotional, and even spiritual responses to the constant presence of Death in his ward. My main concern when I was writing the script is how to shape Dr. Hedd’s own response to Death in a way that was comedic, genuine, and exploratory all at once… without offending actual doctors.
A reader of my script commented, “I don’t think actual doctors are going to like this.” After all, in the course of the story Dr. Hedd does some morally ambiguous things (no, I won’t spoil the surprises), at times even seeming negligent of his duties. As my mom said: “How can he be doing all this when he has three dying patients waiting for him?”
I think I decided two things very early on: Firstly, that Dr. Hedd was not perfect. As cool-headed, smart, and mature as he seemed, he would do things in response to Death’s constant hampering that were far from ideal. I felt this was much more realistic than the “perfect” doctor who always knew just want to do. That brings me to my second decision: This was not reality… Or anything close to it, really. I mean, c’mon. The plot centers around a Grim Reaper that walks around a hospital ward cracking one-liners all day. So I didn’t mind pushing things to the extreme, exaggerating characters’ actions not to create caricatures, but to create cinematic representations of what might seem mundane in real life.
So Dr. Hedd is not a real doctor, “ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Just as Magritte’s pipe represented, well, representation rather than a pipe, Dr. Hedd represents a mind-driven society much more than he represents health professionals.
