Well, hi kids. Long time no blog.

So, it's almost Thanksgiving. Are you done yet? And why aren't you calling/e-mailing/smoke-signalling me back?

Wellll, I've been busy as hell, I'm afraid, and except for my screenwriting, my life has slowed to an amoeba's crawl. (That's slow, brothers and sisters.)

But anyway, here's where we stand. The visual cut is done, finished, complete. I'm pretty happy with it now, though I re-edited the film six times. I'm still a perfectionist, I should've re-edited another six, but I think I can live with it, especially with the limitations of the ridiculously complicated shoot I threw upon all of you. (Thanks for that, BTW.)

So, in the little time I have to work on the film now, I'm working on the sound pass, which I'm going to leave a bit minimalistic but evocative. I'm hoping to tell the story as much through soundtrack dynamics as through chirpy happy birdies in park scenes.

No, I'm not actively seeking the composer yet. (The Bay Area composer I mentioned before is very talented, but was simply too busy to work this into his schedule. Oh well.) But I intend to have the full piece done and in your hands in time for a nice Santy Claus project.

Yeah, I love you too.

Circumspectly yours,
Dimitri

Hey Dimitri, are you frigging done yet?

Working on it, working on it...in the midst of the insanely, insanely, insanely difficult scene 13 right now. It's four times as long as any scene in the film and has literally ten times the cuts. Crrrrrazzzy.

I'm talking with a noted Bay Area ambient musician on scoring our little masterpiece, but I don't want to say too much before it happens. You all will, of course, be the first to know...

Timelessly (as in, losing track of time),

Dimitri

Gosh Dimitri, where the blankety-blank have you been? Ignoring us? That figures, big shot.

No, no, no, I'm wounded! What I've actually been doing is - after a proper week of losing my mind and other recreational cooling-down - starting to put together the rough cut of this mother. It's an interesting process, because no matter what you see on the set, or even viewing the footage the first couple of times, it's all irrelevant once you have to actually put the puzzle together. Performances that are wonderful suddenly don't fit because the movements in one shot another you'd be cutting to. Or the dialogue is just different enough to cause transition problems. Or that genius facial expression you see in one shot leads into an entirely different and unusable genius facial expression. Or you got the fucking lights in that shot. Yes folks, it's all about the creativity.

But one trudges on and finds the gems all of you have provided, and just as importantly, the choices that will form the backbone of the film's momentum. Thanks to your professionalism, it's going well, I'm finding my cuts and moving the story along. My technique is a little random; I don't like to edit in sequence. I much prefer to work on scenes as I'm feeling the spirit move me. With that in mind, the first scene I did was scene 12, the massive kitchen blow-up, and I finished the visual cut last night. It turned out pretty well; of course, it'll need sound and especially music to sell it to an audience, but the passion was there and I appreciate it.

I've moved on to the movie theater sequences, scenes 2-4. I should have those done in a few days. What's really cool about those scenes is I get to use my post-production toolkit with abandon. For instance, all the scenes have now been darkened and had a realistic movie flicker glow from the screen that didn't actually exist on Day One. So many little things that were impossible to do a few years ago, it's barely a second thought now. Amazing.

So, you may be wondering about the technical stuff (or: Where Did Dimitri Blow It?). Well, I think we got very lucky as far as the visuals were concerned; I may need one or two inserts from the cast, but most of the reshooting will actually be pick-up shots; the mobile, better shots of the tickets, things where I'll run off by myself with a camera and polish off. I'll also spend an afternoon or two collecting appropriate sound effects. Sound is a little dicier, but for the most part, I think I can use what we got, with a couple of exceptions, chiefly involving the car scene we shot on the last Sunday. I hate glare, don't you? Otherwise, I think you're free of the Dimitri-pest.

But anyway...it's all dandy and moving ahead, far enough along that I can contemplate my next steps. When I'm not editing, I'm spending my free time writing - either my current feature, or more short subjects. I'm writing a piece called Kismet Kate, and I've expanded my next short Consequences of Falling by a couple of roles, which some of you are already involved in. Yes, I'm trying to get as many of you involved in my future projects as possible. You all blew me away. You'll be hearing from me.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I hope you're all doing great, and I hope we can get together some night for dinner or a movie night out or something. I cherish all of you.

Saucily,
Dimitri

Yum yum! Anyone up for some hot new pics of the final weekend's shoot, straight off the griddle?















Your editor-in-chief,

Dimitri

Before I get too mushy and sentimental, I have something fairly cool to show you...anyone wanna see the poster?

MomentFuture poster

Ciao baby,
Dimitri

Well, hope you all got my messages last night, but if not, to reiterate: today at Abigail's house, 9 to 4, and then off to Hamilton Creek Marina at Percy Priest Lake (for those of you who will be involved in the driving shots). Please bring costumes for the kitchen, decoupage, first bedroom and (just in case) the driving scene (which will be whatever you were for the movie theater/city street scene.

Somnescently yours,
Dimitri

Okay folks, forecast is SERIOUSLY mixed for the morning, could have T-storms, at the least lots of heavy clouds. So this is the backup plan as it stands now for Saturday:

Saturday morning, 10 AM. Meet at Abigail's house. We will proceed to shoot the kitchen and the decoupage scenes. Then about 4 PM or so, Robert, Demetriss and some of the crew will head to our lakeside location to shoot the driving scenes. You will probably have about two hours to rest and prep for the bedroom scene, so you may want to take your meal break, prepare, or leave until the next call at 7:30 PM Saturday evening will then proceed as scheduled.

I will let you know more as the weather schedule permits. Please expect a phone call from me tonight.

Thunderously (and lighningish too),
Dimitri

Okay, here we goooooooo, one more tiiiiime...

This weekend's shoot will be as follows:

Saturday morning (Robert and Demetriss) at Percy Priest Lake. 10 AM-1 PM. Scene 4, Sylvie and Steven drive by a body of water. I will give directions personally tomorrow; however, be aware that the forecast is for RAIN. Rain, I say. I expect anti-rain chants from each and every one of you and there will be a quiz.

Saturday afternoon/evening, 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM. (Robert, Demetriss, Abigail, Tabitha, Monica and Elle) This will take place at Abigail's very lovely house in Murfreesboro, and will consist of the kitchen scene and the decoupage scene in the afternoon, pickup shots for the four women in the driving scene, and in the evening, the first bedroom scene.

Sunday morning, 10:00 AM to 1 PM. (Robert, Rachael and Patrick) Our final scene of the production, and our return to our favorite street in Franklin. Our intrepid cast drives and discusses everything that's happened in Robert's crazy little mind today, and out of the blender comes something, um, reassuring and uplifting. Yay! Cookies for everyone!

I hope you're all ready for this, our biggest weekend of the production, the humdinger, the swing for the fences, the humunga cowabunga from down unda... I'm so proud of all of you and look forward to wrapping this sucker up with a pretty bow. Yep.

Your president of the Lola Falana Fan Club,
Dimitri

You cats rock my world, you know that? Every nutty scene and circumstance I've thrown at you, you've responded with professionalism and talent, and even when we're running behind - and I know, seems like we're always running behind - the mood is happy and pleasant and everything that I hope a set can be. We're doing an incredibly difficult thing with the Steven/Syvlie scenes, which is essentially, shooting five movies at once...but none of you have been anything but completely enthusiastic. Thanks.

Yesterday was probably our smoothest day yet all around, with everyone pitching in to get the job done, performances on mark, and the technical stuff turning out better than expected. Next week will bring principal photography to a close, and while I'll be sad to break up the production, you've already given me amazing gifts of your time and new memories. But first...we have to get through Saturday. :)

Saturday will be THE monster day of production, with massive technical and emotional challenges. We start off with the scene in Sylvie's car, move onto the decoupage scene (the requirements of which I will be discussing with Lorie and Demetriss tomorrow), spend time on the emotionally harrowing kitchen breakup scene, and then climax the day with the first bedroom scene in Sylvie's apartment (with wonderful mobiles! High score on the groovy thank-o-meter to Rachael for providing a lovely one last week, and more are absolutely welcomed). Then Sunday, we finish the photography with the scene in Lacy's car, which may be shot back in Franklin, depending on whether or not we need a second lane for certain shots. As always, more details as the week goes by.

Now, as has become our little tradition, a glimpse of the footage from yesterday's shoot:





Your Captain Sunburn,
Dimitri

Drumroll maestro...



Get directions

We'll be shooting at Sevier Park from 9AM to 12 Noon. For those I haven't talked to yet, wear something that would be suitable for a nice but not too fancy picnic. That's it...you may want to bring sunscreen and/or bug repellant if you feel the need. That'll be it and see you there!

Forest Ranger Dimitri

Quick note from the house management: new script draft and shooting schedule has been posted. You know where to look, n'est ce-pas?

Watch this space for more groovy specificosity. Meanwhile, I have some more footage to play around with. I love this computer editing stuff!

Anal-retentively,
Dimitri

Wellllll...we are carefully monitoring the weather right now, and at this point, it looks like it's going to be 50/50 in terms of a chance of rain. I am going to play it safe and assume that it IS going to rain. For those of you scheduled to shoot - Robert, Demetriss, Abigail, Tabitha, Monica and Laura - please stay tuned the next day or so, most likely this evening. I am going to write out the veranda scene and replace it with a different scene that will be less dependent on location. I will apprise all of you of the locations by this evening or tomorrow morning.

(And yes, to answer your question, all of the women should know Sylvie's lines. :) I will consult with Lorie on any revised prop needs by tonight.)

Your friendly meteorologist,
Dimitri

Well, all the footage from our first days of shooting has now been safely digitized and placed in the Dimitri LaBarge Memorial Vault (tm) on my hard drive. I gave you a little taste from day one's shooting yesterday...now here's a little bit more from Sunday's shoot in lovely downtown Franklin (for which we could not have dreamed of better weather):




















Yours in Cinemascope,
Dimitri

What. a. day. It was quite a marathon for most of us, but we managed to tough through it and produce some fine scenes. Hope today's scenes prove at least as fun and successful!

But for now, the first photos from Scene 2:







Blearily but boldly,
Dimitri

Great news to all the patient crew and cast out there: we have finally secured a location for Saturday night's shooting. Hurray! The fabulous friend of the production Jennifer Hayes has graciously lent her house for shooting scenes 7 and 9 Saturday night (starting at 8 PM). The street address is:

7491 Stacy Drive, Bellevue, TN (there will be an amber light that says 108)

Exact driving directions will follow tonight and I will discuss with the participating cast tonight or tomorrow. Now, I know this location is out of the way for some of you, and it may be unfamiliar territory. Here's what I propose...if enough of you are interested, I can rent a minivan tonight and have it ready for cast and crew transporation for the weekend. In fact, due to the somewhat unknown status of parking in the Franklin area at this point, I'd be happy to ferry whoever would like to come to my house in the morning, and we could all just drive as a group. A thought, perhaps? Let me know.

How are you all feeling? Nervous, excited, chewing your nails? I hope you ALL have a great time tomorrow -- it's really a rare honor to get to do something we all love, and I hope you take away a marvelous experience and warm memories. Myself, I feel great and just hope I don't puke. :)

Your American Bandstand,
Dimitri

Well, long time no update, but you'll be relieved to know our time is being spent productively, making sure all the little production details are nailed down, checking all the critical (and not-so-critical) pieces of equipment, last minute scheduling changes and even location searches (and if anyone knows of a house with a dining room and bedroom that could be donated Saturday post-haste, why, don't hesitate to contact me)...

Anyway, thought I would give all of you a preview of our upcoming weekend's shooting by posting our official shot list. This is going to be an incredible weekend, as it combines both our most irreplaceable location on Saturday, with our single most complicated scene on Sunday. But it's all fun, right?? It's all available for your clickery-type convenience on the left sidebar.

I'm sure I will be talking to all of you multiple times in the next two days. Hope you're all getting psyched and thanks to all of you for being such an amazing cast and crew! I'm really honored to be doing this film with you. April 12th, here we come!!

Your frazzled ringmaster,
Dimitri

Thanks to all of you who've been incredibly patient waiting for the location of Sunday night's rehersal (6-9 PM). We've settled on Bongo After Hours once again. I've emailed all of you several options to deal with the parking snafu we got into; if you want to park at my house and drive you over, just call me or e-mail me to let me know. See ya there!

Your Librarian of Congress,
Dimitri

Well, my friends, today was one of the biggest days that we've yet had on the production. First, a warm, warm welcome to Monica Williams, who has agreed to portray THIRD WOMAN, and in doing, completes our principal cast. Thanks to all of you for making the time commitment that will make this project a success - as always, you're all deeply valued and your effort is appreciated.

Second, an adjustment will be made on our planned rehearsals. Some of our principal cast will be unable to attend, which will make a proper rehearsal not feasible. However, I would still like the rest of us to have a good production meeting to detail specific requirements, complete paperwork (yep, those damnable release forms), and perhaps focus on specific performances - I believe we will have Demetriss and all Four Women present, so this may be an excellent time to workshop how your performances will interact with each other. The location of this meeting will be announced tomorrow, honest...

I will make specific time all week for those of you who would like more time for rehearsal. Please note that once shooting begins, I encourage us all to get together during the week, as a group or individually, to rehearse scenes for the upcoming weekend's shooting, so please don't panic if the fine points of the performances aren't completely in place for your later scenes. I promise to give you the attention you need to feel comfortable about your performances.

NOW...onto the really great news. We have DEFINITELY secured permission to shoot at the Franklin Cinemas right in the middle of downtown Franklin. We're very lucky, as it has been somewhat difficult to find a theater that's receptive to the needs of a for-the-love-of-it production like ours, and I want to express my gratitude to manager Mark Wright for being a strong supporter of the efforts of independent filmmaking. At any rate, new shooting schedules and call sheets are now available on the left side of the page; times are now LOCKED barring any unforeseen event. Please make a careful note of all information as our time at this location on Saturday the 12th is EXTREMELY LIMITED. One thing not mentioned in the sheets; since this is downtown Franklin, parking *may* be somewhat limited. I encourage all of you who can share transportation to consider doing so. We will also be shooting our exteriors at this location on Sunday, April 13th.

Thanks to all of you who have made the journey this far. I hope it will continue to be fun and satisfying!

Your electronic male,
Dimitri

LOCATION OF FRANKLIN CINEMAS:



GET DIRECTIONS FROM YOUR LOCATION
Click Here To Get Directions

Hi mes amis, hope you're having a great week and getting psyched for our project. Hopefully you're not getting as wheezy as I am from the lovely nuclear spring pollination ritual...

Just a couple of minor updates for today...I've updated the shooting schedule to accomodate some of your requests. First of all, I've moved the planned evening scene from April 19th to April 26th. Hopefully, this will give those of you with Easter plans a more flexible schedule. Also, I've flipped the planned shooting schedules on April 26th and April 27th. Scene 4 (Steven's Car) will now be shot on April 26th, and Scene 14 (Lacy's Car). I hope these changes will help accommodate our friends with encroaching commitments.

Speaking of schedules, please block out the following times FOR CERTAIN:

April 12th - 7:30 am - 1 pm; 8:00 pm - 11:30 pm
April 13th - 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

I will update the call sheets shortly; until then, please refer to the one currently up to see if you'll be needed on these days.

Stay tuned in the next day or so for an announcement of a rehearsal site, new crew and cast additions, and (keep your fingers crossed), announcing a major location...

Your red-nosed reindeer,
Dimitri

Just wanted to thank everyone for the terrific turnout at tonight's rehearsals, which to me were a total success. I hope all of you who participated got a much better feeling of what I'm looking for, and are feeling more comfortable with your characters and the script. I'm looking forward to our next rehearsals, Sunday, April 6th, at 6 PM. Location will be announced, but at this time, it's looking like it will NOT be at Bongo Java (though they've treated us absolutely wonderfully and have been most welcoming and helpful; we'll be using them for other productions in the future).

This will be a busy week for the momentFuture team. The production crew is going to be nailing down the hard nuts'n'bolts of practical production, especially locations and scheduling. I will have another casting to announce, this time for Third Woman, in the next day or so; just finalizing the details on that one.

Incidentally, if anyone has any contacts with the Watkins staff, please drop me a note and let me know...we may be using their screening room facilities if we can talk to someone and reach an accommodation. If you can get us in, I promise to get you a momentFuture t-shirt and my undying gratitude. That goes for anyone who can find us a waterfront property to shoot at as well. Fair enough?

Your wine steward,
Dimitri

Update: I'm pleased to announce that J.P. McNeely is joining our cast as Sylvie's Boyfriend. I'm sure he'll be a fine fit with our happy production.

For those who'd like to just take a quick glance at what props are needed, I've now separated out the prop list in the downloads section. I've sorted it out by what dates certain props will be needed, so feel free to keep it as a reference.

Proppily yours,
Dimitri

Just a quick FYI: new shooting schedule and call sheet revisions have been posted. The shooting schedule now includes a much more detailed prop list; we would appreciate if everyone could go through it and see if there's something they could volunteer to bring. Please talk to Lorie at tonight's rehearsal if you have any suggestions or would like to contribute props.

The new call sheet features the first tentative call times for April 12-13; locations will be added as they are finalized. Right now, looks like there will be a morning shoot on April 12, then we'll let everyone off for the afternoon in preparation for evening scenes that night. April 13 will be a morning-early afternoon schedule.

By the way, if anyone would be willing to volunteer for set photographer duty, or knows someone willing to spend some time with us doing that, please let Abigail or myself know. Digital is fine for most of the time, and I have a Minolta X which will be fine for that purpose, but we could also use a proper film camera so we can have higher quality material for publicity, posters, etc.

See you at tonight's rehearsal!

Your secret admirer,
Dimitri

Okay, my friends, we have a go for rehearsal! We are confirmed for Sunday, March 30, at Bongo Java After Hours, 5:30-8:00. Let's all have dinner after, shall we?

Also, would everyone like to have a second rehearsal on Sunday, April 6th? It would probably be a little bit looser than Sunday's, but we may feel the need for it. At any rate, let's try to keep the date open, evening hours like this time, and see how we feel about needing it after this week's rehearsal. Thoughts? E-mail me.

By the way, specific things I'd like you to think about: character backgrounds, make up and costume ideas; Robert and Demetriss, I specifically want you to think about how to address the time changes inherent in your phase of the story. Clothes, hairstyle? We will also have detailed prop lists; I'd like everyone to volunteer to bring something for Lorie's prop basket. Also, I'd like the actors playing the Four Women to coordinate their performances with Demetriss very closely; I want those roles to all contain an echo of Sylvie.

That's it for now; go forth and do good...

Your captain of the flight deck,
Dimitri

By the way, if you scroll down the page and look on the left side, you can now find downloadable Acrobat files of all the key production documents, like the script, shooting schedule, call sheets and other more-than-slightly-important stuff. I promise to always have the most current version uploaded, so hopefully everyone can stay current and on the same page!

Innit this internet stuff to swoon for?

Your head geek,
Dimitri

Okay, due to very, very, very popular demand, we're moving rehearsals to another revised date [drumroll please]:

SUNDAY, MARCH 30 (that's THIS Sunday)
5:30 - 8:00 pm (tentative)

We also now have a confirmed location:

BONGO JAVA AFTER HOURS THEATER
(I won't give directions as I think all of you found your way there last week...)

Anyway, be thou there or be thou square...looking forward to a great session with my favorite actorish people! PLEASE let me know if this time just really hoses for you and we'll see what we can work out. Also, since we're moving it later, should we have dinner together after? (My treat.) Let me know your thoughts...

Your lead lion-tamer,
Dimitri

Okay everyone, we're still getting the location nailed down, but for now, the first rehearsals are set for:

SATURDAY, MARCH 29 (that's this Saturday)
1:30 - 4:00 pm

Most of you indicated that this should be an okay day for you, so let me know if there are any problems. I know a couple of you are a bit questionable, depending on other engagements, but please do try to come when you can and a lovely time will be had by all.

Your humble director,
Dimitri

Hi everyone, thanks for dropping in, and I'm really thrilled you're part of the production. Abigail, Robert, Demetriss, Rachael, Patrick, Tabitha, Elle, Gabe, Lorie, David, and Katie...thanks SO much. You're really going to make this project click on so many levels, however directly or indirectly you're contributing to this piece.

The first question of the day is, does anyone have any special food requirements? I'm putting together a list of prospective restaurants that might want to contribute to our enterprise for glory and screen credit, but I want to make sure any special dietary requirements are taken care of. If you do have anything we should know about, let myself or Lorie know post-haste, and we'll figure that into our foodie calculations.

Secondly...does anyone know anyone with a lakeside or other waterfront/riverside house, preferably one with a veranda view? This is the one key component of our locations we haven't really addressed yet. I can, of course, rewrite around any location limitations, but I'd really rather try to get the shots we put together for this in the first place. Let me know or drop Abigail a note if you have someone we can contact.

Oh yes, just for your handy reference, ths shooting dates, once again:

APRIL 12-13
APRIL 19
APRIL 26-27

Your intrepid director, over and out for now...

Well, this is it, folks...I'm tuning into the mighty blogosphere just in time for me to have zero spare time to update it. But lordy, bear with me, I'm going to try and make this worth your while.

No, really.