So for the movie LASERGUN I wanted to try an experiment.
I have always enjoyed the twists and turns that improvisation can produce but hated that it was generally great moments that were separated by imperfect or sloppy moments as well, so I had an plan; I wanted to transcribe improvisation and only keep the good parts and then transform what was left into a script.
On November 8th I gathered a handful of actors in my apartment and gave then the freedom to take a story anywhere they wanted. I coached the work from the side, sometimes suggesting that they go here or there with their improv, but for the most part it was up to them.
I had introduced the idea of a a homemade lasergun and one of my friends had already started building the prop. The group came up with some incredible stuff.
After the work was transcribed and edited, we met on the 15th for a read-through of the script. Some people had created more than one character in the improvisation so we had to bring on some more actors to fill the extra roles.
Finally, over the 18, 19 , and 20th of November, we shot a full feature script. We had such a tight shooting schedule because I was trying to do the feature for absolutely no money, which was not achieved, and one of my co-producers and DP, Matthew Bray, was able to come up with a free crew fro three days.
Yes we had an 18 hour day. Yes, at one point we all got really loopy and started singing songs while replacing the lyrics with references to poop, but in the end, the important thing to remember is that we shot a movie in just three days.
We operated with two matching HVX cameras so that we could get though the whole thing while shooting twice as fast.
Now the editing begins...
Many thanks to the amazing cast and fantastic crew. I would go through and name them all, but I am typing this at five in the morning and my eyes are burning.
The whole idea came from a challenge that I made to Jay Stern, my friends and co-producer of Iron Mule. I gave him a year to shoot a feature and somehow he ended up with nothing with three months to go on th clock. I jumped in the bet as well. The stakes were that if we have not both shot a feature by Feb 2010, then we would both host the show naked.
So, if we had three months, why did we both shoot our movies so quickly? Uh... because we're dumb.
Hey, this is Svetlana (Esve from the City Of Spheres, the tall Russian chick from open mic on Monday, and I was there with Mike). Remember I said I had a friend who knows Final Cut and is looking to improve his skills with editing so he could maybe help you out? Well I talked to him and he'd like to see a clip of this, but somehow my google skills are failing and I can't find one...can you send me a link to a clip that I can show him? My address is cityofspheres at yahoo dot com.
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