Diary of Production - Pre Production

Yeah, I shot the movie already. I'm starting the post phase now. But I'll still post a short diary of production. Let's pretend I'm still shooting the film :P

A little pre-production intro: the casting went great, got amazing actors! I got some really cool locations: a restaurant and a house in East LA, perfect for this scenario. The house belongs to a Mexican Family, with the nicest family guy ever! Julio, thanks so much for your help!
I also got a really cool place to shoot the drug deal scene: an industrial lab, full of airplane turbines and engines.
Also, I'll be shooting in a catholic (!!!) school in Downtown LA. I'm glad they never asked for the script, otherwise they wouldn't allow me to shoot there...
Finally, the other gang's house: I'm doing a shot there, that I have in my head for almost two years. This was actually the shot that originated the whole feature movie, so it needs to be perfect!!! I have a steadicam shot going on, music, sex and drugs! What else could anyone ask for?!

Actually, there's some nice stories about this scene... I had to cast for nude extras, and believe me qhen I tell you, I had a lot of weird submissions... Girls, they were mostly porn actresses. But guys... oh man.. I had an actor telling me: "I just want to let you know that I might get a huge boner.. I haven't had a girl in a while, so I'm gonna be pretty excited with being with a naked chick.. is that a problem?"
Oh yeah, professionalism above all....
Oh, he didn't get the part.

I got two producers: Jenn and Nicole. Incredibly, I never managed to get them to meet before the shoot. So basically we were doing the same things, dealing with the same problems, and both producers never met. But we made it work!

Getting permits was a pain... The city required cops for the night shoots, but I just couldn't afford them... So I had to change my shooting times, into "regular shooting hours" - 7am to 10pm. Or at least that's what I told Film LA...

Another great news! Three friends from Portugal decided to join me to help me! Ricardo Guedes and Joao Sousa came to LA do to sound, and Antonio Morais decided to come help me with lighting! Great great help guys!

Besides spending a lot of money on gas, location scouting, meeting with people, etc, pre-production went pretty smooth. I felt I was ready to go! Let the shoot come!

CAST:

Emilio: Danny Molina
Alex: Julian Chapell
Cecilia: Gloria Sandoval
Fernando: Alejandro Edda
Carlos: Andrew Millan
Alli: Heather Tocquigny
Villanueva: Eloy Mendez
Gang member 1: Rob Martinez
Gang member 2: Rob Macias
Gang member 3: Eliezer Ortis
Girl 1 and 2: Victoria de Mare
Girl 3: Christine Lee


CREW:

Producer: Jenn Rindler and Nicole Exposito
Director/DP: Frederico Beja
Assistant Director: Mike Maguire
Camera Operator: Jordan Roberts
1st AC: Chris Summers
Gaffer: Alvaro Serna
Electric: Antonio Morais
Key Grip: Chris Gibbons
Grip: Temitayo Boroffice
Sound Mixer: Ricardo Guedes
Sound Boomer: Joao Sousa
Make Up: Samantha Ward
Steadicam Operator: Javier Costa
Fight Coordinator: Jack Huang


EQUIPMENT

Camera: RED One
Lenses: Zeiss Glass, Arri barrels, Super Speed Primes: 16mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mn
Fischer Dolly
Porta Glide Jib Arm
Lighting: 1200 HMI; 575 HMI; Mole Richardson 2K Junior; 3x Mole 1k Babies; 2x Mole 650; 2x Mole 300; 2x Kino Flos
Grip stuff - flags, silks, nets, frames, solids, bla bla bla...