Prepping

I am scheduled for a shoot on late June and early July. And since I am also listed as a producer--the only producer--it means I have to do the prep work.

I have to find: location, equipment, and if my hunch is correct, do the foley work.

So as of next week, I will be in search of a high rise condo with an indoor fire exit (duh), preferably with a garbage chute (duh2) . Also, a nice digital camera with mondo editing capabilities.

We could do away with a home DV, but we've been weaned on the 4 Echo Sony DVs (200k, baby!) that we used at the workshop. The only friend I know that has it is Martin, who lives all the way in Baguio.

If i'm going to shoot there, I would use our family vacation house and write a script that would suit the area. Must take advantage of the mountains and the woods, and the creepy silent darkness found only in provinces after dark.

The director has already cast the actors, though we have no cameraman. The people we worked with at the workshop were tained pros, so I have no idea if we can pull off the same shots. With our luck, I might end up being the cameraman too.

Poor girl, not only do I make her run, but I make her scream in this short. The story is pretty freaky. I've pitched it to some classmates at the workshop and although I knew it was good, I didn't think it was that scary. Either I tell a good story or it really was chilling, I don't know.

Maybe they were humoring me.

Anyway, i've seen the actress that we've hired and hopefully she can scream. She was frigging scary when we made her a killer at the workshop short, but one thing I know, not everyone can deliver a bloodcurdling scream.

And "the scream" is essential.

We once had this oratorical contest (you would remember this, Xarra) when I was a senior where the whole class had to recite a play, poem, scene...or something. It had a cut to a scene where a blind girl was raped.

During the eliminations, we had a classmate playing the blindgirl scream. It had to be convincing, since our class didn't want to have any rape scenes (we were so PG 10), and the scream would have to provide a suffecient allusion.

And sufficient it was. Boy can that girl scream.

It was the most powerful, hair raising, bloodcurdling scream that I have ever heard. EVER. I think that's what got us through, her scream. It set the tone for everyone, and the judges were shocked into their seats.

Then a day before the event, she had larynghitis. She neither talked, sang, or screamed for a living, but for some reason her throat was sore mere hours before the main thing. She ended up joining me in the prop team (for the people busy with so much else and couldn't practice, since this was Activity Week for my school and I had 4 other projects to do)

Her last minute replacement delivered a pretty good scream. A decent scream. It was a scream worthy of her as a replacement. Heck, I can't scream like that, nor can other people.

But it wasn't as chilling, or bloodcurdling as...the other girl. When the other girl screamed...She had raw emotion behind that scream, and when she let it rip it sounded exactly like she was terrified.

Fortunately, it is not my job to motivate talent in any production, it's the director's.