The Crew so Far.

Hello readers, hope you all had a good week. I certainly did. To begn with I finished the 4th draft of the script! Yay! So thank you to all the readers who sent me personal messages of prodding and encouragement. You helped me get over the hump. With the forth draft done I've sent it out to my professional friends and colleagues who have been my springboard for critiquing the script. I'm anxiously awaiting their response so I can begin the 5th draft (for those of you new to the film making process, the screenplay is almost always never done. It sometimes gets refined up to the day of production or even on the set. I'm hoping to finalize before then though). I have already been given some great notes by one of my crew members, which allows me the excuse to introduce you to the crew of the film thus far.

My speedy note giver of the 4th draft is Jimmy Freeman. Jimmy has the distinct uniqueness of being the only student who took all the classes I offered at Saint Mary's (even the crazy Harry Potter class). So he's proven his drive to become a filmmaker but more 

importantly he's proven just how professional and talented he is. Jimmy's talents include everything from being a great writer himself, a talented director, an experienced videographer, and a brilliant video editor. His writing talents have been responsible for some of the best advice I received on the 3rd draft and he's already filled me with ideas and pointed out problem areas in the 4th. He's currently an important artistic contributor to a local TV show created by my former High School video teacher (kinda funny huh). While I haven't given him an "official" position on the production crew I know his assistance will be invaluable and my movies is stronger already due to his contributions.

       Next on the list is another former student Megan Johnson. Megan's passion is computer animation. Similar to myself, once she graduated SMC she realized as great of an education she had earned she still wasn't technically educated to do what her dreams call her to do. Hence she's going for her Masters in Computer Animation at the Academy of Art's College in San Francisco. She's already begun animating shorts and has proven what I already knew, she's incredibly talented! So Megan as of now, is my lead animator. Yup, my feature will have a few animated sequences. I can't go into detail about, as again I don't want to let all the surprises out of the bag. However, Megan has begun doing groundwork for that animation and the results blew away my expectations. She created a "template" of one of the characters and the next thing she's working on is a "walking test." Her template has left me very e

xcited to see her further work.

Last, but certainly not least is Jon Bowerbank. Jon and I go back all the way to junior high, but it wasn't until high school and our Sr. year video class that we knew we were "partners in crime" when it came to film making. Jon has been steadily building an impressive career in the Bay Area as a cinematographer so he became an obvious choice to be my Director of Photography (DP). What sealed the deal, however, was seeing his amazing work for

the short film I'm finishing: Marta's Last Exit. Not only did his camerawork impress me, but I've worked with no other cinematographer whom which our artistic and professional chemistry mixed so well. He truly accomplished the first and foremost goal of a DP, which is to cinematically create the vision of the director. With his commitment to the movie I know in the very least my first feature will look absolutely beautiful!

I have plenty of other people who have promised me their hardworking selves to my crew, however, I'm yet to officially place them in a position. Nonetheless, those of you out there (you know who you are) can be rest assured that I'm already planning and thinking of where to best place you and exploit your talents. So keep checking the blog as I'll fill in the positions as I go along. 

Well that's all for now folks. Stay tuned for my next posting as I plan to write about the various "self-sacrifices" I plan to make in order to save money for the budget. Oh and lastly, I think it important to note I plan to make at least one blog entry once every week, however, as the wheels really get rolling blog postings may become more frequent.  Oh and keep the questions and comments coming (preferably on the blog itself)!

Forward!

-Gustavo