Sucky day overall

Some tears on the set today.
Though not in the script, and none on camera.

Pigs on the lam (b)

I swear I am NOT the one who left the cage unlatched.

Short-o-Potties

Hank just announced that every available port-o-potty in a 50 mile radius has been reserved for the Duluth Tall Ships Festival this weekend. The Inspector General (of Health and Human Services?) told him that our location would be in violation and very likely fined if we gather the crew and extras to the beach site as planned today.

Free Range Film Fest

Just back from my first real film festival with the VIPs tonight. http://www.freerangefilm.com/
Julia and George discussed the possibility of having The Mysteries premiere at this regional film fest next summer. She likes the the agricultural connection. He likes the low-budg aspect. Both of them were a little surprised by the intimate setting, even for an indie festival it was pretty casual. But it was cool to be there with Jonathan Frank. People kept coming up to him to get autographs.

I also got to meet Janine Summer who is the animal specialist (pig/dog/horse wrangler) for the production. She met us at the Free Range barn to transport the piglets we need for the purification scene.

Persephone with Pirates

A few hundred girls responded to the casting call for Persephone. Louisa Grey was originally cast in the role, but our delays meant she had to withdraw from the project. Julia finally settled on a local Minnesota actress for the part...Stephanie Hopper. She is finishing up a touring production of Pirates of Penzance here in Duluth. Later in August she will join us on the set. Sweet girl.

An emessage from Zeus ?

Lightning hit the local Aerial lift bridge, causing it to be stuck in the up position for hours yesterday... Unsure whether we would get trapped on the wrong side of the bridge, we have postponed the pig scene shoot until later this week. We will need to travel back and forth over the bridge to reach the beach location way out on the sandy strip of land called Park Point. Hopefully all the electronics will be in good working order by Saturday.

Graphix in da house

Today's additions to my job description:
1- check the weather hourly, report to George with updates
2- design tshirts for crew
3- ooops, design an identity for The Mysteries movie to be used on the crew tshirts
4- while I'm at it... take the newly designed Mysteries identity and apply it to other promotional materials... like website, posters, hats, buttons...

Rained all day today, torrential, with promises of tennis ball sized hail. The location shoot was canceled, so I spent the day on my laptop, searching for fonts and working up a type treatment for THE MYSTERIES. George pushed for me to use DALEK, a free font off the web. I could hear my design professors groaning.




But I think it works ok, if you like that sort of thing. Still testing colors and variations. Suggestions?



Making signage for the trailers and the locations. Making ancient greek signage for the agora scene. Whipping up a little website for The Mysteries. No end to projects to keep me busy from 6am to midnight on a rainy day. Somehow I am now their inhouse graphics dept.

Artemis rises

Gorgeous full moon over Lake Superior last night. I could watch it rise from my hotel room. Then this morning George informed us that the budget for housing has been revised. I guess the honeymoon really is over. We are moving up the shore to an abandoned Bible camp tomorrow. The talent will stay in cabins. The rest of us in RVs and tents. George assures me that I can charge my laptop in his trailer, that my stuff will be safe in my tent, and as long as I don't keep any food in my bags, the animals won't bug me. (by animals, does he mean bears?)

My Internship starts NOW

Flew in to the Duluth International Airport today. Yikes! And I thought I grew up in the boondocks. I feel like I've time traveled, again. Only this time it's like 1980 or back when my mom was in college. This town is... quaint.

Met up with Julia, George, and some of the crew members at the hotel near Lake Superior. That is one big body of H2O.

I am trying very hard to make believe it is the Aegean.

I explained to Julia (THE MYSTERIES director) my situation with the internship and my last 3 credits. She agreed that she could sign off at the end of the summer, providing I stick with the production until the wrap. She didn't really know that I have been keeping this blog... (eventhough I'm pretty sure I told her in Athens). Now she wants to look at it and approve what I post.

Meanwhile, the producer George Smith was all fired up about this new social networking tool for film promo... and wants me to help set up our Mysteries Movie website AND manage the content for our page on Movieset:
MovieSet - Behind the Scenes Access to Films in Production

My internship duties keep shifting. Oh well, I guess I'll keep busy!

Packing for Ancient Greece (aka Minnesota)

Leaving tomorrow.

Don't forget to pack:
hat
sunscreen
water bottle
camera + charger
sketchbook + pens
laptop + powercord
printout of internship job description

patience + my best tude

No Longer MIA

Where've I been and wtf have I been up to?

Final Projects
Final Papers
Final Exams
Final goodbyes to 5 years worth of college friends, lecture halls, and energy drinks... Final photo ops with profs and rents in front of Old Main.


Dad looks proud. Mom looks worried.

Yes, they did finally allow me to do the pomp and circ thing, eventhough I still have 3 more credits dangling toward my degree. We won't go into the long saga of my petitioning the university to allow those 3 credits to transfer in from community college. All I need to do now is FINISH THIS INTERNSHIP. My prof says I need to document everything I do on this blog, then I can have the director sign off on my paperwork, send it back to the U and then I am done. Done.

I leave again in two days for The Mysteries set. No, I'm not going to Greece this time. Julia keeps sending me email updates with changes. (We were supposed to start shooting in June!) First it was going to be Upper Michigan because of some tax incentive. But the studios there were all backed up. Instead, we will be shooting in Northern Minnesota. I guess it's my job to nod enthusiastically when she insists that Minnesota looks just like Ancient Greece.

Nine weeks of shooting.

3 credits. Easy.