Funding Update + First Major Purchase

If you're just finding this blog now, I will give a brief description of what NICOTINE is:


It's a free-form exploration of a group of four elementary school friends now in their late 20's. Paul, who is the center and balance of them all, is unhappy with his position in life and is slowly losing his grip on things when something happens to one of the friends. The film isn't much about plot, but rather specific emotions and conversations the characters involve themselves with that pushes the whole thing forward.


As of right now we've raised $620.oo. That is an amazing number and it will definitely help this production.  Some have said they wanted to donate more, but I want to say this: Any amount, $5 to $50, no matter what you've chipped in, it all leads to the ultimate goal of making this film. It's all progress, and I am quite thankful for your support. Some of the money will be used for equipment purchases, lens rentals, some will be used for our many sequences at a bowling alley, permits on certain locations (if needed), and some of it will be used to push this film into the festival circuit (when we get to that). Our ultimate goal is to raise $1,000. If you're interested in helping with my film, you can always hit the Donate button below: 

What is our first major purchase? 

The Zoom H4n, a piece of equipment that will give us amazing fantastic audio. Johnathon Olsen, my friend and producer on this film, will be splitting the cost of the Zoom with me. We both want it, so it's logical and economical to buy one to share. $300, maybe less if we go for a used one. 

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As I posted yesterday, the phone-booth I want (and must use) is without a phone. Corey found a craigslist ad for someone selling an actual pay phone for $65. I was able to bring it down to $50. Unfortunately the person sold the phone to a prop company. However, they were kind enough to supply me with their contact information. I sent an e-mail off to the prop company to see how much it would be to rent the phone from them for 3 or 4 hours. Waiting for a response. 


As far as the location is concerned, I contacted a woman who is in charge of marketing and events for the Golden Valley Shopping Center -- the folks at RagStock supplied me with her number. She referred me the people I need to call, the actual property owners of the facility. I am not worried about locking this place for maybe three hours. 

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In the reality of things, I wanted to start production on August 5th, but as we've went along, that was going to be less and less likely, though the actors understand. There are a lot of small -- well, I suppose they're big -- things that need to come together to make this all work. It's all working out though. I am not worried about making this film. 


Until next time!
JCA

Busy Day... Sorta

While not much progress was made today, I did establish the the start of what hopefully will be full force progress with various locations: Bowling Alley, Lobby, Gas Station and a very specific Phone Booth. 

Bowling Alley (Tuttles): unfortunately the owners were not around, and tomorrow should/could be the day to make that true firm pitch of shooting eleven scenes in and around the bowling alley. To be fully prepared I did print out two scenes to present them, plus a list of all the scenes. Because all the locations I want to shoot at are fully functional places of business, we need to, in some respects, work around what they want us to do. There are times, however, especially with actor availability, where we may not be able to work with what they may propose. I'm prepared to negotiate. I will attempt to get ahold of the owner tomorrow. For the actual bowling scenes, we'll definitely be doing those Sunday mornings before Noon. It's $1.99 a game + $3 for shoes. Excellent deal.

Lobby: It's in a nondescript business building where Peter works. There is one short scene between he and Paul in a small cubby like lobby area. When writing the scene I didn't have an exact location in mind. A few weeks ago when I was in my bank, I stood staring at their small waiting area. An alcove, four leather chairs, wood floors, a television screen turned to CNN. I talked with the Vice President of my bank. We chatted briefly about several aspects to make this work; areas that he would look into. Questions about signing releases, talking with security, length of the shoot, crew members, lighting set-ups, etc. It's a bank for goodness sakes, security is at the top of the list, and I expected that. What I didn't expect was for the VP to also, in the coming days, locate three back-up locations in the event that we weren't allowed to shoot in the building. He said, "Even if it doesn't work out, I'd really like to help you." Nice man. I look forward to the follow-up phone call.

Gas Station: There isn't much new info here as of yet. A few weeks back I asked an employee who works at the Holiday Gas station near my apartment how likely it would be to shoot a early-morning scene in the building. He needed to talk with his District Manager. Tomorrow I will print out a scene and bring it to him, just incase the DM isn't sure. I've known the folks at this Holiday for years. I can't imagine there will be too many major issues with locking this place.

Phone Booth: For years and years I've wanted to write a scene for this amazing looking phone booth in the Golden Valley Shopping Center. 

No phone, but a phonebook. Awesome.

It's old, broken, and even the phone is gone (that's where my love of set-construction will come into play), but I love it. I had to write this into the film. Yes, there is a character that doesn't have a cell phone. But everyone has a cell phone. Nope. Not Bryan (my manager at Willow Creek). The only person I know that doesn't have a cell phone. So Paul, the main character in Nicotine, doesn't have a cell phone because of Bryan. Plus it makes things a bit inconvenient for his character in the film.

What's next?

I'm scheduling meetings with three new actors. People to play John, Courtney and Liz. Things are coming together quite nicely. 

Actresses Wanted

Throughout the past few months I've been trying to find two actresses to play minor supporting roles in my film. I haven't had much luck. How aggressive have I been though? Not very. That's my fault, as I've been incredibly busy with several other things, part of me wasn't too worried about casting the characters Courtney or Liz. Courtney will be Peter's girlfriend, and Liz is Scott's wife. They are small parts, and only breifly seen and heard, but important; every character has a purpose.

What I am looking for:

Courtney: African American, 26 - 32 years old, medium build -- two total scenes; one on camera.

Liz: Caucasian, 26 - 32 years old -- three total scenes; one on camera.

I also recently put an ad up on Craigslist. I hope it works again. Because the only reason I am working with Harold and Jeff is because of Craigslist.

Magic

Earlier as I was running through scenes for todays rehearsals, I had an overwhelming sense of dread. The scenes suddenly didn't work for me. Maybe it was the time of the day, maybe it was my dialogue, maybe it was the future blocking or how it would be photographed. Maybe I wouldn't get my exact locations with the correct amount of background extras. The canvas of each scene is so big*, that at times it's tough to properly examine the screenplay and look at only what I should be concerning myself with when it comes to rehearsals.

With that said, all of my worries faded away once Jeff and Harold started. The two men are fantastic for just bouldering through their scenes together. Of course, we talk a bit about it before hand, talk about the bookends (the scenes that take place before and after) just so there is an understanding of where the characters are coming from, and the future choices and objectives of things to come. But this is just the first stage. You don't want to dive too deep and figure things out too perfectly. There needs to be some magic that happens when the filming process begins. What I am loving about all the actors is their true ability to improvise; within creative boundaries, I will add. They aren't afraid to take out or add in lines, and what's more wonderful is that there is such an organic fluidity in the "fresh" non-scripted moments.

Before we finished the night, I decided to show Harold and Jeff a little bit from Robert Atlman's Short Cuts. Altman is a director I've greatly greatly admired for a very long time, and I will always credit him when people ask who my influences are.  While Short Cuts wasn't a film I was thinking about while writing Nicotine, I wanted to show Harold and Jeff what I love: that being how in Altman's grand canvas of characters, there is never a moment where an actor isn't doing something. But it's not small busy work for the sake of there being something to do, it all has a reason.






What did influence me while writing Nicotine? I have an answer to that only because I found the answer while working on my Kickstarter site for my film.  The Long Goodbye, The Verdict, Opening Night, Le Samourai, I Vitelloni + other films, the music of Tom Waits and Albert Camus' The Fall. Plus several personal stories from years past.


What is next? Sunday I will have my first rehearsal with Jasmine and Jeff. We'll work on the scenes for a few hours, then I need to go to Tuttles and convince them to let me use their bowling alley. Wednesday I have a meeting in the afternoon with an actor possibly playing the part of John. It's been a long search, so I am excited about this meeting.

That is all for now.

-JCA

*To add more to my above statement that each scene is "so big", that's a bit of an over exaggeration. Nicotine is a film with a lot of talking, a lot of small quiet moments, and there's nothing big, in the epic scale of things, happening with the movie. By big I mean very detailed, in my mind, as I said concerning locations, photography, b.g. extras, blocking, etc. So no, it's not a big movie, but there are a lot of details.

Peter's House + Music

Two years ago when I started working on NICOTINE I wrote Peter's house scenes with a very specific location in mind. An actor I worked with on my first feature was going to let me use his place.  It was a style I liked and the layout gave me the very openness I was looking for. But since things didn't work out then (mostly because I wasn't finished writing) and he no longer lives in amazing Minnesota, I've been trying to find a different house. One pretty big scene would take place in the house, plus a few smaller, but equally important scenes would also happen. Whatever house we use, we'll have to spend at least three total days working on scenes.

A couple weeks back I drove around a few small close-knit neighborhoods looking for houses. For some reason I was smacked with a great deal of ambition, thinking that if I found that one house that "spoke to me", I could just use it. Well, that's not the case. Aside from not finding that house, it was an almost unrealistic idea. I don't know why I thought that.

Then last week as we wrapped up a scene, Rudy (who is playing the character of Scott) mentioned that if we wanted to, he would be open to letting us use his house. Awesome. Sometimes things just fall into place.

Nice layout to the kitchen that connects directly to a dinette area, plus wood floors. Wood floors. I love wood floors.

Rudy suggested, because one major scene takes place in the middle of the night, that we use his basement. There are two small windows in the basement, versus about six upstairs. That would mean we'd spend less money on room-darkening material for windows -- thinking that we'd shoot the scenes during the day to give us time, also, people are sleepy at night. I never considered anyplace but an upstairs living room for the major scene. But after looking at the basement, and also figuring out who Peter is and what his living arrangement is like with his girlfriend Courtney, it seemed to make sense that Peter had a sort of private "man cave" of sorts where he and his buddies would hang out. While I say this is Peter's house, it's really Courtney's house, and the basement change was approved by her. This is all subtext, of course, but it's the meat that brings the reasoning behind the character actions to life. That's probably as much character stuff as you'll get from me on this blog.

Scene 30 | Pages 32 - 36

7:45pm - 9:30pm

While we weren't able to rehearse with the entire space, we now have a better idea of how the scene will go down. Next week I will be working more at blocking out camera placement.

Harold standing in the doorframe at the top of the basement steps.

We've rehearsed this scene, including last week, probably twelve or thirteen times. It's evolving each time we run through it. My feedback and notes for the actors might be a bit contradictory in some aspects, because there are several different emotions behind the lines and behind why this scene happened the way it happened. But it's a good thing. That way all the emotions are on the table, we're piecing them together, and finding some kind of organic truth to the entire thing. 

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After rehearsing, Rudy and I sat down and talked about music for the film. Rudy is in a band called Dude Worthy. There's an accordion involved, and that's pretty awesome. Last week I told him that I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits while writing the screenplay; specifically I wanted Drunk on the Moon to close the film. Though we probably won't get the rights to it. Rudy is going to work on something that sounds like that, but isn't that. Guitar, upright bass, piano, sax -- all unpolished, scratchy, a bit rough. Though I stated early on that I didn't want acoustic guitar stuff, because every damn indie movie uses that. I don't want that. This cannot be one of those movies.

I was going to post a brief video of Rudy starting to put together some stuff, but blogger doesn't want to upload anything today. Bummer. Here's a photo, however.

Things are still coming together. Still unsure of when the first day of shooting will be. The more and more I think about it, I think the very first thing we'll shoot is the exterior stuff at Eddie's house.

As of right now we have $330, out of a goal of $1,000. If you'd like to donate to help me make my film, please click on the button below.

(Teaser) Poster + Funding Update

I put together this very basic teaser poster for NICOTINE. Keep in mind that this isn't the final one, unless people like it. I shouldn't concern myself with this yet, but I needed something to post on Kickstarter. When designing a poster, and trying to think of a style, I end up quite frustrated. I hate most "indie" posters these days. When one tries too hard, it can end up being too posh and arty in the sense that the designer didn't want to conform to a specific style, but perhaps drifting further away from the norm could give the poster, and ultimately the film itself, an unintentional arrogance and pompous impression. I haven't even photographed a single frame of material, and I'm already nervous about first impressions. I must not think about this, for it's pure ridiculous madness.

Maybe I'll go back to my original thoughts about film posters. Just a black background with the title in the middle.

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As of right now we've raised $330, with a goal of $1,000. While the money is coming in slow, I'm very thankful for everyone that has donated to my film. It means a lot to me that you're helping me.

If you would like to donate $20 (or really, even $10 or $11 or $12 of $200), you can click the following button:

More to come!

Earl Milton and Jasmine Jones

Slow progress is happening on NICOTINE, but progress nonetheless. I recently met with two more actors that will be playing characters in my film. First is Earl Milton -- an actor I went to Hopkins High School with back in '01. Back in the day Earl and I worked on three short films together: Christine, a "horror" flick that was never finished. Abrupt, my Soderbergh Traffic rip-off about teen drug use, and a short documentary Earl made about drug use amongst High schoolers -- same topic, but two different sides.

It's been probably eight or nine years since we last saw each other, so our first "meeting" wasn't really about my film, but more about catching up a bit. Earl will play the character of Burke, the owner of the bowling alley in the film. A bowling alley that we don't have yet, though Earl gave me four good suggestions. I'm still set on Tuttles, and will be going there again early next week. Earl has only two scenes -- both with the main character -- but I am quite excited to be able to work with him again. 

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This afternoon I met with Jasmine Raine Jones. I first talked with her about the role of Naomi back in November. I gave a brief overview of what the film was, who Naomi was and how much of the film she would actually be in. Part of the struggle of casting characters is finding people that want to play one or two scenes. Some actors work for the work, while others work to be paid. I'm happy that Jasmine is excited for this. I wrote this part for her. Naomi is character I won't talk a lot about here because her purpose is very important to the story, and I don't want want to get into details. It's not my style to explain what a character is from A to Z. 

More to come!

Locations

We're slowly finding all the locations. Tonight I met with John Andring, an old friend of mine who is kind enough to let me use his house in my film -- he will also be playing the owner of the house, a man named Eddie. Of course you don't know who Eddie is or how he fits into the story of NICOTINE, but you'll eventually find out.

John Andring as Eddie

Two years ago I had contacted John about playing the character and using the house in this particular film. Things didn't work out then -- all because I wasn't prepared enough to shoot this movie. So I am very thrilled now two years later that we're able to photograph the scenes here. There are only two scenes at this location, but they are very important to the story being told.

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My apartment will be used for the apartment of the main character, Paul. It's easy enough, doesn't cost anything + during the two years I was writing the thing, I was acting out the scenes in the various rooms. 

The one room that will need the biggest make-over and set direction is definitely our office. A pretty big scene takes place in the office, so I don't want people to be distracted from my awesome LOST wall and my Gus posters. 

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Another location we'll be looking at soon is where the character of Peter lives. I wrote the scenes for a specific house when I was working on NICOTINE two years back. But now that house is no longer an option. But Actor Rudy Pavich was kind enough to let us use his house. Monday night we'll be looking at the house plus running through the scene we worked on a few nights ago.

The biggest location we need is a Bowling alley. At the moment I am dead-set on Tuttles, but I haven't heard from them yet. So I will be going down there in the next few days again. It needs to be Tuttles in my mind. Why? A sentimental type of thing. My mother bowled there years ago ; when I was 15 months old I was hanging out in the nursery when as my mom bowled. The "nursery" was really just the Bar that wasn't occupied during the day. It's also my favorite bowling alley. Other places just don't work with me.


I'm in the process of setting up a Kickstarter page for this film. I'm excited to see if it actually works. That will be up in the next few days.

Until next time.
JCA

Rehearsals: Me and the Unnecessary Anxiety

"NICOTINE fun: Prepping to rehearse a couple scenes tonight. Always nervous up until we start working on it, then it's all good" That's what I wrote earlier in the day on Facebook. It's true. Even before the actors show up and even before we touch a scene we've never gone through before, I worry a bit too much. Maybe it's because I haven't directed a (feature) film in years? What if my dialogue isn't good or doesn't make sense or what if I can't answer a very specific question someone has? 


Then I take a deep breath and remember that rehearsing isn't about nailing the scene on the first pass, but exploring what the scene is, finding the rhythm and meaning of the lines. Tonight we did that. From the first to last scene we worked on, I knew that it was going to be great. Rudy, Jeff and Harold bring a lot to the table; they have several ways of approaching the scene -- that's something I greatly appreciate in an actor. This is not just my movie, it's their movie as well. I simply just wrote character names and dialogue. They are the ones bringing it to life.

Scene 8, 9 and 11 | Pages 6 - 12

Scene 30 | Pages 32 - 36

 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Good Happy Times

Rudy Pavich as Scott

Harold Lance as Peter

Jeff Tendall as Paul

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What's next? 


Wednesday I will be looking at a house for where the character named Eddie lives. Who's Eddie? You have no idea, but you will maybe know soon. 


Thursday I will maybe be meeting with Jasmine. Who's Jasmine? The woman that will play the character of Naomi. Who's Naomi? Another character in my film. I have no idea what your movie is about!! That's okay, just trust me.


If you're interested in donating to make this film possible, click here. I also submitted a proposal to Kickstarter several hours ago. We'll see if I'm approved.


-JCA 

Accepting Donations Now

In August 2011 I will begin directing NICOTINE, my second feature film. The film is a free-form exploration of a group of four elementary school friends now in their late 20's. Paul, who is the center and balance of them all, is unhappy with his position in life and is slowly losing his grip on things when something happens to one of the friends.  

In an effort to begin funding this project, we are asking for $20 donations from individuals, with a goal to raise $1,000.00 by August 5th. To say 'Thank You' for your generous help, you will receive screen credit at the end of the film and a DVD of the final product.

If you have any questions or concerns you can contact me, the writer/director, at h8c.productions@gmail.com or 952.334.5290.


If you would like to donate using PayPal, please click on the following: 

-Justin Christopher Ayd

Rehearsing a Scene

Today was the first time Jeff Tendall and Harold Lance met each-other, and what ended up happening was fantastic. Jeff will play the main character, Paul, while Harold will be playing Peter, one of Paul's good friends. Of course without knowing the "story" of this film, these character names don't mean much of anything at the moment. I promise I'll tell you what the story is a bit later.

I wasn't sure how to begin this process tonight, so we dove right into a scene. Even though production won't begin until sometime around the beginning of August, it's never too early to start rehearsing. 

Scene 66/67, Pages 61 to 66. 6:00pm - 8:30pm 

Jeff

Harold

We did a dry run, then broke it down by beats, then broke it down to find the meaning behind the dialogue. I gave notes and feedback, Jeff and Harold gave notes and feedback. From a mixture of fleshing out what the scene is about and receiving fresh input from bother actors, something wonderful happened with each pass we made. We went through the scene about 15 times. Or maybe it was 20. Jenn says more like 22 to be exact. I can't recall. 

Tonight I found out that both actors really enjoy Michael Mann. That doesn't have anything to do with NICOTINE, but oh did that made me happy. 

Until next time.

-JCA

NICOTINE: I'm Making Another Movie

All the pieces are slowly coming together. Some actors are cast, some locations are for sure a lock -- well, one, being my apartment which will be the apartment of my main character, Paul. Some locations are still up in the air. I'm waiting for replies, hopefully the answer will be a joyful, "Yes, you can shoot in our amazing facility for free, in fact, we'll even give you money to make your movie!" 


I am excited to get into the meat of my second feature film. It's been years since I worked on a feature. How many? I started production on my first one, ENOLA, in January 2006. Screened it in February 2008. I will begin production on my second one in August 2011. That's mostly insane. What have I been doing? I've spent my time building short projects, mostly for the retro series we run at my theatre. My biggest theatre project can be seen here. A 13 minute short film about how the retro titles at my theatre are selected. It was definitely an exercise in very specific production and sound design; two areas in film that I love, but two areas I don't focus much on when thinking about my own (future) films. 


The "story" of NICOTINE is something that was forming as I completed ENOLA. Instead of writing that, however, I began a screenplay called TESS, about three sisters that come together over the weekend to celebrate the birthday of their dead mother. As the very big in your face moral questions started to become louder and louder, and as I started writing the turning point in the story, I was stuck. It wasn't a matter of not knowing where the story could and would go, it was more about if I could actually film this sort of thing in the real world. I didn't want to write it and not be able to fully create it. That sort of thing would be unacceptable to me. I ended up putting that idea on the back burner and started on NICOTINE. What is the story? I will get into that later. But I can tell you that it will be fun and exciting.