Monday, September 29, 2008

Clicky-clicky


According to the most recent dispatch from his Cave of Agony, Guy is "officially two-thirds of the way through" with the movie. This means two-thirds of everything--effects shots, color, sound, licensed music (thank you, broad-minded composers of the internet!)--is done.

We're down to details now--little things like bugs crawling along walls, and, most recently, Colette's last name. Those of you who remember the script might recall that hardly any characters had last names. Andy had one because that character was actually a refugee from an unpublished novel and his name didn't require any additional creative thought from the deeply lazy screenwriter. Dr. Harpax had one because, come on, how do you come up with a name like "Dr. Arabella Harpax" and not use the whole thing?

But Colette needed a last name because her name was going to be under her college ID picture on the deliberately-non-brand-name data-storage thingy that Andy is clicking through on the screencap above. So we had to think one up. In the end, she became "Colette D'Ampton," in homage to Hugh Grant's star-making role in the greatest movie of all time. (Anyone wondering where the inspiration for Dr. Harpax's frothing-at-the-mouth liturgical speech came from should watch the end of that movie.)

This attitude toward character names can also explain something a few of our sharp-eyed cast members pointed out during filming: the fraternity boys all had names (Chad and Troy) while the sorority girls had to make do with numbers (Sister #1, Sister #2, etc.). Aside from (or in addition to) latent sexism, this was because the sorority sisters had mentioned Chad and Troy by name before they showed up, so when the screenwriter got to that point in the script, he didn't have to stop to figure out what they should be called. Because no one referred to the sisters by name beforehand, there were no ready-made names for them, so he didn't come up with any. See "deeply lazy screenwriter" above.

Northanger Productions: Since 2004, more than you wanted to know about the creative process!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

And the Award for Worst Blogger of the Year Goes to…

I think we all know who it goes to, don’t we? Sorry for not posting in awhile. So much for New Year’s resolutions (which I always felt were vastly over-rated, by the way).

Not wanting to pull anything, I’m easing back into the blogging world with a quick update:

Just finished color-correction and effects for the first half of the movie. Besides figuring out a way to create a digital beetle that walks, unfurls its wings menacingly and flies into the camera, I feel like we're in pretty good shape on the rest of the effects work.

Bold Pronouncement: my latest revised schedule (Ha! I laugh at schedules!) has the movie pretty much completed by Thanksgiving. Of 2008. This year. Really.

We’re also in the process of finding replacements for a few songs that we couldn’t get the rights to. Apparently, some musicians want to be paid. Upfront. In money.

And last but not least, we’re on IMDB now, thanks to Scott, who submitted our listing. There’s not much detail yet, but it’s still great to see.

Thanks again, Scott! You’re the best!

Back to the beetle!