Jenny Ringo 2 - Pre-production Diary 2...

 With the last film I managed to post a diary every week. I have no idea how I managed to do that. This time it seems like I've got too much actual film stuff to do. Loads has happened over the last few weeks! I'll try to summarise.

So last week I finalised the script and then we set about actually working out how we're going to film this thing. Actually the finalising the script part is a lie, it's pretty much done but I will probably keep tweaking it forever. But the working out how we're going to film it part is true.

We have a bit of an advantage over last time in that all of the major roles are already filled. The two lead actors have been cast and I'm using the same DoP so I know what we're shooting on. I met with Darren in Cardiff at the weekend so we could talk over the script. There was nothing in there he said would be impossible to film so that's looking good!

Tim Howarth who I worked with on the last film is working on a song for this one and it's sounding awesome so far. Beyond awesome. 

Geraint D'Arcy who made the tongue creature on the last one wrote the fantastic script for this one (which I keep messing around with and generally butchering) and is also building a monster, the designs for which look amazing.  

Also my wife Andrea is producing again which really helps - it's great when the person who tells you everything will be fine also happens to be directly responsible for ensuring everything will be fine. Most of the stuff I'm talking about here is stuff she sorted out, so when I say 'we sorted out an awesome whatever' I really mean Andrea did it.

We've booked and paid for the main location and the secondary location is our flat so that just leaves a couple of other places to find.

Aside from a number of extras there are two main roles I need to cast - one is the villain of the piece and the other is a kind of mentor character. We posted bulletins in the usual places and have received a pretty good response. We're holding auditions on Saturday so hopefully we'll have the parts cast by this time next week.

Neither of the two bands I was hoping to use in the film could make the shoot because they're busy doing like band stuff or whatever (and I was working under the impression that every creative person in Brighton is just waiting around for me to contact them about film projects). I thought this might be a bit of an issue but actually Andrea used Facebook powers to get some great suggestions for alternatives so I think it might work out. More on that side of things as it progresses.

The person I was hoping would be able to record sound can't do it, which is a bit of a problem. If anyone knows any sound recordists in Brighton please get in touch!

I need to do a shotlist and I need to do it better than I did it last time, where it ended up being pretty useless because I listed a ridiculous number of shots that we neither needed nor had the time to shoot. 

And that's where we are right now.

Analogy alert! I got tattoos last year, and the tattoo artist told me that actually it's the people who already have tattoos who have trouble with the pain rather than the first-timers. For the first tattoo you're expecting it to be so bad that the actual pain is nowhere near as severe as the pain you're imagining. But the people who've had them before figure they made it okay last time, it can't be all that bad, and then it ends up seeming much worse than they expected.

That's kind of how this feels. Last time I had no idea how we were going to do any of this stuff and suffered a few sleepless nights worrying about it, but in the end it all just seemed to work out. This time I feel like I kind of know what I'm doing but I also keep forgetting about some of the things that were difficult before, so the problems that have come up in casting and crewing the film have come as a bit of a surprise. But then I remember that this was exactly how it did happen last time and it all worked out fine in the end, which is exactly what's going to happen now.

That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I'll aim to post another update next week!

If you have just stumbled across this blog and have no idea what I'm talking about but you like the sound of it you can find out more by visiting www.jennyringo.com, and if you sign up to the mailing list you can see the film!