Location scouting
One of the first tasks in getting The Movie on its feet was picking locations. We spent about three weeks scouting — almost as long as we shot.
I didn’t think I’d written a very location-driven movie, but it ended up being a bit of a monster. Part of that was budget — if we’d had serious money, we could have spent our way out of some problems. But the bigger issue was the schedule. The movie is broken into three parts, and for reasons I won’t divulge, we had to shoot the parts in a very specific order. We couldn’t swap Day 4 for Day 9. Which meant we had to have a given location available on exactly the right day.
Complicating matters, we needed dense forest close enough to Los Angeles that we wouldn’t have to put up crew overnight. In Vancouver, you’ve got forest everywhere. In Los Angeles, we have Angeles Crest, but the parts that looked right were way too far from the main roads. Logistically, it would have been impossible.
Fortunately, we found great stuff in Topanga and Malibu. The rest of our locations had to fit in around them.
The movie was shot almost entirely on practical locations (that is, real places rather than sets). The exception was one day shot at the Hearst Building in Downtown LA, an old newspaper plant that’s been converted into standing sets for film and television. It’s a super-creepy building made even stranger by the sets. Walk around a corner and you’re in a hospital. Open a door, and it’s the filthiest motel room you’ve ever seen. It’s hard to tell where movie-squalor ends and actual squalor begins.
I’ve put together a two-minute reel of the locations we ended up using. When the movie’s done, you’ll be able to see how we used them. The last clip is the hotel we shot in New York City.
(Because you’ll ask: The music is by Alex Wurman, our composer.)
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July 6th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Judging from the locations, I’d say you’ve given up on Warner Bros. and decided to shoot Tarzan yourself.
July 7th, 2006 at 12:17 am
Glad to see Alex Wurman is the composer.
Phenomenal stuff for both March of the Penguins and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
Is this the music that will be featured in the final film? It sounds very non-comedy.
July 7th, 2006 at 2:35 am
Hey John,
Great stuff, I feel your site teaches me more than any course I’ve ever done. Thanks for the location review and the music sneek peek. Quite dark sounding, is this a genre piece?
July 7th, 2006 at 5:41 am
I think you should’ve shot the forest scenes at night…lit by a single flashlight…running…to the abandoned house…to find your camping buddy standing in the corner…then drop the camera. No, wait…I think I’ve seen that one. Sorry.
Can’t wait to see your finished product, John.
July 7th, 2006 at 5:46 am
and they were never heard from again…
A very ominous location scout. Is this the tone of your film?
I hope you or someone went to Virgil’s across the street when you were in Manhattan. One of the best rib joints in NYC.
July 7th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Great music choice for the footage! Sounds like score for a Bigfoot film.
Hearst Building looks cool too. Who owns it?
July 7th, 2006 at 6:46 am
The scenery, the music - at one point I expected a craggy old gnome to pop out from behind a gnarly tree and demand a locations stipend.
We once used an empty store front bakery and made it look like a crappy carpeting company. Art imitating life, etc., etc…A week or so after our shoot it became a carpet company.
July 7th, 2006 at 7:43 am
The music is from Alex’s score to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. No, it’s not the tone for the overall movie. It was just more interesting that some random iMovie background track.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:44 am
“…a very specific order…”
The actor must’ve been pretty hard up to let you chop off his legs!
July 7th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
(These excerpts of footage were found during a routine location scouting. The filmmakers…were never seen from again.)
(This is…the John August Project.)
(We added the music, though.)
July 7th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
well… you’ve peaked my interest.