Movie Camp - part two

So where were we? Pre-production on Whiffleball. In our case, this consisted of a couple of days to run around town, frantically locking down a couple of locations, buying some props and equipment, and doing what little we could to prepare for the shoot. As usual, we didn't have nearly enough time or enough money, but that didn't stop us. Before we knew it the cameras were rolling--we started a day early, in fact, in order to incorporate a ridiculous storm that blew through town.

Memories of the shoot are almost a blur at this point, but what stands out more than anything is the collaborative attitude demonstrated by everyone involved in the movie. A typical day would have us up early to shoot, while anyone not involved with the first scenes of the day would be helping prepare in any way they could. The garage became our prop shop and it wasn't uncommon to enter it at any time of the day or night and find a half a dozen people (all unpaid) at work on various stuff, ranging from hand painted scoreboard tiles to an insanely elaborate mascot costume. Meanwhile, everyone also helped lug equipment, cook meals, and do anything and everything that helped us reach the cinematic finish line.

We had some hiccups along the way, including an equipment breakdown that made our lives harder, some less than ideal weather on certain days, and enough neighborhood annoyances and distractions to drive us all to drink...honestly, how much landscaping do these people really need?!? We ran over schedule by a few days and only made that by drastically cutting some scenes...and yet, despite all of that, we feel great about what we shot. We're not sure exactly what it will end up being, but we know we've got "something." It was an incredible experience.

I'm editing a quick first trailer as we speak, so that will be the first glimpse of "Whiffleball" for just about everyone. After that, the rest of the summer will be spent on editing the movie itself. Our plan is to take it out to L.A. sometime in the fall and go from there.