Pictures from Lindsey

Lindsey took the bulk of these pictures. At least, they're all from her camera. That's Laura Schlachtmeyer, Lindsey Robersts, and me (Andrew Bellware). Then Tony Kenner and Laura Schlachtmeyer. Then me, Andrew Bellware. Then Tony Kenner again (I hate how photogenic that guy is!) And then Lindsey Roberts and Andrew Bellware (I'm living the lifestyle I want to become accustomed to there.)
More vampire alien androids for me!

January 29th

Napping cats. Fighting robots. We wrapped Lindsey. We shot the interview scene between Lucretia and Aurora. That's Olja Hrustic fighting Claude the robot, Clare Stevenson being "interviewed" by Olja Hrustic, Ato Essandoh and Lindsay Roberts, Clare Stevenson napping with Pushkin!

Burning schedule

Today is January 27, 2006. We had a 10-hour day today, our longest day so far, but we were doing a couple different day's worth of work. We finally killed Ato Essandoh, something I've been waiting to do for a very long time. And we made Clare Stevenson very oogy in the process. And we introduced our new star, Claude the robot. He's quiet. But very demanding.

designing on a blog part, er, 3?

Remember when I started designing "Sidd" on this blog? Well, I'm back at it. It's been suggested that we use a Yamaha 03D mixer to save money. I just can't find the manual for it on-line.

I think we'll end up with 5 zones: center cluster aimed at balcony, center cluster aimed at audience in the "orchestra" section, speakers up-stage with mostly the band in them, rear-of-house "effects" speakers, subwoofers. Then we'll have three subgroups for the band to mix their own headphone monitors. Or something like that. We'll see how that works. I still need to find a manual. . .
Here I am getting Thai food.
Whew, I found a manual.
In the meantime, the schedule for Bloodmask is, at this point, actually on fire. I'm going to try to put it out.

Today postponed

We had to postpone today's shooting because of an actor's job conflict. That's OK with Laura, as she has to perform at Carnegie Hall tonight! So for our amusement, here is a composite of our small spaceship interior.

Gee Seven

Today we shot what Laura and I have always felt was "scene two" yet it's actually and technically scenes 4 and 6. Today we had Anna Guttormsgaard as Zlygl and Danielle Jones as Teresa. Much and many greenscreens to be composited and holograms to be layered!

Day F6

Today's G&E crew was just me and Tony. First up here is Ato having a little talk with his stand-in. I think they got their differences straightened out.
We wrote this role for Ato because we needed a villian who could really turn on the charm. And boy does he!
Here I am operating the camera -- that's a bunch of small pieces of colored plastic (which Laura got) dangling in front of the lens. When you see the scene you'll understand.
Finally -- Aurora gets to pilot the spaceship!

On day E5 (yesterday), Blair was our gaffer. That's Jennifer Gordon Thomas, as Lexi, being scanned.

Robots!

Mike Kessel is loved by us. Yea, I say, adored. Here. Is. Our. Robot.

Killing an android

The Maria-Class, Salome (Melissa Riker) , gets whacked.

What do we still owe?
A dolly move on Aurora as she's asleep in her room.
Various dolly moves on Aurora as she's piloting August's transport. She'll be in the Ambassador's clothes and in the Drahmerr robes. And we'll probably need greenscreen reversals.
We want to dolly in on Aurora after the 2nd Lucretia attack.

We still need two robot fights. One with Lucretia and the Nareem which we'll try to get on Tuesday. One with Aurora which we'll get sometime.

And we need to get Aurora's fight with Harkness. That we'll try to get on Wednesday.

We need to get Aurora in the city transport on Cassiopaea Prime. Just a closeup with some rain and such.

Day D5

So, today we shot a whole bunch and played catch-up with some missing shots. This was Ato's first day on set. Here he is feeling murderous toward Aurora. And here's Laura actually killing Aurora! Laura made some fun tentacles. At the end, Lucretia looms above Harkness in the ceiling of August's transport.
We cancelled tomorrow's shoot (day 5) and will make up for it on days 6 and 7.
Looking into the future -- it's our Nareem 'bot. Mike is building it for us. Yay!

C3

Our day designations on Bloodmask might seem arbitrary to the casual viewer, but I can assure my guests here that they are scientific and precise, with much malice aforethought gone into 'em. We did much today on "C3" day. Which could be the third day, the seventh day, or the tenth (or even eleventh day) of principal photography. We love Clare, she's super-great.
We had a new set today. Built in my bedroom it's "Aurora's Apartment, Cassiopeia Prime". We still owe some shots of her being "marked" by Lucretia's tentacle and one of her sleeping as we dolly across her.

Building robots and. . . other things

Mike's workin' on the robot. Looks like we're going to have one robot. I'm glad I'm not responsible for the robot toes!
Just saw Underworld again. We need a lot more moving shots. Mitch is afraid of mixing moving shots with static ones. The trick is, I think, to have moving shots which start and stop. I wish we had a heavier dolly then!

pictures

Today was Olja Hrustic as the Venus of Urbino day. Sorta the Android of Urbino as it were. With the other scenes we should have taken a bunch more pictures than we did. We didn't get a still of Daryl's last day of shooting, nor did we get a still of Jennifer Gordon Thomas holding a gun on Aurora. But we're gonna catch up. You just watch! We still owe a shot of Steve and a few of Aurora. We're going to try to get all of those on Monday.
This oval thing was an experiment. I don't know how super successful it was. But there Olja is being that nymph on the rock. Suddenly I want Ginger Ale.

Catmask

As Laura points out (she is responsible for one of these pictures) "Your cat is making an invaluable contribution to Bloodmask.
Today was the day we think of as our "second" day of principal -- that is, other than the other principal photography we did (swordfight, etc.) and the four days with Ted.
We're only a little behind (!) and we've crossed the line once. We hope to make up for it on Monday. . .

Daryl's fault

We're missing exactly one shot from today. Why? Because all the actors had to get back to NYC for a rehearsal of some play. And who's fault is it that they had to get back at 5pm rather than the more humane 6pm? Daryl Boling.
Aurora (Clare Stevenson) meets up with Tuan (Steve Deighan), then she has to deal with Kaarn (Jane Wiley), and then also the better-armed Glaak (Blair Johnson).

Still looking for the eyeline

It's somewhere on this green wall!
Ted Raimi and me in "Studio C".

New Year's

And in-between parts of the shoot. Basically, we're going to the "200" series of tape rolls. But I'm less stressed now that we've gotten through the hard part. Tomorrow Steve Deighan is playing Tuan. That's gonna be a lot of fun! Here's the drawing I sent to Mike describing the operation of the Nareem 'bot, a picture of me, and two of a very silly Pushkin cat.