Gazillions

For The Uprising I have 2 days with 17 members of the cast. In addition to that there's a 16-cast day, a 15, a 13, and a 12.

Didn't I say I never wanted to do an ensemble picture again? Sheesh. ;-) Just transporting all these people can easily cost us $300/day!

And of course I'm driving the poor writer to distraction because the gold-chain-wearing producer part of me is saying in a heavy Bronx accent "Why do we need all those characters? Just cut some of them people!" (And the above numbers reflect already cutting two of the space marines.)

Half of the days on the 12-day scheduled shoot are gianormous monster days what with transporting people, getting them in costume and props, blocking them, shooting them, feeding them, shooting them some more, getting them home.

And since we have to get 17 of them there on the same day, you know that the casting process will be "Can you show up for all the shooting days? Yes? Great, you're hired!" No subtlety about how characters interact, nope. All about the logistics.

And of course while we're on set I won't be able to do a dang thing other than shoot the shot we're on. Actors wonder why directors seldom direct in film. It's because we're too busy shooting to direct! ;-)

The other problem is that I think we're going to end up shooting in Metuchen at my dad's shop a lot. That means that while we're in the main building we have to shoot at night. It also means that craft services becomes more of a problem because the local Chinese food isn't all that great. All in all I prefer to shoot in Cobble Hill. That's the eating capital of Brooklyn.

We'll be shooting in Hoboken too. But generally the cast will be smaller on those days.

I think we should have a graphic, like a patch, designed for the marines. It could be on their underwear, on their uniforms, etc.

What I really want is a Fisher dolly on at least some of the days. I want the camera to be able to go up and down as well as dolly.