Back in April we wrapped on Greyscale and shot a short film called Leave Me (posted on this blog recently), which has gone on to get over 80,000 views over its various venues, and will soon be popping up on Hulu.com!  It was a nice break from the behemoth project, and something of a nice reprieve to remind ourselves that what we’re working on isn’t worthless as we received many stories of people who were dealing with the death of a family member, a divorce, or any sort of traumatic separation.  It was humbling and reinvigorating.  Artists may make art for themselves, but it’s the opinion of the consumer that dictates whether the artist can continue (or sacks of money the artist has stashed away…).

With Greyscale reaching almost 2 years in the making, it was good to know that something we could produce within 36 hours could move people.  The verdict is still out on the behemoth since it hasn’t been released, but I’m very pleased with how it’s shaping up.

It’s quite an amazing thing to spend months upon months crafting characters only to have them come alive for a few days (or for larger characters, months) and then forever be relegated to footage.

.:New Beginnings

In fact, the whole process is beginning again.

We still haven’t begun pre-production as the story has to be greenlit, but that isn’t stopping us from beginning to form together our next big story.  Dustin Ballard (co-writer of Leave Me and storyline consultant on Greyscale), Gloria Roundtree (AD on Greyscale), and myself have been meeting on a weekly basis to hash out the framework of the story.

While I am very hesitant to give details on any story elements so early in the game (if you remember, Greyscale was originally a sci-fi concept…), I can tell you that it’s currently shaping up to be something quite different from Greyscale and a bit more like Leave Me.  Since we had such a massive (and very primal) reaction to that, it’s becoming more apparent the healing power that a good story can have.  It’s something we’re planning to explore further, and when we have some concrete news to share, we’ll post it here.

.:Done in 60 Seconds

The same organizers that put together the 36 hour film fest that we created Leave Me for is now at it again with a 12 hour festival on December 28th.  This time the limit is 1 minute, and we are most definitely participating again.  More updates on that as it nears.

Thanks for sticking around.

Also, if you’re a Facebook user, you can find both pages for Daros Films and Greyscale as well!  We keep up to date news there as well.

Nowadays the movie lives in a single room on a couple of computers.  Things are quiet, and unfortunately I’ve been silent on both this and the Daros blog… because there really aren’t many exciting things to report other than “Yes, we’re still in post.”

But, since there hasn’t been a “Yes, we’re still in post,” update in a while, I’ll give you the skinny.

Editing: We’re beginning the 6th of 7 edits before we lock.  The 5th edit went out to industry professionals and editors for fresh pairs of eyes, and now we’re readying the 6th draft to start showing to focus groups!  After we get that feedback, we’ll lock in on a 7th draft edit and move further down the road of post-production.

Sound: After we lock we’ll be laying down some ADR/looping for the few scenes that we just couldn’t get clean sound on while on location.  After that we’ll be working with a studio to mix down and foley the audio.

Effects: We’re shopping around several effects houses to do the final color grading and effects work for the movie.

Beyond that, we’re getting closer and closer to a finished product!  Runtime is sitting at about 1:49 for draft 5, and it probably won’t change too much for 6 or 7, but we’ll have to see.

Thanks for holding on!

-Ryan

Greyscale is deep into post-production, and some of the team got together to watch what I like to call Version .03.  There are a few elements missing still, such as soundtrack and foley, and it’s being run through rudimentary color grading to get a feel for the black and white (which to be fair, is what you’re seeing in the trailer and screengrabs, so it’s a bit more involved than slapping on a basic black and white filter).

At the moment I’m very pleased with how things are shaping up, and as we bring in fresh eyes to watch the edit, it’s incredibly enlightening to see what elements people are picking up on, and what’s being glossed over.

I learned something recently though…

(Brian Shoop as Gabe)

.:MacGuffins and Love Stories

…As long as the emotional heart of the story is clear and working, the plotline that accompanies it that deals more with the twisty nature of noir doesn’t have to be fully understood, and spending time making sure the audience gets everything at first blush will probably bog things down (go ahead and tell me you understood all the double-crosses and factions in The Maltese Falcon the first time you watched it…).

All of the needed info is available, but it might take more than one run through to understand exactly how the 3D puzzle fits together.  Did I mention Memento is a favorite of mine?

The emotional track though… I still get a little choked up every time I watch the end (and I’m told I’m not the only one), so as a storyteller, I feel like my goal is accomplished if I can get people to care more about the characters than the macguffin… because I’ve yet to leave the theater thinking about a macguffin that made me want to be a better person.

.:Other Things
As I continue to work on the edit, the rest of the Greyscale crew is continuing to hone their skills on a pet project that our world-traveling DP, John Barnett (just left Israel and is in France at the moment) is coming back into town to shoot on the new Canon 5D Mk II.  I’m excited to see how it turns out and hope to be able to make it to set a few times and be more than just a producer.  More details on that later.

-R

This was an entry Daros Films put out for ChristianFilmmakers.org’s 36 Hour Film Festival. We’re really pleased with how it has turned out, so if you have 3 minutes, please check it out!

.:MLT
Wait, you mean we’re still making a movie? Weekly update 36 back in early January was our last major announcement, and so much has happened since then (I really ought to get someone to write these, shouldn’t I?) We are zeroing in the finish line. In fact, we’re so close, we’re officially WRAPPING on Friday, April 3rd. It will be a bittersweet end after 42 outings together, but there’s no rest for us as we’ll immediately move into pickups and a reshoot or two (we are classifying wrapping as completing at least most of every scene and we’ll be at officially 98% of what we need).

.:Chop-Shop
The rough assembly edit is 50% complete. As soon as we wrap, I’ll be devoting most of my free time into completing the assembly edit and picking out what we might be missing for inserts and reshoots. After that, we’ll be putting together a trailer and polish off a few key scenes to start shopping around to distributors. And then… well, we’ll just have to see what comes next, but we’re all very excited.

.:Credits
43 weeks ago… I mentioned a song I wanted. Without going into too much detail, the dream is now something of an obtainable goal with much thanks to the legwork of a few individuals. I’ll let you know more when I can.

.:Behind the Scenes
The blog needs some more pictures, and I’ll be putting some great production stills up soon.

Thanks for reading and supporting Greyscale! We’re incredibly close to finishing this leg of the game and it has been an absolute blast.

Ryan Explains ‘Goon Day’ on Greyscale from Greg Thorne on Vimeo.

Yoplait Yogurt: The Official Yogurt of Goons Everywhere from Greg Thorne on Vimeo.

The hits just keep on coming…

No, none of these were repeats…

…the item being used was a plastic rod covered with dense foam to make it look like a lead pipe. While it did not hurt like a lead pipe (and thus make for a far shorter video… er… movie…), it did still hurt.

Thanks.
The Management.

Music: Modest Mouse “Float On” (which we wish we had rights to, but don’t)

February 7th, 2008 – The movie title Greyscale is imagined during a meeting at the Oklahoma Moviemakers group after it was pitched to have a local film festival.

A year has been invested in this project.  7.5 months of writing/pre-production, 3.5 months in production, 1 in post (thus far). 72 cast members, 20+ crew (on set and off), and a lot of people showing interest in the project… it’s come a long way and still has a ways to go… The last 15% of filming and 60% left to go on the assembly edit (and then the first actual edit, scoring, color treatment, sound sweetening, etc).  But, as soon as the assembly is complete, the trailer will be put together and we’ll go to distributors and see who bites.

Whatever your level of involvement, I want to say a sincere thank you for being here with this project, no matter the level.  Whether you’ve said a few encouraging words or been on set all 33 days of production thusfar, we wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for you.

While most people’s association with this project will be merely the finished product, I’m realizing the value that comes with a producing something like this.  People are brought together, relationships are formed, stories and lives are shared, and win, lose, or draw, we have the memories and the experiences left behind.  Yes, I am a very nostalgic person, and still can’t believe how so much has come together through the work of so many.  Thank you for investing in this idea, this story, this chapter in my life that I will always look back fondly on.  Yes, there is plenty more work left to be done as I’ve mentioned before, but we’ve hit a milestone, and too often they are forgotten.

There are points in the story that I’m discovering how connected everything is.  How this is a story of forgiveness, of redemptions past, present, and future. How Greyscale may refer to the world being in black and white, but moreso how it is Oliver’s story of how he could have wound up in the position of just about any of the rest of the characters if certain events had happened differently (or if forgiveness had been granted or received at different points in his life), and thus can look at each person in their own scale of good/badness and see where he falls in the mix and why.  It’s something I don’t expect many people to walk away understanding, but I hope it’s at least transparent enough to be noticed.

.:Ian Hamilton
I want to thank the actors who have breathed life into these roles.  It’s an interesting experience to wrestle with creating a fictional person for so long only to have their character live for a day or two and then be forever nothing but images on a screen from that point on.  It’s a humbling and beautiful thing for a writer to experience, and in the editing bay, I have been so proud of our cast.  For the bits that I have shown around, I have gotten far and away more praise than critiques on how the cast is working well together.  They say 80% of directing is casting, and I believe it.

.:Color-Wheel
I want to thank the crew for all the blood, sweat, and… well, no tears have been shed yet, thankfully.  I could not ask for a better crew to work with.  Most people that have come on set for a weekend have done nothing but rave about how hard working, patient, and loyal this crew has been.  I won’t drag this message on too much longer, but I can only hope that you all have enjoyed working on this movie as much as I have had the pleasure of getting to know you and work with you.

Year one is done, my friends.  2008 was strong, but 2009 is where it all pays off.  Thank you for believing in this project.

Sincerely,
Ryan Dunlap

First of all, many thanks to all of you for sticking around with us.  So much has happened since our last update.  Both Tim Russ and Doug Jones have come, delivered brilliantly, and headed back to the West coast.  For those of you following us on Facebook, these aren’t anything new, but here are some screengrabs from some of the rough CC footage: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038030&l=5f47a&id=26400254

While we’re working on the new Greyscale website, feel free to go out there and visit to see the new 3-minute behind the scenes short film put together by our own Joseph Hutson (www.greyscalemovie.com).

.:Hiatus
We’re officially 85% finished with filming as of Dec 14th.  Since then we’ve been on break for the holidays we’ve been regrouping to see what pickups/inserts/reshoots are necessary.  Editing has begun, and we’re more excited than ever to get this thing wrapped.

Other than that, there isn’t much to report, but please check out the pictures and behind the scenes footage!