Go Time!

Following on our award-winning effort in last year’s National Film Challenge, Tohubohu Productions will once again be doing the whole madcap movie-making weekend. And this time, we’re absolutely determined to take it all.

Unlike last year, I won’t be directing this time; while directing is certainly my first love, I am absent an experienced producer for this go-around. So I’ll be stepping into that role, and handing the directorial reins over to Nello DeBlasio, who proved his abilities with the 48 Hour Film Project entry “Quite Contrary.” (In the end, probably the biggest thing this means is that I get to unapologetically play “bad cop.”) We haven’t locked down a writer yet (we’ve decided to get away from the “writers’ bullpen” model we’ve used in the past), but I sent out a letter to an experienced and wonderful local writer yesterday — sort of a last-minute, thinking-outside-the-box choice — and I’m cautiously optimistic that it’ll work out. No details yet (don’t want to jinx it) but if this comes together, I will be seriously psyched about our chances of producing an exceptional film.

We’re also going to be taking a step up on the technical side of things — I just reserved a Canon XL2 for the weekend; we got a fantastic rental rate that we just couldn’t pass up. I don’t know that we’ll be able to master all of the new features of the camera in the brief time we’ll have it, but at the minimum, we’ll be able to shoot in native 16x9 mode, take advantage of the camera’s built-in “cine look” options, and — here’s the real kicker — shoot at 24 frames per second. Not that we’re likely to have an opportunity to transfer to film, but for the first time, we’ll have the option of doing so. And since Final Cut Pro can edit and output in 24fps natively as well, it’ll be a seamless process.

Okay, so the XL2 is no XL H1, but it’s still a big step up for us (not to mention the fact that we’re not geared up to edit in high-def just yet, which is kind of a critical step in the production process).

Things are really starting to come together. Which is a good thing, since there’s just one week to go before production time. So if anyone out there wants in, speak now. Or find yourself waiting for a screening after the fact, saying to yourself, “Man, if only I’d spoken up sooner...”