Hello again Internet. I am sincerely sorry it's taken such a long time to update everyone on our little webseries. We've been extraordinarily busy prepping the newly titled "Sex, Drugs, and A Cappella: An Original Webseries". And we've left our funders out of the loop. And for that, I feel terrible.
So, I am sincerely sorry. Without your help and support, we'd be nothing.
A year after the inception of this project, we are finally gearing up for the final push. The edits are just about at picture lock. The entire series is heading to LA on a harddrive this week for color correction and then we'll ship the series elsewhere for sound mixing. The next few weeks are going to be very exciting for everyone that took part in this pilot presentation.
Needless to say, there is a lot that happened since my last update in January. We finished shooting Episode 1, we finished shooting Episode 2, we screened the series to a test audience, and we've edited and edited some more. I can't talk about everything we've done in this entry, because I would be writing forever. And it's much more exciting to have updates coming out every so often as we come closer and closer to actually releasing on youtube and iTunes.
But what I will talk about today is post-production. Miroslav Macala, one of our co-producers and our lead editor, came up with an almost fine edit for both episodes. A month and change ago he handed the series off to me as he went to New York City. I was tasked with tightening the edit and reworking some sections very slightly so we can have a complete picture lock on the series.
The process took weeks. Miro spent a sizeable amount of time on both episodes and I put hours into final edits. But editing is hard to describe. So I made a pretty awesome video. :) Which is linked below. So take a look into the editing process for Sex, Drugs, and A Cappella. I hope to have more videos coming out and I will definitely have more blog entries coming out as we get closer and closer to release.
It's been quite a while since I've updated this little blog. Between being out in Egypt...proof below:
...and an extended break here on the homefront, we haven't had much to talk about.
That all changed this week. I met with Rob and Ariel (the two co-producers) and we hashed out an ultimate game plan for the series moving forward. I figured I'd share where we are at.
Episode 1, the pilot, is in its very early edit. We have to work it through and tighten the entire episode, but right now it's almost an episode and it looks great. We have a few more shots we need to get and one more scene to shoot before we can lock the edit. That'll happen in early February.
Episode 2 is written and we are tightening the script up a bit to make it the best we can make it. That'll shoot sometime in March. Right around March to April, we'll get the pilot online to show everyone what we've been up to. We're going to have a bunch of really cool behind the scenes material coming up after we launch the first episode. So there will always be something cool going on. Episode 2 will premier in early May accompanied with a re-release of the pilot.
Then our pilot presentation is over. We will have done everything we can on our initial fundraising push. If the series sounds like it might be a hit, hopefully we can get enough money to order the rest of the season and continue the still untitled A Cappella Webseries.
PS. If you have a name suggestion, please let us know?
Also, if you are expecting a perk from us due to the fact you have donated money - that process will start soon. I'll keep you updated.
Till the rest of Episode 1 is shot, we'll continue editing. And I will of course update this as soon as something really exciting happens. So thank you for your patience.
I am on a much needed vacation until the 3rd of January. But that doesn't mean we aren't working. The pilot episode is getting edited over the next few weeks, and then we start planning the rest of the shoots. Exciting time indeed.
But everyone, have a lovely holiday and enjoy the New Year. Make good choices.
We have one more series of shots to accomplish come January. It is a shot of a few extras in an auditorium. We were lacking a few extras at the time so rather than shoot the scene, we pushed it back. But aside from that series of shots, we are entirely done shooting episode 1. Our pilot is officially in post-production. Woah. This series is actually happening.
Episode 2 is still on deck and will be shot in January/February. We had a production delay when one of our cast members had a family emergency and couldn't be on set with us, so we needed to push shooting back. Though we are still tracking to have the series online by the beginning of February.
So we are getting closer. Words cannot explain my excitement. Here are some photos from set this past weekend! Thanks to all who made this possible!
I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. But our first day of Principle Photography went off without a hitch. We shot from 8am - 2pm on Saturday the 4th of December. We were able to shoot scenes 1 and 12 from our Pilot episode, which translates to just about two pages of script.
I scheduled things to be a little on the light side for our first day. It's the first time working as a crew together. It's the first time on set together. We all need to learn how everyone functions so we can be effective.
But now that we know each other. Next weekend will be a busy one. We tracking to finish the entire pilot episode over the course of those two days.
But let me take a moment to share what we are actually doing in the photos I have shared.
Our set for scene 12 is a bathroom, in case you couldn't tell from the photos. This is a location we kinda stole. And by stole, I mean we set up in the bathroom and that was it. If someone asked we directed them to the nearest bathroom. It's independent filmmaking 101. You are allowed everywhere until you aren't. Lucky for us, no one asked us to move. So we were able to shoot everything we needed to.
The acoustics were a little bit of an issue, but it was a pretty good sounding bathroom comparatively.
I'll talk about a bit more later. I just wanted to share a few photos and say that we are officially in principle photo! (That means, we are officially shooting our series)
Here I sit, in front of my laptop, phone by my side. I've been emailing and calling people all day. Nearly 25 emails were sent yesterday all tagged with "webseries". Today, that number is pretty similar. It's the final push.
The scripts are printed. Everyone has made their notes. The cast has read through the script. Our equipment is set. Our bank accounts are ready to go. Tomorrow, Wednesday, the 1st of December, will mark the rehearsal to end all rehearsals. All the scenes will be up on their feet and we'll be making wardrobe selections for the cast.
Tonight, I am meeting with our First AD to go over the shooting schedule and lock shooting times. Our moment is almost here.
The IndieGoGo campaign is wrapping up as we speak. Time is not yet up. Help support us.
We've been able to extend our episode order already. We've covered most of our major costs, but everything from post-production to marketing costs money. Money we don't have. Every bit counts. And we'll love you forever. www.indiegogo.com/acappellashow
With things starting to heat up, you'll hear from me more regularly. I guarantee that.
I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Really, everyone supporting us has been incredibly awesome. I was listening to our pre-mix of the song that will be in the second episode today and it makes me an incredible happy person. I really think you'll be excited when we reveal song number two.
Yesterday we hit $1,800 dollars on the funding push. Can I just say "woah". We also hit an additional $100 in external funding which brings us to $1,900 dollars. We are shocked, amazed, and incredible thankful.
I should also note that I started seeing commercials for the Sing-Off. Which is an a cappella competition show on NBC which will be coming out first week in January. So if you still don't understand a cappella - tune into that show. You'll get a better idea of it. :)
So, production notes: firstly, I haven't been updating over the past few days. With the holidays this week, I was really busy with family. However, to make up for that - our script is final (so far).
Rob, Ariel, and I met via skype several times over the past few days and really hammered things out. Today, I cleaned up the script, fixed typos (apparently "freshman" is a singular, it never occurred to me that if we are referring to more than one freshman, it would be "freshmen". We all make silly mistakes sometimes) and I corrected some of the action lines. So we are at a pre-lock stage on the script. Rob and Ariel have to go ahead and approve it. I'll lock the script, add scene numbers, and send it off to the cast. Yay!
I'll talk more about locking tomorrow when I actually lock the script.
But that's been our process over the past few days. Writing, revising, revising, meeting, revising, re-writing, and meeting some more. But now I think our script is lockable. Which is a very good thing.
That's what I got for you. We are $200 dollars away from 2k. Let's make that push please? We have 5 days. Let's do this!
So as I sit listening to the premix of our second song for the webseries that is yet unnamed, I received a notification from Indiegogo that our little series is currently featured on their homepage. We've been rotating through the Indiegogo site for the past week or so as a popular project, but now we are appearing "above the fold". Sure, we don't have 100% share of voice, but it's still really awesome.
It makes me so happy that we are progressing at the rate we are. Tomorrow we'll be working through a script revisions of both the pilot and the second episode so we can start scheduling everything this week. Go time is quickly approaching. There is an incredible amount to do - but it will get done. No doubt.
On day six, we are just shy of 1,000 views on our campaign site. Contributions continue to roll in. All of us are so very happy at the progress our little series is making.
This weekend was an email filled weekend. We are finalizing equipment locks and crew positions as we get ready to go. We are working on getting a real art department together so that we can put our new funds to use.
Our scripts are getting revised an we are placing the finishing touches on the pilot episodes this week. After that happens, the scripts lock and we start planning shooting.
This is crazy. We're excited.
And we'd also like to thank Jiwon and Nicole for being our two newest contributers.
Another day, another update, another sense of amazement and wonder.
We've managed to cover all of of costs incurred by recording and engineering today with two generous contributions. Again, I am amazed at our success. At the very end of the day, our series is operating with 500 dollars per episode after one discounts recording, arranging and engineering costs. With the number of people we have on cast and crew and the production we are planning, that still isn't a great deal of money.
We are using every favor we have to make this webseries happen. We believe in the project to such an extent that we are placing all of our eggs in one basket. But each contribution we receive makes production that much easier. A few more contributions and we'll be set on the pilot episodes and we'll be able to start extending our episode order. At this pace, we'll be able to order "the back 4". Our first season was planned to be six episodes. The two pilot episodes and four more. But making entertainment isn't cheap. Which is why we started this funding campaign to begin with. Factor in the contributions we are receiving, we might be able to start ordering more episodes before we ever shoot the pilot. How cool is that?
So let's make that happen! That said, I'd like to welcome Ruth Schapiro on as another Associate Producer. Looks like Bass Instinct will have to sing to you too! I'd also like to thank Margaret Conklin for her generous contribution.
