Well I certainly have had the time but not the energy to update the site lately. I’ve gotten a job at Target and will hopefully bring in some money to put towards production. We’ve changed the title for the new film from “Darkest Places”- which was the subtitle back when the film only focused on Dark’s journey into his new path- to “Commencement,” something that actually deals with the plot and allegory of the film.

Sam and I went out today and found some great locations for the filming.

First and foremost, we need a big old fashioned house for the main part of the plot on Josef’s side. For this we looked into the Kentlands Mansion. Here’s a few pictures, the first is an outside shot of the building:

And here are the main rooms we wish to use:

A parlor for the scene where Boss Smith makes a deal with Ruger, looks very old fashioned with an original marble fireplace and wooden walls, plus old fashioned artwork. The Antiquated feel is exactly what we’re looking for, a place that holds onto memories of a world that has moved on.

Here’s the best part though: We’ve found a room perfect for the fencing scene, although it will be hard to film because drawing the camera back will be a bit of a problem, but the acoustics and look of the room are really attractive.

Originally it is the music room of the building, and if you could see the ceiling you’d see just how beautiful this place is.

Of course this could also prove a nice alternative to that setting if we need more space, they would just have to have the chairs and everything cleared up. This is the Yellow room, where most recitals are held.

Finally the scenes that take place in the mansion later will involve this place

and this room for Josef’s room

Now the pricing is a bit high- it’d be 300 dollars total really to film, with a deposit. But we are going to try and talk the price down since this is a student film and could possibly help promote the mansion in new artistic ways.

In any case, they wouldn’t have a problem with the fencing scene, so it will be nice if we get it right.

The other places we found are some local woods behind Sam’s house between Great Seneca and Riffleford road.

Also, at Great Seneca State Park, we decided the Mystic Woman will be some crazy old maternal figure who practices medicine out of an old State Park Public restroom. We’ll get some pictures of that later.

The next thing we’ll be looking into is our new camera. I’ve pretty much all but decided on my purchase, and here’s the deal at ExpressCameras.com

http://www.expresscameras.com/prodetails.asp?prodid=105277&up=8678&start=1

It’s a 1,300 dollar camera packaged with all these great extras for only 970 dollars and a full year warranty. Brand new, pretty much direct from Canon, and comes with a lot of the kind of equipment I lost. I’ll probably upgrade to the Continental Package which will hopefully be the best thing I can get for only 1100 dollars.

Well, things are looking up for the company, we should be getting some actors hired soon, and maybe even a cinematographer. We got some tips from a really great local group, so maybe I’ll put their vid up the next post if I talk to them about the deal. In the meantime, if you’re interested in doing a really great film this summer, be sure to let us know!

It’ll be a whole lot of fun.