This is obviously not Claire, but hopefully we'll get a photoshoot going for her soon.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A rough poster for the film.
This is obviously not Claire, but hopefully we'll get a photoshoot going for her soon.
Stay tuned!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Another week of no updates is justified when you consider how busy it's been on fronts other than just the film one. Since I'm doing my post-grad diploma at Humber College, this past week was the finals week for the second term and I need to bone up on the work. Nevertheless, through all the hub-bub of getting the studying out of the way, we managed to find ourselves our lead actress to play the role of Vicky, our troubled protagonist.
Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome the lovely Ms. Claire Duncan
Claire comes to us from Newton Landry management and from the two actresses that we managed to narrow down our entries to, she was the most convincing, most prepared and most connected to the role of Vicky. In her second reading in cooperation with Anne and Michael, I really saw how the three of them would work together to form the great on-screen team for the film.
We're going to be working on an EPK to send out to festivals later in the year and hope that it works out for us. We already have an idea of how we want our promo poster would look like and are hoping to schedule a photoshoot with Claire at some point in time so we can work on it.
Keep watching the blog for more news on how it goes, and hopefully very soon we'll have an EPK ready for you all to download.
Adios! :-)
Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome the lovely Ms. Claire Duncan
Claire comes to us from Newton Landry management and from the two actresses that we managed to narrow down our entries to, she was the most convincing, most prepared and most connected to the role of Vicky. In her second reading in cooperation with Anne and Michael, I really saw how the three of them would work together to form the great on-screen team for the film.
We're going to be working on an EPK to send out to festivals later in the year and hope that it works out for us. We already have an idea of how we want our promo poster would look like and are hoping to schedule a photoshoot with Claire at some point in time so we can work on it.
Keep watching the blog for more news on how it goes, and hopefully very soon we'll have an EPK ready for you all to download.
Adios! :-)
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Much-Needed Update
I haven't updated in a week. Bad, bad Zaid! I should have done that a very long time ago.
Thing is, I couldn't help it! It's been such an exciting week in terms of casting and location scouting that one gets caught up in the excitement of the whole thing to the point of being overwhelmed! Hehehehe
Well, first of all! Casting on Monday was fantastic! We had close to 30 actors and actresses coming in for these three parts. Some carried themselves with a great deal of talent and others, well...you could tell they were new to the acting thing! Nevertheless we are happy to confirm that we have succeeded in casting the roles of Vicky's Mom and The Dealer.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Anne Shepherd and Michael Woodley:
So now all that's left is having a second reading for the two actresses that we've narrowed our choices down to for the role of Vicky: Saffron Cassaday and Claire Duncan. They'll both be reading on Wednesday April 21st with Michael and Anne and a decision will be made then. It's gonna be tough, but it's also gonna be great.
Also in the fantastic zone of news! HAH! You're gonna like this, we've been negotiating with the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto for the use of their sanctuary area for the filming of the final scene of the movie. Kar Wai, Eric, Michael and I went for a location scout the past Wednesday to all three locations in the film (Regent Park, the house, and the Church) and we've got some fantastic prospects on the table.
We've also got a new CGI expert working on another draft of the work for the film, Mark Alberts comes to us recommended by producer Eric Weigand and has some great ideas for the CGI effects used in the film.
We're also happy to welcome veteran sound engineer Valentin Pricop (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0697233/) to the team as on-location sound mixer.
It's rather fantastic to know that someone who's worked on $10m movies and productions before can spare some time to work on a small little thing like this that's about 1% of the budget of his other work.
The support I've been getting for the project from friends and acquaintances is great. There's no doubt that friends are an important factor in spreading word of mouth about the film, but it's rather overwhelming to see the support go in such directions as attempting to help with entities such as the Dubai International Film Festival or the elusive Royal Film Commission of Jordan. My thanks and appreciation goes out to all of you who help out constantly.
It may interest some of you to know that I am also currently extending a short screenplay that I have into feature length in anticipation of sending it to the RFC in Jordan to see the potential for finding investors for it there. It'll be an interesting story, I'll promise you that. So if you're interested, keep watching the blog ;-)
See you all later, god bless!
Thing is, I couldn't help it! It's been such an exciting week in terms of casting and location scouting that one gets caught up in the excitement of the whole thing to the point of being overwhelmed! Hehehehe
Well, first of all! Casting on Monday was fantastic! We had close to 30 actors and actresses coming in for these three parts. Some carried themselves with a great deal of talent and others, well...you could tell they were new to the acting thing! Nevertheless we are happy to confirm that we have succeeded in casting the roles of Vicky's Mom and The Dealer.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Anne Shepherd and Michael Woodley:
So now all that's left is having a second reading for the two actresses that we've narrowed our choices down to for the role of Vicky: Saffron Cassaday and Claire Duncan. They'll both be reading on Wednesday April 21st with Michael and Anne and a decision will be made then. It's gonna be tough, but it's also gonna be great.
Also in the fantastic zone of news! HAH! You're gonna like this, we've been negotiating with the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto for the use of their sanctuary area for the filming of the final scene of the movie. Kar Wai, Eric, Michael and I went for a location scout the past Wednesday to all three locations in the film (Regent Park, the house, and the Church) and we've got some fantastic prospects on the table.
We've also got a new CGI expert working on another draft of the work for the film, Mark Alberts comes to us recommended by producer Eric Weigand and has some great ideas for the CGI effects used in the film.
We're also happy to welcome veteran sound engineer Valentin Pricop (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0697233/) to the team as on-location sound mixer.
It's rather fantastic to know that someone who's worked on $10m movies and productions before can spare some time to work on a small little thing like this that's about 1% of the budget of his other work.
The support I've been getting for the project from friends and acquaintances is great. There's no doubt that friends are an important factor in spreading word of mouth about the film, but it's rather overwhelming to see the support go in such directions as attempting to help with entities such as the Dubai International Film Festival or the elusive Royal Film Commission of Jordan. My thanks and appreciation goes out to all of you who help out constantly.
It may interest some of you to know that I am also currently extending a short screenplay that I have into feature length in anticipation of sending it to the RFC in Jordan to see the potential for finding investors for it there. It'll be an interesting story, I'll promise you that. So if you're interested, keep watching the blog ;-)
See you all later, god bless!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sound?
Minus 1's sound designer Douglas Wright has been phoning me all weekend trying to formulate a good atmospheric description of the heroin addiction that engulfs Vicky (I'm still not giving any information on what's going on ;-)) I think he's having some trouble with how much time is required for the length of the sound dimension that's needed. I hope it sorts itself out soon. It's really an issue of getting it to work with the edit and the emotional projection that the actress playing Vicky will be able to pull off.
Over the weekend we've also had CGI animator Ian Thomson send us some of the samples he created to go with the sound design. Fantastic stuff. It just fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm doing this and it's going out to the masses finally after years of trying to get myself in a good pace of work. I honestly can't wait to get my stuff out there.
The casting is in a few hours. I'm sat here watching Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and really trying to figure out from the faces of the actresses and actors if there's going to be someone that's going to fit the bill. Honestly speaking it sometimes appears in their faces, but I know I shouldn't judge by the faces because acting talent is never going to be projected in a simple promo headshot. Ah well, it's just me ranting in the middle of the night. So I'm gonna sign off and keep my head clear for the afternoon's casting auditions and hopefully all will go well.
Over the weekend we've also had CGI animator Ian Thomson send us some of the samples he created to go with the sound design. Fantastic stuff. It just fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm doing this and it's going out to the masses finally after years of trying to get myself in a good pace of work. I honestly can't wait to get my stuff out there.
The casting is in a few hours. I'm sat here watching Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and really trying to figure out from the faces of the actresses and actors if there's going to be someone that's going to fit the bill. Honestly speaking it sometimes appears in their faces, but I know I shouldn't judge by the faces because acting talent is never going to be projected in a simple promo headshot. Ah well, it's just me ranting in the middle of the night. So I'm gonna sign off and keep my head clear for the afternoon's casting auditions and hopefully all will go well.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Casting Call Now on Mandy.com & Yipehipe.com
Hi everyone,
The casting call for Minus 1 has now been posted on Mandy.com at http://www.mandy.com/1/cast3.cfm?v=27407750 and Yipehipe.com at http://yipehype.com/video/audition.php?aid=27 so if you're interested and have an acting resume and a sexy headshot, give us a call. ;-)
The casting call for Minus 1 has now been posted on Mandy.com at http://www.mandy.com/1/cast3.cfm?v=27407750 and Yipehipe.com at http://yipehype.com/video/audition.php?aid=27 so if you're interested and have an acting resume and a sexy headshot, give us a call. ;-)
Hmm...
Michael's probably going to have my head for this, but I've just tonight come upon a revelation that perhaps there should be some additions made to the script that help the film progress. I know budget constraints will probably not allow it, but I'm gonna take it up with him tomorrow and see what he says. It will probably extend the film another 10 minutes or so, but I'm sure it's going to be worth it.
Updates to come on that one ;-)
Updates to come on that one ;-)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Minus 1 Update
Things are getting rather exciting on the Minus 1 front. I have been lucky enough to collaborate with a great producer such as Michael Patrick, who has literally brought with him an army of contacts, each with their own amazing deals and additions to the Minus 1 family.
In December we confirmed Kar Wai Ng (http://www.karwaing.com) as the Director of Photography. Kar Wai comes with experience in the indie film scene here in Toronto with more than 20 films under his belt with several independent film directors and producers, including past classmates of his alma mater, Ryerson University. He was immediately able to connect to the sort of lighting and atmosphere needed for the film and is currently working on getting the right equipment for shooting for when we begin shooting.
Speaking of which, and seeing as the weather's cleared up nicely (and it's about time too! Who knew I'd immigrate to Canada just in time for its worst winter since the 1930s!), we've confirmed shooting dates in and around the Regent Park area of downtown Toronto for the weekend of May 10th to the 14th. So hopefully if the weather continues to maintain its nice and clear streak for the rest of the spring/summer, it should be nice and clear sailing until the end.
Also to maintain a smaller radius of shooting within the GTA, instead of going to the church originally intended for the shoot on Albion Road near Etobicoke, the church scenes will hopefully be filmed a few blocks away from Regent Park in the Metropolitan Church on Queen Street East. We are yet to contact the city about the use of this facility but hopefully they'll be supportive enough of the project as to allow us to film both internally and externally. Internal shots of Vicky's house, on the other hand, will be shot at my lovely girlfriend Carina's apartment another few blocks away from Regent Park, and it is now that I would like to thank her and her roommates for their support on the matter.
Recently, Michael Patrick and I have been hard at work at securing a good network of cast and crew for the film, and Michael was lucky enough to introduce the project to Eric Weigand of local postproduction company Producer's Choice. Eric has worked with Michael on several other projects and I was rather overjoyed that he felt the script had a powerful message and great aesthetic potential. Not only was he happy to be postproduction supervisor for the film's difficult post process (and believe me it's gonna be difficult, just you wait and see), but he's also very keen on editing it. This comes as a relief as logistics have not allowed us to insert into the budget enough money to send an insured drive by courier to the UK for my good friend Chris Smyth to edit. For more info on Eric, he's on iMDB! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1496850/
In a meeting with Michael and Eric on Friday, April 4th, we looked at the work of a prospective animator for the film by the name of Ian. Currently working on a project for Disney, Ian promised us he'd come up with mock-ups for the animation we had in mind for the hidden character in the film and so we're waiting on the results. In the meantime, we have sent out a casting call to all agents and casting directors here in Toronto in hopes of finding our three principal characters. The casting will be taking place at the Producer's Choice offices on Queen West & John on Monday, April 14th.
Also, (and this is very exciting news!) we will soon be confirming an early acceptance for 'Minus 1' in both the Small Town Film Festival (http://www.stff.ca) in Chatham, Ontario for late 2008 and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (http://www.kingcanfilmfest.com) for early 2009, with more festivals in North America to follow, and then hopefully to the rest of the world. STFF will post their confirmation some time within the next month and Kingston's is still pending, but Michael assures me that it's also a certain thing.
It fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm finally doing this and getting my name out there, even if it does feel sometimes that the scope of the film is sometimes a few bites more than I can chew, particularly the fact that I'm currently in the final 4 months of my postgraduate degree in PostProduction at Humber College. I feel, however, that I must do right by myself and prove to the world that I have the capability of sustaining myself as a filmmaker and director so that I'm capable of achieving my desired goal of getting my name out there as a film director.
This past Thursday (April 3rd), I got a chance to meet with famous Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan and, in the brief conversation that we had, he mentioned that I am at a vantage point at my age to be able to exploit my talents in the world of TV and Film production. Hopefully with enough exposure and PR this can be achieved, and so I'm hoping that past the two Canadian fests that we've confirmation of entry into is a wide horizon that spans the whole globe in terms of marketing and PR.
To all the readers, your support and networking capabilities will be needed and appreciated. And so I will leave you with a thank you for reading, and please do watch out for the completion of my website www.zaidadham.com in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Zaid
(watching The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly on his TV)
In December we confirmed Kar Wai Ng (http://www.karwaing.com) as the Director of Photography. Kar Wai comes with experience in the indie film scene here in Toronto with more than 20 films under his belt with several independent film directors and producers, including past classmates of his alma mater, Ryerson University. He was immediately able to connect to the sort of lighting and atmosphere needed for the film and is currently working on getting the right equipment for shooting for when we begin shooting.
Speaking of which, and seeing as the weather's cleared up nicely (and it's about time too! Who knew I'd immigrate to Canada just in time for its worst winter since the 1930s!), we've confirmed shooting dates in and around the Regent Park area of downtown Toronto for the weekend of May 10th to the 14th. So hopefully if the weather continues to maintain its nice and clear streak for the rest of the spring/summer, it should be nice and clear sailing until the end.
Also to maintain a smaller radius of shooting within the GTA, instead of going to the church originally intended for the shoot on Albion Road near Etobicoke, the church scenes will hopefully be filmed a few blocks away from Regent Park in the Metropolitan Church on Queen Street East. We are yet to contact the city about the use of this facility but hopefully they'll be supportive enough of the project as to allow us to film both internally and externally. Internal shots of Vicky's house, on the other hand, will be shot at my lovely girlfriend Carina's apartment another few blocks away from Regent Park, and it is now that I would like to thank her and her roommates for their support on the matter.
Recently, Michael Patrick and I have been hard at work at securing a good network of cast and crew for the film, and Michael was lucky enough to introduce the project to Eric Weigand of local postproduction company Producer's Choice. Eric has worked with Michael on several other projects and I was rather overjoyed that he felt the script had a powerful message and great aesthetic potential. Not only was he happy to be postproduction supervisor for the film's difficult post process (and believe me it's gonna be difficult, just you wait and see), but he's also very keen on editing it. This comes as a relief as logistics have not allowed us to insert into the budget enough money to send an insured drive by courier to the UK for my good friend Chris Smyth to edit. For more info on Eric, he's on iMDB! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1496850/
In a meeting with Michael and Eric on Friday, April 4th, we looked at the work of a prospective animator for the film by the name of Ian. Currently working on a project for Disney, Ian promised us he'd come up with mock-ups for the animation we had in mind for the hidden character in the film and so we're waiting on the results. In the meantime, we have sent out a casting call to all agents and casting directors here in Toronto in hopes of finding our three principal characters. The casting will be taking place at the Producer's Choice offices on Queen West & John on Monday, April 14th.
Also, (and this is very exciting news!) we will soon be confirming an early acceptance for 'Minus 1' in both the Small Town Film Festival (http://www.stff.ca) in Chatham, Ontario for late 2008 and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (http://www.kingcanfilmfest.com) for early 2009, with more festivals in North America to follow, and then hopefully to the rest of the world. STFF will post their confirmation some time within the next month and Kingston's is still pending, but Michael assures me that it's also a certain thing.
It fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm finally doing this and getting my name out there, even if it does feel sometimes that the scope of the film is sometimes a few bites more than I can chew, particularly the fact that I'm currently in the final 4 months of my postgraduate degree in PostProduction at Humber College. I feel, however, that I must do right by myself and prove to the world that I have the capability of sustaining myself as a filmmaker and director so that I'm capable of achieving my desired goal of getting my name out there as a film director.
This past Thursday (April 3rd), I got a chance to meet with famous Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan and, in the brief conversation that we had, he mentioned that I am at a vantage point at my age to be able to exploit my talents in the world of TV and Film production. Hopefully with enough exposure and PR this can be achieved, and so I'm hoping that past the two Canadian fests that we've confirmation of entry into is a wide horizon that spans the whole globe in terms of marketing and PR.
To all the readers, your support and networking capabilities will be needed and appreciated. And so I will leave you with a thank you for reading, and please do watch out for the completion of my website www.zaidadham.com in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Zaid
(watching The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly on his TV)
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