April was all about working on the nuts and bolts of production; insurance, permits, credit cards. All of these things turned out to be a little more tricky than you would have thought.
First there was the Credit Card situation. Art director Mike Winningham and I had been planning to do a test dressing of Al's Van. This turned out to be impossible as the two of us could never get our work schedules synched up, week after week. As well, the only Enterprise in a reasonable location (i.e not in Santa Monica or by LAX) that also rented trucks and vans was closed on Weekends, forcing us to try and do this on a weekday, since renting the van for longer than one day for a test was out of the question.
Then, on the day we finally got it all ready to go, another snag; I had been planning to use Amy's credit card for the deposit, since I have staunchly refused to have a credit card of my own for years. And yet this finally back fired on me, as the owner of the credit card would have to be present for the rental, and since Amy works 9 -5, Monday through Friday, there was just no way we could do this. Without any other option, I went right down to the bank and applied for my first credit card.
While waiting for approval, Brad and I began working on 'The Ride's insurance. Brad had theorized that it would cost us around $500, but all the quotes we were getting back were in the $800 ball park. Finally getting a broker on the phone from MovieInsure.com, he explained that because ours was a split shoot (meaning we're shooting over a period of two weekends instead of one long block), our insurance costs where going to go up.
About the only thing that went smoothly last month was getting a location agreement signed by the proprietor of Tropical Imports, a fish store in Glendale that will serve as the location for Greg's dreaded day job. Although I was initially going after a straight pet food store, Tropical Imports was the only place that was open to negotiating a reasonable fee for the shoot, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the surreal aspects of a fish shop, with all of their black lights and odd fish tank decorations.
Finally, at the tail end of April, it all came together; I got approved for a Secure Credit Card after the first application was denied, and we got an insurance plan in the amount of $726, covering us for general and auto, the requirements for our Riverside permit.
And with that mostly wrapped up, we're moving back into the fun stuff; costume and make up tests. I had initially planned to do a costume test for the whole cast in one day, but with everyone working different kinds of day jobs, we're instead having to schedule everyone on different days. Armen Babasoloukian was first, which was a relief because his costume is the most eccentric, and I thought would therefore be the hardest to pull off. However, Jessica did a great job, with the only missing pieces being the cufflinks for his shirt and his braces. Take a look below:
I'll be posting the costume tests as they come, so expect a lot more updates as the month hurdles us into production!
Cheers,
Waylon
Cool animation and virtual effects
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