So: I wrote the shooting script for Transatlanticism in one night. I’m a little over halfway through mapping out the storyboards. I am under the impression that shooting has been delayed a few weeks because, while I do not have a problem shooting in negative degrees Celsius weather, many, if not most, of my volunteer crew do not seem to be eager to do so.

On the plus side, I have a crew. I didn’t even have to get them drunk. Yet.

It looks like my camera choice is good. Native 16:9 aspect ratio and high definition means that my job in editing gets much easier. The bad part is that I either have to get A) a new computer or B) more memory for my existing one if I am to take full advantage of the tools I need.

On an unrelated note, I’ve been afflicted with a soul-crushing insomnia lately. I’ll reach 24 hours in this most recent spell in about twenty minutes. I’ve slept an average of one night per week for the past three weeks. I’ve gotten whatever other rest that’s been from simply losing consciousness for one to three hours.

Needless to say, it is awesome.

I think I need to take a few days off of work. Seriously.

You know, I should probably start posting more than once every three months if I ever expect anyone to read this thing.

Ah well, maybe some day.

In actual news, preparations for the filming of Transatlanticism continue apace. I’ve cast the female character and I have most of the crew. I also rewrote the screenplay and am (still) working on the shooting script. There are only two things holding me back: uncertainty about the camera I chose to buy and casting the male character.

Casting shouldn’t be too big an issue, especially since I already know who is playing opposite him. However, I don’t know very many male actors, and there is a chance that I might be delayed rather than just going with whoever is available. We’ll see.

As for the camera, I want to buy the Canon HV-10. I could theoretically buy a better model, but I didn’t do too well in my donation drive, and I don’t want to spend $6,000 or more on something that might fail miserably. Nevertheless, I need to be sure it can do the job, and, well, I’m not. But I’m on it.

And… I think that’s all. I might be drunk, though, since I had four beers for lunch, so if anything comes to me, I’ll be back.

So, this isn’t going as well as I had hoped. I’m having trouble getting help from the city in getting Full Contact Origami officially registered as a business, because bureaucracy is only slightly easier to navigate than any given rampantly corrupt system, with the added trouble that bribery will get me nowhere. Probably.

Additionally, donations have been few, so few, in fact, that I can’t even add “far between” in there because there’s been only one.

On top of that, my bovine (ex!)cohabitor managed to get free with what is essentially $900 of my money. I paid her rent the last month of our time together with the intent of claiming her security deposit as my own in the future. However, her repeated failures to pay her rent with any semblance of timeliness and the fact that she left her room an utter mess made it so that the landlord exercised his right to take her deposit as his own. So I got seriously fucked.

Despite all that, though, I’ve made an executive decision: I am going to continue down the current path until the end of the year. In January, I am going to buy the best camera that I can afford with whatever money I have at that point and commence making a god damn movie. Because that’s just how I roll.

I’ve started preproduction on Transatlanticism, breaking the screenplay down into a shooting script and doing some rough storyboards. I’ve already enlisted some help with the production, and I should probably be able to fill out the crew with people who are friendly with me and naïve enough to believe that working for free is a good idea. Lucky for me I’ve met enough people to make it look like I’m remotely competent. I hope.

So, there are only three and a half months of me ending these (infrequent but soon to increase) posts with the missive that you should donate to me out of love or pity. I’m not particular.

Unfortunately, I have yet to receive a single donation. On top of that, they improved the camera that I so heartily desire. Along with that, they raised the price by $2,000.00. So, there’s that.

Nevertheless, I’ve half-started preproduction for Transatlanticism. What I haven’t done is worked out just how I’m going to make that movie without getting sued. My hope is that, since Death Cab for Cutie made Directions, they have a soft spot for filmmakers and will give me a break once I make the movie.

So, yeah, I’m on tenuous ground here, eh?