After the services, he showed the raw green screen footage of his scene. (The outtake of the marriage scene, when the Real Paul cuts up – “You may kiss the bride” after they’ve done kissing.)

Though the audience might have been ringers – after all, there was a movie screen already installed right in the church – the clip of The Real Paul (typecast as Vicar) and The Real Marian (Vicar’s Wife and Motorbike Escort) performing the wedding and zooming off with the happy movie couple riding along went down well. The Real Paul fielded inquiries regarding its release date from these new members of his fan base.

In brief: The Real Paul and Marian crushed it. The audience reaction was great. The jokes hit home. Viewer response was favorable… in fact, perhaps more so than Marian’s will be when the phone bill arrives. (Do take it easy on him, Marian.)

Terrific news on a Sunday night surprise chat!

This grant money will go towards paying for our green screen compositing and effects, which is our most important element of the post production process for this movie.

I’m not exaggerating by describing the shoot of “The Adventures of Paul and Marian” as a life-changing event.  It was the first movie I’ve directed about characters I created.  It was the first film I’ve made that had such a large machine behind it; a crew of about 30, with a large support team, and over 50 on-screen roles.  My other films have been chamber pieces; this was a full out production.

This film was in many ways a celebration of my nearly 20 years of living and working in NYC.  Collaborators from my previous film, radio and theater projects appeared in this movie and/or contributed in some way to the production.  Cameo roles went to friends and collaborators from all parts of my life.  Our PAs, art department assistants, and camera crew were for the most part Purchase students who studied or are currently studying with our cinematographer Alan McIntyre Smith.  This gave the set a real feeling of family, and our new colleagues were quickly folded in to it.  Everyone was really eager to work together and this enabled us to move quickly and stay focused.  And since the film has so many small roles and needs so many extras, pretty much everyone who worked on the set appears on screen at some point.

This shoot, as stressful as it might be to shoot a feature with singing and dancing and multiple sets in just 10 1/2 days, was also the most relaxed feature set I’ve had the privilege to helm.  The cast, as anxious as they might have been about their dance numbers and figuring out their blocking on the spot, was extremely prepared and focused.  The fun we had on set was possible only because of the amount of preparation and discipline that the cast and crew exhibited.

I’ve worked on fast sets before; my first feature “The Changeling” was shot in a mere 6 days and my previous feature “Spirit Cabinet” (currently in post) was shot in just 5.  But there was one moment on this production that just stunned me; one day we were running late and had four brief scenes to shoot and 20 minutes to do so before the end of the day.  We finished blocking, lighting, and shooting them all in just 18 minutes.  And two of them included dolly shots.  The crew and cast were just that ready and attentive.  You don’t see this kind of thing on larger budget movies.  Granted, if you have lots of cash you don’t need to shoot four scenes in 20 minutes, but people’s hearts are more into a movie like ours than something they’re just doing for a paycheck.

There were some really odd moments on set for me; I’d look around and see a bunch of people in costume and marvel at this strange movie we’ve put together.  It is a strange little creature.  At one point I was shooting a scene starring my close friend Victor Varnado (also a director, writer, and comedian) and he started laughing.  I asked him why, and he told me that he was trying to follow my direction to play the role of the Hermit grounded and naturalistically and then he realized that he was acting opposite of a singing rock hand puppet.

So besides finally bringing this project to life which I’ve been thinking about and working on for nearly 2 1/2 years, the shooting experience was a real celebration.  Donors, family and friends visited us on set.  Old colleagues came together and new working relationships were formed as well.

After a short rest (well, not really a rest– I’ve been hired to direct a play that starts preproduction next week), we’ll get back to fundraising and start the long and intricate post production process.  But for now it’s time for us to take a breath and celebrate what we’ve all achieved.  I still can’t believe that this dream project is actually in the can.  Wow.

Our Crew at Work

On Set with Paul Herbig and Marian Brock

Rehearsing the Finale

This is my first time working so closely with a choreographer and it’s been a really interesting process.  First of all, Lorna is just great.  She’s inventive, quick, and knows how to communicate with non-dancers.  I’ve found so far that we’re able to create moments in our songs that aren’t simply movements in time to the music, but moves that use the music to allow the actors to express character.  Our leads are non-dancers, so it’s much easier for them to approach the work this way.  When they’re allowed to unlock their character’s traits and attitudes through movement, things click in a way that they wouldn’t if the actors had to remember what to do on what beat.

And we’ve found ways of expressing character through having Lorna at rehearsal and constructing dance elements for the characters that we wouldn’t have otherwise. Some examples: a mini-tantrum the General has at the end of his song; the slinking snake-like moves of La Junta in the Revolution song; Marian’s painful attempt to do a push up in the same song; the Henchpeople being constantly in motion.  Lorna’s contribution to the movie goes beyond the actual dance numbers and has helped me think of ways of visualizing the characters’ attitudes, needs, and conflicts on screen.  And the dance rehearsals have become unsuspectingly good acting rehearsals too.  I’d recommend a choreographer for every film director.

However, the logistical challenges of doing this on a limited budget with limited time are immense, and we have decided to return to using green screen for this movie.  The advantages to this are that we can move much faster while we shoot, we have a lot more flexibility in post, and I will be able to spend more time on set working closely with the actors rather than worrying about technical issues with the rear projection image.  The performances are what’s going to sell this movie in any case, so I have to be able to focus on them.  The amazing thing about digital editing and green screen is that there’s so much you can do to the image in post, so we’ll have a huge amount of options in shaping the  look of the movie afterwards.

This will mean a much longer and more expensive post production, which I’m not exactly happy about, but it’s the best choice for making this movie as interesting and good as it needs to be.

A very tired Jay Stern thanks you

It was a long 45 days full of emotional ups and downs, but we surpassed our fundraising goal of $16,000 on Kickstarter last night.

182 backers from all over contributed a total of $16,403, which means we now have enough money to get through production.

The game is afoot!  We shoot in June!  Of course there are a few thousand details we have to work out before we get to that point, but this movie is finally happening.  What a relief!

Above is a photograph I posted for our supporters which extends to you, dear reader.  Thanks for being part of the journey.  We can’t wait to show you our movie.

We’ll be recording scratch tracks of several more songs this month.  We’ll use these recordings for the actors to sing along to on set, and then record a more polished version after we shoot.

Mary Micari sings!

Derek Lively sings!

Mary and Derek harmonize

Mary Micari and Derek Lively

Besides being a world-class animator of funny, edgy, and haunting films, Signe is a fixture of the New York animation scene, championing the work of animators big and small.  She has curated DVDs of their work and routinely runs screenings in New York.  Signe has also brought many wonderful animated films to my attention to screen at the Iron Mule film festival.

Signe also writes one of the best blogs I’ve ever read about the frustrations, heartbreak, and occasional joys of being an independent artist trying to raise the money to create work and bring it to an audience.

Now Signe is raising money for “Rocks in My Pockets,” a feature animated comedy about depression.  Signe says “it might be interesting for depressed people and for psychologists but also for people whose relatives are depressed and what not, so it means about 99 per cent of population.”

I know it’s counterproductive for me to promote someone else’s fundraising efforts while I’m in the middle of my own, but the world needs more Signe Baumane and sometimes it’s important to put your money where your mouth is.

Help support indie movies!  You can check out Signe’s website for “Rocks in My Pockets” here, and donate to the project here.