Rain, rain, go away...

In spite of the incredibly rainy week we've been having, ZomRomCom has been moving along at a rapid pace.

Over the weekend, we cast BOTH of the leads roles. Sydney Torin Shepherd of the UNCSA School of Drama will be playing Svetlana, and Allan Washington of the same school will be playing Vanya. We're thrilled to have both of them on board, and have already put them to work in auditions. Leo Hurley (Composer/Musical Director) and Hannah Emerson (Choreographer) have had wonderful rehearsal with the pair, and I look forward to keeping you posted on their progress.

Monday brought some very thought provoking meetings with a number of faculty members from the Film and Drama Schools. We had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with Kevin Stites (UNCSA School of Drama interim faculty best known for his work on 13 Broadway shows) to discuss the film and our process. Leo and Messiah (Director) were able to toss around some great ideas with him and integrate some of his advice into our future plans.

Today we were given the chance to work with Carol Wood (UNCSA School of Filmmaking professor) developing storyboards, and damn is she good! Great brainstorming, problem solving, and planning all around the board as Drew (Cinematographer), Sam (Production Designer), myself, and Messiah worked at the boards from afternoon until late evening. We finished things off with our first viewing of the dance and some excitement for the day to come.

Make sure to stop back by the blog this weekend when I'll be posting storyboards for the film, some sketches, and look samples.

-John Eric

In short, there's simply not a more congenial spot...

Well, the work day started off on a great note with a little film research to get the juices flowing. Watching the Joshua Logan Camelot and Rocky Horror Picture Show, I had an uplifting, inspiring, and slightly odd outlook on the musical world. While Camelot provides a world where song flows freely from moment to moment, without any change of setting or scenery, Rocky Horror shamelessly puts on a show.

The afternoon continued with a very successful storyboard session with the Director, DP, and Production Designer with some exciting new ideas on Scene 5 (boards and script to come). We finally nailed the way to express the "brain lust" felt by the male lead, Vanya.

I got together with the Director, Musical Director, and Choreographer to discuss the dance scenes for the movie and we came to concrete decisions on when and where the dance would take place. The Composer clarified that we would be best suited to move away from a jazzier instrument bed to a more classical orchestra for the film.

The Director and I finished out the evening with a thorough run through of what he is looking for in the script. A painstaking, but much needed trek through the script will continue at a later date...

What do you want to know?!

Tell me the kind of things YOU want to find out about the filmmaking process! If I don't know what you're interested in then how do you expect me to write something that you'll love to read?

Spread the word and share YOUR ideas.

And so it begins...

Welcome to the official pre-production, production, and post-production blog for the 4th year UNCSA thesis film ZomRomCom: The Musical!. Here, I will post daily updates on the comings and goings of the production and answer any questions YOU have about the process.

I want you to let me know the kind of things you want to find out about as this blog continues to grow. Do you want an interview with the director? A character breakdown from the casting director? Look samples from the Cinematographer? YOU tell me!

You'll have the privilege of seeing concept drawings, scripts, casting decisions, etc. Make sure to stayed tuned to find out what's going on!