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A few months ago I announced that my good friend Caleb and I were making a film called Atoms of Eden. A Sci-fi movie about how humanity’s last free settlement is running low on clean water. It is up to Ella Astara, a young, brave, resourceful, and vulnerable Forest-Walker to find non-contaminated water. A job with a low life expectancy in a nuclear wasteland of deception. 

While our film is in production I thought I would start a new series on my website called, The Director’s Log. This is where I will keep everyone updated weekly on our creative and filming process from script to screen. This is a journey I wish to share with everyone.

In my first entry I want to catch everyone up. 

The Script: 

I have just finished the final touches on the shooting script and it is a story we are extremely excited about. Even though our film is sci-fi with some action set pieces, we made it our goal to make it character driven. We want audiences to be able to connect with the character, Ella Astara. We want people to feel her struggle, while feeling a sense of wonder and adventure. We want the audience to feel like they are in this world with her. 

Cinematography:

We might have a great script, but sometimes what is written on the page doesn’t translate well to screen. That is where our Director of Photography, Caleb Sapp comes in. Does it help to immerse audiences by filming in 4K? Yes! But the beauty of 4K is useless if we are not correctly blocking our shots in a way that lets the image tell the story. Yes, there is some dialogue, but film is a visual medium and we are making sure our film tells the story through its imagery. Caleb has a great imagination, attention to detail, and an eye for beautiful story driven cinematography. It’s pure joy to meet up with Caleb to go over storyboards. We comb through each shot together and he makes notes and ideas that will propel the story forward. 


Locations, Props, Weapons, Costumes: 

When it comes locations, props, and weapons we wanted the locations to appear massive, beautiful, yet lonely, dark, and haunting. We managed to find some spectacular locations that add to the story and world we are building. To go with these locations we wanted our props, weapons, and costumes to feel used and beat up, not neat and clean. We wanted each prop and weapon to have a history and story to tell. We wanted a deep mythology and history that lingers behind the main story. We wanted something familiar, yet different than your typical sci-fi post-apocalyptic film. 

Characters:

We may have a great story, cameras, locations, and props, but ultimately it comes down to our main character, Ella Astara. We are following the story through her eyes. It takes a great actress to pull that off and we believe we have found a phenomenal actress that can display strength, wonder, adventure, innocents, and vulnerability. We have not officially announced our lead, but we will next month when filming begins. We also look to bring another actor onboard in the following months to help flesh out the story. 

We are racing to get the final touches done on pre-production before we move into principal photography the weekend of December 17th. After that weekend we will come back in March to finish the film in a series of weekend shoots. In late December we will begin marketing with behind the scenes clips, an official picture of our lead Ella Astara, and perhaps a teaser poster. 

Now that you have been updated on our production, you might be wondering how you can help us out. You can help us out by sharing posts like this on social media. You can also help by checking out our movie podcast, The Film Slate Podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud. You can also checkout and share Caleb’s site at: http://www.anecdotefilmco.com . Help us get the word out. We are using our own money on this project, so it’s up to you to spread the word. This movie is being made for you and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed the process. See you next week. 

-JL 

Where to find us: 

James Losey: Writer and Director
Twitter: @jameslosey3 @TheFilmSlatePod

Instagram: TheFilmSlatePodcast, jameslosey3

E-Mail: jameslfilms23@gmail.
Caleb Sapp: Assistant Director, Cinematographer, and Editor. 
Twitter @AnecdoteFilmCo @TheFilmSlatePod

Facebook: The Film Slate Podcast

Instagram: anecdotefilmco

E-Mail: anecdotefilmco@gmail.com

Website: http://www.anecdotefilmco.com