Monochromatika

Photo-blog forGeoffrey Orthwein. Co-Writer/Director of Bokeh bokehthemovie.com/ facebook.com/bokehmovie

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Performance spaces are always interesting. Pretty great show by @carolineadelaideshaw and @sopercussion at @pennlivearts a few weeks back. (at Penn Live Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co8_Rg5My3j/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Had to do some at-home ADR for @idontwantblood this week. We cut a scene together that looked good, but needed some extra SFX for one of the actors. We’ll do foley session later on, but for now I brought my (theatrically trained) daughter @willow_orthwein in to do some voice acting. https://www.instagram.com/p/CiTTLRgvaEb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Summer in the city. Chicago. June 30th, 2022. Central Standard Time. (at Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfevNHYOU6c/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Excited to share that @mikimou5e, @sierramccormick, and @nickdsagar headline the cast for @idontwantblood. Can’t wait to share their amazing work with everyone. https://www.instagram.com/p/CcqmaV9vsFn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Freddy, our gaffer, has a great iPad app that lets him control all the lights wirelessly. It’s fun and efficient - especially for a strapped, small crew. He ran into a problem that we all have with the title. It’s all a little much when your abbreviation needs an abbreviation, but, you know, go ahead and like and subscribe to all the @idontwantblood . Anyway, it’s been a hard week. Many ups, many downs. We have handled quite a few big challenges with aplomb and yet it’s the little things that hobble us. Pulled off some big wins but managing to shoot in our own back yard brought us to our knees. The Locations Gods giveth and they taketh away. Missing family has turned from a gnawing melancholy into an acute reexamination of every intention in this endeavor. Narrowly dodged electrocution when a stinger came apart in my hand and very nearly lived up to its name. Scrambling through the towns and parks of the north shore of Massachusetts. Shooting in the rain at 3:00 am. Another few days ending at sunrise, we’re all vampires now. One more week in front of us to get this right. Freddy found a solution to the title problem for his lighting app and in that maybe stumbled onto the core creative intention inside all of us. https://www.instagram.com/p/CcMjA22sFnW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Long, offset weekend on @idontwantblood . Daughter visit to set, trip into Boston, late nights go right into early morning, shot 4 1/2 pages, kids on set, police assistance to shoot in the street but gotta wrap the kids by midnight, shot another 5 1/4 pages, it's 38º for the overnight exterior scenes, which is a lot warmer than last week (19º), so count your blessings and pack on another set of hand-warmers. Actors are coming alive in the middle of the night so go to bed happy at dawn. Crew firepit cookout meetup on day off, the set dresser makes a hell of an apple blossom cheesecake tart. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb-zRaTPObd/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Set days turn into set nights when you’re main character is a vampire. Slowly the crew is becoming nocturnal, but the transition is… not easy. Working hard in tight spaces, COVID masks up, reading legal documents between takes may be the most cogent manifestation of show business yet. The frame is good, clause 4A is good for legal, the missing prop got a last minute Hail Mary replacement so the scene is saved. Now it’s just full-tilt race to make the day. Midnight Mocha Nights on @idontwantblood . https://www.instagram.com/p/CbzAQPegmQR/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Five years ago on this day 3/24/17, @andrewsulliv & my first #indiefilm @bokehmovie dropped in theaters. Today, 3/24/22 was the Day 1 of Principal Photography @IDontWantBlood. This kind of serendipity may ultimately amount to a hill of beans, but the journey has meaning. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbg-cYqA-VI/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Friday afternoon I sat in a plain living room and it was thrilling. Because the room/set of @idontwantblood looked straight out of 1976. #supportindiefilm #indiefilm #independentfilm #productionlife #filmmaking https://www.instagram.com/p/CbVswCpPJh4/?utm_medium=tumblr

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It’s getting hectic… in a good way. You know, the dirtiest your house gets is during the first phase of cleaning it. That’s where we are with production on @idontwantblood. But all the plates are spinning, and everything is in motion. Today was full of good crew talks, establishing excellent strategies for the shoot, and locking up key things before we depart for the location. It’s deep breath time, because the sprint is about to start. #supportindiefilm #indiefilm #independentfilm #productionlife #filmmaking https://www.instagram.com/p/CbJTBNuLwx3/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Wrapping up the week of prep on @idontwantblood fast & furiously. The packing up has begun. Keeping track of all the gear on a chaotic set can be rough, so I label and flag my gear in the hopes that I get some of it back. #supportindiefilm #indiefilm #independentfilm #productionlife #filmmaking https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca_DlpsrONp/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Had a great time talking about getting ready to shoot @idontwantblood this morning on Office Hours. Check it out here: https://officehours.global/focus-on/focus-on-behind-the-scenes-of-making-a-movie/#card-3987 #supportindiefilm #indiefilm #microphone #independentfilm #atem #atemminipro #productionlife https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8UfTAL9__/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Here is the post where we get a little real about creative work and the march toward our shoot for @idontwantblood I want to start by acknowledging how immensely fortunate I am to be in the position I’m in. It’s a thrill, an honor, and incredibly rewarding to be working on a film like this. Making @bokehmovie with @andrewsulliv was an exceptional experience and doing it again feels like I’m going back for seconds after a huge holiday meal. But doing it is hard. If we’ve ever *really* talked about Bokeh, you’ve heard me say it was the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Those are stories for another time but the fact is creative work is singularly difficult. It takes a talent and skill and emotional perception and a discipline that are hard to come by. I know I’m still looking for them. I’m not necessarily talking about the creative work itself. Writing is hard, but it comes with a reward. It doesn’t always come with a paycheck - not for many. I see so many incredibly talented creative people around me, producing amazing things, tremendous works of beauty and spirit… as a side hustle. Economic stability is frequently a prerequisite for creative work, and more often than not, one gets sacrificed for the other. I’ll wrap this up because I still have six more hours of work to do on the film before I start my side hustle that gets me closer to that economic stability. I don’t want this to sound like a complaint (and I can complain…) - we sleep in the beds we make. I’m about as excited as I can be about the next six months. I just suspect there will be a little more grey in my beard when it’s all done. https://www.instagram.com/p/Caz2XjWr0Ze/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Incredible walk through with the Art Department of some key locations for @idontwantblood . Energizing, informative, and exciting. And cold. https://www.instagram.com/p/CatLDKSL4y0/?utm_medium=tumblr

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I’m not saying this was the *right* bit of homework heading into @idontwantblood but it was a pretty sweet study. https://www.instagram.com/p/CalhTpZLKmc/?utm_medium=tumblr

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As with many projects, this one gets collected on a G-Drive so we all stay in sync. It’s not lost on me that the top two folders are the money. Blah, blah, trickle-down filmmaking joke. Budgets and coordination and phone calls. Somehow it was a good day anyway. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaWBwovrC1U/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Lately I’ve been working with @andrewsulliv a lot. We’ve been working on getting his script ready to shoot. The good news is that we’re just about there. Formal announcements will be forthcoming, and it’s all happening pretty fast now. I’ve had some folks in the past ask about what all goes into something like this - and the frustrating answer is… a lot. Which doesn’t really say much. So I’m going to try a little experiment and post a few of the steps along the way, even the boring ones. I can’t promise it’ll all be enthralling, but this post is likely sandwiched between two ads, so I gotta give the machine some content to base its algorithms on. Anyway, we’re just at the start of this journey and I’m as curious as anyone to see where it goes. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaSTT-hr8zY/?utm_medium=tumblr