Action, Camera and Lights

When you set out to make a movie you really have to think about an amazing number of details. I went and saw Avatar the other day and I marveled at the spectacular visual effects in that movie. They truly are amazing. Yet that movie, and every other movie is really just a audio/visual story, the result of putting together thousands of details in a symphony of sense bombardment. When it works, wow, there is little to compare.

Liken's "Jonah and the Great Fish" is a movie because it too will be a audio/visual story. For the film to be realized, it requires working through a lot of details. My guess is that Liken's budget ratio to Avatar is about 1:2,000. So, for every individual working on Liken's Jonah James Cameron had 2,000. Probably more. So, does that mean that his film is 2,000 times more difficult. Probably yes, from a special effects POV, but definitely no most other aspects. I also think when people talk about how difficult the job of president is that how hard could a job be if you have 600 people working directly for you (not the military people, but all of your staff). I mean really.

Try making a movie by yourself or with a few individuals. That requires more than just effort, it requires amazing levels of faith. Each person involved is critical to the success of the effort. Losing even one key member means more problems to be solved. Last night, Dennis and I went at 11:00 pm to the location of our film shoot, the Scera theater. The primary focus was working out how to light the key cyc wall (a wall that you can light against) for the film. Seems that the Scera has a couple too few poles to use to accomplish the goal. The solution was bantered around, but it will come down to money and whether the Scera allows us our solution. We'll have to see.

Money is always a main concern for a Producer. I'm sure the best part of being James Cameron is that you have pretty much an unlimited budget for your productions. I suppose he has earned that with his success. We, on the other hand, are doing all we can to find the funds to finish Jonah. I have to feel that we'll find a way, because the alternative isn't acceptable. Seems that everywhere you turn there are problems to be solved. I think ultimately that is what Dennis and I have honed--our ability to solve problems through concerted action. Right now, I'd say Dennis has solved about 2,000 problems in this production. I'm probably about 1,800 problems behind him and I'll never catch up cause he just keeps solving more of them. He's good at that.

So, this blog is just me musing on Liken's Jonah and our efforts to produce it. We're about 35 days from filming, but we have the added challenge that James Cameron never had, we're also putting on a musical. Now, how about that for degree of difficulty.