Yesterday's Shoot

Yesterday, we shot almost the entirety of Episode 7 of The Third Age, the hinge of the story, in which a lot is revealed through a metaphoric journey up the Kaballah's Tree of Life. I haven't seen the footage yet, but it felt great shooting it, and hopefully will edit together into something good. In the mean time, check out these behind the scenes photos from the shoot, shot by our lighting designer Raul Coto Batres.


Hallie prepares to ascend.


Brian, Misti and Hallie wait for us to be ready.


Jordan and I set up a shot.


Misti in the circle.


I set up to film the opening incantation.


Hallie is a star, ascending from Binah to Keter.


We once again put Sel through a strange plastic ordeal.


The face of God, at home in Keter.


David Haug, and I set up a close on Hallie.


Filming with a wind tunnel effect.


Kristen finishes the sun that will illuminate Tifferet.

Shoot Schedule

Six shooting days remain on the first Volume/Season of The Third Age. The Volume will be thirteen episodes, with the target length for each around seven minutes. However, two of the first three are hitting closer to nine, so the running time will vary. I'm hoping that each episode is a satisfying piece on its own, and contributes to the story. Jordan and I are working to make sure that each episode has some kind of interesting visual element within it, and so far I think we've been succeeding.

Working on the project is a bit schizophrenic. We've still got one scene left to shoot for the first episode, which has met all kinds of trouble on its journey to production. Hopefully we'll knock that out next week. However, after that, we added a sequence that's essentially Episode 1.5. It's a news report, should be about two to three minutes, but we've also got to shoot that before the first episode goes live. What I'm telling you is we're likely to not put the first episode online until June. I'm hoping this is a good thing in the long run, since it means we definitely won't have to delay episodes later in the volume. I've realized that it's impossible to write/shoot/edit an episode in two weeks, it's too much, and having all this lead time is great. I've got about 35 edited minutes done, so it's just a matter of filling in the gaps in the various episodes.

And even as we're still working on the first couple of episodes, we're writing and mapping out the end of the Volume. We knocked out a bunch of script, centering on the introduction of two new characters, who are going to really shake things up. I'm hoping they'll be like Spike and Dru were on Buffy, just walk in and screw with everyone, even as they become the viewers' favorite character. I'm really feeling the voice of the show now, it's a pop, fun story with a lot of darkness at the core. This stuff is more over the top, the end of the Volume will return us to the more subdued, emotional focus of the early episodes.

I realized while writing that we're basically structuring the series like Evangelion. The first few episodes are broody and atmospheric, then things will go to a bit more fun, crazy place, after the introduction of a charismatic red head, before sailing off into surreal mental states in the second half of the show, episodes 14-26. But, that's a way off.

Next week is a big shoot. It's a ritual sequence, in which the characters symbolically ascend the Tree of Life from the Kaballah. It's pretty exciting stuff, and will function as episode 7, the midpoint of the Volume, resolving a lot of questions from the start, and setting up the back half of the Volume. From there, the story really propels itself, and the characters get twisted up in awful knots until the last episode of the Volume.

Of course, you'd probably care more about all this if you'd actually seen an episode. I can't do that for you yet, but I can show you some more behind the scenes photos, these are from the shoot for what will be the first episode's opening sequence:


(Alex Berger [Mark] looks over the script)


(Jordan and I prepare the set)


(Jordan frames a shot)


(Jon Cimmino [Scientist] takes his place)

Behind the Scenes Photos

Here's some pictures from our shoot last Sunday.

The Latest on T3A

The release date for The Third Age looms ahead next month. In the mean time, we’ve been shooting some cool stuff. Last Sunday, we shot out at Larchmont Reservoir, where they’ve got a giant wall, which looks like something out of an old Kung Fu movie. So, our shooting style was The Seventh Seal meets a Touch of Zen. A couple of weeks ago, we shot some crazy car footage. A night car scene is the menace of low budget cinema, but I think we pulled it off in a dynamic and exciting way. Judge for yourself when episode two is released.

In other news, we lost an actress from the project. Rather than recast, we decided to ditch that whole plot line. It’s weird because we were kind of feeling that there wasn’t that much of a place for her in the project, she was a relic of old storylines, old ideas, and after inventing new characters and situations, she proved herself inessential. So, perhaps she did us a favor. There were pieces I’d have liked to use with her arc, but we’ll do okay without her.

The Latest on T3A

The release date for The Third Age looms ahead next month. In the mean time, we’ve been shooting some cool stuff. Last Sunday, we shot out at Larchmont Reservoir, where they’ve got a giant wall, which looks like something out of an old Kung Fu movie. So, our shooting style was The Seventh Seal meets a Touch of Zen. A couple of weeks ago, we shot some crazy car footage. A night car scene is the menace of low budget cinema, but I think we pulled it off in a dynamic and exciting way. Judge for yourself when episode two is released.

In other news, we lost an actress from the project. Rather than recast, we decided to ditch that whole plot line. It’s weird because we were kind of feeling that there wasn’t that much of a place for her in the project, she was a relic of old storylines, old ideas, and after inventing new characters and situations, she proved herself inessential. So, perhaps she did us a favor. There were pieces I’d have liked to use with her arc, but we’ll do okay without her.

The Trailer is Live

Quicktime



Here it is, the first real trailer for The Third Age. This will give you at least some idea of the plot, or at least the feel of the work. As it says in the trailer, episodes will start going live in May. Shooting is happening regularly, and most of 'Volume I' has been written, so we should run smoothly to the end of the first Volume. Please post any comments you've got on the trailer, it's obviously still early, but I always love to hear feedback.

When the Hell Does it Begin?

The initial release date of February 2008 has come and gone, and we're rapidly moving past April. When will you actually get The Third Age? Well, the primary reason for the delay is that we don't have episode one done. We've been shooting the first seven episodes or so out of sequence, so despite having over a half hour of edited material in the can, we're still missing one scene from the first episode. That's the problem with working on a low budget, it's hard to schedule people when you're not paying them.

But, we should be shooting that scene on April 20th. If that happens, the first episode will be done shortly after, and online by May. In the long run, it's good. We can store up six or seven complete episodes, and have a lead on producing new ones. It's going to be tough to keep episodes coming out at a reasonable pace, but this way, we should be able to put out ten, and complete 'Volume I' before having to take a hiatus.

I'm working on a more plot-oriented trailer now, that will likely be online by the weekend, and give you a better idea of the project. I think it's coming out great, visually we're doing a lot with essentially no budget, and the acting is stellar all around. Hopefully you'll like it, once it does finally begin.