Blue Copper is a Wrap!
On the set of Blue Copper
As promised…I’m back! Today I am going to share an update regarding our film BLUE COPPER. If you are in the handful of my Blog followers who also were our Kickstarter Backers, a lot of this information will look familiar.
My journey back to Texas is complete. I was in Arizona for just under two weeks. I wanted to give you a few highlights of the production phase of BLUE COPPER. I’m including only a few pictures here, but more will be shared later along with some additional stories. Earnest Robinson took a lot of our behind-the-scenes photographs and I’m waiting to receive more pictures taken by others. Again, more will be shared as our journey continues.
We wrapped shooting early last Wednesday morning, October 8th. It was anticipated that our five days of shooting would be long and they were with the last one stretching us into almost a sixth day. With Bret Kalmbach (our Director of Photography) from New York and me currently living in Texas, we didn’t have the luxury of pick up days (extra shooting days beyond the originally scheduled ones). So, with the consent of the fine cast and crew remaining during those last few hours, we pushed through.
Every night since we’ve wrapped, I’ve woke up in a panic, dreaming that we missed a shot! The only way I can get myself convinced that we are done is to tell myself that Bret and his camera have returned to New York! Hahaha!
A champagne celebration at 7:00 a.m.
Colleen (actor) had supplied us a bottle of champagne to celebrate with after our last take. A little glass of bubbly at 7:00 a.m. was sweet not only because of the taste, but because the six of us that remained despite feeling exhausted also felt accomplished.
Aside from the long hours, overall the shoot went well. We shot for four days at a home in Phoenix, one day in Happy Jack, almost a half day at the Boyce Arboretum in Superior, and a half day in Gold Canyon. Our primary location was a home in Phoenix. The homeowner (who was a friend of our producer) came in at one point to see her house transformed into a film set. If you’ve never experienced it, it can be quite a shock! Her good natured and adorable dog, Doobie, loved having us there with so many people to sucker into a slobbery game of fetch. Alex (location sound) even tried to entice him into being a boom operator!
Doobie - The sound dog.
It just seems so understated when I say that we had such a hard working, dedicated crew on this project. Every single person involved played a vital role. As on many independent film sets, many of our crew members did double and triple duties. They were exceptional. Personally, I didn’t hear one complaint despite the long hours and sometimes hot working conditions. Loved those positive attitudes and the sense of humor that emerged at times as it felt good to have a good laugh while being so intently focused on our shots.
A beautiful shooting day in Happy Jack, AZ.
Even though the really warm weather is fading away in Arizona, when we had to turn off the air conditioning and fans (in order to capture better sound), it got hot! Up in Happy Jack, the weather was wonderful. Chilly at night!
Producer - Sara Dangler
A special call-out to our producer, Sara Dangler. She wore many hats during the production. She did a lot of what I have done with past projects, so I totally understood and appreciated her challenges. I would not have been able to do this film without her!
Some of our crew - Alex Quitugua (sound), Sara Dangler (producer), Diane M. Dresback (writer/director), Bret Kalmbach (director of photography), Michael Coleman (actor)
BLUE COPPER was the fourth project on which I have worked with Director of Photography, Bret Kalmbach. His ability to capture an image is amazing. I really like working with him. Many times our thoughts moved in the same direction. He is so talented and I feel very fortunate that we could bring him back from New York for this film.
A friend of mine recently posted an article on Facebook about how director David Fincher utilized a Red Dragon camera to shoot and Adobe Premiere Pro to edit his latest film - GONE GIRL. Bret shot BLUE COPPER on his Red Dragon and we will be also editing in Premiere.
Actors - Michael Coleman, Colleen Hartnett, and Machelle Glassburn.
Our cast was wonderful as well. Indie film sets can be chaotic at times and run behind schedule—our’s was no exception. As far as I could see, all of our actors just rolled with it and still delivered their performances. It was a privilege to work with Machelle Glassburn, Shelly Boucher and Jim Robertson. Also it was fun to work with little five year old Paiden on his first film. He followed directions very well. Our two lead actors, Michael Coleman and Colleen Hartnett were exceptional. Incredibly easy to work with, well prepared, and always with gracious attitudes.
Paiden (actor) and Diane (writer/director)
We now move into the post-production stage in the life of BLUE COPPER. If you are on Facebook and haven’t liked our BLUE COPPER film page yet, please do so to stay up to date and view some more pictures once we get some up.
https://www.facebook.com/BLUECOPPERfilm
It truly does take a team of people to bring films to life. That is one of the things I love about filmmaking!
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Find details about my books at dianedresback.com and my filmmaking at mindclover.com.
