This post is a combo recap on Legend of Oz shooting day 20, as well as a Legend of Oz flashback post for SD 12.

August 29, 2009. Shooting Day 12. Three scenes to get done. Uncooperative weather. Cast and crew withdraw to an old brick house to wait for it to clear up a bit but that never happens. The day was lost.

The way scheduling worked out, the soonest we could reschedule that shooting day was August 22, 2010. One year less one week later. Welcome to shooting day 20.

The irony: the weather wasn’t much better than it was last year.

It was cold and overcast. Not raining but it was pretty cool out by the lake in Carleton Place. The scenes to shoot were 20 (meeting the Winged Monkeys), 21 (fighting the Winged Monkeys), and 22 (Circuit joins the team and the journey continues).

The Winged Monkeys (pictured above) are perhaps obviously not monkeys nor are they literally winged. Instead they’re a group or mercenaries working under the name Winged Monkeys. They do fly, like the wind, making a fwoosh sound as they go, so the name isn’t without merit. And before they correct me, that’s sexy mercenaries.

You can see for yourself that the girls looked amazing and they really did an incredible job. We were one Monkey shy of our original five but it probably worked out for the best in blocking and choreography. Check out the post covering shooting day 12 to see all five girls. The returning leads – Alison as Dot, Chris as Fright, and Eric as Circuit – were also terrific, getting back into their roles with ease after almost a year’s break.

We shot the scenes, including a great little fight sequence, without much incident. Thankfully, it only rained for about 20 minutes. Long enough to make things a little uncomfortable but not so long as to really make life hell. In addition to three “must-shoot” scenes, we shot a bonus scene with the Monkeys for the credit role plus a super-secret bonus scene between Circuit and Fright that I won’t talk about further.

With those scenes in the can (or on the tape as it were) we picture-wrapped both Chris and Eric – which was nice to do this one year later.

Despite being shorthanded in terms of crew (which complicates things), we shot 13 pages in total (which has only happened one time before), didn’t shortchange lunch (even for me), had time for the photoshoot, and wrapped 15 minutes early (which itself is rare). It made for a very good day. Plus, aside from a couple orphaned shots, this left us with just one scene to shoot in the movie.

In the end, I believe the scenes turned out better than they would have last year, plus that lost SD12 was the genesis of Survive the House, so it’s definitely a net positive.

The comments are open. What do you think of our Monkeys? I mean, look at them.

That photo is from rehearsal of a short we were planning; an adaptation of David Pinski’s “A Dollar”. We had to postpone shooting because of complicated scheduling problems but that’s neither here nor there.

Ottawa Fringe started late last week. It runs until Sunday, boasting upwards of (I believe) 60 shows in multiple venues across downtown. Here’s where you can spot some of the cast members from our productions.

Kyla Gray, (Untamed Lands‘ Haley, Survive the House‘s Sally, plus one of our Wheelers in Legend of Oz) in the Ottawa Theatre School’s “Impassioned Embraces” running at Cafe Alt on these days:

Wednesday, June 23rd 2010 at 8:00pm
Thursday, June 24th 2010 at 9:30pm
Friday, June 25th 2010 at 6:30pm
Saturday, June 26th 2010 at 9:30pm
Sunday, June 27th 2010 at 6:30pm

Facebook event
Official Fringe Listing

Beyond Fringe: You can also catch Kyla in the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in “Macbeth” and “Trouble on Dibble Street“. They both run 6 nights a week July 9th to August 14th. That’s out in Prescott so make a day of it, take your friends, and enjoy both.

Danielle Savoie (Survive the House‘s Closet Girl, Overtones’ Maggie @ Windrush, plus a Wheeler in Legend of Oz) can be seen in “Romeo and Juliet” (Outside the Perez Building, the University of Ottawa) as well as the “Death of Tybalt’ (Arts Court Theatre).

Romeo and Juliet
Wednesday, June 23rd at 7pm
Thursday, June 24th at 7pm
Saturday, June 26th at 7pm

The Death of Tybalt
Tuesday, June 22nd at 9pm
Friday, June 25th at 7:30pm
Saturday, June 26th at 11pm

Facebook event
Official Fringe Listing (Romeo and Juliet)
Official Fringe Listing (The Death of Tybalt)

Two of these girls are performing in Fringe. Go find them.

Celine Filion (Overtones’ Hetty @ Windrush) can be seen in both “Who you Callin’ Sweetheart?” in Academic Hall and “The Last Goddamned Performance Piece” in Studio Leonard-Beaulne)

Who You Callin Sweetheart?
Wednesday, June 23rd at 9:30pm
Saturday, June 26th at 3:30pm
Sunday, June 27th at 8:00pm

Facebook group
Official Fringe Listing

The Last Goddamned Performance Piece
Wednesday, June 23rd at 8:00pm
Friday, June 25th at 9:30pm
Saturday, June 26th at 11:00pm

Facebook event
Official Fringe Listing

Jennifer Vallance (Overtones’ Harriet @ Windrush) can be seen in “Mixing Boal: Kitchen of the Oppressed” at 133 Seraphin-Marion, University of Ottawa.

Wednesday, June 23rd at 8:00pm
Friday, June 25th at 9:30pm
Saturday, June 26th at 11:00pm

Facebook Event
Official Fringe Listing

Corey Tomicic (A Dollar’s Villain @ Windrush - also seen in the photo up top) can be seen in “Love in the Time of Harlequin” in Academic Hall as well as “Divinity” at the Cajun Attic.

Love in the Time of Harlequin
Monday, June 21st at 6:30pm
Wednesday, June 23rd at 6:30pm
Friday, June 25th at 11:00pm
Saturday, June 26th at 8:00pm

Facebook event
Official Fringe Listing

Divinity
Monday, June 21st at 7:00pm
Monday, June 21st at 9:15pm

Facebook event
Official Fringe Listing

Also cast in Dinivity are Valley Wind alum: Ellen Manchee (Untamed Lands’ Eilis, Legend of Oz‘s Em, Fourteen’s Mrs Pringle @ Windrush), Fiona Noakes (Survive the House‘s Mable, Untamed Lands’ Bryna), Solly Balbaa (The Message’s Tarik @ Windrush, The Angel Intrudes’ Cop @ Windrush), and Ragi Ibrahim (A Dollar’s Tragedian @ Windrush).

Because of the lateness of this post, your only chance to see them is tonight. Get to it.

BEYOND FRINGE: Friend of Valley Wind Productions (with an appearance in Untamed Lands), Enrico Pradal is working on a spectacular music and multimedia tribute to two of music’s greatest icons, Elvis and Cher. After a couple of sold out shows, The Direct from Las Vegas Show has an upcoming show Friday, June 25th in order to raise money for the St. Patrick’s Parade.

Facebook page
Official Website

Whew. Have fun Fringing.

Yesterday, May 17th, marked the two year anniversary of the first day of shooting for Untamed Lands – with the 24th being Andrea’s (Mora) first shooting day and June 1st being Ian’s (Crow) first full day. That makes this a good time for a rebirth of this blog. Eduardo and I were back at Stony Swamp yesterday, where about 60% of Untamed Lands shooting happened. We were there partly in honour of the anniversary and partly on location scout for an upcoming shoot.

I found it interesting that thanks to our weak winter and warm spring, the water level at Stony this year is easily 6 inches lower what it was in 2008. Locations we shot at in fall ’08 that we couldn’t even get to in Spring were completely accessible yesterday and the water level at the bog (or lake) was receded beyond what I’d ever seen it. Note the log in the comparison shot below. (By the way, the photo above is just a random chipmunk who was running around yesterday- a little camera whore actor in the making.)

Anyway, to commemorate this Untamediversary, here’s some new promo/key art for Untamed Lands.  It, or a slight variation, will be the official art for wide screen formats. There’s a chance you’ve seen the original photo on untamed-lands.com or on the facebook.com/untamedlands. (Click the image to download a full size version.)

So Happy Untamediversary to all my cast and crew of Untamed Lands. If you’re reading, take a moment to post one of your more memorable moments from set in the comments.

All right Oz (and Valley Wind) community, we’ve got a job to do. We need to Help Michelle Smile Again. Here’s the story:

The date was September 20, 2009. Twas the last day of shooting on Legend of Oz that year.

It was a showdown between our two remaining witches after Dot’s arrival in Oz kills Ester. We were shooting the fight for the Silver Crescent between Colleen Sutton’s Locasta, and Michelle Leblanc’s Wester. [The Crescent is a weapon of great power.]

What happened was… well, this video can explain better than I can.

(Watch for the VIEWER DISCRETION warning towards the end of the video. It explains itself but don’t watch past the warning if you’re really squeamish.)

To recap for those can’t (or didn’t) watch the video, sometimes on a movie set, despite all preparations to avoid it, accidents happen. That was the case this day. Even in a simple fight scene, sometimes a hit can connect when it isn’t supposed to. It’s never fun, but it does happen. Most of the time, you just walk it off.

This time, as you saw, Michelle ended up with a chipped tooth. She actually ended up with three. And a $680 dollar dentists bill. Uppercuts are dangerous, kids.

Now while the tone of the video was a bit tongue in cheek, Michelle’s awesome and we really do want to help her smile again. Which is something that’s hard to do with a $700 chunk out of your bank account.

Starting today, the donate button on the blog here will collect money solely to comp that bill. Let’s show Michelle how we can come together as a community and help her out the same way she would help you. This will last for about a month or until we collect the full amount.

Whether it’s just a few dollars, or a bit more, every penny helps the cause.

For some added incentive, everybody who donates will be recognized right here in a thank you post as a warrior fighting for the cause. We will also shoot and post a special video from Michelle, thanking you all personally.

As a bonus, your donations will also help Colleen smile again. Accidentally connecting on set is doubly horrible when you hit a friend, and (as you no doubt noticed) Colleen felt terrible about uppercutting her dear friend.

Send us a donation and one of those authentic movie props could be yours. Every penny could make a difference here.

You don’t need a paypal account to donate. You don’t need to sign up for anything. Paypal accepts credit cards and provides a secure transaction. Just make sure to leave your name so you can be properly thanked. (If you’d prefer to remain anonymous, let us know.)

If you don’t do the online transaction thing but want to help out and join the ranks of the awesomes, email me and we can meet up in person. Heck, I’ll smile, too.

THE SILVER CRESCENT EDITION DVD

Here’s one final thing you cast, crew, and fans can get into. We’re going to start pre-sales right now on a special Limited (SILVER CRESCENT) Edition of the Legend of Oz DVD.

The Limited Edition of the Legend of Oz (released in 2011) will feature special cover art, special menus, and a photo booklet insert. The Limited Edition DVD will also have additional content in the form of bonus photo gallery, a video introduction from the cast, plus both the above video and the thank you video. None of which will be on the regular DVD.

These DVDs will be sold on pre-order for their 2011 release starting today for $50 (plus tax) and only 1,000 will be made. Ever.

Why this matters is because for the duration of the “Make Michelle Smile” campaign here, the full price you pay for the DVD (excluding tax) will go to the cause. Which means you can pre-order your Limited Edition DVD and feel good about donating to help Michelle Smile again at the same time.

So put $56.50 in the donation box and tell us you want your Limited Edition DVD. Make sure your email address is correct so we can contact you and confirm details.

HELP US LAUGH

Okay, long post over. Help us out. Sacrifice one stop at Tim’s/Starbucks, once a week for a month, and that’s $10+ to help Michelle Smile.

Join up to the Facebook page to learn right away when our campaign’s been a success. And in the comments, help us laugh. Post your best tooth or dentist joke. We’ll post the best of them along with the thank you video.

Yes. It’s been quiet here lately. Since Survive the House launched it’s been quiet(ish) overall. A lot of recovery. A lot of catching up. And outlining a basic plan for 2010.

The blog will stay quiet until the beginning of January, but then we’ll back up and running, hoping to average 2 posts a week — starting with all the back posts that are owed. That means more pictures, more videos, and more stories from production. Maybe a new wordpress theme. What do you think?

In the meantime, what can I tell you about 2010? A big part of the focus is community building and strengthening. We’re not doing any feature length productions but we will be producing at least three shorts and co-producing up to another dozen. Pushing Untamed Lands and Legend of Oz through post-production will be a priority. Plus more than one or two very interesting projects that I can’t talk about yet. Oh, and some theatre in the fall.

Other recent announcements:

1) Our e-store went live last week. http://winded.ca is your stop for VWP merch. Right now this includes the new Untamed Lands “Fight the Nightmare” shirts (publicly available for the first time) and a selection of Survive the House shirts featuring every one of the Petrovs and then some. All under special holiday pricing until January.

2) 2010 Auditions are coming up in late January. All the details are here – http://su.pr/6pcDya – and given the diversity of projects, there’s a pretty wide array of casting opportunities. Read the info and send us off an email. Then spread the word.

3) We’re holding a fight training workshop for actors. You can read about that here: http://su.pr/1UnZlw

4) If you haven’t already, go and see if you can Survive the House: http://su.pr/2d1Ee1 – How many endings can you find?

Not much else to say. I hope all you reading are enjoying (or will be enjoying) this holiday season. It’s been a great year and my most sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to everybody who helped make it so. See you all in 2010.

Surviving the house? That’s up to you.

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