Ever wanted to find out what it takes to write, cast, shoot, edit, and distribute a web series?
Well so did we, so we've decided to do it. Follow along with us as we create the pilot episode
for Jenn2.0, a show about a young social media consultant attempting to build her brand and
define herself in the ultimate connectivity of the Web 2.0 world.
Hi everybody! I just thought I should give you some insight as to who Alexis Grenier REAAALLY is. I am above all else, a goofball. I love to laugh; it is quite possibly my favorite pastime. Probably my biggest problem during the ‘Jenn 2.0′ shoot was smiling too much. : ) I mean, who gets in trouble for that? Well, I’ll have you know that our director Cody is the same way, making quite a lovely work setting.
I grew up with a photographer mother, an eccentric, opera singing Grandmother, and a rock n’ roll playing father. Yeah, we are generally loud and are constantly coming up with new ideas and projects to keep life interesting. I chose the opera path like “Grandma Nano” but that hasn’t taken away from my passion for singing jazz, pop, and rock n’ roll. I LOVE to dance, figure skate (I used to be able to do an axle), sail, and travel. Above all else, I am definitely not shy. My mother has been taking my picture constantly since I was born, and for the last 9 years she has been a videographer (Classic Filmworks) so I am accustomed to being, well, exploited…in a good way : )
Well I might as well follow up with another post for today’s shoot. We started again at 5:00am (originally scheduled for 9am…) and made our way downtown and for the first few hours followed Alexis around the city. Got some good shots as the sun peaked over the tops of buildings. Our Producer Josh tried being sneaky and taped some homeless people while “reviewing clips.” I think the homeless people caught on.
We continued with our day by shooting one of our most important scenes, the Office Elevator between 9-12. The crazy thing about the elevator is that we couldn’t find one to save our lives when we went location scouting and even teased the notion of making one from scratch. Alas, the downtown SD club/bar Stingaree was gracious enough to let us use their elevator for three hours while they thoroughly cleaned the aftermath of a typical Saturday night. It was a tough morning and only got harder after lunch.
We had the lounge, Minus 1, secured for four hours to shoot some of our “Tweetup” scenes. It took us three just to set up. We needed movement from our Steadicam, action from only a handful of extras, and lighting in a room with low ceilings. It was hectic and we fell behind a bit, but we got the shots we needed the most and are saving the rest for Tuesday. Things got so tight with extras alone that we had to recycle a couple and we have some cameos from our trusty production crew. When the pilot airs, keep a lookout for Darren, our writer, Rob, the Exec. Producer and his wife Stephanie, and the inspiration behind the show, Jennifer Van Grove herself. Our makeup artist Acasia was behind the bar handing out drinks (of the non-alcoholic variety) and I even made my way into a shot.
All in all I’m proud of what we accomplished today, although everybody was expecting more. We got some really good stuff and we’re all excited to take a day off from shooting. Tuesday we’re all coming back together to finish off all of our remaining scenes and then we’re off to the cutting room (by room I mean a computer with editing software.) Stick around for more updates from all of us here working on this project!
Today was our first day of shooting and it was a good day to start out with. The sun peaked over the San Diego skyline like a dream (although by the time our shot was set up, we missed it.) We got some great footage, and I must say the team working on this project is one in a million. Everybody works tirelessly to take care of each scene. The only downside to the day is that it was so short. With such little daylight, you really need to manage time to get as much as possible. But the constraints of the day, people’s schedules, inconveniences of your surroundings, and all other factors working against you just make the task that much more fun. Everything is something to look back on and laugh. We’re having a great time working on this and all the while we’re all keeping you posted on Twitter and 12seconds.tv. If you want to get involved with this we still need extras for our big “Tweetup” party scene tomorrow. Rob has posted an ad on craigslist here so check it out, come by and have some fun with us! That’s all for now, I need to get some rest because tomorrow’s call time is 5:00am…again.
My eye has been twitching for a week now. In looking it up and asking around, I hear its from stress. While I don’t necessarily feel too stressed out, I can’t stop thinking about this weekend. This is it. Tomorrow we start shooting for Jenn2.0 and I couldn’t be more excited. Several of the scenes have been playing over and over in my mind and subtle nuances of characters have been making me almost giddy. The pre-production process for this project has been long and at times stressful, but I think everyone who has put work into it would say its been more than worth every bit of it.
So here I sit, less than 24 hours before we start shooting and all I can do is wait. There’s no point in stressing over anything at this point. I mean, there’s still much to do as far as getting equipment, props, locations and such set in stone, but its at least been taken care of, mostly.
I’m excited to get out there and really work with our actors. I can speak for everyone when I say I can’t wait to finish this and share it with the world. So that’s all for now, I need time to get Zenlike or something.
Tonight is our table read; the first time that all of the cast and crew will be in one place with the script. It’s a scary and exciting moment all at once. I’ve heard it in bits and pieces during auditions and have read through it in my head a thousand times, but now, it’s real. It’s really real. Not only will the script come to life as one full document, but the actors will now breathe real life into the characters. They will bring their nuances, their thoughts and their training to Jenn, Ian, Dave and Larissa. It’s also time for me to transition script and character responsibilities to Cody, the Director. Even though I’m not a parent, I can’t imagine handing off a 3-month old baby to someone I hardly know, but must inherently trust to my fullest capabilities. But, that’s what I will do. The script is “all groweds up tonight” as Double-Down Trent would say.
As you’ve seen, we are using 12seconds.tv to have some fun and communicate some of the things we are up to. So below you’ll find a quick hello from the fabulous team at NAS. You’ll find more of our 12seconds videos in the sidebar and on 12seconds.tv here.
The first video of our casting process is finally up. Note to you videophobes: unfortunately, not being a part of the NAS crew I am more likely to make dumb mistakes. Like posting the interleaved MPEG2 version of this video instead of the progressive version. I’ll do my best to get this swapped out as soon as I can. - Rob
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