Sneakers & Soul: The Blog

Post Production...Officially!

2008-10-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

WOW..it's been quite a while since anyone has posted on this blog. We have all been extremely busy though so, please forgive us. We have FINALLY finished shooting everything. WooHoo! That is a wrap! Jon and Marty have been busy syncing all the audio up while Niki, Arleen, and I have been getting all of the finances in order. Jon is now in the process of editing the film and we are in the works looking for some good music for the soundtrack. On behalf of the production team I would like to thank everyone that helped us through out the shoot. Everyone was amazing and very helpful. From Cape May to Time Square people have been so wonderful and helpful and we really can't thank them enough! Hopefully we will be able to create a wonderful film that everyone will enjoy and can be proud of. So, stay tuned for more updates. I promise next post won't take so long. By the way: That is one of our AC's George! He was real good at Rock Band...or so he thought.

Rain rain..go away!

2008-09-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well folks...today is the big day for our final shoot! And guess what? It's pouring outside! As you all know, this scene takes place outside in Jersey City. Luck might be on our side though. Seems as if the rain is suppose to stop right around the time we start shooting! We are all preparing as we speak. On my side...I have been getting all the wardrobe and props together as well as the food for the crew and cast. We are set to sail around 4pm. Hopefully, the wind will be at our backs as we sail into the sunset. The team is pumped and we are ready to do this! Ok...I'm off like a dirty shirt. Ta-ta.

Patrick

Doing it..and Doing it...and Doing it well.

2008-09-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks! It is I..Patrick again. I wanted to let everyone know that we are now on track to finish our last day of filming on Sept 9th! It's looking like it will be a great night and we are all psyched to get our final scenes shot and start on Post-production. Everyone is also excited to see each other again! Working together for almost a month with 20 other people has created a fun loving and truly awesome experience. We were like one huge family and we all are looking forward to one last night together! The past few weeks have been spent coordinating a date for our final day, working out the editing process, and banging out the web page. Me, Jon, Marty, and Niki have been doing all this on top of having to go back to our "normal" jobs. It has been an amazing team effort on all fronts! Tomorrow, we are having a production meeting in NY to make sure all is set to go. We will keep all you Sneakers and Soul Fans in the loop over the next few weeks! Talk to you all soon!

--Patrick

Slow But Steady!

2008-08-20T18:00:00.001-07:00

Good Evening folks! This is Patrick and I wanted to let everyone know whats going on. It's been a while since anyone has written so here we go...

Well, as Jon stated earlier, we have one more scene to shoot and a few montages to get done. We were originally set up to shoot the scene this coming Saturday....unfortunatly... that's not gonna happen. So, we are now aiming for Sept 5th. It seems like all the pieces are falling into place so we should be set to go. This also gives us some time to get the web page up and running at full speed! If you didn't know... our web page (sneakersandsoul.com) is up..but not done. But I promise you all....by next week....it will be ready to go!

So, once we are finished shooting, it's on to post-production. This is where Jon is at his best! He is the magic maker! The man with the plan! The bees knees! The cats...ok...you get it. Anyhow, as you can tell we are all psyched to get it done. The finish line is in view! So, wish us luck...or break a leg....or whatever you feel is appropriate and check back soon! Thanks again for everyones support!

and that's a wrap...kinda

2008-08-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

We've officially filmed for 23 days. We've trekked through the pine barrens of NJ all the way up to the grand ol tourist-filled Times Square. We've fed people home cooked meals made by Moms, family members, friends, and the producers themselves for those 23 days. This is an independent film from start to finish. Day 23 was suppose to be our finish, but we hit a bit of a snag. But, what would an independent film be without some sort of snag?

In Odgen Park, located across from NYC in the lovely Jersey City, we had one of our biggest scenes to film - our climax. But, we ran out of time. We filmed about 3 shots out of a 7 page scene. So, it looks like we'll be heading back! Off the bat, it seemed like an epic fail. But, now that it has all soaked in, I know when we go to film this scene next time, it will be even better. Things happen for a reason. So far everything that has changed from our original plan, or when we've encourcountered a problem, our solutions have always been so creative, that they've only made our film BETTER. It's a shame that our last day of filming didn't work out, but now we get to bring the crew back for one last hurrah. I love everyone on that crew - so bringing them back again would be amazing and a treat. I'm ready to run out of the gate Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid style on this one.

Until then - time to look at some footage! There are 23 days of our project just chilling on 2 massive hard drives. Time to plug that baby up and start sifting through the last month of our lives (in high definition!) We've still got a lot of work ahead of us with the edit and the reshoots...looks like we're going to need all the Japanese Mr T muscle we can get.

-JZ

Last Day in NJ

2008-08-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

So after tonight's shoot, we leave Jackson, NJ and drop everyone off back in NYC. It seems that everyone is ready to get back to their own beds and I have a feeling I'm going to be happy to have a bed to myself (been sharing one with Jon for the past few days). I can't help but feel sad to leave, though. It's been so fun being on location, and despite the cramped conditions, our awesome evenings will be sorely missed.

Arleen and Patrick have been wonderful hosts here in Jackson. They've put up with so much and have kept up the standard of wonderful hosting that was set by the Zelenaks. Big thanks also to parents, grandparents and other family members who cooked us some yummy meals and helped by watching little Patrick and Katelyn while we invaded the LaMorte house.

The highlights of our Jackson shoots have gotta be the evenings. The shoots went well and we had some beautiful locations, but the fun really started at night. My favorite event was certainly Beer Dodge Ball. With a couple awesomely impromtu rule-making, we created a game for the ages. It started as four of us playing "keep the ball in the air" and ended with a glorious team portrait. Looking forward to the rematch at our wrap party.

Well, I have to run. It's time for lunch and then we start the backyard scene. It'll be our first exterior night shoot, so that's exciting. Before I go though, HUGE props to Billy, SJ and Marie. This week, they've performed what I believe are their most challenging scenes of the movie. Not only did they knock it outta the park, they also had a lot of fun doing so (and in the process, gave the crew a really good time, too). Of course, the crew did a great job pulling these elaborate scenes off. The producers provided some impressive challenges for the sound and picture team, but they got the job done so friggin smoothly.

K, here's to our martini shot in Jackson. See you in Brooklyn!

-martyB

Half way there!

2008-07-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

Howdy yall! All I can say about the past two weeks is WOW! What an unreal experience. There has been amazing ups followed by unreal downs but...here we stand...on schedule and half way done! Things this past week were pretty insane but then we got to the bowling alley. Shooting there re-charged everybody. Woody and his friends were so awesome and helpful with all our needs. The mouse trap bowling alley rules! But, as the day pressed on we knew there was still a hitch. Over the week we fell behind. We had one more scene to shoot and would have to do it immediatly after the bowling alley. Why is that a big deal you ask? Well, we all were up at 3am! Then, we shot at the alley till 4pm! So, do get that scene in and get back on schedule we would have to pack up, drive 30 minutes to our location, set up, and shoot till we were done! And guess what....We did it! We pulled together as a team and knocked it out! Boom! This act alone raised my spirits 100 fold. We have such an amazing team. I can't even begin to describe how much pride and aww I have for everyone who has been part of this project. Through the untrained eye we appear to be a bunch of rag tag kids playing dress up and running around with cameras and lights. But we all know better...we know who we are. We are Sneakers & Soul. Walk your heart out baby!

Fear & Bloating in Cape May

2008-07-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lame title, it's late so bear with me...

As Jay mentioned in his off-day entry, our days in Cape May are drawing to a close and we've lost a few crew members lately. Today we worked two big scenes (one on location at Castaway Cove Playland on the Ocean City boardwalk and one at home) without any official grip or electric crew members. Niki, Pat, Frank and Michael took control, however, and we accomplished our goals for today (despite rolling a little long, schedule-wise). This is a great testament to those who remain. We are determined to make this work, one way or another, and everyone is willing to pitch in a helping hand.

Unfortunately, I spent much of the day in a daze after Matthew and I returned from a Braves/Phillies game in Philadelphia at 1:30am and slept for 2 hours before being on call for a 3:30am breakfast. Hopefully I'll feel a lot better tomorrow morning for our 4:30am breakfast if I can sneak in about 4 hours of sleep tonight.

With the smaller crew, the house felt really empty and we all commented on how three missing souls can leave quite a noticeable chasm. I like to think that those who remain are such a tightly knit crew that we cannot help but feel small because we can all act as one. We are not 15 individuals anymore - we're 1 gang of friends, joined arm-in-arm, Red-Rover style and ready to hold tight to take on whatever destructive force may be sent our way. The love is strong and the vision is coming together and help will come where we need it. After an enjoyable car ride with our new Key Grip, Alexa, I think her good nature and techsperience will be a big boost. When we move to Jackson and are enveloped in the love and support of the LaMorte families, we'll find a brand new version of hospitality and enthusiasm that will carry the torch lit by Mama and Papa Z. Plus, we have some awesome scenes coming up this week...

And besides thew few hiccups, great things continue to happen. Tom Sims of the Cape May Film Festival got us in touch with Castaway Cove who allowed us to shoot our arcade scene there. Jeff was unbelievably helpful, turning the machines on and off whenever we needed and also by acting as our resident skeeball expert. It was a so nice to work his Jeff and our fabulous family of extras this morning. Also, we continue to get wonderful meals donated to us by friends and businesses around the area. Tonight we feasted on some impressive lasagnas and caesar salad before washing it all down with some delectable peanut brownies. Add this to the pulled pork, risotto, lo mein, pasta w/ meatballs/sausage, pizza and all the other tasty meals that we've been given. I thought I'd lose weight on this shoot, turns out we have enough to stuff our faces at every meal. A tremendous thanks to all those who have helped us out. We couldn't survive without your generosity and culinary skills.

I'm so happy to be making this movie with my friends. There are so many others that I wish could be here with us, but there will be other times. Until then, I am trying to constantly remind myself to remember all the heartaches and all of the adventures that we are experiencing during these weeks of production. Although Jon, Patrick, Niki and I will continue to make more movies together, we will never be able to experience these obstacles again for the first time. Does that makes sense? Next time we're hit with one of these problems, we'll have a better idea of what to do and the unknown will not be as exciting. Of course there will always be new conflicts to resolve, but these are our first and they are just as important to relish in as our successes are.

G'night folks.

-martyB

Another Day Off

2008-07-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This is Jay, designated Boom Op for the shoot, here to give you an update on how things are going on set. We're on day 9 now and it seems like half of our crew have disappeared due to scheduling conflicts, cholera, dysentery or typhoid fever. Either way we will roll forward diligently until the job is done. We finally finished our night shoots and are prepping for our final days in Cape May. But on our day off most people decided to finally go and see the dark knight or just lay back at home base to chillax. Hopefully we'll all be ready for our 3 am wake up call.. UUGGHH!!! I guess that's all the interesting things i can think of for now. Until next time.

Jay Yorke

Early morning

2008-07-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
It's 6 in the mornin and almost everyone is asleep. It's just Matthew, Jon and me hanging out, with James Holbrook chatting via text msg. I feel awful because I haven't called my parents yet. Mom and Dad, sorry for the delay, I love yall and I hope the house stuff is going well. I'll try to call tomorrow! There's so much to tell and I never know where to start.

This evening we did another night shoot. It was a little hard with everything today because a location sorta fell through and it's very short notice now. I started to freak out a little and the stress began to weigh heavy one me. I get a little worried sometimes because we only have one chance for all of this. The schedule is tight and we only have about 4 or 5 hours per scene/location and then it's done...forever. Everyone seems to take it seriously and as much as I want it all to be fun and casual, I can't deny the fact that we have ONE SHOT at all these scenes. Sure, I guess re-shoots are possible and such, but we have such little money and SO many locations/set-ups (who the heck wrote all these crazy things in there anyway?) that we've gotta hit our marks and keep our schedules or risk throwing so much out of balance.

Whew. Anyway, now Jon just went to bed and Matthew's about to turn in, so I KNOW it's late. And the sun is out. And I'm way past delirious.

The Buck, signing out for tonight - er, this morning. Btw, I should mention, the cast/crew did an insanely awesome job today. We added 3 extra scenes and STILL ended an hour early. We setup in the rain, amidst swarms of mosquitos, in the sweltering heat and with bellies full of pulled pork - and in the end, we shot some great scenes. The actors are getting into a beautiful groove and the crew is working together better and better everyday. It's so friggin nice to see this silly movie taking shape and coming to life. Thank God for this cast and crew.

Talk to yall later,

-martyB

Saturday at Cape May Elementary

2008-07-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

So it's now Wednesday afternoon. About 10 times a day I regret that I haven't written more. This serves to show how insanely busy we've been these first 7 days of shooting. Here are some highlights, just cherry-picked from my memory as they come to me.

By far, my favorite day of shooting was the day we spent at Cape May Elementary. Mama Z opened up the school for us to come and get some nice shots. We turned the office into the Ocean City police station (thanks to James Holbrook's wonderful set pieces) and we used the auditorium as the setting for the reading of Murray's will. The former was memorable because we solved some difficult riddles - for one, how do we get a police officer to appear in our film? We asked around and could not secure an officer, let alone even a uniform to wear, so we had to do the best with what we had. Luckily, Paul Mathis lent us his wardrobe dept's police uniform and with a fake badge and a homemade utility belt, we turned Producer Patrick LaMorte into Officer Patrick LaMorte. This also gave us an opportunity to rewrite the scene the night before to fit our new situation. This process was especially fun because the 4 producers, boom op Jay and life o' the party Frank stayed up late to put our noodles together and develop a cute little scene that I think audiences are going to enjoy (especially slapstick fans like my dad).

Next at the Elementary school, we shot the reading of Murray's will. It will be hard to equal the good will that as evident on set that day. Around 40 extras - friends, friends of friends, and stranger to us - came to the school and sat in the auditorium for 3 1/2 hours, just to help with this film. They had so great enthusiasm - they laughed at all my stupid jokes and seemed more than happy to re-do the same scene 20 times from 4 different angles. And they were expert extras to boot! My friend, Steve and our script supervisor Corinne went above-and-beyond by agreeing to read a couple lines for us, too! They had no idea that morning that we'd ask this of them and both ended up being more than happy to help (not to mention, nailing the scene perfectly every time).

So overall, that was just a wonderful day. It came after a pretty tough shoot day that saw me screw up the lunch and run overtime by almost an hour, so the timing was perfect. And as a special treat at the end, the Zelenak's neighbor, Tilly, came over to the house with two giant cherry chocolate cakes! Just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, this surprise blew us all away. The cake was sooo good and the enthusiasm that Tilly brought really made the moment one of the more memorable instances of the first week.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who went out of your way to help us last Saturday. You all made this such a wonderful day. And of course, we are abundantly appreciative to Mama and Papa Z for their endless charity, hospitality and support - without them, none of this would be possible.

This post felt good to write, hopefully I can get back on here more often. Only an hour until call time and then it's our 2nd night shoot... Time for shot lists!

-martyB

We've Come A Long Way Baby....

2008-07-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, this is Corinne the proud Script Supervisor of the Sneakers and Soul production. The first week of shooting has been great. I was a little nervous at first because you never know what to expect from a production, especially when the whole crew (actors and all) are hunkered down in the same pad. Everyone on set has blown me away; with kindness and unmeasurable humor. Everyday the bonds grow stronger, and I'm already nostalgic about the first week. I don't think we could have asked for a more dedicated crew. Not only that, but we are also shooting in a fantastic town! Cape May is one of the most charming and picturesque places I've ever been. I've been trying to take as many candid pictures as I possibly can to document every place we shoot and the crew's interaction. Today is our first day off and only me and Jay (the boom operator) stayed at the Zelenak house with Marty and Jon. It was nice to have a quiet day but we're eager to get back to shooting. This week are all night shoots, which means a large equal dose of caffeine and bug spray. Should be fun...

It's pretty amazing that one can actually earn a living making movies. Life is good.

More to come!

first day

2008-07-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, the past couple days have been totally insane. Here's a quick run-down of the first day's events.

Monday was spent picking up equipment and traveling. Jon went down early to ready his house for the cast and crew and I picked up as many crew members as I could fit in the 15-passenger van. Patrick grabbed his pal Frank and they drove down in the big blue utility van. The drive was long and quiet, as the group wasn't totally comfortable around each other yet. I took a couple wrong turns (the first of many that I would eventually make) but we finally showed up around 10pm. We've completely taken over the Zelenak home - all the upstairs bedrooms, the living room, the dining room, the office and most of the basement.

More to come...

Pre-Production in Cape May

2008-07-05T23:02:00.001-07:00

This is Marty, writing from Cape May. A few of us have been down at the home of our first couple weeks of shooting, just getting the sets ready to roll. We've put in a lot of work into a couple sets and we've seen a couple locations. Luckily, we also got in some quality beach and boardwalk time and some yummy home cooking. Ma and Pa Zelenak have treated us so nicely and this is only the beginning. They'll be hosting the entire cast and crew starting July 15 for two whole weeks.

Lots of details are finally starting to fall into place, but a few loose ends continue to vex us. One of the biggest pieces of news to come from this past week has been the confirmation of our main cast! That's right, over a year after Johnny-Boy, Ace and Vicki were first born in the mind of Jon, we now have real, tangible people to represent them on the big screen. Not only are we pumped that this is a solid trio of actors, but we've also chosen a gang that is excited about this project and full of optimism and good spirit. Billy, SJ and Marie are three wonderful people - it was a pleasure to audition them and we expect we'll have even more reasons to love them as the weeks progress. Speaking of people we love, the crew is almost entirely locked down. With the exception of just a few positions, the family is almost fully complete. Again, it's an assortment of talented people with great enthusiasm.

We're also happy to report that most of the props and locations are locked. Niki, Patrick, Arleen, Mama Z, Tom Sims and JZ have been puttin it into overdrive and we're up to our ears in shoe boxes, bikes, umbrellas and gorgeous NJ locales. There are still a couple thorns in our side, but there's less than two weeks left and it's now or never to get it done. Personally, I go back and forth. At times, I'm so in love with what we've got going on - the people, places and things that will be our movie. At other times though (usually around noon and just before bed), I'm consumed with anxiety and fear that some major issues still aren't there. It's exhilirating because the clock is ticking and something I love dearly is on the line - but lordy, it is unnerving. Jon, Niki, Patrick and I have crafted a mammoth story for our first feature and it's taking gobs and gobs of work to prepare. As we've said about a million times - so much for writing to our resources...

But jeezum crow, I love this life style. Last Tuesday, Jon and I arrived home from location scouting around 7:30pm. This is when I usually leave work after a full day of sitting at a desktop, editing. Instead, we had visited 5 different cities in Jersey, traversing the entire state in two days with our good buddy Patrick and our new friend and DP, Michael. And the best part - we were doing something that we LOVE. Finally being a part of that seemingly exclusive club of people who do what they love for a living. Granted, I'm paying money rather than earning money with this lifestyle for the time being...but here's hoping that the stars continue to align and the s&s gang can get together again (but with MORE of our friends joining us) and keep making more movie magic.

Time for bed - more to do tomorrow (thank goodness).

-martyb

Welcome to the Sneakers & Soul blog

2008-06-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody. We're currently in the middle of a S&S pre-production meeting. Everyone is just chillin while Niki preps the schedule, so I figured now would be a good time to start this badboy. Patrick is telling a story about some guy's really bad sunburn, Jon is cuddling with a stuffed animal, and we're all polishing off a freshly cut pineapple while downing some Corona Lights in my sundrenched little studio.

Monday is our big day of final auditions for Ace and Johnny-boy. We've got high hopes about the guys who are showing up and it's going to be a tough choice. Still a couple more decisions to make on the other characters, but with our main three chosen, we'll feel a lot more comfortable.

Personally, I'm really blown away that we've come this far and stayed on schedule. Months ago, the four of us decided to pick a random day in July to start filming. That date, July 15, has held strong and we are confident that we'll be ready when the time comes. So much to do between now and then, but the four of us - especially Jon, Niki and Patrick - are making major progress and friends and family continue to come through with new and creative solutions for the things we're lacking.

Up next: more location scouting, finalizing all the actors, confirming the remaining props and locations, rewriting a couple minor scenes, and basically everything else. So yeah, it's gonna be an exciting few weeks.

Stay tuned - we'll be adding more info and telling more stories as the days go by. We'll also keep this blog up and running during production and post-production so all the S&S fans can get their fix. Thanks for the support everybody, luv yall!

-martyB