Dimension + Forsaken Sun

Dimension

As you may have noted from cryptic captions on my Pic a Day posts over the last few months, I am involved in a short film. My best friend Nicolas Fierro wrote the script for and is directing Dimension, a story about a young man, Pike (played by Nick), who tries to piece together weird dreams he's having and discovers there's another dimension where people are manipulating his reality. I play Sabra (yes, I know; I think Nick deliberately named my character after the hummus), who is Pike's closest confidante throughout the film despite her ties to the central dimension. The cast also includes Daniel Bruce, who plays Ira, another friend of Pike's whose mission it is to kill him if he finds out too much; and Nataly Moreno-Martinez, who plays Thana, the woman in charge of the dimension creation and manipulation. We have been filming since the end of February/beginning of March, and Nick anticipates that we will premiere the finished movie the first week of July.

I wanted to share some photos from our filming sessions; I have included a few that appeared in previous Pic a Day posts, and I will indicate this by using an asterisk at the beginning of the caption.

March 6

Daniel snapping pics

our primary set: most of the movie takes place in the amphitheater

 March 9

*Sonal helped us out during a filming by (wo)manning the camera

March 13

Nick packs up while Daniel fixes his hair

March 18

our friends Molly (middle) and Mica (right) helped out by being extras

"We ready to go?"

extras ready to go and our director is just coming on set

setting the scene for Craig, who also helped us out by being a minor character

March 20

Nick, Daniel, and Sonal after a day of filming

April 2

the portal between dimensions, the medicine wheel features heavily in the film

reflections (of a director) in a golden eye

sunset silhouette

April 3

Nick and Nataly setting up for their dramatic scene

despite the drama and tension, there are many slip-ups and flubs during takes

April 5

testing the inside-the-locker shot (I do look rather drugged out, don't I?)

April 11

day 1

April 12

day 2

April 13

day 3: I thought this would be a good movie cover

April 14

day 4: white and shadow

April 15

Nick made me wear this headband, then snatched it back from me as soon as I got to liking it

May 15

Nick and Nataly laughing it out before rehearsing again

since they rehearse so often, I wander off and photograph the landscape

May 22

snazzy camera(wo)man

May 25

things can get out of hand, so someone has to leave

June 1

Nick organized a cast bonding day at Meow Wolf

messing with the weird exhibits (LtoR: Daniel, Nataly, Nick)

we ate lunch at the Tune-Up Cafe and did some people-watching

June 5

we came across this animal who was stuck on the staircase (campus security eventually got the poor thing)

June 11

Nick and Daniel rehearsing

a friendly handshake after a successful morning of filming

June 12

Sabra is wary of Pike's plans to go to the other dimension

testing out the obstacle course between takes

Sabra is not a very romantic character, but the flower behind my ear could fool you

Nick and Daniel on the Alpine Tower

thinking about how best to tackle climbing the thing

*the photo that stole my heart, taken by Daniel

waiting for Daniel to say "Action!"

Forsaken Sun

Dimension isn't the only short film I'm currently working on. Two summers ago, Nick and I both wrote the script for Forsaken Sun, a story about five teenagers trying to survive in the New Mexico wilderness after a third world war leaves their city bombed and destroyed. We only successfully filmed half of it, but recently Nick put together a "trailer," if you will, of the footage that we did get. Here's the link to that for your viewing enjoyment: https://vimeo.com/147262334

Just to jog your memory - and my own - I'll start this off with a couple photos from the original filming.

June 21, 2014

meeting up in the parking lot before hiking out to our filming location

I guess we had a cast get-together at Menchie's post-filming

I probably do have more photos from the original filming, but they are not on this computer.

Anyway, at one of the Dimension filming sessions, I was joking with Nick and saying I could put together his movie with dolls and have it done before the one we were currently working on. I was just messing with him, but right after that I got the idea to do the same with Forsaken Sun. I had often lamented how great of a movie that would have been and how sad I was that we never finished it, so it was strangely uplifting to realize that I could finish that film, and do so with dolls. We didn't have to give up simply because things didn't work out the first time we attempted it. (The reason I even got the idea to film it with dolls is because I had tried to make a movie with my brother using Groovy Girls several years ago, and I thought it was really funny and cute, but that didn't turn out either; so wouldn't I love to do what two of my past selves hadn't yet achieved? There's also a trailer for the Groovy movie I tried to make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sHYPJ8hIG8.) So I have also been working on another short film this summer, this time with Groovy Girls! Again, some of these appeared in previous Pic a Day posts, and I have indicated with an asterisk at the beginning of the caption.

June 7

the sinister government agents look so darn cute!

casting call (yes, some of them are naked to various degrees)

*here's the reimagined group of survivalist teens - now in doll form!

checking the script and getting the characters ready on set

June 8

6 a.m. sunrise

"I always look at the sun when I'm feeling sad - you should try it." -Lex

* "I guess I do feel a little better." -Fletcher

June 10

cast and director up early for a 1 a.m. filming sesh

ominous shadows

the teens at their base camp

I just wanted to share a little bit more of the short films I've been working on and helping out with because they're really cool and I'm pretty excited for the finished products. Like I already mentioned, Nick anticipates our being done with Dimension the first week of July (and I will share a link to the film when it becomes available); and so far I am over halfway done with Forsaken Sun, but I am postponing filming the rest until after the Dimension premiere because I want to work on some other projects in the meantime, one of them being the typing-up, revision, editing, and rewriting of my NaNoWriMo novel from 2014. But once I finish up Forsaken Sun, I will post the link so you can watch and share with others.

Thanks for checking this out; see you on Sunday for your regularly-scheduled Pic a Day post!