Update 6/9/05

Hi everyone,

Here's what's happening with the video...

Notes:

Garage: the set where Ben is developing the spinner
Green room: the set that represents Ben's workplace
Red room: used for the finale in which Ben is reading his notes off the wall.

The garage set is 99% complete. Last thing I'm working on is making the spinner spin. I tested black thread and it shows very clearly on video...there's even a shadow. So I ordered some invisible thread from a magic store to see if that works better. I found that the higher the spinner, the better it looks. If it's too low like in the previs, it doesn't look like it's floating.

I'm working now on the wall of papers and writing for the red room. I'm probably nixing the plexiglass idea. What I'm doing now looks a lot more organic and visually richer. hmmm. probably only an academic would find a "reading off a wall" scene climactic.

In July, I'm pretty sure we can shoot the garage, green room and red room. That will be 80% of the "1st unit" footage.

Dan, I was wondering if Olivia might be interested in being in the video in still form. I envision her doing a time period thing, like a 100 year old photograph with her holding the spinner. Like an old portrait. That would be taped.

The lights came in. I ran lighting tests and am very happy with the image. I'm most likely shooting progressive scan in simulated 16 x 9 mode.

I found a fantastic church exterior in Glendale. It looks like some kind of monastery. Still need to find a library interior.

Ron