Location Scouting

Yesterday the Sisu production crew took a road trip out east of Regina to Fort Qu'Appelle and to Abernethy to look at some possible locations to shoot. After starting out drizzly and cold, the weather turned sunny and warm. We even got to bring the dogs along. Their patience in the car was paid off by a rollicking romp through fields of grass and alfalfa.

C is always so optimistic.

We stopped at a friend of Brette's family who has an amazing house on the side of a hill. C wants to use the hill and alfalfa field behind the house for a couple of shots in her movie. Here C and Dauminique are discussing the logistics of hauling up props and lighting equipment.

"Do you think we can get four kegs of beer up here?"

We also stopped by the Motherwell museum which is one of those living museums, meaning the workers there dress up in period clothes and do chores around the farm. What's cool is they might let us use some of the costumes their workers wear for the movie. Man, if we could it'd save a lot of rummaging through second hand clothing stores and a lot of sewing.

The costume room was a minegold -uh, I mean a goldmine!

We also may be able to use the barn at the Motherwell for some of C's scenes. Although it might be a bit of a drive for some of the actors and extras, it sure would look great on screen.

"Yeah, with just 4 or 5 sticks of dynamite we can blow this place sky high for the final scene."

All in all the trip was very productive and C was able to find locations for about 90% of her farm and prairie scenes. C went into more detail in her online production journal, which I recommend you checking out.

Until next time... adventure!
R-

2nd round of auditions

C's movie, Sisu (pronounced SEE-soo), is really starting to take shape. Today she held auditions from 9 am until 6:15. Whew! I got to stand in and read with some of the actors which was a lot of fun but also gruelling. A few of the actors were 'call backs' from our first round of auditions in February. And after auditioning about 30 people today (5 of which were 10-year old boys), C thinks she's got pretty much all the roles cast.

C's new line producer and our dear friend, Dauminique, was there along with her daughter, Kristine, who looks like she'll be helping out as a PA (production assistant) on set. And the art director, Brette, stopped by and got to see some of the auditions as well. We were all excited about the actors C picked.

We'll have one more round of just call backs for some of the main roles this Sunday. C wants to see how they'll work reading lines together, rather than with stand-ins.

Tomorrow the production crew is taking a road trip to do some location scouting. Brette, who grew up around Regina, set up some trips to her farm in Abernethy and a friend's farm in the Qu'Appelle Valley. Should be fun.

Be sure to check out C's production journal. It talks about her research trip to Finland and she'll probably have more info on the auditions too.

Until next time... adventure!
R-