Okay, Spade is going great. Tons of stuff is going good, and a few things aren't. I know a ton of stuff I need to improve on. There are a few times in Spade where I break the 180 rule (a rule I didn't even know about until like a month ago!), I need to watch the overexposure on walls and background, and I need to light my set better. Of course, I don't have great equipment right now (the studios light kit has one working light!), so I can come up with an excuse in that area. The 180 thing has been fixed in many places, and it isn't really bad anymore. I also need to use a tripod. Again, for the last few weeks either a tripod has been broken or a camera mount was, so again I kinda have an excuse there. I always had a tripod handy, but most of the time either it or the camera was broken.

That being said, many great things are coming about. I've been working on the full length trailer for a few days now, and it is looking very good. It's not your normal indy "a bunch of random shots" trailer, it's like a legitimate trailer. Also, we've been shooting a ton recently. There are a couple scenes that are subpar, either in lighting, or basic lack of tripod. Some of those I can fix and will soon, some of them I could fix but can't because of lack of time/stress on the actors, etc... I'm taking what I can get at this point.

There is about an hour of the movie completely done. We should have been done shooting a week ago, but all the recasts and a few unnexpected things etc... Now we are hustling to get the thing done on before summer. We only have about 20 pages left, and they are all simple scenes.

I really need to plan things better in pre-prod. I've pretty much been slacking my way through this entire movie. It's a miracle it is turning out as good as it is. Oh, and btw, it's a lot better than the clips I have up right now. Wait till I unleash the trailer.

And finally, amidst the faults of Spade in the technical side, I am extremely encouraged that those are it's faults. I would way rather have a complete lack of technical skill but be able to create a good and entertaining story and pace it right, than have a technical mastery and shoot a stupid movie. Wow I saw an indy movie recently, made on low budget, that was SO BAD. I mean, really really bad. Some nice shots, some cool lighting here and there, but there was pretty much a complete lack of a plot and things took WAY TOO LONG to happen. It made my friend sick to his stomach just watching it. But that's how a lot of indy movies are! Why are they like that? If there is anything good to say about Spade, it's that it's entertaining, with funny and original characters that keep the audiences attention. At the very least I can guarantee that. I can't guarantee the best special effects, the coolest camera movements or the like, but I guarantee some laughs, a good story arch and a good climax. Really, that's all you need. The 180 degree rule can take a back seat. Framing can take a back seat. Even the tripod can jump in the trunk, because when you get down to it, you can always learn technical stuff. But if you're a stupid writer, that's it.