After four days of hard work, the Production House has been cleaned up and Brian and I are once again on the nomadic homeless route until we find a place in Stuart to edit from.

Right now, my top priority is putting together a teaser for the film – not only will it help us finish funding the production, but it’ll give you all an idea of what “Natalie, Queen of Scots” actually looks like.  For now, take a gander at an early matte and composite test Brian put together for the alligator with the kids — looks pretty nifty.

Now that we’re in the post-production stage, Brian and I have a lot more time to answer questions and talk about the process, so please feel free to comment or ask questions! I’ve pretty much given up on sleeping, myself – we have a film to edit!

Came before we knew it, but suddenly a bunch of us were in Harborage Yacht Club and Marina celebrating the wrap on Natalie, Queen of Scots, our very own freaking feature film.

It was a pretty unbelievable day.

The video above was our “congrats on five weeks of hardcore filming” present to the crew — I edited together some of our footage and photos, and it’s a cute little video, I think.

Some pictures of the party below, courtesy Chelsea Parker.

Location: The Jensen Beach Causeway in Jensen Beach, FL

Phrase of the day: “Get this girl some electrolytes!”

Thanks to all the kids who came out to be extras for the shoot today! One of our last outdoor shoots, and it was a blast for all involved (well, maybe not for sound – it was awfully windy the entire day).

This was also our first shoot day with Phil Morales, the stellar actor playing Natalie’s father. This week is all about bringing in the parents and filling out the film, and on Monday we introduce Natalie’s mother, Jennifer Jones, to the movie. We’re really excited about all of our actors, and hope you will be too!

For now, check out some great pictures from the shoot today.

(They can’t be eaten yet! We still have a film to finish!)

Yeah, she’s real.

Day: 23

Location: The hills of Jensen Beach, FL

Phrase of the day: “Whoa!  Is he, like, a trained alligator?”

Today we abandoned working with children and chose a different, equally challenging path – working with animals.  Tim Williams, Gatorland handler extraordinaire, came down with the lovely lady you see above and two trainers to get us (in my opinion) one of the best shots of the film.

See, about eight months ago, Brian and I were sitting in a restaurant, talking about how Natalie and Nicholas would meet.  And, for whatever reason, Brian thought it would be hilarious if they bonded over escaping from an alligator.  A twelve foot alligator.

Well, eight months later, after about 80 pages of paperwork with SAG and Gatorland and American Humane, Brian got his alligator – he even got to pose with it at the end of the shoot.

His producer concedes that yes, it was pretty fantastic.

Photographs by Misti Guertin.

Jacob Hill (Director of Photography) takes a second job in these hard economic times.

Day: 22

Location: Stuart Photo, in Stuart, FL; St Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St Lucie, FL

Phrase of the day: “This is the photo they’re gonna use on the news if I ever get arrested for anything.”

Poor Jacob.  It’s not enough that he slaves away day in, day out on this set — today he had to get another job.  Yes, the cinematographer swallowed his pride and became… a one hour photo tech?

The story was this: long ago, we thought it might be funny to have a weird cameo for the one hour photo shop.  However, when Bruce Campbell and Will Arnett fell through, we realized that we had the perfect guy for our cameo shot right here on set – who better to portray a grumpy photo worker than our camera-man himself?

Remember – in these tough economic times, your one hour photo technician could very well be an award-winning cinematographer between jobs.

Later in the day we returned to St Lucie Catholic Church for a few more exteriors and some funny line-work by our two leads.  Anyone know who’s on Nick’s shirt in these scenes?

Kelli couldn't get over how funny Jake looked.

In position.

First AC Dan DeLude is overjoyed to actually look through the camera. But Jake still gets the light meter.

Kelli and Jacob stare down.

Kelli (Natalie) prepares for the scene.

Brian explains to Nick the intricacies of "Oh. Sorry."

Nick has the answer! (and it might relate to what's on his shirt)

Photos by Chelsea Parker.

Angry storm. Sad crew.

Day: 21

Location: Castillo de San Marcos, in Saint Augustine, FL

Phrase of the day: “Four weeks in and this is the first day we’re rained out? Not terribly bad, I guess.”

After four hours north, some rain, and four hours back around again, the crew is again united in Stuart. Sadly, we didn’t get to film at the Castillo thanks to some big, angry, vicious storm clouds. But we’re not giving up – even if it means we have to schedule a pickup day after we wrap.

Day: 20

Location: Ross Witham Beach, in Stuart, FL / St Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St Lucie, FL

Phrase of the day: “Wrap on the beach – can everyone say YAY?!”

Today was our very ever last day on the beach (thank goodness) and we celebrated by throwing Kelli (Natalie) into the water for her first confrontation against the ocean.  Nick (Nicholas) was pretty happy that this time HE wasn’t the one being pelted by sand.

After that, we drove over to St Lucie Catholic Church to film one of Sara’s “spying” escapades.  She dressed up as the Virgin Mary and had a great time playing “Scooby Doo Adventure Time” with various statues around the place.  The entire staff of the church has been more than gracious to let us film there, and everyone’s really excited about it — so thank you, St Lucie Catholic Church!  We appreciate it.

Kelli shows off some of her jujitsu skills on Dan, the AC.

Destruction.

Brian talks to Sam about proper snooping techniques.

Photography by Chelsea Parker.