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I’ve started working with my production designer Sabrina Hale. I often use references from other films to get inspired, as well as to give the crew a better idea of what I’m going for. A couple of weeks ago I watched Muriel’s Wedding and was really taken by it. I thought the production design by Patrick Reardon was amazing. This is a great still from the film.

I love how the pattern on the cushion (which is on the table) matches the pattern on the lamp base (center of two boys) or how the orange Pringle container matches the orange ash tray on the table, the orange on the girl’s sleeve, the orange blanket behind the boy on the right AND the orange lamp shade in the back. Everything is so carefully manipulated yet the end result looks naturally chaotic. The colours work so well together and nothing feels forced or contrived. I also love the use of the green and brown earth tones. I had a similar colour scheme in mind for Birthday Girl so this film is going to be a wonderful reference.

I took sample colours from the still frame above to create a separate colour palette for Birthday Girl….

We’re sponsoring an art contest for Birthday Girl. We’re looking for kids who are around twelve years old to come up with the most unique birthday invitation. We’ve provided basic information (plot, date, party address etc) and want the kids to come up with the rest. No matter how good a production designer is, s/he will never know what it’s like to be inside the head of a twelve year old. Several schools are participating and we’re all pretty psyched to see what their kids come up with. Invitations will be in by early February and I’ll post the winning card on this site. The winner gets a $50 gift certificate to Omer DeSerres, the card featured in the film as well as a credit for the creation of the card in the credits.

Matt Forsythe, illustrator and comic book creator, is doing the storyboards for Birthday Girl and I’m loving them. It’s a bit of a challenge because we don’t have our location so Matt’s doing the storyboards based on our ideal space. There’s about 32 scenes in the film and between 90 and 120 frames. Matt started off doing the storyboards directly on the computer but decided to switch over and do them the more traditional way.

I’m holding another round of auditions Wednesday January 10th at the Turtle Island Theatre in Kahnawake. I went to meet some kids at their after school program a few weeks ago and they were wonderful. I’m really excited about auditioning them as well as other actors in the area.

Sunday January 14th I’m holding auditions downtown. It’s going to be a mix of callbacks and newcomers. I have a couple of cellists coming in as well which I am extremely excited about.

If you have any questions about these auditions feel free to contact me.