Timeline

Another polish and I think I'll have the script close enough to distribute to actors. I'll give them a couple weeks, then have a read-through. Then make a shooting schedule. I hope to use one of the actor's condos as a primary location, and we can get most done during a three or four hour shoot there, I think. Then maybe a couple more days to pick up things away from the condo. Last summer, the shooting went surprisingly quickly, primarily because the actors had done their homework. I am setting an arbitrary date, April 15, when I want the shooting to be done, and if it's earlier, excellent. I want a full month to edit, though I think it will take less than this. One has to prepare for something going wrong.

In the meantime, I'm going to start parts one and three, where I don't need the actors, sooner rather than later. I'm already gathering image material for them. And -- what fun! -- I'm going to write an original score for it all. This will get me tuned up in Finale before my spring class in its advanced features.

So the major programs I use on this project, in order of primary use, are: StorySpace for structuring the hyperdrama, Sophocles for writing the script, The Flip Video for shooting the scenes, Adobe Premiere Elements for editing the video, Audacity for recording narration, Finale for composing and recording a music track.
And probably a few other things that come up, using VitualDub, Prism, and what not. I couldn't do this without these great tools.