Production III, “546”

My third semester at USC is another heavy production semester. “546” or “Production III” is the last major production class before we produce our thesis (if we decide to do a thesis). I am doing sound on the project — both production sound and post sound. It’s one of the more intense roles in 546 so my partner and I are prepared for a crazy semester!

Location Scouting

The past two weeks, we were location scouting various areas to film our movie “Crushing Violet.” We need a mansion to be the younger girl’s parent’s house. Our co-producer, Josh, introduced us to Doc’s Mansion from “Back to the Future,” also known as “The Gamble House.”

The director, Joe, and I drove up and searched for the giant house. I screamed when we saw it — it’s definitely from the movie!

Doc’s Mansion from “Back to the Future”

Joe, our director, is making sure Doc’s Mansion will work for his vision of the movie.

The front door of Doc’s Mansion – a bit blurry! Below is the photo of Marty entering the front door.

A screen shot from “Back to the Future.”

Young Doc inside his mansion.

To the right of the mansion is its garage or Doc’s workshop.


Front of Doc’s workshop.

I found one video of the scene here.
Test Shooting

This upcoming weekend is our test shooting weekend. We will test this location as well as a few more for their lighting and sound needs, among other technical issues. This will be our first weekend working on set together as a team – should be a ton of fun!

-AM