Future DV

Cartoons by Don Hertzfeldt

2011-12-18T09:04:00.002-05:00

Very weird and compelling stuff. It makes me wish I could draw even simple shapes so I could do my own animations. I supposed if I practiced enough I'd eventually get good at it. OK, I'm lazy.

And I hate most computer animation programs. There's nothing that looks quite the same as pencil on paper. Check out the final cartoon to see what I'm talking about.

And see more at BitterFilms.com

Danger 5 Trailer

2011-10-30T14:30:00.000-04:00

The hottest new kitschy web series evar!!!!

Kathleen Chalfant Interview

2011-09-12T06:51:00.005-04:00

During a break in a night shoot at Trumbull’s Twin Brooks Park, I sat in the driver’s seat of a huge limousine next to the amazing Kathleen Chalfant, and we talked about the movie "Isn’t It Delicious?".

(As an aside, the limousine was a prop was used in the film; the actors all agreed to work under a SAG Ultra-low Budget agreement, meaning they were only receiving a pittance to act in the movie, and they all voluntarily gave up all the usual "star" perks like limos and personal trailers. Kathleen and the rest of the cast are involved in this movie purely as a labor of love.)

CT Bob: Hello Kathleen. Tell me, what drew you to do this movie?

Kathleen Chalfant: Well, I’ve known Michael Kelly (the Director) since 2002, when I met him and Suzanne (the film’s producer and Michael’s wife) at the very first meeting of Theaters Against War (www.thawaction.org), and at that meeting the idea of the Lysistrata Project came up. The idea was that you would do productions of Lysistrata all over the world. A year later Michael had decided to make a documentary about it (“Operation Lysistrata”) and I was involved with it.

We have been friends since, and about a year ago he sent me the script for this movie. I was involved in a play at Yale and didn’t read it right away, but Michael and Suzanne came to see the play and Suzanne asked me if I’d read it, so I went home that night and read the script and wrote back and said I really, really, really liked it!

CTB: What is it about the character (“Joan”) you’re playing that you like?

KC: Joan is a wonderful character, because she’s one of those impossible people that you come to love by the end of the movie and who learns something by the end of the movie. She has a real journey throughout the movie but she’s also fierce and funny and very smart and impossible, and she’s kind of a dream character to play. I can’t imagine in my life that I’ll ever get a better part to play than Joan, so I’d be a fool not to do it. It’s a great opportunity.

(Kathleen with Keir Dullea)
CTB: How is the cast to work with on this film?

KC: It’s a wonderful cast! Keir Dullea, Mia Dillon, Alice Ripley who just won a Tony (2009) for what you have to say was a towering performance in “Next To Normal”, and the younger actors are really, really good, who I didn’t know before. Jonah (Young), Nick (Stevenson), Ally (Mingione) are all really, really good young actors! The cast for this movie is extraordinary at this level.

And the other thing that Michael has done is to use people who are non-professional actors but they’re playing the things they do in life. Often that doesn’t work very well, but in this movie it’s worked extraordinarily well. Today for instance we just shot a scene with Phil (Hines), who is a member of the Trumbull (CT) Police Department, and he was a swell policeman on camera as well.

(L-R Nick Stevenson, Alice Ripley, Keir Dullea, Kathleen Chalfant, Jonah Young)
CTB: What do you think of the way Michael is putting together this film, with it’s certain look and certain feel for such a ridiculously small budget?

KC: Well, it’s astounding what Michael and the producers have managed to beg and borrow because this is a movie with a budget of around $200,000, and we shot scenes on a fifty-one foot sailboat, tonight we’re doing a crane shot, we have the same model camera that shot “The King’s Speech”, we have a spectacular Art Department that consists of one indefatigable person named Chris Hancock, who has managed to transform raw rental space into a million dollar apartment in New York City. And we have amazing cars; a top-of-the-line Mercedes and a Ferrari, along with a vintage MG and an amazing aquamarine Jeep, and we’re sitting right now in a huge stretch limo with a psychedelic roof (laughter), and it’s going to look good.

It’s also going to look good because we have the wonderful Axel Fischer (Director of Photography) joining us from Germany, and also a crew of camera, lighting and sound whom are for a large part products of the Connecticut Film Industry Training Program. And they’re 22 years old! (laughter) But they’re really good at it.

And I have to say there are a few other things, such as the make-up and wardrobe departments, which are departments that people often don’t pay enough attention to in the making of the movie but it is their work as much as anybody else’s that ends up on the screen. And in this movie continuity has been a huge issue because we haven’t shot in anything like in script order; we shoot based on the locations we can get, and they’ve done an astounding job.

CTB: So what’s next for Kathleen Chalfant after this movie wraps?

KC: Well, my very next project is a play with the World Performance Project at Yale called “Mesopotamia” about Gertrude Bell, who was an English Arabist in the teens and 20s and a friend of Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill. The play is written by Robert Myers who is a playwright and also a teacher at the American University in Beirut, where my husband and I went to lecture last Thanksgiving. And then in the spring I’m going to do another movie.

CTB: Thank you so much Kathleen, and let me just say that it’s been an absolute pleasure working with you on this picture.

KC: Thanks Bob!

Jonah Young Interview

2011-09-11T08:45:00.011-04:00

On the set of "Isn't It Delicious?" I spoke with Jonah Young (“Teddy”) during lunch break at the house location in Trumbull. We sat on apple boxes in the garage while cast and crew milled around us and the craft service tables.

CT Bob: What drew you to the role of TEDDY in “Isn’t It Delicious?”

Jonah Young: I like Teddy because he’s an interesting character. He’s a medical school dropout and a pot-head, but he really has a desire to help people, and he’s found a way to do that through his religion and his natural healing.

CTB: What did you like about the script in general?

JY: The script is really well-written and natural, and the characters talk the way people talk in real life. I don’t have to think about the characters because they come to life by themselves. Kathleen (Kiley, the screenwriter) did a great job constructing the characters and having them interact in a natural way.

CTB: Have you brought anything of your personal experience to the role of Teddy?

JY: Yeah. Actually, in my younger days I was involved in a religious cult, and I was able to bring some of the natural hippie elements of that experience to the table. And also I’m a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan and I was at Woodstock ’94 so I can draw upon some personal experience as well.

(Jonah Young with Director Michael Kelly)
CTB: When did you start acting?

JY: I think I started acting the moment I came out of my mother’s womb. I don’t believe being an actor is a choice, I believe it’s like sexuality; you’re born one way or another way, and I was born an actor. I discovered what I was born with through stunt work, believe it or not, I had a gig at Medieval Times jousting and I got the opportunity to act on a film with some friends and it sort of blossomed from there. I moved to NYC in 2008, and I’ve really been serious about acting since then.

CTB: What are your goals for the future?

JY: To keep acting, and to keep getting good roles like Teddy. I do as much acting as possible, and I’d like to continue with movies and stage acting.

CTB: What do you like most about the stage?

JY: Stage acting is great because you get to tell the whole story in one performance, and you’ve got the audience there and you’re living the entire story from beginning to end every night. It’s a lot of work, but when you’re in character you don’t get distracted easily. In films you have to turn it on and turn it off; on stage you simply become the character for the entire show.

CTB: What’s it like working with such an esteemed veteran cast?

JY: They’re great! They’re great to work with, and I learn a lot from being on set with them.

CTB: How do you like working with the director, Michael Kelly?

JY: He’s fantastic. He knows exactly what he wants, he knows exactly how to get it, he’s a great guy, he’s very easy to work for, and he’s definitely got a vision. It’s really inspiring to watch him work.

CTB: Jonah, thanks so much for your time!

JY: Thank you, Bob.

(Jonah horsing around with 1st AC Alex Sherman)

Keir Dullea

2011-08-26T08:32:00.002-04:00

I'm working on a film with this guy! I still can't believe how cool this is.

2001: A Space Odyssey

"Red State" trailer

2011-07-28T09:53:00.002-04:00

Jesus Christ! (literally)

This trailer looks amazing! I can't wait to see this flick!

The End is Nigh, indeed!

10 years of "The (British) Office"

2011-07-27T07:02:00.003-04:00

Heavily influenced by the style of "This Is Spinal Tap", Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant created and produced a revolutionary show that changed the way television sees the "sitcom".

They only produced 12 half-hour episodes, plus a two-episode "Christmas Special", and then stopped. Which was perfect. The 14 episodes exist as a perfect self-contained package that will never outgrow it's relevance.

If you haven't watched it yet, go out and get the entire box set and see how an entire television genre was created and perfected. I guarantee you'll grow to care about (some) of these characters. Including the often exasperating David Brent, who forges on ever hopeful, despite incredible bouts of embarrassingly awkward moments.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

FITP

2011-06-19T07:57:00.002-04:00

The training is going well. And I'm having a lot of fun learning all about the new (and not so new) technologies.

We'll shoot our student film in video, but we're still required to know how to load and maintain Panavision 35mm film cameras. It's really neat!

FITP begins on Monday

2011-06-03T08:52:00.002-04:00

Once again I'll be attending the Film Industry Training Program at Quinnipiac University, starting Monday the 6th.

I probably won't post day-to-day accounts of the program like I did last year, but I'll put up photos and stories when I'm able.

Photo from "Going Home"

2011-06-02T15:45:00.001-04:00

Between takes on location for "Going Home". Photo by Josue Saldana.

The "Going Home" project

2011-05-03T17:32:00.004-04:00

"Going Home" is a short film about a serious subject. I'm working on the Sound Dept. for this production.

Watch this promo, then please click HERE to support the project on Kickstarter.

Apply NOW for Film Industry Training Program

2011-04-29T09:09:00.003-04:00

APPLY NOW
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
FILM INDUSTRY TRAINING PROGRAM
INTENSIVE ONE-MONTH CURRICULUM
JUNE 6 – JULY 1, 2011
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY

This is the course I took last year.
Read about my four-week experience HERE.

SELECT FROM:
ASSISTANT DIRECTING
LOCATION MANAGEMENT
PRODUCTION OFFICE COORDINATION
SCRIPT SUPERVISION
CAMERA
SOUND
LIGHTING & GRIP
PROPS AND SET DRESSING
WARDROBE

$10 FEE PAYMENT AND SUBMISSION OF THE ONLINE APPLICATION MUST BE COMPLETED PRIOR TO 5:00PM, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011. DIRECT LINK TO APPLICATION.

www.ctfilmworkforce.com
FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION AND ONLINE APPLICATION

David Lynch sells coffee weird

2011-04-27T17:27:00.003-04:00

I guess director David Lynch is selling coffee products now. And one of the benefits of being a filmmaker is that you can create your own commercials.

Of course, being David, he wouldn't simply make a 30-second spot that you'd see while watching a rerun of "Two and a Half Men".

No, he'd do something along the lines of a bizarre 4-minute conversation with a Barbie doll, shot in extreme close-up.

And then Tweet about it.

So here's his funny and slightly off-putting ad for his weird coffee.

(I'd like to have a cup right now!)

"Is it fairly traded?"

"Yeah, fairly traded."

"Oh, jeez."

David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee from David Lynch on Vimeo.

Some movies I watched recently

2011-04-22T16:14:00.003-04:00

These aren't exactly movie reviews. It's more like some thoughts I have on particular films I've watched in the last few weeks.

Some spoilers below, so if you haven't seen the movie in the title, show some discipline and read no further. I know you can do it.

"Battle: Los Angeles" (2011) - it's like "Independence Day", only played absolutely straight. What a "war of the worlds" might actually look like if the producers weren't committed to making enjoyable family fare or to remaining factually true to an H.G. Welles novel from over a hundred years ago.

The invasion would start like this, with news coverage. Then it would be a conventional military operation, not too unlike what we're doing now in certain countries, but even moreso.

"The Rite" (2011) - I love Anthony Hopkins. I'll watch him in an infomercial if need be. So I sat through this movie, despite it's obvious plot defects and at times silly dialog. I mean, how dense does that young idiot need to be to prove he's skeptical? Anyway, for an exorcist movie, it was rather tepid.

"Wonder Boys" (2000) - I stumbled on this gem recently and found it worthy of a viewing. Michael Douglas and Toby McGuire had a good turn in this film, and supporting actors Robert Downey Jr., Francis McDormand and a wonderfully non-Scientology indoctrinated (yet) Katie Holmes rounded out a superb cast.

Kind of a "Dead Poets Society" meets "History Boys" with a bit of "My Own Private Idaho" and "Rushmore" thrown in. (Don't ya hate it when people combine movie concepts when trying to describe a flick and it only confuses you MORE?)

"The Cove" (2009) - I didn't want to watch this film because I wanted to continue to feel empathy for the Japanese people after the tsunami, but I felt I had to. The film is a documentary about the secret dolphin slaughter that occurs in a tiny, hidden cove in Japan.

Boy, those pesky dolphin-murderers are a bunch of rascally scamps if you ask me! (you can replace a lot of those words with "assh*les", "f*ckers", and "murderous sonsabitches who deserve bad things to happen to them".)

Look, I know all of Japan isn't The Cove, but if everyone in that business suddenly developed terminal bleeding pustules, I wouldn't feel the least bit bad for them. I feel bad for the rest of Japan, but not those cruel shitbags.

"Restrepo" 2010 - A documentary of the war in Afghanistan, directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. Hetherington was recently killed while filming in Libya.

This film should be required viewing by all our Congressmen, who will be voting on whether to stay in Afghanistan or not.

Because, despite all the optimistic rhetoric coming from the White House, this is absolutely another Vietnam. It's been almost 10 years since we've invaded. The same amount of time the Soviet Union spent trying to "win".

Great news about FITP

2011-04-18T22:28:00.006-04:00

(Me, standing precariously while booming a scene from "Lover's Leap" (2011))
Two pieces of awesome news!

1) the 2011 CT Film Industry Training Program WILL BE HELD. There was a lot of concern that funding for the program wouldn't be available, but at the eleventh hour the powers that be managed to put it all together, and the program will run again in June.

I've already applied for this year's course, and with a little luck, I'll be accepted into the Camera program.

2) last year's FITP movie, "TO DYE FOR", is finally going to premiere!

On Thursday, April 28 at 7:00pm, they'll be showing the movie (along with other FITP films) at Aunt Chilada's, 3931 Whitney Ave. in Hamden, CT. Come out that Thursday, see the movie, and hang out with the rest of the FITP gang :)

Jaki's Buzz billboard is up!

2011-04-13T21:27:00.003-04:00

A new billboard for the web TV show I've been working for just went up in New Haven!

If you drive by the corner of Whitney and Trumbull St, it's just on the east side of Whitney. Take a look if you're there, and be sure to visit JakisBuzz.com to see online episodes of the new talk/entertainment show!

Videos from SWAN DAY CT

2011-03-28T17:10:00.001-04:00

Here's two videos I made on Saturday at SWAN DAY CT.

The first is the band Waking Elliot playing "Affliction":

The second is artist Kerry Kozaczuk painting in fast motion while Waking Elliot plays another song.

Be sure to visit the SWAN DAY CT site for more info on this great event, and make plans to attend next year!

A possible second career

2011-03-27T07:06:00.003-04:00

This may look like any old car parked at a gas pump, but what you can't see from this photo is that it's MY old car, and it's LOCKED with the KEYS still in it!

On my way to a video gig last night I stopped to fill up, and I stupidly locked the car because I had all my camera stuff in the back seat. When I went into the mini-mart, I mentioned that I locked the keys in, and an older fellow suggested I call the local police and see if they'd open it.

I thought they discouraged that sort of thing these days, but I gave it a shot. Surprisingly, they did dispatch a squad car to help out, possibly because I told the dispatcher that I was blocking a pump at the gas station and I wanted to get the car moved to allow them to do business (they did have 8 pumps at the station, so I don't think it really caused them much harm).

Officer Darby showed up, and had the little flat tool that car thieves everywhere have used for years to pop the locks on older cars. The newer cars are more theft-resistant, but my 1994 Chevy wagon was a bit more agreeable to thievery. Working together for about ten minutes, we managed to pop the passenger side lock and, after thanking him profusely, I was on my way to the gig, and got there in time to set up and shoot the video I needed.

I don't know if I'll add this skill to my resume, but it's always good to know that I have a new career option if I want to get in the business of stealing crappy old Chevys!

Fargo: Yeah!

2011-03-24T22:15:00.003-04:00

How friggin' AWESOME is the movie "Fargo" (1996)? I just watched it again for the probably twentieth time, and every single time I enjoy it!

I saw a webcomic a few weeks back where the artist said she'd just watched Fargo for the very first time. And I was jealous of her, to be able to see the film with brand new eyes! She even made a comic based on the movie (with a tie-in to Charlie Sheen, which is wicked funny!)

The Coen Brothers are already well entrenched in American movie history, even though they're far from done with their careers. And how friggin' great were Frances McDormand and William H. Macy in this flick? Steve Buscemi was terrific, too.

So yeah, watch this clip, and see how many times they say "yeah" in this movie!

Yeah, you betcha!

"Hon, prowler needs a jump."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Fifteen years later, this movie still holds up!

Wow

2011-03-11T21:44:00.003-05:00

Despite the terrible losses in Japan, we should acknowledge the engineers and builders who saved countless lives during the earthquake. If it weren't for the tsunami, the death toll would probably be in the low triple-digits at most, due largely to the government-mandated building codes.

To help Red Cross relief, you can donate $10 by texting REDCROSS to 90999, and the funds will go toward helping victims of the disaster. See AmericanRedCross.org for details.

"Exit Through the Gift Shop" (2010)

2011-02-23T22:22:00.004-05:00

I just watched this documentary about street art and the artists that create it. And I'm just trying to figure out...

Who exactly was the joke played upon?

SEMI-SPOILERS BELOW, DON'T READ IF YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE ENTIRE FILM:

This is a very nicely-made documentary/narrative about graffiti/street art, but the final third of the film sort of blows everything up out of proportion...to the point that it reminds me of all those movies that pass off mediocre creativity as "art", always to extraordinary effect.

See these films for examples:
"High Art" (1998)
"The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
"The Linguini Incident" (1991)

If you haven't seen any of these, they each basically have someone create some "art", and then everyone in the movie goes totally nuts over it, until the audience is bashed over the head enough to suspend disbelief and agree that it's really art. At that point, the plot can move forward.

This is kind of the feeling that I got from this film, especially toward the end when Mister Brainwash (the artist) opens his first show to wild success in Los Angeles, selling over a million dollars worth of art that obviously is a blatant Warhol rip off.

Several well-known street artists are connected with this film, such as Banksy (whose face and voice are disguised as if he's commenting on how he stole money from the Mafia or something) and Shepard Fairey, who created that iconic Barack Obama poster that was everywhere in 2008.

The idea that it was a joke is obvious, especially when the director is listed as Banksy himself. The guy is a street artist, not an international spy. I'm sure plenty of police departments already have his mugshot available, as pretty much every street artist has been hauled in at one time or another. The hidden face gimmick is surely a joke.

Anyway, the supposed success of the show indicates that the joke was played on L.A.'s cultural community. If the show was as big a success as they said, then that's the point of the movie.

Anyway, it was a good movie, and for fun check out the message boards on IMDB for "Exit Through The Gift Shop". It's great entertainment to see the debate raging endlessly.

Brrrr indeed

2011-02-11T10:43:00.000-05:00

I was wondering how he dealt with the cold... until I saw the bit where he chugged a bottle of vodka.

Now I understand.

Sound engineering on Black Swan

2011-02-09T13:17:00.003-05:00

SoundWorks Collection - The Sound of "Black Swan" from Michael Coleman on Vimeo

This is a video I found that looks at creating the sound scheme on "Black Swan". It focuses mostly on post-production and re-recording, along with the sound design. Fairly interesting.

Lover's Leap reached it's Kickstarter goal!

2011-01-12T08:56:00.003-05:00

With just hours remaining, the Kickstarter page for "Lover's Leap" made it's $4,000 goal, so the money will come through and they can finish post-production! Thanks to everyone who pledged!

Moments later, he plunged to his death...

2010-12-24T09:32:00.002-05:00

...not really, but we don't condone this sort of horseplay. It's all fun and games until somebody gets killed.

Me, hiking on West Rock Ridge yesterday. Joyce bravely took the photo from another perilous ledge. We both survived.

Help fund "Lover's Leap"

2010-12-12T10:51:00.005-05:00

The short film I worked on in September is seeking funds to complete it. This is an "epic" movie with tremendous production values, and it's going to look great on the big screen. I was the boom operator and utility guy, working with Josue Saldana.

That's me holding the boom as we prepare to shoot a scene for the film. My accounts of the filming are located here:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Here's the fund raising page on Kickstarter. The way it works is you pledge a donation with a credit card, but you ONLY are charged for that amount if the project reaches it's funding goal by the set date. That way, you're not out any money for a film that might not have raised enough funding to complete it.

"Lover's Leap" has set as it's goal a very modest $4,000 by January 12th. So anything you care to donate will have a significant effect on the outcome. And on the Kickstarter page you'll see a bunch of really great incentives depending on what level you wish to pledge. You can pledge as little as one dollar (but c'mon now, that would be silly; toss them a sawbuck at least!) or as much as the entire amount.

My brilliant idea for an incentive was for any person who pledges the entire amount be allowed to sleep with the cast member of their choice, but the producers shot it down without so much as a how-do-ya-do! Prudes.

Whatever amount you decide upon, you should know that you'll have an opportunity to see this awesome movie sometime in early 2011!

Keeping busy

2010-11-25T14:53:00.003-05:00

For some reason, despite all the projects I've been working on lately, I've hardly posted anything about them on this blog. I guess that means I'm busy!

Watch here for news regarding "Jaki's Buzz" and "The Politics of Murder" in the coming weeks!

Not to mention other projects that are in post-production:

"To Dye For"
"Ethan"
"Lover's Leap"

...and of course, I've got a few more projects that are in the preliminary stages.

No pay yet; but the more I learn and work, the more likely the rewards will come!

And I'll be putting up photos, video clips, and more links as we move along.

AIr Line Rail Trail 2010

2010-11-13T16:55:00.001-05:00

Here's some incredibly low-res video we made today during the unseasonably perfect weather, stitched together with a Roaring 20s soundtrack. We went back to the place we taped my first documentary five years ago.

Revisiting the Airline Rail Trail

2010-11-10T09:32:00.003-05:00

This Saturday, Joyce & I are planning to retrace our 2005 Airline Rail Trail bike hike, documented in the short film below. I'll take some photos of the highlights of the trail, and post them here.

My awesome 7" LCD monitor

2010-10-30T18:42:00.002-04:00

I bought a cheap (price, not quality) LCD camera-top monitor recently. Shown here at a rally with President Obama.

The standard definition monitor is perfect for my Canon GL-2, and the "Buy-it-now" price on eBay was $139 (shipping included!)

Here's the link on where you can get this useful item.
eBay

And they also have an HD version, but that's a lot pricier. Better if you can output SD from your HD camera and use the cheaper monitor.

Watch "Friends with Benefits" online

2010-10-21T20:29:00.004-04:00

Local Writer/Director Gorman Bechard has his latest film, "Friends with Benefits", online for free viewing.

I recently watched it and really enjoyed it. It's a smart, sexy, and very funny film that engages and entertains you. A great ensemble cast makes it a pleasure to watch.

Click below to go to the Fancast page where the film is available. Then, post a comment and share your thoughts here:

http://www.fancast.com/movies/Friends-with-Benefits/146205/full-movie

Lover's Leap from the water

2010-10-08T09:22:00.003-04:00

The spot where we shot the film was so beautiful Joyce and I decided to spend a day kayaking there.

The complete story and a bunch of photos are on my sailing blog, sailfulltilt.blogspot.com

Jaki's Buzz promo clip

2010-10-05T17:47:00.004-04:00

Here's a teaser for the TV pilot of "Jaki's Buzz" we shot in August. Jaki Valensi-Lauper and Elegant Buzz Productions are currently marketing the show, and we'd all love to see it get picked up. Visit JakisBuzz.com for more info.

And Joyce & I attended the Jaki's Buzz fund raiser at Master of None studio on State St, New Haven on Sunday. We met author Pamela Glasner there, and she signed a copy of her new book, "Finding Emmaus" for us (which we hear is soon to be a major motion picture!)

We also bought a CD for the band Addison Station after they played a great set.

And here's Colleen Ellis, who was boom operator and helped with the sound on the pilot, along with CT Joyce. Joyce really enjoyed the entertainment, the great food, and the complimentary wine! It was a fun night.

More photos from "Lover's Leap"

2010-09-28T11:14:00.002-04:00

Saturday was a 13-hour shoot. Got home at 7:30AM, slept a few hours (those cat-naps while driving really helped!) and got back there by 4PM on Sunday. Luckily we were wrapped around 7PM.

Booming on location is always a bit of a challenge, especially finding a place to stand. Josue Saldana is recording sound next to me.

Final day of the shoot finds actors Mary Fegreus and Matt Bretschneider getting ready for a scene, with DP Trenton McRae at left, Director Atanas Bakalov left-center, and Wardrobe Irene Ludemann behind him.

View from the camera of the actual Lover's Leap. There's maybe an 80-foot cliff right there. It was a bit nerve wracking at times when the actors got close! Apparently, some allegedly drunken moron waltzed off the edge a few weeks ago.

Needless to say, it didn't go good for him.

What a view! Lake Lillanonah is lovely; Joyce and I are going there in a few weeks for kayaking.

I want one. Really, I do.

Night 2 of the shoot

2010-09-17T09:04:00.004-04:00

Call time was 3:30PM for crew. The location was a bit different from last night's. Don't worry, there's no spoilers here; just a few behind the scenes photos.

We were lucky to get to shoot in a nice home. The owners were very generous and gracious, and they put up with a long, late night of noise.

The camera crew positioned the dolly for the party scene. The house was filled with antiques, and the crew was required to take off their shoes or wear boot covers to keep the floors pristine. My biggest fear was of accidentally knocking over a Ming vase with the boom pole. I don't even know if they had any Ming vases there, but I was really careful just in case!

Product placement! Since the producers didn't want to have to deal with clearing any trademarked items, the art dept. came up with these clever fake product labels.

I don't know how it'll taste, but I'd like to try a Konig beer sometime! (I'm sure it tastes like water...this is all make-believe!)

Here's a shot from the big party scene while I boomed it from the balcony. Director Antanas Bakalov is at left. Atanas was in my FITP Sound Dept. class this year. Standing next to him is cinematographer Trenton McRae.

Party scenes are always fun to shoot, but we took hours getting all sorts of different angles and set ups. At least we didn't have to deal with generator noise.

I got home at 6AM, and after I saw my wife off to work, I promptly fell asleep. Sunday was pretty much a lost day for me, but I got to watch a lot of football!

We have a day or two more shooting scheduled for later this month. I'll post more updates then.

GO TO DAY 3 OF THE SHOOT

Night shoots are fun

2010-09-13T10:19:00.005-04:00

Worked on a short film last weekend, "Lover's Leap". The two days were scheduled as night shoots, so the first night we got to the location around 6PM, and I expected us to be there at least until midnight.

Silly me, thinking I'd actually get home before dawn!

Grip & Electric gear spread out during preparation for the shoot.

Sound mixer and producer Josue Saldana at the sound cart. I worked as boom operator. Predictably, there were some minor equipment issues both nights, which made for an interesting exercise in dealing with problems. Location shoots are special that way.

Josh had great sound hardware on his cart for us to work with. This is a Sound Devices 788T digital recorder, absolutely top of the line model.

Josh also was involved in procuring a Red One camera for the shoot. The Red cameras are totally amazing, and often provide a better-than-film look.

The clear air in the hills around Candlewood Lake cooled down quickly after sunset, making it a chilly evening for the cast and crew. There were issues with the generators making noise that hindered us sound dogs, but we captured the sound that was needed. Several times I mic'd from inside a car; once with five of us and a camera in a less-than-spacious sedan. Fun, except for the leg cramps.

The sky was just starting to show signs of dawn when I finally got home. More photos soon from the second night of the shoot.

GO TO DAY 2 OF THE SHOOT

The Wilhelm Scream

2010-09-05T10:40:00.003-04:00

What with me being a sound guy, I'm a fan of obscure film trivia related to sounds. The "Wilhelm Scream" is a great example of this.

In the early 50s, a character in a western named Wilhelm was shot in the leg with an arrow. The sound department used a shriek of pain that had been recorded a couple years earlier in another film.

Since then, the scream has attained a sort of mythical underground cult status amongst film buffs and sound engineers. Here are two videos that relate the entire story of the Wilhelm Scream. First, the history of the scream:

And next, a video compilation of some of the 130+ films and TV shows that have used the Wilhelm Scream over the years:

So now that you know all about the Wilhelm Scream, you too will be able to bore your friends and acquaintances with this trivial bit of film lore!

Coming Attraction?

2010-09-02T09:10:00.001-04:00

(cross posted from my political blog ConnecticutBob.com)

With Hurricane Earl possibly moving in to ruin my weekend boating plans, I figured it was about time to take a trip down memory lane about a storm that roared through Connecticut 25 years ago.

Cliff Clavin Dept:

It's a little known fact that "Gloria" was the most popular name given to newborn girls all throughout southern New England in the weeks following the storm.

(See how I cleverly used a well-known character from a popular 1980s sitcom as a literary device to state a fact about a storm from 1985? Awww yeah! I'm da shit, yo!)

Here's my early camcorder video, with loads of archived TV news footage included:

Is this a "coming attraction"? I hope not!

"Ethan"

2010-08-27T05:43:00.005-04:00

Did a brief day's work this week on a short film, called "Ethan" about a young boy and his father, played by a young boy and his father, Greg Nutcher (who was in the FITP short film "To Dye For").

Directed by James "Jim" W. Hawk (IMDB listing), and filmed by Tristan Douglas (whose mom Maria was in charge of wardrobe and props), I also did double duty on the film, helping with lighting.

Jim and Maria discuss set dressing and wardrobe for a scene.

Tristan positions the camera for a low angle shot. We obviously filmed on location, which was the actor's home in this case.

Me, with my super-awesome boom set up.

Cast and crew after successfully wrapping all the scenes with dialog. The next day the rest of the crew shot exteriors MOS, so I was wrapped for the project.

I'd gotten a voice mail while we were shooting about another project, which will be a short film in early September. So I'm keeping busy.

Photos from the weekend shoot

2010-08-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

Here's some photos from the project we shot over the weekend. It's a pilot for "Jaki's Buzz", which we expect will be ready very soon. Don't worry, there's no spoilers here, except maybe for the fact that everyone worked like hell over the two days to successfully get all 19 pages of the script shot!

This is me in a totally posed shot, pretending to work the mixer that really never worked properly. We ended up recording directly to the camera, and used the on-camera settings to control the levels. To good effect, I should add.

Booming a scene, with Alex Winter on camera shooting actress Crystal Aya. As the production crew had no sound equipment available, I loaned the use of my low-budget consumer-quality equipment to the show.

Above, I'm using my Rode Videomic attached to the upper arm of a mic stand, which extended about six feet and made a passable (but not very lightweight) boom pole. I also used my Nady Duet Encore wireless lavs for several scenes, but they were just a bit temperamental, so we tried to use the boom mic as much as possible.

Colleen Ellis was the other part of the sound crew, helping with boom and utility. As I totally expected, she did a terrific job. That's Jaki on the right, listening to direction from off-screen.

"Ooh, donuts!" Actor Brett Epstein joins Crystal for a scene in a room, which is roughly the size of a largish refrigerator box. How we got six people in there, I'll never know!

On location during the second day of the shoot, Colleen stretches out the boom to get a wider, more open sound.

Cool photo of me booming a scene in silhouette.

The sound dogs at the end of the exhaustive but fun two-day shoot!

A shoestring political ad

2010-08-04T08:51:00.003-04:00

UPDATE: KEVIN WON BIG! WELL DONE, MR. LEMBO!

By "shoestring", I mean it cost absolutely nothing (other than a single mini-DV tape and the gas to drive there and back).

I shot this in under two hours at the location, then edited it for maybe another four, counting the extra time it took to recover the hour or so of labor when I accidentally deleted about half the nearly finished project because I was so tired!

I used my Canon GL-2 with my .5x wide angle lens, my Rode Videomic on a mic stand just out of frame for the interior shots and mounted on-camera for the exteriors. I didn't use additional lighting, but tried to work with the available lights. During the editing I used the Scorefitter music from Pinnacle Studio 11. I know I need a Mac, but that's way out of my budget for quite a while.

There's absolutely a few things I would like to have done to tighten the final video up and make it a bit smoother, but considering the very limited shelf-life of something like this, I needed to get it done and posted quickly to have any usefulness. The primary is only a week away, so I didn't have any time for extensive "tweaking".

Anyway, I was glad to do it for free. Kevin Lembo is one of those rare public servants who go above and beyond duty to help people in this state, and it was a real pleasure working with him on this project.

Documentary project

2010-07-29T14:53:00.006-04:00

I've been working about two weeks on my video project, which is to document the final few weeks going into the primary (August 10th) of candidate for Governor Ned Lamont's campaign.

Basically the campaign has given me tremendous access to tape appearances and talk to the candidate, due in part to my years of supporting Mr. Lamont and helping the Democratic party as a political blogger. You should visit ConnecticutBob.com to read about the actual political stuff.

Above: Taping Lamont and Lt. Gov. candidate Mary Glassman (off-picture at left) during a tour of a high-tech Connecticut manufacturer.

For equipment I'm using my trusty Canon GL-2, shooting on mini-DV tapes. Format is 16x9 widescreen. I'm using a cheap .5x wide angle lens (Kenko? something like that) to allow for tight close ups, which really helps the audio when there's a lot of background noise. Like in most of my run-and-gun videos.

Audio provided by a Rode Videomic, which is a super-cardiod. Sony 7506 Professional headphones provide crystal clear audio so I know what's being recorded to the tape.

I'm using the new Video Innovations shoulder mount (see earlier post), and coupled with a cheap $20 monopod, I have a lightweight and comfortable carry mount. With the monopod folded up to about 18" long, I rest it just above my hip to provide extra support and stability. It works great!

FITPing around

2010-07-26T20:14:00.005-04:00

I've been ultra-busy lately, what with my project of following around and videotaping a candidate for governor here in Connecticut, but I've also been keeping up with my Facebook friends.

Jeff Cannata has posted an awesome video (below) that shows quite a bit of the outdoor production of our student film, "To Dye For". You can see me several times during the video (if you don't blink), but I've saved you the trouble of blinking and looking for me by grabbing a couple screen caps:

This is me, expertly handling the boom (giving the actress what we in the biz call a "haircut") during a scene in the car.

Here's a shot of me on the right, at the mixing board during the day-for-night outdoor scene.

And here's the terrific video that should be used as a recruitment tool:

Another useful little gadget

2010-07-13T20:13:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a big fan of low-cost solutions to problems. Anyone can solve a problem if you throw enough money at it.

The trick is, to solve the problem while throwing little or no money at it!

How about this? Here's a nifty little shoulder mount that I found at B&H:

Great huh? Girl not included (sadly) but it's still a nice shoulder mount, for $59.95 with free shipping from B&H.

Another cool thing is that the camera can slide about 6" along the top of the mount, so you can optimize how you want to look through the viewfinder. And the hand grip can be placed in about five different positions. Plus, the entire mount can be placed on a tripod (or monopod) without removing the camera.

It's simple, affordable, and very useful.

Is it as good as some of the $500 shoulder supports? Of course not. But for an inexpensive solution to preventing those shaky arms (and shaky video) after holding the camera for a few minutes, it works great.

All I need now is the green light for my documentary project, and I'll be likely using this before the end of the week!

Documentary: Dissent or Disloyalty

2010-07-10T10:18:00.005-04:00

Now that I'm back from my week-long vacation on the sailboat, I'm ready to get back to work!

This is a short documentary I created last September, after attending several very contentious political events during the lead-up to health care reform. It is one of the over 300 videos I have on my Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/CTBob and be warned: quite a few are crappy production-wise, but posted for sheer fun or news value)

Now that I've completed the FITP program, I'm currently in talks to arrange a zero-budget political documentary, which will quite possibly begin production next week.

I'll keep you updated about that, and also other creative projects I'm working on. In the meantime, please watch "Dissent or Disloyalty?" Comments and/or criticisms are welcome; but please be gentle, as I'm still learning this stuff!

FITP: Day 20

2010-07-02T21:49:00.011-04:00

(Go back to Day 19)

(If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, please start at Day One of the Film Industry Training Program to follow my progress. At the end of each post is a link to the next day's entry!)

(Disclaimer: please note that my opinions are strictly my own, and don't reflect the opinions of the Connecticut Film & Digital Media Workforce. In fact, many of my opinions don't reflect what is commonly thought of as "consensus reality" in any way, shape, or form!)

The final day of the shoot! Wow, that was a fast four weeks! It was a perfect day, sunny with low humidity, which was great because we were shooting all exterior scenes.

Tracy mixes a scene early morning. Our call time is 9AM and we got completely set up and the first take shot before 10AM, which is incredibly fast to get everything set.

The next scene I mixed a total of three mics with two actors outside the car and two inside. We had two actors with radio mics and a boom covering the actors in the car.

I boomed a few takes of the actors talking and then fleeing in their car, then Colleen had to sit in the back seat to mic the actors while a camera mounted on the door was filming.

Pat boomed a scene at the car, and by then it was starting to warm up a bit.

Director Richard Dobbs sat in the back seat to shoot a scene, while Samantha mic'd the actors like Colleen did in a previous setup. The back seat of a Chrysler convertible is small enough to start with, and then having two people with video and recording equipment trying to work in there is quite a task.

It's a wrap! After loading out and packing up Chat's car, we posed for one last group photo by the sound cart. Chat bade us a very fond farewell soon afterward as he needed to drive about three hours to get home tonight.

Clockwise from upper left: Atanas, Jon, Tracy, Dan, the sound cart, Chat, Fred, me, Samantha, Colleen, Pat.

At the wrap party at Aunt Chilada's on Whitney, I shot this photo of Marty Lang, who wrote the screenplay, Chuck Miller, and A.D. Danielle Rigby, whom I let know that I learned an amazing lot about the A.D.'s job simply by watching her.

Finally I got a photo with Angelo DiGiacamo, the Director of Photography who took some time the other day to coach me about how to work on a set. I thanked him for his honesty and congratulated him on his retirement, which begins today. He'll still be involved in the business, but on the teaching side.

We all felt sad that this incredible experience was drawing to a close, but we'll stay in touch and hopefully get to work together again. I can say now that I had a wonderful and challenging time, and it was intense at times but also very rewarding. I feel fortunate to have had this opportunity to learn, and after I get back from vacation next week, I'll start looking for a job.

And now, here's some video goodness for you:

I'll post more updates after I get back from vacation next week, but for now I'm beat and going to sleep. Email me at futuredv *at* yahoo.com if you wish to contact me.

Especially to offer me a production sound job!

FITP: Day 19

2010-07-01T22:12:00.008-04:00

(Go back to Day 18)

Another 10-hour day on location. We all got to do some cool stuff today.

Samantha mixes a scene while Pat "thirds" for the Sound Crew. Thirding is basically a utility person/cable puller, who supports the mixer and the boom op.

Director Richard Dobbs (center) discusses blocking a scene with actors Marty Lang and Greg Nutcher. Marty also wrote the screenplay.

After lunch there was a scene that required Atanas to stretch out the boom pole about 12 feet to mic the actors. Usually it requires a bit of muscle to hold the boom steady at that distance. After a minute or so you start getting trembling in your arms.

Well, Atanas got to test his muscles because this was a scene where the director wanted to keep trying new things while keeping the cameras rolling. Meaning Atanas had to hold the boom over the actors the entire time without letting it dip into the camera frame, nor drifting too high that it loses the sound.

Which is all well and good if the scene goes for a couple minutes. But Richard kept tossing out ideas to the actors while the roll was going, and I noticed the timecode on the digital recorder creeping up past three, then four minutes, I began getting concerned for Atanas.

Then Richard ran through a bunch more ideas, and the timer hit six, seven, then EIGHT minutes (for a SINGLE take, mind you!) and I really began to worry. As soon as the director finally yelled "cut" somewhere just shy of nine minutes, I ran onto the set to help Atanas. The poor guy was soaked in sweat and clearly flayed, but he toughed the scene out and did an amazing job with the boom. It wasn't my turn to boom but I decided right there and then to relieve him. He was relieved all right, and the first thing he did once he was disconnected was to grab his water bottle and take a giant swig out of it.

I boomed a couple of scenes and did a good job, then went back to the sound cart to see where else I could help. We were well into the afternoon by then, and were on our way to finishing up the rest of the interior scenes.

This is a shot of the living room set where a couple cameras were set up. We had an "A" camera and a "B" camera for many scenes, and that made it challenging for the boom operator because they had to watch TWO frame lines.

Our dear instructor must have had a taxing day trying to whip his sound crew into shape, because during some interminable delay waiting for the cameras to get ready for a scene, Chat rested his head on his arm and took a short vacation to snooze-land.

By the way, it clearly is weird how camera crews can take all frickin' day to set up and tweak their cameras to perfection, happily holding up production for hours if needed; but if the sound department takes more than two minutes to properly resolve a mic issue, they all look at you like you're preventing them from eating Thanksgiving dinner until it gets cold! I mean, c'mon guys, how 'bout a little respect for the people who invented the concept of "talkies"? If it wasn't for us sound-dogs, movies would simply be shadows moving on a wall.

Although, our Director of Photography Angelo DiGiacomo is very much a sound crew's kind of guy. He was very attentive to our needs when it came to video monitors, and the few times he needed to point out our mistakes, he did so in a very low-key and constructive way. He's a great guy.

Back to Chat's snoozing. The best part is when the flash from my camera woke him up! I didn't even know the flash was ON, so there were TWO very surprised people involved producing this photo. Thank god I didn't try to snap a photo while on the set; the director or A.D. probably would have killed me!

And I'd have deserved it, too.

Now I'm gonna get some sleep. Tomorrow is the final day of the shoot. No way do I want to be late!

Click here to go to Day 20

FITP: Day 18

2010-06-30T21:50:00.008-04:00

(Go back to Day 17)

Today was the Green Team's day, and it dawned sunny and quite comfortable compared to the steam bath we'd just spent the last two days enduring.

Colleen, Jon and I were on the set, mixing, booming and thirding for most of the day. It was fun but challenging at times.

These are the two cameras that filmed most of the scenes today. I got to boom a 6'5" guy in a room with a 6'11" ceiling, or so it seemed. "Tiny" just doesn't leave a lot of headroom in any shot with a low roof. But I mic'd him anyway and didn't dip the mic into the camera frame while dancing just above the frame line. Too bad there wasn't much in the way of dialog, but not every scene has a lot of talking in it.

During lunch we all gathered in front of the location for a team picture, hence mostly everyone wearing the FITP crew shirts.

Green Team member Jon mixed while I was out on the set. We had a few bizarre headphone issues, which led to me being sonically blasted through my cans while I was booming. They're called "cans" because back in the old days, they used two tin cans and a length of twine to communicate with people. If you believe that, there's definitely a bridge in Brooklyn that you'll want to snap up at the first opportunity.

Anyway, my "cans" were so goddamned loud that the camera and A.D. crews motioned for me to shut it down as they got ready to roll. Being in Sound means never having to say you're sorry; and it definitely means that you should NEVER be the fucking cause of a sound problem! I actually never physically felt someone's eyes drilling into me until I told the director and A.D. that we needed to hold the roll for Sound.

And the drilling continued as we took a couple minutes to solve our problem; which, speaking of drilling, made me feel about as popular as BP right about then.

I had to unplug my phones from the jack because there's no volume control on it, and when the A.D. calls for "sound", I'm supposed to listen to the mixer say "speed" on my cans and relay that back to them. But being unplugged is better than being deaf, so finally someone called out "speed" from the other room. Eventually we figured it out, but my ears were ringing for the rest of the day.

Green Teamer Colleen boomed the scene that will likely get the biggest laugh in the film, but in this picture you can't see the actor she was miking who was lying face down on the floor right behind her, pretty much wearing only a pair of skimpy underpants.

She was a trooper and flawlessly boomed quite a few takes over several setups before we relieved her. Colleen seriously rocked today, and she proved that it's not just the biggest (and noisiest) assholes who can do a great job in Sound! She's a star.

Chat tasked me with mixing the most technical scene of the day, our final shot outside. We had to deal with three talking actors walking from around a corner, up a slate walkway while being filmed from a dolly, and into a small porch area. And a bit of a breeze. And about a 30-minute window before it got so dark they'd have to light the entire goddamned area, which obviously nobody was thrilled to have to do.

Good. No pressure. Just the way I like it.

I had to decide on how to mic it. Knowing that Chat firmly believes in "Boom it until you can't", I designed a two-boom scheme that had Jon using the long shotgun to follow the actors from the corner up to the porch, and then Sam using the short shotgun to catch their dialog as they turn to enter the house.

Well, after a rehearsal we could see that there was no way the shotgun could pick up the actors before they rounded the corner, so Chat called for a wireless lav on "Tiny". A take or two later and we realized that Paul needed a wireless lav also. Which gave me a total of FOUR mics to mix, which was a fantastic challenge.

I did screw up a bit by not checking if the second boom was properly connected to the mixer when we decided to go for it. It wasn't, and although I found and fixed the problem quickly, Chat looked at me and said grimly, "That's one!"

Jesus, I thought, bad things usually come in threes! I better make sure I do everything right from here on in and keep Chat at "one"!

We ran through a few more takes, and with the light leaving, we needed get some usable tracks. Chat mixed one take just to be sure, then he had me mix the final two takes. I got the last one nearly perfect, although if we didn't have to worry about the light, I would have liked to do one more to really nail it.

But overall I'm very pleased with how it went today. The way Chat teaches is that he constantly pushes you way the fuck past your comfort zone, which can be nervewracking but also gives you the opportunity to shine.

I don't know if I officially "shined" today; but without a doubt I definitely "glowed" a bit!

And, considering how far we'll all come in the last 18 days, I feel pretty durned good about it. Two more days, then we wrap. Honestly, I can easily do this for another month!

Click here to go to Day 19

FITP: Day 17

2010-06-29T22:07:00.004-04:00

(Go back to Day 16)

Day 2 of the shoot!

Daniel handles the boom while Chat discusses the scene.

Tracy mixes a scene while Colleen watches. The kitchen is still ridiculously small, and the monitor didn't work because they ran longer cables to get them out of the shot, so everyone who worked the board was mixing "blind".

During lunch Chat decided that it would be a good idea to have a Sound Dept. meeting so he could go over strategies to ensure the best chance of success during the shoot. For some reason Samantha has started making goofy faces at me each time I take a picture. She's probably just getting back at me for crossing my eyes at her right before her line during a dramatic scene were acting in together.

My team members Jon and Colleen listen to Chat, along with Fred who was the boom op for much of this afternoon. When Chat asked if any of us had any suggestions on how he could do a better job, I almost suggested "Maybe you could scream at us a bit more!", but I was worried he wouldn't get the joke and then actually DO it!

It's kind of a running gag, and when some folks from scripts asked how it was working with Chat, I replied, "Oh, he's the bestest and nicest guy you could ever meet! Of course, I'm suffering from Stockholm Syndrome!"

Which is a joke, because we all love and respect Chat and enjoy working with him, and his stories make what could easily be a dry and boring subject into an entertaining learning experience. Yes, he does occasionally let us know when we're behaving in a particularly doltish manner, but then he goes out of his way to explain WHY what we're doing is wrong and the best way to correct it. Plus, he's very generous with praise when it's merited, which makes us all want to do a great job and actually earn that praise.

The reality on a film set is that you need to think and to act in a way that will guarantee a successful production. Any screwing around or inattentiveness is enough to get you tossed out of a job, and possibly blacklisted from getting any other jobs! Chat is making sure we know the lay of the land and avoid the pratfalls that many people take in this business.

And I think he's fuckin' awesome for being a no-bullshit instructor, and I'd highly recommend him for anyone who truly wants to learn the subtleties of this business, even if it doesn't perfectly match whatever romanticized fantasy about working on a film set consists of.

A dolly track for a scene we'll likely shoot tomorrow. The missing apple box in the foreground was pilfered for a scene we were shooting in the house.

D4N, which is saying "day for night". On our call sheets, the daily schedule given to us the night before (we hope), it shows the interior party scenes as being filmed at night. So a blindingly bright shaft of light beaming into the middle of the set during a supposed nighttime party scene might ruin some of the magic we're creating.

The way to solve it is to screen the windows with black fabric, and in this case also put a weather resistant shield over it. Which is what they're doing on the upper floor windows.

The screened-in room on the three windows on the left is the "video village", a roughly 12x18' space our six non-working (at the moment) sound crew shares with a lot of script supervisors. Who are a fun and jokey bunch, but when I look at the endless amount of paperwork they have to process, it makes me happy that I'm in Sound.

Inside the "controlled chaos" of a location film set. By the end of Day 2, the overheated set was starting to smell like a 1940s era Vic Tanny Gym!

Okay, so I'm always on the lookout for interesting photo-ops when I have my digital camera with me. Here's a license plate I noticed as I turned off on exit 34 of the Connecticut Turnpike.

Nothin' like letting your freak flag fly!

...on your license plate, even. Hey, something tells me there's some fur-lined cuffs and a riding crop or two in this fella's trunk!

I think in order to convey my new chosen interest, I'll apply for a vanity plate myself. How about this one:

"SNDDOG"

Click here to go to Day 18

FITP: Day 16

2010-06-28T20:33:00.010-04:00

(Go back to Day 15)

First day of the shoot! I got there plenty early today, well before the call time. We were shuttled from the university parking lot up Mt. Carmel Rd to the location about 1/2 mile away.

When I got there I helped set up the "video village", which is a screened-in porch where the Sound Dept. people who weren't directly involved in the shoot (we split into three teams and each day one team is the "A Team") could listen in on headphones and watch on the monitor. Also we shared the space with the approximately 144 script supervisor trainees, or so it seemed in the very cramped and excessively hot space! Did I mention it was in the 90s today?

We managed to watch the monitor as the scene was shot, and we also took turns going inside and watching the Blue Team do their thing. We all couldn't go in at once because it was much too small a kitchenette the sound cart had been parked in.

Daniel, Colleen, and Tracy all trying to look like they're not about to expire from heat prostitution (goddamned spell checker! I tried to spell "heat prostration", but you get one lousy letter wrong and it automatically assumes you want to talk about whores! Probably it's better not to draw any conclusions.)

Samantha, Tracy, and Atanas in our ultra-luxurious sound suite, otherwise known as the "smallest kitchen in the known universe".

Patrick was booming the scene here, which is a party and has some pretty funny dialog. Pat did a great job miking the actors.

Chat gives Samantha some pointers about mixing the upcoming scene. Chat is taking a fairly hands-off approach to the movie, making us do nearly all the work. When this film is done, we'll all likely remember which scene we mixed.

Leah, who plays the scheming Christine in the film, listens to Director of Photography Angelo Di Giacomo describe how the scene is to be filmed.

We ended up running about 1 1/2 hours late today, and we didn't get everything done that needed to be. But today was largely about set up and getting everything (including the 2nd camera that didn't show up until late) in place, and by late afternoon I could see the entire crew was getting into a rhythm. I'm sure tomorrow we'll make up for lost time and hopefully get back on schedule.

Despite the cooling rain squall that swept through around 2PM, it was very hot and physically tiring most of the day. But craft services provided some very acceptable fare, and Script Supervisor Virginia McCarthy thoughtfully provided a couple of trays of baked snacks, which were a big hit, so we got through the day mostly intact.

That's Day One of the shoot. Tomorrow we'll do it all over again.

Click here to go to Day 17

FITP: Day 15

2010-06-26T19:30:00.012-04:00

(Go back to Day 14)

UPDATE: Now this post comes with video goodness!

Friday was the last day of pre-production. After this, we start our shoot on Monday.

This morning we got pink pages. Scripts are often revised and updated as the production day approaches. The first script is printed on normal white paper. Then, when they change something, the pages they send are blue. Often you'll get just the pages with changes on them, with a cover sheet that instructs you to replace which page numbers with the new pages.

The next revision is typically pink. There's a whole spectrum of colors they use to make changes to the script, and if there's enough revisions eventually you'll get back to a white script. So now I've got a tri-color script. In this case, the pink pages are the final pages. After today, any changes will be made while shooting.

The big pre-production meeting. This is some of our department, gathered to hear the department heads discuss each scene and any production issues that might come into question. (L to R: Atanas, Colleen, Daniel, Chat, and Tracy)

Danielle Rigby (center) led the meeting, reading each scene and opening up the discussion. We finished around lunch, and now everyone is theoretically on the same page.

After lunch we had several hours to get everyone some experience with mixing sound. This is Samantha watching the action on her monitor while changing levels.

Colleen watches intently as the scene progresses. We each got a chance to mix, boom, and third all afternoon.

Because a sound crew is typically three persons (the sound mixer, the boom operator, and the "third" or cable puller/utility person), and the location is much too small to have everyone involved in every scene, Chat divided us into three 3-person teams, to trade off jobs over the course of the shoot. I have Colleen and Jonathan on my team, and we're the "Green" team. The other teams are "Red" and "Blue".

Being the creative types we all are, we chose creative nicknames. The Blue team became the "Blue Angels". The Red Team became the "Red Horde". Which was immediately bastardized into the red "whores", and then they were tagged at various times with the Red Harlots, the Red Tramps, and the Red Courtesans (me being all literary, and which someone misheard as "cortisone").

When Chat asked what the Green team wanted, Sam chimed in with "Green Goblins"! Oh great, not my first choice at all. I wanted the Green Hornets, or the Green Flash, or even the Green Team. "Goblins"? Eh, not so much. Oh well, maybe we can get "Hornets" to stick on Monday...

Anyway, we finished our final scenes (and I was "ADA Sutherland" when called upon to act, and you can ask Colleen, but I totally nailed that character!!!) and began our load out. We had to meet the Ryder truck at 4:15, so we trundled all our gear downstairs from the Law Center to the parking lot. Tracy, Colleen and I did the actual delivery at the location as Chat released some of our classmates who wanted to depart early to miss the Friday traffic. I was going sailing that night and didn't mind staying a bit longer, since there was a full moon and the weather was awesome.

That SUV belongs to Chat. I love how he's a dyed-in-the-wool liberal with a 2004 Kerry-Edwards sticker on his car, along with a Kucinich for President sticker on the other side. He's aware of my political leanings, but I don't think he's had a chance to read my ConnecticutBob blog yet. I'll have to send him the links to my Kucinich interviews.

We finished the load out at the location before 6, and my immediate impression was "Holy shit! How the fuck are they gonna get an entire film crew in that tiny house?"

Well obviously, we'll see. And we'll probably be incredibly impressed at how well the instructors manage to bring together all the disparate elements of a shoot into a sort of controlled chaos.

Call time for Sound is 8:30 at the North Lot. Something tells me I'll be there plenty early.

Click here to go to Day 16

FITP: Day 14

2010-06-25T06:46:00.005-04:00

(Go back to Day 13)

Today we started with finishing up our cable training with using multimeters to troubleshoot bad connections. That took about an hour, and then we piled into a van for the short ride to the location scout at the house where we'll shoot next week.

Director Richard Dobbs led several production departments including Sound on a walk-through of the various scenes and camera placements. Each department asked questions on production issues that have anything to do with their area of responsibilities.

The location scout cleared up several issues we had, but there are still some things that we won't know until the day of the shoot, so we'll just have to be ready with many different contingency plans. One thing we do know is that if it's as hot during the shoot as it was today, we're gonna fry our asses during the exterior scenes! Plus, the house is so small that only three Sound dept. people can be inside during a camera roll, meaning the rest of us will be stuck outside.

Then we got back to the school, and broke for a short lunch so we could get back to running scenes and practicing with the sound equipment.

This is me mixing a scene where three actors were all mic'd differently; one with a stashed carioid mic, and two with both a stashed hyper-cardiod and a short shotgun on a boom. The scene required constant mixing depending on the dialog and action. It was challenging at first but I managed to find levels that worked and I had a lot of fun learning how to do it.

Click here to go to Day 15

FITP: Day 13

2010-06-23T21:48:00.013-04:00

(Go back to Day 12)

"Welcome to Hogwarts!"

There's something about the brick walls and all those gothic lanterns hanging around the Law school lobby that reminds me of a Harry Potter movie. If the staircases start moving around on their own, I'm outta here!

Which was the setting for another morning of learning the boom mics various patterns and techniques to provide the optimum sound coverage.

John holds the boom while Chat talks on his phone. The mic was sensitive enough for us to hear both sides of the conversation through our headphones. Sneaky!

Chat hides a lavaliere mic in Daniel's tie. The mic was pushed up into the knot to make it invisible to the camera, but the sound was still good.

Chat wears my hat with a lavaliere mic taped into it.

The little red circle at the top shows the edge of the tiny mic in the hat. It turns out that this is pretty much perfect for the mic.

After we practiced outside for a few hours, we were assembled and listened to director Richard Dobbs talk about the film business and the shoot we have coming up next week. It was nearly the end of the regular day, but we hung out for a bit because it was Marty Lang's birthday! And we got cake!

Then we gathered back up in our classroom for a special after-hours session about soldering connectors on cables! I brought my tools, including a butane-fueled iron and my trusty plug-in pencil iron, and worked with some of my classmates who, unlike me, maybe haven't been soldering stuff since Reagan first entered the Oval Office.

Here's Colleen, failing miserably at not grinning while I took this photo:

And here's Samantha, showing why she is indeed too cool for school, by soldering wires while wearing her shades indoors!

We wrapped up around 8:30PM, making today a loooong day. And much like after last weekend's aerial lift training, I'm similarly pleased to announce that yet again nobody was killed during our dangerous training activities.

Which made it a good day in spite of it being our 13th together!

Click here to go to Day 14

FITP: Day 12

2010-06-22T20:06:00.006-04:00

(Go back to Day 11)

We're getting closer to our student film shoot that starts on Monday.

We began with a lecture on filtering the sound signal to "clean" it from unwanted frequencies. Then we rigged a couple of mics and experimented with various filtering schemes.

To most people, they don't really notice these kinds of things when watching a film. But it's very obvious when a sound mixer doesn't do his job right and some glaringly obvious audio problem takes them right out of the story they were watching and makes them ask, "What the fuck was that awful noise?" when an annoying sound crops up that should have been taken care of in the mix.

Then we broke to visit the wardrobe department, so Chat could instruct the wardrobe trainees about lavaliere placement on actors, and we learned about various costume material from Danajean Cicerchi, who did the Day 5 lecture about wardrobe.

I normally don't worry about wardrobe too much, but there's always been a question that I've pondered now and again, especially after seeing a movie scene with female nudity in it.

The question is, which department is responsible for what is commonly called a "merkin"? Props or Wardrobe? Because really, even though an actress physically wears a merkin, they almost always look adorably like some kind of cute and furry pet, which technically would make it a prop.

Well, a few days earlier when I chatted with Danajean at lunch, she answered that question indirectly (because I didn't have the courage to come right out and ask it) by saying that anything an actor wears is considered wardrobe.

Which immediately spawned the next logical question (which I also failed to ask), "Is there such a job as a "merkin fitter", and if so, who do I have to kill to get it?"

Alas, there's one more career I'll have to add to my list of things I'll likely never become, right after "astronaut" and before "spokesmodel". Such is life.

After lunch (where I managed to avoid locking my keys in my car) we dragged the sound cart outside to learn how to deal with intrusive background noise. We set up on the patio right next to the pond with the giant fountain in it, providing a very audible white noise to work with.

Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle, and after hoping it would stop to no avail, we dragged the cart back into the law school lounge area.

So while the World Cup was playing on the lounge TV (goddamn those awful fucking vuvuzelas!) we ran lines on a scene from "Working Girl" (1988) with both actors mic'd with lavs and also boom mic'd.

Well, I'm starting to think that Chat has a sick sense of humor, because the scene called for Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith to have their awkward wake-up conversation after she got drunk, passed out, and woke up in her underwear in Harrison's bed. Of course, Chat called for guys to play BOTH parts. Twice!

Actually, Chat was proving a point that when doing this sort of work, accuracy to the script's requirements isn't nearly as important as getting the sound levels and techniques right. In theory it makes perfect sense.

Guess who got to read some of Melanie Griffith's lines?

Maybe I should be thanking Chat. There's nothing in the world that cures you of the ability to be embarrassed more than reading Melanie's lines about waking up in her underwear while Harrison leeringly delivers his suggestive lines back at you. And all the while, non-FITP law students wandered in and out of the public area pretty much non-stop. It was a lesson is just how weird the film business can be!

We finished up with our lovely production and went back to class. There, we talked about Pressure Zone Mics (PZMs) and the mysterious Seven Things a Boom Operator Must Know. Which turned out to be about Nine Things, but who's counting? It's all good!

At 5 we were called down to the big hall to pick up our snazzy 2010 FITP T-shirts! Yay, free shirts! This course just keeps gettin' better!

Click here to go to Day 13

FITP: Day 11

2010-06-21T20:07:00.004-04:00

(Go back to Aerial Lift Day)

Our third week started with a pop quiz, then a lecture about "phasing". Chat then led us on a practical demonstration of both "electric" and "acoustic" phasing, which are both very important when working with two or more mics on a set.

Around 10AM we were interrupted with a request to join Grip & Electric at the School of Communications for a practical lesson in placing mics on a real "set", which in this case was the school's production control room. We spent about an hour learning how to deal with issues like boom shadows ("I'm bein' followed by a boom shadow, boom shadow boom shadow." Yeah, thanks SO much for planting that awful song in my brain, Tracy!)

We also learned about setting up furniture pads on C-stands to dampen the sound in a space. Garrett, the Head Grip, showed us how to safely assemble the framework needed to support one of those pads.

During lunch I stupidly locked my keys in my car. Luckily, today was a very warm day, and I'd cracked all four windows about an inch or so. After I got done cursing my stupidity (which is pretty much guaranteed to be a daily event for me, so it wasn't a biggie) I started thinking about fixing the problem. I took note of the situation:

Fact: my keys were in the ignition.
Fact: the windows are slightly open.
Fact: when I looked across the interior from the driver's side, I could see the electric lock switch on the passenger door, right near the armrest.

Okay, so maybe if I get a long enough stick, I can put it through the crack in the driver's window, across to the passenger door, and finesse the electric lock switch into popping all the locks.

Now where was I going to get a long enough pole to do this? Hmmm...

Ah, maybe not. Chat's boom poles are worth more than I make (made, when I was employed) in a week, and the idea of using one of his fine carbon-fiber instruments to rudely jab my door jamb was less than respectful.

So I considered it my last option before calling Triple-A.

Then the bright idea to stroll over to Grip & Electric entered my mind. Probably because barely an hour earlier Garrett had told us that we were welcome to come by during lunch hour and fiddle with the equipment if we wanted. Inspiration is always better when it's served nice and fresh!

I walked over and asked Garrett if he had anything that would meet the parameters needed. We searched around a bit, then I noticed a 12-foot 1/2-inch square length of wood trim. It seemed plenty rigid enough to do the job. I took it over to the car, and using my best boom op talents fed it through the window across the car and to the switch. A little swipe to the left and the locks popped open! In all, it took maybe 15 seconds after getting to the car. I returned the wood and thanked Garrett for his help.

In the afternoon we ran a couple of scenes for mic work. The one above used a single boom and a stash mic out of view on a chair. Here's Chat mixing one of the takes:

Everyone got plenty of chances to work the booms and to listen to the results of others doing it. And act. Yes, we all got chances to act! Suffice it to say, I'm not going to need to work on any acceptance speeches anytime soon. At least not for acting.

By the end of the day Chat said that, as a class, we were really starting to "get it". The class is beginning to gel together as a team.

This thing is starting to rock!

Click here to go to Day 12

FITP: Aerial Lift Day

2010-06-19T20:01:00.005-04:00

(Go back to Day 10)

Today was the special Aerial Lift certification course, which is a requirement to get into the union, IATSE Local 52.

While I have no idea if I'll someday join the union, I figured having another certification would be a good thing, especially for the very reasonable $50 fee for the course.

After about an hour-long presentation, we all took a written exam, and then headed out to the off-campus lot where the two lifts were parked. One, pictured above, is called a "boom", and can reach about 40' into the air. The other, which you'll see in the video, is called a "scissors lift", and extends straight up about 20'.

The weather was as nice as could be for today's course. Instructor Adam Drummond commented on how he's run into all sorts of crappy weather in the countless training programs he's run, but today was absolutely perfect. Coupled with a great view of the scenic Quinnipiac Campus, it was awesome.

When I made it onto the boom, I asked Adam if we could extend it up to the maximum height so I could take a photo, to which he readily agreed. The picture didn't do justice to the scene below, but I enjoyed the view anyway so it was cool.

After my foray onto the two lifts, I managed to avoid tipping them over or running into Adam's SUV with them, so I was awarded a Certificate of Completion for OSHA 29 CFR S.1926.453 Aerial Lift Platform (Scissor & Boom). The cert is good for three years, after which I'll have to take the course again to re-certify.

I can't wait!

Click here to go to FITP: Day 11

FITP: Day 10

2010-06-18T19:44:00.007-04:00

(Go back to Day 9)

Today was a field trip for the class to Newtown to meet Buzz Turner of Turner Audio, the leading production sound distributor in Connecticut.

Buzz, a terrific source of technical information who gladly shares his knowledge, lectured and answered questions for nearly two hours about the latest in production sound equipment. After about fifteen minutes I was wishing my credit card had a higher limit! There are some seriously awesome products available to the aspiring sound mixer who possesses a gold card, or who's lucky enough to be employed by a production company that will spring for some of this hot-shit equipment!

I already have a convenient wish list made up, just in case any of my dozen or so blog followers want to do their bestest buddy ol' CT Bob a solid:

The Sound Devices 552 Portable Production Mixer

The Schoeps Shotgun microphone SuperCMIT

An ice cold Schlitz

You can probably guess by that last option what I expect I'll be drinking sometime soon! At least, can you guys possibly spring for a six-pack?

I actually used to drink that stuff back in high school. Hey, don't be so shocked; we all drank at that age in the 1970s. Haven't you seen any teen movies from that era?

Anyway, it was a very interesting and informative field trip, and suddenly all this stuff I've been learning the last two weeks is starting to make sense. Just yesterday I downloaded the spec sheet for my Rode VideoMic that I've been using for three years now, and finally can understand the stuff like the hi-pass filter, the -10 and -20db pad, the frequency range, and shore as shit the polar diagrams! It's like learning French in high school and suddenly getting it!

Tomorrow, a special Saturday class in Aerial Lifts! Good thing I'm not afraid of heights:

Click to go to FITP: Aerial Lift Day

FITP: Day 9

2010-06-17T21:37:00.006-04:00

(Go back to Day 8)

Today we continued setting up the sound cart and then got into working with the mics.

We set up a cardiod mic and a hyper-cardiod mic on two booms, then put a lav on Chat. He demonstrated how the sound patterns differ for each mic, and how best to utilize each mic's comparative strengths.

We also set up the video camera and did a scene from the script we'll shoot during our final week. The scene was blocked to include an actor walking about 15 feet across the set, and a boom operator needed to mic him continually.

Even though the booms are made out of lightweight materials like carbon fiber, and the mics don't weigh a pound each, when you hold the end of a 12' pole and try to keep the entire contraption from violating the video frame, you can get a little tired! Usually by the third run-through our boom-ops were getting a little shaky!

But we're learning more every day, and tomorrow looks like it'll be a technogeek's dream, when we go on a field trip to Turner Audio in Newtown to find out a bunch more about sound-related equipment.

Click here to go to Day 10

FITP: Day 8

2010-06-16T18:37:00.007-04:00

(Go back to Day 7)

Another interesting day learning loads about the way to successfully make production sound in a film sound great.

Above, Chat Gunter talks to the class outdoors at Quinnipiac about the use of wireless mic and their useful range. We had to hurry because the weather was threatening!

Chat wore a pair of wireless lavalieres and discussed the issues that might crop up on a set when using them. He then demonstrated how to determine the maximum radius of the mics by slowly walking away from us and talking, while we listened to his entertaining monologue.

In another life, I'd almost bet Chat was a comic; he could probably perform somewhere up in the Catskills, with guys like Jackie Mason. He often entertains while he teaches, which is truly a rare gift.

When the mics starting fading out, that was too far to be the usable range, and so we'll make sure the actors didn't go anywhere near that far. There's nine students enrolled in the Sound Dept. class, and we had enough headphones to allow everyone to hear what was going on during the two demonstrations.

This is me, with the portable mixer just visible at the bottom of the screen.

After it started sprinkling we hauled the equipment back inside, and spent most of the afternoon putting the sound cart together. Basically, a sound cart is a portable sound production studio, with the mixer, digital recorder, video monitor, and a bunch of other important stuff lives when on a shoot. I'll try to get some photos of it tomorrow.

We're about to start doing real production work in class, taping each other in scenes and learning about how to operate the boom. This is getting really fun!

Click here to go to Day 9

FITP: Day 7

2010-06-16T18:24:00.006-04:00

(Go back to Day 6)

Today we began with our homework.

First off, the answer to the supermarket manager who won't turn off his Muzak is to shoot him. Yes, I was right! Actually, the location coordinator should be the one to be shot, because they screwed up by not securing the location early on during the scout with the firm understanding that they have to turn off their background music while filming.

Another option briefly discussed was the possibility of simply dumping the sound and re-doing the audio in post-production in ADR. But that's a very expensive option to ask the actors to come into the studio at a later date and try to recreate their exact delivery in sync with the video playing before them. It's not a very good idea, especially when you can dispatch the supermarket manager (if you have good aim.)

Then we discussed the script and the sound issues we'll likely encounter. Chat feels that our best bet for good sound is to use the boom mic whenever possible, and only going to wireless lavalieres when necessary. There are some interesting production difficulties in the script, such as a party with people dancing, which will require some kind of music. The party scene is long and has several cuts, so we'll likely have to film the scene without any music in order to not have jumps or gaps in the music or sections out of order in the final cut.

The device above is the sound mixer, which is the heart and soul of production sound. This is where the mixer will blend all the mics together to produce a viable sound to the movie. Anything that goes wrong here would be very bad, so we're all working to learn about using the mixer and how it works with the various mic options we'll be using.

Click here to go to Day 8

FITP: Day 6

2010-06-14T19:24:00.007-04:00

(Go back to Day 5)

No photos today; I was too busy learning all this good shit!

Sound Dept. instructor Chat Gunter began two weeks of intensive classroom training with nine of us sound students.

Listening to Chat teach is sort of like learning at the feet of a wise old martial arts teacher, like when Pai Mei from "Kill Bill" instructed Uma Thurman in the art of kung fu. Except he hasn't made us try to punch through a thick wood plank from three inches away.

Yet.

Chat is just loading us down with incredibly useful information, presented in an entertaining way. He rarely lets a single point go by without some kind of funny comment or aside he earned from his years working on all sorts of productions.

Which is awesome. And he gives us useful rules to live by:

Rule 1 is never use the word "sorry".

Rule 2 is "there are NO stupid questions".

Which, of course, is silly, because there ARE stupid questions; previously I'd listed some here. But I decided to remove them in the interest of decorum.

Besides, we're all having a lot of fun learning this stuff, and I'd hate to ruin everything by getting tossed out of a second story window on my first day!

Okay, I gotta go and do my homework. Review the script for sound notes, and figure out what to do when shooting in a supermarket when the manager refuses to turn off the Muzak.

Hmmm....which way to the gun department? Oh wait, this isn't Alabama...they don't sell guns in supermarkets up here.

Okay, I lied...here's an image of the polar diagram of my Rode Videomic. We studied the mothafuckin' shit outta polar fuckin' diagrams today!

Click here to go to Day 7

FITP: Day 5

2010-06-11T18:36:00.006-04:00

(Go back to Day 4)

Just finished up the first week at the Film Industry Training Program.

Today we finished the final two disciplines, or "crafts" as they call them in the screen trade. Script Supervision and Wardrobe.

I have to say that after sitting through nine detailed lectures that averaged three hours on each job, I'd be happy following ANY of the career paths they discussed. (Well, maybe not wardrobe so much, but only because I can't sew worth a shit!) But overall, the instructors made their specialties sound really interesting and fulfilling.

So far this week we've discussed the following crafts:

Assistant Director (AD)
Production Office Coordinator (POC)
Location Management
Camera
Sound (my specialty)
Grip & Electric
Props & Set Dressing
Script Supervision
Wardrobe

Today we had Virginia McCarthy tell us about script supervision. Virginia, like most of the instructors, managed to weave a bunch of entertaining on-set stories into her informative presentation.

The afternoon session was wardrobe, presented by Danajean Cicerchi. She managed to make the topic of wardrobe interesting to most of the class. And since the Sound department has a "vested" interest in wardrobe when putting a lavaliere mic onto an actor, it was especially useful to me.

After the final lecture, we were gathered together in our various crafts and asked if anyone wanted to change their career path before starting the next two weeks of focused instruction. Several students jumped from one craft to another, but the most popular choices, AD and Camera, were already booked solid.

Liam said that those two crafts were the first choice of 65 of the 90 or so students in the class, so a good number of students aren't taking their preferred course of instruction. But if we learned anything this week while listening to our instructors, you must get a foot in the door in the business before you can go anywhere. Even if your first job isn't your goal career, you should just buckle down, do a great job, and network with as many people as you can.

If you do that, you just might make a career for yourself in this highly competitive business!

Monday morning, me and about nine other students will begin learning about Sound in movie production from Chat Gunter, who's been around for decades and is a real workhorse in the business. I can't wait!

Click here to go to Day 6

FITP: Day 4

2010-06-10T21:01:00.006-04:00

(Go back to Day 3)

Day 4 dawned cold and gloomy. Until we got into class, where the students were anticipating another awesome day of learning about the screen trade.

Just before the start of class. A lot of the students have professional experience, so we're all networking with each other and exchanging information. Since, as we're learning, it's not only what you know, but sometimes getting a job depends on who you know!

Then, the morning lecture was about Grip and Electric, hosted by Micheal Barrow (lighting) and Garrett Boehling (grip).

After lunch, Richard Dobbs, the director of the short film we're going to make during the last week, stopped in and said a few words to the class.

The afternoon lecture was on Props and Set Dressing, hosted by Jonathan Tessler (props) and Jim Kent (set dressing). Jim had probably the best line of the entire course so far, when he said (referring to film school education):

"Film School teaches everyone to be a director. But not everyone can be a director!"

This is exactly why this course is so valuable, because it teaches the sort of practical knowledge that will create a viable film industry workforce here, rather than simply a bunch of people who only want to be the "main man".

Tomorrow we finish up the final two subjects (or "crafts", as each discipline is called) before we break up into our individual crafts for two weeks of intensive focused study starting on Monday.

Click here to go to Day 5

FITP: Day 3

2010-06-09T19:56:00.003-04:00

(Go back to Day 2)

Another day of intensive training in the film industry. The morning lecture was provided by Angelo Di Giacomo, a camera operator who's worked on a slew of great films (click on any highlighted name to see their IMDB listing).

Angelo started the session with a documentary on the dangers of the excessively long hours many productions make their crew put in, often 16, 18, or even 20 hours in a day during a shoot. He then spoke about various issues such as creating a budget and interpreting the daily call sheets.

The afternoon lecture was by Chat Gunter, Sound Mixer for films such as Scorcese's "After Hours". Since I'm studying in the Sound Department, I was especially interested in what he had to say.

Chat began his lecture by displaying a history of recording equipment and talking about how he used them in films years ago. This was awesome, because I knew right away Chat was going to get into lots of practical knowledge regarding Sound.

He then continued discussing many useful facts about sound in movies, often peppering his entertaining lecture with funny anecdotes and occasionally snarky asides. Chat's a fellow with tons of experience and he doesn't hesitate to share it with his students. I think it's going to be incredibly interesting to work with Chat over the next three weeks.

I met a few more members of the Sound Dept. today, and sat next to an actress named Katherine Dickson, who just finished filming a role in the upcoming Angelina Jolie movie "Salt". Katherine is studying in the Wardrobe Dept. so she'll have some additional employable skills for those times when she's between acting gigs.

Which makes sense, since basically nothing seems to be permanent or guaranteed in this business.

Although there was some good news today! It was just announced that the huge Connecticut Studios complex up in South Windsor has been given the go-ahead, which will translate into many more job opportunities in the very near future! Artist's conception below:

Click here to go to Day 4!

FITP: Day 2

2010-06-08T20:49:00.007-04:00

(go back to Day 1)

"FITP" meaning of course, the Film Industry Training Program. It was another intensive day of learning about the screen trade.

Today started out with my meeting another Sound Dept. trainee, Tracey. Then we were treated to a lecture about Production Management, by Betty Chin, a very experienced Production Coordinator. Betty was incredibly detailed on the minutia of Production Management.

After only these few hours of instruction, I'm starting to realize that film making isn't merely a creative art form, but also a business that requires just as much planning and paperwork as any large corporation. And I've only been here about 10 hours so far!

Film making isn't just "Lights, camera, action!" Without Production planning and coordination, there wouldn't BE any lights on the set, no camera operators either, and the action would be totally non-existent.

Anyway, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

The afternoon session was led by Location Manager Maria Bierniak, (pictured) who gave us ridiculous amounts of information about location scouting and management. Plus, she told hysterical stories about stuff that happens on location. Such as her recent experiences working on Oliver Stone's latest film in a prison.

During a break I asked Maria about Stone's obsession with shooting in prisons, and we talked about Jane Hamsher's experiences while shooting Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" in several prisons. Maria's crew shot footage on Riker's Island, which is only accessible via prison bus across the causeway from Queens.

I dunno about you, but I'd probably bring a swimsuit with me just in case something caused that bus to stop running!

Maria also showed footage of "Confessions of a Shopaholic", where they had to do a lot of modifications to the new Hearst Tower at 55th and 8th. I had a run in with that production and wrote about my experiences while staying at the very posh St. Regis hotel for work (yeah, I'm gonna miss this job) in a blog post here.

At the end of Day 2, I still can't believe how goddamned lucky I am to have a chance to take this course! Late today I got a call from my job, where I'm technically still on-call until next Tuesday, for a task in New Jersey. I explained that I'm taking a very important job-training course, and is there any chance they can assign the task to someone else?

Fortunately, they arranged for the engineer in Maryland to drive up and take the call. Whew! One more week to go, then I can really relax and enjoy this amazing school.

Tomorrow is "Cinematography" in the morning and "Sound" in the afternoon. Now we're getting into the real nuts and bolts of making movies. This is gonna be fuckin' awesome!

Click to go to Day 3

Film Industry Training Program: Day 1

2010-06-07T18:27:00.007-04:00

Today I began an intensive, month-long program at Quinnipiac University that aims to create a valuable work force for the burgeoning Connecticut film industry.

I arrived at the picturesque QU campus around 8:30 this morning completely jacked up on too much coffee, and registered for the program in the Law School building.

The class began soon after, with lectures by Charles Miller, who works for the state's Office For Workforce Competitiveness; and Liam O'Brien, chair of the Department of Film, Video and Interactive Media for the School of Communications.

I met several fellow students, Zach and Angelo, who are in the A.D. (Assistant Director) program, and Daniel, who like me is enrolled in the Sound Dept. program.

Then after lunch we listened to an incredibly detailed lecture and Q&A session with Danielle Rigby, who teaches the Assistant Director program and has worked on an amazing number of major motion pictures. Danielle was born in Australia and has a twinge of the ol' Aussie drawl in her speech. But she presented a ton of practical knowledge about the business of film making, and how to go about getting jobs after completing the course.

One point she brought up is that everyone who completes this course will have a very usable knowledge about the business of production, and she stated that she'd rather hire a graduate of this course than someone who comes in touting a 3-year film school degree.

It seems like I chose the right school to attend. I can't wait to see how Day 2 goes!

Click to go to Day 2

Coming Attractions: Film School

2010-06-06T21:58:00.004-04:00

In about 12 hours I'll be sitting down to start an intensive summer film program at Quinnipiac University. It's a training program aimed at creating a film industry work force here in Connecticut.

Will this be the catalyst to a new career for me? Maybe...but stay tuned for updates!

Click to go to Day 1 (each day you can click on the link to go to the next day!)

We can fix it in post

2010-04-26T13:59:00.005-04:00

"Post" meaning post-production, which is the editing phase of a production.

This is probably the most hated phrase in digital video production, because when you say "we can fix it in post", it always means that somehow through lack of preparation or simple incompetence you've screwed something up.

Here's a good example that I made recently. At an early evening shoot, I needed to roll tape on a politician in front of a well-illuminated sky. I wasn't looking very closely at the exposure settings, and the automatic gain darkened her face to not overexpose the sky. The original footage looked like this:

Of course, it's completely unusable in this state. Lucky for me, I was able to adjust the gain on the brightness within my video editing program to what you see below.

However, you have to keep in mind that the more digital manipulation you attempt in post-production, the more likely you are to introduce digital "artifacts" to your finished products, which may manifest itself visually as graininess, fuzziness, jagged image edges, even pixelation.

In this image you can see a little graininess, but since it's a quick political video meant to have a reasonably short shelf-life online, it's more or less acceptable. I'm also mad at myself for not doing a better job of leveling the tripod. Look at the horizon to see what I mean.

The finished video is here (the little glitches at the beginning were caused by a faulty tape, not the editing process). Of course, if this was for a paying gig, I'd either reshoot it or refuse to accept payment for it. But seeing as it was simply a project for my political blog and I did it for free, I can live with it.

By the way, the phrase "I can live with it" is probably the second most hated phrase in digital video production!

Boat cover

2010-04-07T07:56:00.003-04:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Kevin Smith: Too Fat to Fly?

2010-02-16T14:32:00.005-05:00

Kevin Smith is one of my personal heroes. I've often talked about his movies, which quite honestly aren't for everyone, but for those of you who like me possess a certain sense of humor, they're great!

But he's also an amazing public speaker, and I saw him at one of his famous Q&A "evening with's" at the University of Hartford (poster above) about 5 years ago. Kevin often waxes hysterically about his personal experiences, and as a result we all know probably way too many details about his life.

So just this week, when I heard Kevin was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight allegedly for being too fat, I thought "This is gonna make a great story!"

Sure enough, as soon as Kevin returned home from his Oakland to L.A. flight, he sat down with his wife Jen and recorded a 90-minute podcast that liberally smashes the errant airline. The "SModcast" (so named because it usually features Smith and his long-time producer Scott Mosier) is available for free from the website linked below.

Trust me, it's a really funny hour and a half, with Smith alternating between humorous rage and mock outrage. The place to get it is SModcast.com and you want to download or listen online to SModcast #106, "In which, surely, our hero is Too Fat To Fly. And don't call me Shirley."

And the music that plays in the background is, of course, the musical score to the film "Airplane". Obviously.

Oh, and it strikes me as a public relations bonanza for Smith, who's latest movie "Cop Out" is opening in a week or two. You can't BUY that kind of publicity!

10 Second Movie Reviews, Vol. 3

2010-02-07T09:20:00.004-05:00

More reviews. And more spoilers. So don’t read beyond THIS point if you don’t want to find out that Adam Sandler doesn’t die in “Funny People”.

The Boat That Rocked (2009) - This could have been great. A “dramatic re-creation” of the Radio Caroline story. They should have made it a straight retelling of the saga instead of this lame fictionalization of it. It kind of sucked.

Overnight (2003) - Documentary about the biggest asshole in the film business. Troy Duffy struck Hollywood gold and got his movie made ("The Boondock Saints"), but he alienated so many important people by being a dick that he blew his shot and ended up in movie jail for a decade. Finally this year they let him direct the sequel. Let's see how he fucks this chance up.

Julia (2008) - Tilda Swinton is showcased in a fearless performance as a desperate kidnapper. With a huge drinking problem. Which makes her even more fun. Especially if you’re turned on by slutty drunken ginger scarecrows.

Doubt (2008) - Great fucking drama, but really, how can you go wrong with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, AND Philip Seymour Hoffman in the same goddamned movie? Streep and Adams teamed up again in 2009 in "Julie & Julia", a tale of two woman who like food.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Ridiculously overrated rags-to-riches (literally) story. OK, so you're poor and your whole life leads up to your winning a game show, we GET it!

My Dinner with Andre (1981) - I tried, I really did, to stay awake during this film because it was so highly rated and I like Mamet. It ended up being the most boring film I've watched since "Revolutionary Road". Fuck Andre and his fucking restaurant!

Revolutionary Road (2008) - Kids, don't get married!…or you might end up like Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in this 50s-based snooze fest. The good news is she croaks in the end. Leo finally gets his revenge on Kate for ending up like a human popsicle in “Titanic”.

RockNRolla (2008) - I kind of hate to admit it, but I fuckin’ LOVE Guy Ritchie movies! Well, except for “Sherlock Holmes”…that kinda sucked.

Funny People (2009) - It would have been a much better movie if it were true. And if Adam Sandler didn’t get cured of his supposedly fatal illness. Yes, I hate that guy.

Antichrist (2009) - Lars von Trier’s joyful tale about a charming couple and their precocious yet clumsy toddler. See what happens when the adorable little tyke decides to explore the world outside his crib. Heartwarming entertainment for the entire family!

I got a new tripod!

2010-01-13T17:03:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! Compared to my old rickety tripod, this one is awesome! A Davis & Sanford Pro Vista V12. It's a decent prosumer model, with a fluid video head for smooth movement, and it reaches nearly 7' high to rise above the crowd when filming a public event. I'm psyched!

10 Second Movie Reviews, Vol. 2

2009-12-20T15:17:00.006-05:00

Here I go again with quick reviews of movies I've watched recently. A few spoilers, so don't read the review if you give a crap about spoilers.

Whatever Works (2009) - A Woody Allen flick. "Whatever Sucks" is more like it. Or, "Curb Your Enjoyment". Because Larry David stars in it, see?

Push (2009) - Dakota Fanning in a strange sci-fi thriller. She's growing up fast.

Paranormal Activity (2007) - Made over 100 mill so far. And it cost only 11 grand to make? Now I want to kill myself in the most horrific way possible.

Assassination of a High School President (2008) - I see what they did there. And it sucked.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - One of those flicks that stays with you for a long time. Hard to sit through, but absolutely memorable. The creep factor is WAY off the scale on this one. A very brave movie to make.

What We Do Is Secret (2007) - Great punk biopic about Darby Crash and the short-lived band "The Germs".

The History Boys (2006) - The "I Wish-They-Were-Dead Poet's Society" would be more appropriate.

Next (2007) - Can someone just kill Nicholas Cage already? What the fuck are you waiting for?

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)- Speaking of Nick Cage, I guess when someone is supposed to act like they have a back injury, they should strive to look exactly like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Because you can't actually portray pain through expressions; you need to skew your shoulders like a CP victim.

Fairuza Balk is still very sexy; sort of like a wet dream, only scary. She's a wet nightmare! And sorry about the spoiler, but what's with the happy ending? Didn't anyone see the FIRST one? Christ, not only did Harvey Keitel die, but by the end everyone was looking forward to it! For some reason, they have Cage's character find some salvation, however dubious it may be.

Shelter Island (2004) - Ally Sheedy, Patsy Kensit, Stephen Baldwin, and Chris Penn (RIP) in a tepid semi-thriller where everyone dies except the guilty party, who lives happily ever after. I love a good non-Hollywood ending, even in a so-so movie. Oh, and another spoiler; the moment Chris Penn died made me laugh like hell! (not in real life, in the movie...in real life it was sad to see the dude who played "Nice Guy Eddie" croak so young)

Another wacky video

2009-11-17T06:41:00.001-05:00

This is one of those crazy things I used to do when I was in my 20s. Now that I'm 50, I can't imagine doing this ever again. But it WAS fun!

10 Second Movie Reviews, Vol. 1

2009-11-14T12:29:00.005-05:00

I've been watching a buttload of movies lately, but for some reason I haven't written any reviews on them. Because I'm lazy, mostly. And because most of them exhibit various levels of extreme suckitude.

I hate having to dissect a so-so movie and carefully examine what it was about and the goals of the filmmakers and all sorts of bullshit like that. Nobody cares for all that, and they just wanna find out if the film is any good or not.

So I decided to spend no more than 10 seconds on each review below. Take it or leave it. Some mostly minor spoilers below, but you're gonna read it anyway. I'll try to do this on a fairly regular basis.

Please note: I'm not very politically correct about movies, so if you're offended by any of this, tough shit!

Recent Films I've Seen:

The Proposal (2009) - For an old broad, Sandra Bullock has a decent body. What is she, about 60?

Wanted (2008) - Sucky sci-fi action thriller. Overuse of shaky cam and CGI. I don't think this is my favorite genre.

The Answer Man (2009) - Shite-ridden rom-dram with Jeff Daniels and some broad I never heard of. What possesses me to watch this crap?

Across The Universe (2007) - It's psychedelic, maaaaan! Cool use of Beatle's songs to tell a fairly hackneyed story. Kind of like "Hair" without so much bush. Evan Rachel Wood has a smokin' little body. Eddie Izzard perfectly cameos as "Mr. Kite".

We Own The Night (2007) - So-so cop/gangster drama. Everyone dies. Well, mostly.

Into Temptation (2009) - Jeremy Sisto is a priest racing to find a prostitute who wants forgiveness before killing herself. Fairly gritty and well-made drama. Good acting turn by Sisto.

The Last Run (2004) - Fred Savage and a bunch of nude chicks. They didn't make up for the fact that Fred Savage was in this shitsack of a movie.

Julie & Julia (2009) - Meryl Streep and Amy Adams do Julia Child in dualing biopics. Not that bad. Don't watch this if you're on a diet. Trust me, I was starving by the end. But how did they manage to tone down Amy's inherent cuteness so much?

Spread (2009) - I want to kill Ashton Kutcher. For way too many reasons to list here. Anne Heche is looking great though. I guess "the cock" is doing her some good.

Oleanna (1994) - A Mamet play. Intense character study with William H. Macy and some broad. I rewound the last five minutes and played it over several times because it was so satisfying. I should probably feel a little guilty about that.

Married Life (2007) - Claustrophobic drama but good. I love Patricia Clarkson in anything she does. Chris Cooper is good in this too.

High Art (1998) - I especially love "Greta", the character Clarkson portrays in the flick. Awesome performances all around, but you have to be patient.

Sappho (2008) - Sucko! I was going to make a joke about how since it was set in the 1920s it's a "period" piece, but even I have some standards.

All the Real Girls (2003) - Zooey Deschenal in a weirdly moving and sad love story. Ooh look, Patricia Clarkson's in this one too!

Moon (2009) - Tepid futuristic sci-fi thriller. I officially despise Kevin Spacey now. What an annoying robot! (not his acting; he's an actual robot in the movie!)

Things We Do, Vol. 2

2009-11-01T16:32:00.004-05:00

Another day of trail biking. This time at Hammonasset State Park, on Halloween. It was sunny and nearly 70 degrees with a warm onshore breeze.

Things We Do, Vol. 1

2009-10-27T11:24:00.001-04:00

Joyce and I explored the Housatonic Railroad Trail on a beautiful October day.

Cardboard Animation

2009-10-18T11:12:00.002-04:00

This is so cool! It's something that a European person made. Check it out:

Robot Dog with Opie & Anthony

2009-09-19T23:34:00.002-04:00

OK, so I came across that Robot Dog video a couple days ago, and coincidentally I heard comedian Bill Burr talking about the beast on the Opie & Anthony radio program (on Sirius/XM satellite radio) so I decided to add their commentary to the original video of the thing.

The video starts about 45 seconds in, but I wanted to include the setup they were discussing.

When technology starts getting scary

2009-09-15T10:52:00.003-04:00

This is really cool and extremely unsettling at the same time.

Apparently this thing has been on Youtube for over a year now. The freaky part of it is how they wrapped the legs in fake fur to make it appear even more dog-like.

Fire Truck Parade

2009-09-15T07:04:00.002-04:00

Here's a somewhat boring video of the annual Engine 260 Fire Muster Parade, held Sept. 12, 2009 in Milford, CT. Lots of antique apparatus, and most of them belching out diesel exhaust which we had to breathe in for the entire parade:

Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration

2009-09-06T08:01:00.001-04:00

Hmmmm....maybe if I used some of these cool special effects, I might have won the Milford Independent Film Competition...

See my movie on a big screen!

2009-08-04T10:41:00.003-04:00

As part of the Milford Independent Film Competition they're showing all the entries at the Milford Fine Arts Center this week. The theater is the old eastbound train station in Milford center, which is an exceedingly appropriate place to show my 14-minute documentary on the Airline Rail Trail!

Here's the scoop:
Milford Independent Film Competition

August 2009

Sponsored by
Milford Fine Arts Council
Milford Public Library
Friends of the Library
Stonebridge Restaurant

All showings at the Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave, Milford, CT

Wednesday, August 5 at 7PM Free Admission
(total run time 84 minutes)
Two Brothers
Herbie's Delight
By the Book
The Clam
Airline Rail Trail
Redux
Veronica Always

Thursday, August 6 at 7PM Free Admission
(total run time 84 minutes)
Bungee Jumping for Tibet
Garden of Eatin'
Art in the Community
Memory Room
En Route
White Toast
Chess Set
True Story

Friday, August 7 at 7PM Free Admission
(total run time 82 minutes)
Oceane
Just a Minor Offense
A Moron by any Other Name
Grueling Guide to Cross Country Preparation
Ophelia

Thursday, August 13 7PM Tickets $5
Awards Ceremonies and Presentation of Film Winners
Emcee: Radio personality, Mr. Brian Smith

The Milford Public Library - 203.783.3290 abargar@ci.milford.ct.us
The Milford Fine Arts Council - 203.878.6647 milfordfac@optonline.net

My film entry in the MIFC

2009-08-01T10:00:00.001-04:00

This is the final version of the documentary I entered into the Milford Independent Film Competition.

Finalist Judging
Saturday, August 1, 2009
10 AM - 1 PM and 2 PM - 5 PM
Program Room
Milford Public Library
57 New Haven Ave., Milford, CT
Free, Open to the public

Award Ceremonies
Thursday, August 13, 2009
7PM - 10PM
Center for the Arts
40 Railroad Ave., Milford, CT
Tickets $5
Winning Films, Discussion, Refreshments
I shot the video in the fall of 2005, compiled and edited it in December, and re-edited it this year (mostly by punching up the still photographs, adding sound effects, and fixing the audio levels), and I entered this improved version in the competition.

I also re-visited the trail last fall and shot a bunch more video on the Colchester and Lebanon sections, which I'll probably eventually add to the original footage and create a 24- to 27-minute film.

But for now, here's the latest version of the doc:

Boy, I stink

2009-07-10T17:07:00.003-04:00

I'll admit it.

I'm a rotten blogger.

I haven't posted a single thing on this blog in months!

I stink!

Just so you know, I'm still around. Keeping busy with my other blogs (this one gets so jealous when I say that) and doing real-life sorts of things.

My filmmaking career has more or less stalled for now. I ran out of time to make my proposed documentary for today's Milford Independent Film Competition deadline, but I did re-edit and I punched up my rail trail doc and submitted that this week.

So there IS at least that.

Oh, and today it hit 80 degrees here, maybe for the first time this year! Damn, but it was a cool start to the year!

Writing and shooting

2009-04-21T08:53:00.004-04:00

(Archive photo of my interview with actor
and activist Danny Glover back in 2006)
I'm currently working on a new short film for our local Milford Independent Film Festival, which has a July 10th entry deadline.

I'm enjoying the writing part, but the actual production is going to be much more stressful. I'm waiting for the weather to finally warm up and the trees to bloom, because a large part of my film consists of exterior shots around town, and it looks much better to have lush greenery than bare, dead limbs.

I expect to be doing a lot of shooting in a few weeks, maybe by the middle of May. Which coincides with the busiest time of the year for me, so it's gonna be difficult to find the time to do this.

The editing and post-production is a lot easier, because I can do that any time, day or night.

I'm keeping the details of my project under wraps for now, except to say that it's entirely a one-man production (which means, sadly, that it WON'T star Danny Glover) and it will be shot and produced within Milford exclusively.

More info later as it progresses.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009-03-25T12:25:00.003-04:00

Here's a still from the thoroughly awful movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic". I only post this because about a year ago I was in Manhattan while they were filming this scene right outside my hotel.

Which happened to be the St. Regis.

I can't afford the place (of course) but I was doing a work project there, so they picked up the very nice room for me.

Here's my blog post from March of last year:

Today there was a movie being shot right outside my hotel. A big film crew arrived early and started setting up on 55th St. Around lunchtime I strolled over to see what was going on.

There was a small crowd of people milling around the street corner, near a hot dog vending cart, so I wandered over to check it out.

I walked up next to a couple standing on the sidewalk and looked around. There was a makeup person applying some powder to what I figured was an actor a few feet away. I looked down and realized I was standing right at the end of dolly tracks, and a big Panavision 35mm camera was mounted on a dolly and pointing my way.

"Excuse me sir! You need to move," a production assistant snapped at me.

What the fuck?!?

"I'm sorry, I was just watching what was going on with these people," I said.

"These are all extras! They're actors! You're in the shot! You need to be across the street, please." she said, pointing to a much bigger crowd, all looking my way.

Ah! That makes sense! I muttered an apology and skulked across the street, somewhat embarrassed.

So I fired off a few shots and quickly left. I don't even know yet what was being filmed, but I can always call my butler (yes, each floor of the St. Regis has a butler, who will fetch you more ice or help you dispose of a dead hooker, whichever is needed) and ask him to find out for me.

Butlers rule. Everybody should have one.

I don't know how I survived this long without one.

UPDATE: I eventully asked the concierge instead. He said the movie was "Confessions of a Shopaholic", which apparently is a Disney vehicle with a slew of well-known actors in it, none of whom I saw during the few minutes I was there. I guess I just missed Isla Fisher.

Some awesome Canadian PSAs

2009-03-23T17:12:00.004-04:00

There's something about those Canucks and the way they don't shy away from the most gruesome public service announcements. I know they're trying to do the right thing, but sometimes they go so far over the top that you think you're watching an SNL spoof commercial.

And you don't even have to feel bad for laughing, because they're all Canadian! Stuff that stupid simply doesn't happen here!

(Yes, I know some of you won't see the humor in these ridiculous videos. I think they're hysterical. What can I say? Some people get it, and some don't. No apologies.)

Here's a few of my all-time favorites:

"She Spilled My Coffee"
The classic! A clumsy waitress gets exactly what she deserves for her carelessness. And of course the guy didn't even tip her!

"Watch That Skid!"
I don't think a kevlar vest would have helped this guy. On the plus side, he'll probably get a nice workman's comp check.

"Reaching a New High"
Another clumsy one. Some people are better off being taken out of the gene pool. Sadly, this moron will probably survive long enough to reproduce.

"The Sous Chef"
Or in this case, the "Sue" chef! Get it? Cause she'll probably sue somebody! LOL! Ah, I kill me. Great scream in this one, too.

"The Interrupting Cow"
Another beaut! This gal gets what's coming when she makes the mistake of correcting a rather earnest gentleman. Watch what he does with the stapler!

Oh well...I guess I'll get used to Hell once I get there. I hear the weather's quite warm there.

SPECIAL BONUS PICTURE!

Here's one I found on the prevent-it.ca website. It made me howl. I'm starting to think I should talk to someone about this.

Milford Independent Film Festival

2009-03-22T17:38:00.003-04:00

MIFF? Sure, why not?

Actually, it's the MIFC, which is the Milford Independent Film Competition, since it's more of a simple short film competition than a festival. But I'd rather get MIFFed than MIFCed, which makes no sense at all.

Now that I think of it, neither does this line of idle nonsensical speculation.

Anyway, visit the Milford Fine Arts Council (MFAC) website for details and entry forms. Submission are due by July 10th.

And yes, I'm going to submit one (or possibly two) entries.

The Harbor Seal & Me

2009-03-03T22:06:00.002-05:00

We had a cute little visitor at the beach about 2 miles from my house last week. A Western Atlantic Harbor Seal.

The li'l fella is about 5 feet long and obviously healthy. He was snoozing for the first 15 minutes after I got there, but then he started lazily rolling around, chewing on shells, and then he put his nose in the water, trying to eat snails. Every so often he'd cast a glance at the big funny animals who walked around nearby on their hind legs, but mostly he ignored us.

The crowd kept back at least 20 feet or so, having been notified that the seal is a Federally-protected species and it's against the law to interact with him. Plus, he's got a mouth full of canine teeth that I bet would easily snap your fingers off.

I called Joyce and told her about him, and she almost went crazy with jealousy because she was stuck in work. She loves sea animals, so hopefully the cute fella will still be there when she gets out later today.

UPDATE: Joyce called a couple hours later and said she was able to get to the beach after lunch and she saw the little beast. She's very happy now. And the seal apparently is happy too, because he left the beach about an hour later to continue his migration.

Film Festival revived in Milford

2009-02-04T19:09:00.004-05:00

Organizers of the Milford Film Festival had made plans to bring the event back to life after an absence of twenty years. The 2009 festival will accept short films in several genres. The winning entries will be screened at the Milford Fine Arts Theater the Thursday before the annual Oyster Festival in August.

More details are available from the Connecticut Post.

I'm thinking about sending in my Air Line Rail Trail documentary. They'll have details available on February 28th, so I'll decide then.

Two not-so-new videos

2008-12-10T20:44:00.002-05:00

I was going through my VHS video archives and found some awesome footage from when Reagan was President (first term) of me doing some fun parachuting stuff.

The first one is our pirate jumps off of the Newport (RI) Bridge, back in 1983 or 84.

And this one is a Santa Claus jump I did about a year later:

I'm turning 50 next month, and while I've known people a LOT older who still jump, I consider it a closed chapter in my life. I've accomplished everything I'm going to, and I have other stuff I enjoy doing more.

Plus, my back is kind of fucked up, and the idea of jumping out of airplanes doesn't hold the same appeal anymore.

"Righteous Kill"

2008-12-07T12:49:00.004-05:00

I finally saw Righteous Kill, the awful Robert DeNiro/Al Pacino movie that sucked so badly it only scored 21% at Rotten Tomatoes.com.

Other than the tremendous waste of talent that this movie represents, the only significant thing about it is that they filmed several scenes at The Star Cafe, a bar about 1/2 mile from my house last year. Here's some photos and screen caps (click on them to show full size):

This is supposedly the exterior of the bar, taken at another location. It establishes the fiction that the bar is located in a downtown NYC area, rather than the suburban street that the real bar is on.

This is the actual exterior of the bar, with the windows blacked out because either they knew the movie was gonna bomb and they didn't want anyone seeing it, or more likely because they were shooting scenes that represented nighttime and they didn't want sunlight streaming in to ruin the effect.

The next two images are screencaps from the actual film. Basically, it shows some of the inside of the bar, but it looks much nicer on film than it actually is. But I think that's because they dressed the set with lots of extra lights and things that make it look more colorful than the drab, rundown pub it truthfully is.

(I hope the owner isn't reading this; someone said he heard the guy threatened someone who referred to his beloved cafe as a "seedy" bar!)

Michael K. Williams & me

2008-09-19T18:13:00.004-04:00

Today I met and chatted briefly with actor Michael K. Williams (IMDB listing) at a broadcast of the XM satellite radio's "Opie & Anthony Show".

Williams is an amazingly talented actor, probably known best for his intense portrayal of the gangster "Omar" on HBO's gritty and ridiculously underrated series "The Wire". He's also been in recent movies such as "Gone Baby Gone" and the new Spike Lee joint "Miracle at St. Anna".

We spoke briefly, and he was genuinely pleased that I complimented him on a very funny line he tossed out in a room full of comic heavyweights. We shook hands, and a guy in the audience took the photo.

The camera was messed up because it's so old, and the image had a weird blue tint covering it, so I converted it to B&W and lightened it up a bit, which is why the photo is so grainy. But it was really a great pleasure to meet such a gifted and intense actor.

My documentary: The Air Line Rail Trail

2008-09-16T17:43:00.003-04:00

It's getting to be that time of year again, when the fall foliage will begin turning, and I'm going to make another trip to bike the Air Line Rail Trail up in mid- to north-eastern Connecticut. I'll probably bring my camera again and make an updated version of this movie.

In the meantime, here's a higher-resolution version of the 2005 documentary that Joyce and I created. Enjoy!

I can hardly wait!

2008-09-08T19:55:00.002-04:00

I love Kevin Smith movies, even the horrible ones. Yes, "Jersey Girl" too! So I can't wait for October 31st to see "Zack & Miri Make a Porno"!

Bat Attack

2008-09-04T08:36:00.002-04:00

This video is from about a month ago. So far, we haven't had any more attacks.

Video mashup

2008-07-27T00:13:00.003-04:00

Here's the audio from a famous scene in "Clerks" set behind some video from the Star Wars "Revenge of the Sith" movie.

If you're familiar with Kevin Smith's 1994 indie film "Clerks", you'll enjoy this one.

Another insipid sailing video

2008-06-23T12:19:00.003-04:00

When I'm not political blogging or working, I tend to mess about in boats.

Here's a short video of our race last weekend. Summer is FINALLY here!

Bonus: fireworks at the end!

"Hollywood East" project in danger

2008-06-19T08:10:00.002-04:00

Before the project ever got off the ground, it ended up in court.

From the CT Post:

BRIDGEPORT — A former state Democratic Party chairman, once a lawyer for the team chosen to redevelop the former Army engine plant in Stratford, testified Wednesday that federal officials refused to close on the deal unless one of the team's partners was barred from remaining active in the project.

Edward Marcus, who had been a lawyer for Hollywood East/Area 51, LLC, until a bitter internal fight for control erupted in May, was allowed to testify in Superior Court over vehement objections from lawyers representing the partner in question, Hector Natera, and his brother Ed.

They have filed a lawsuit seeking to oust Allen Christopher as president and CEO of Hollywood East, which was selected in March after a bidding competition conducted by the federal General Services Administration. The team plans to redevelop the 78-acre property bordering the Housatonic River into a multi-faceted production complex for movies and other entertainment ventures.

Sadly, this power struggle is endangering the entire project and may cause it to be delayed indefinitely.

Hollywood East/Area 51 might go the way of the doomed Utopia Studios project unless a settlement can be quickly reached.