A "Death Knocks" alumnus makes a splash!

Tonight I was snooping around the internet for vintage porn and old friends, and found out that one of our favorite actors (and amateur stuntman) Michael Buckley has a talk show on Wallingford (CT) public access cable.

Michael shares the spotlight with Kristin Baltramaitis. They appear live Mondays at 7PM on whatever the cable system is up there in Wallingford. I don't know what it is, 'cause I have Cablevision, and they don't...whatever.

Check out their blog at Table For Two. It looks great! Maybe I'll have to drop in and watch the show live.

World Premiere of "Grandma's Kitchen", and stuff

Last night Ant and me helped out Lori ("Grandma's Kitchen") tape an intro to her DVD. We taped Lori in front of the studio's green screen. Lori is pitching the DVD on Monday, so we had to throw this together in a big hurry.

This was the first time I used the studio light board; it was fun aiming the lights and adjusting the intensity of each for best effect. Plus, we tried using my new wireless mic set, but a 60-cycle buzz messed up all our takes, so finally in desperation we used the on-camera mic. I think we need to use better shielded cables, rather than the cheap Radio Shack crap I have. Especially since there's loads of lighting and sound cables running all over the studio. I'll look into it.

After I got home I loaded the footage into Pinnacle. Then I color-corrected, overlayed a bunch of cool pictures behind Lori, and transferred it back to tape. Lori stopped by today and picked up the tape, then she's going to include it as an intro to the sample DVD she's pitching to an association that may buy hundreds (maybe thousands) of copies. Which is cool, but she's got to get it put together real soon. Like, by Monday. Busy frickin' week!

And Monday is also the WORLD PREMIERE of "Grandma's Kitchen"! Watch it on Cablevision channel 77, Monday 7:00PM, starting October 3rd. We're going to have a premiere party at my house, since Lori and many of her guest chefs don't live in the local Cablevision broadcast area (you need to live in Milford, Orange, Woodbridge, Bridgeport, Stratford, or Fairfield to see it).

We're really rolling out the red carpet for the debut. I'll tape the arrival of the stars, and Joyce will work the red carpet and comment on our guests' evening wear. And maybe, just maybe...we'll serve those cute lil' cocktail weenies! Wow, what a soiree!!! (did I spell that right?)

Tune in, and bring your appetite!

David Lynch speaking at Yale

This Friday I'm going to see another one of my personal heroes speak in person. David Lynch, director of "The Elephant Man", "Blue Velvet", "Wild at Heart", "Mulholland Dr.", "Lost Highway", and more will speak about his films and about The David Lynch Foundation, which is a new organization dedicated to spreading consciousness-based education and world peace.

After he completes those tasks, he's going to shoot a movie about a dancing midget and people talking backwards during a hallucinatory dream sequence.

Weekend this talk the on thoughts my post I'll.

Audio News; and we hit 2,000!

Wow, 2,000 hits! Now there might actually be THREE people reading this blog! As I mentioned in the post about the 1,000-hit milestone (9 May 2005), most of the hits are me checking the blog and posting new entries. But hey, at least SOMEBODY is reading this shite!

(that was for Gazza27, who has a funny/odd blog over in England called Seftontaxis; check it out!)

Yesterday I finally received my wireless microphone kit. It's cool. It's cheap, too, but for my purposes it'll have to do, because I can't afford a pro-quality system yet. It'll be fine, I'm sure.

For some reason my blog has decided to refrain from showing a picture of Bill Cullen, legendary announcer from the 50's through the 80's. I don't know why it's doing this, but I've deleted the code for the image and text relating to Bill Cullen. Sorry if you're wondering why I was talking about Bill Cullen, but it's not important right now. Or ever, for that matter.

The new mic kit works amazingly well. I had the camera with the input from the receiver upstairs in the den, and walked all over the house wearing the lav body pack, with the mic clipped on my shirt. There was no interference or audio drop-outs, and I'd be surprised if it didn't continue to work well anywhere within the specified 250-foot operating radius.

There are some drawbacks. The frequency range is a bit narrow. And the mics tend to pick up background noise a bit. But I can experiement with the sensativity settings to reduce that. Overall, it's pretty good, considering it cost under $160, shipping included.

And it arrived less than 24 hours after I ordered it online. That's the second item I've ordered in the last month that was shipped via ground DHL, and it got here in record time.

Schweeet!

My Favorite Uncle

Whenever I run into a writer's block, all I need to do is expose myself to my family for a while, and suddenly the material seems to write itself. I gotta learn to carry a notepad with me every time I go to a family gathering. In the short time we were there, I witnessed a half-dozen funny little scenes that I recorded as soon as I got home.

This is a picture of me and my cousin Matt. We look like the muscle for a small-time bookie, right? People say we look alike. In fact, Matt's dad (my uncle), who was celebrating his 75th birthday this day, yelled at me. Well, it wasn't really me he was yelling at...it was Matt. Or someone whom he thought resembled the wayward lad (me).

Joyce and I are at the party, a nice outdoor affair on a perfect late-Summer day. I'm casually standing there talking to my cousin Dave, and my uncle walks up and says to me, "Matt, bring that cooler over here please." Of course, it doesn't register in my mind. I ignore him.

Okay, I have to let you in on something here. You do not ignore anyone in my family. It's simply not done; at least, not without major consequences. He pauses for a moment in shock, and then yells, "Matthew Richard!" (Oh Christ, when a parent uses your first AND middle name, it's serious!) I looked around for Matt, anticipating what I guessed would be a serious ass-whuppin' from his dad.

All I saw was my uncle staring daggers at me. Suddenly it hit me! "Uh, I'm not Matt, Uncle Rich...I'm Robert!" I say. (My family INSISTS on calling me "Robert" rather than "Bob", which gives me acid reflux, but I've accepted the fact that I have to indulge them)

He performs a perfect double-take, then starts laughing like Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" just before he's about to whack someone.

Yup, that's my favorite uncle.

I'm back from vacation!

Had a great week on the boat at Block I. I'm back now. Things are busy with work and stuff, but Ant and me are getting ready to crank things up soon. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I dropped my antique (seven years old!) digital camera overboard and it's lost forever; and until I buy a memory card for my new Panny camcorder, I won't have many unique pictures to post here.

Rest in peace, my beloved Casio QV-770...we'll all miss you!

"American Splendor" (2003)

Interesting biopic about Harvey Pekar, author and star of the comic with the same name as the movie.

Paul Giamatti's intense portrayal of "everyman" Pekar is both fascinating and disturbing. I'm a huge fan of Giamatti's; he brings a brooding desperation to the role. You can actually feel the frustration and hopelessness of Pekar's life.


Pekar found salvation by writing a comic about his everyday life. The movie is narrated by Pekar himself, with overlays of animation and cutaways to real interviews with Pekar. I felt these interludes were a bit distracting, but overall the effect was helpful in the telling of his story.

Snippets of the comic were acted out, then shown in the drawn form. Classic bits like Pekar catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror and thinking to himself, "Now there's a reliable disappointment" captured the man's outlook perfectly.

What I took from this story is the realization that there is real poetry and humor in even the most mundane human interactions, if you look at it with the right attitude. That's the true wisdom in this portrayal.

"Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff."

The Ugliest Dog In The World

Sometimes, a picture doesn't need a caption.

Wireless mics

Because I can, I'm going to buy a wireless microphone set.

One of the big obstacles we had when shooting "Death Knocks" was making sure the sound quality was good. We used studio mics that had to be hard-wired. Not very convenient or (unfortunately) reliable.

So I decided I need a wireless system. I can't afford a professional setup, but I found a cheap-ish system that looks like it'll do. The Nady Duet Dual Lavalier Wireless System.

Pictured here (with the optional hand-held mic and guitar pickup) it includes a dual frequency receiver and two body-pack lavalier (lapel) mics. The two mic sources are mixed in the receiver and sent to the camera.

Viola! Two mics, mixed together while we shoot, going directly into the camcorder. All for about $160. Now we can record two people having a conversation without struggling with a boom mic or dealing with those awful studio mics.

Of course, there ARE a few operating limitations...the max distance recommended is 250 feet, but you can get 500 feet ideally. I'll probably keep it within 50 or so feet with direct line-of-sight. The frequency response is adequate for our needs, although at some point we'll probably require a higher end system. And I'm a little worried about crosstalk and interference, but I'll deal with that later...I can't afford anything better right now, and I want to start shooting ASAP with usuable sound.

Probably I'll order it after my vacation; I'm gonna be sailing for a week after this coming week, so I won't be able to get rolling on any projects until after we get back.

But I'm still psyched!

My new camera!

A week ago I parked my old van with a "for sale" sign at the end of my driveway, so people driving by can see it. Check the post "Production Van 2000" from 04 May for details. Anyway, yesterday I sold it. Got a decent price for it, and (of course) today I went CAMERA SHOPPING! YAY!!!

So I just ordered a Panasonic GS-150 camera. It's a 3-CCD design, with some nice manual features, along with the normal automatic functions. It also has a 37mm lens, which will accept my .45 wide angle lens.

I'm so freakin' psyched! I can't wait for the thing to get here; probably within a week or so. And I have enough money left over for wireless mics, too! I'll probably order them after my vacation in a couple of weeks; I'm just happy to have a good camera at last!

Yeah, baby.

Summer doldrums

Still working with Lori to get "Grandma's Kitchen" formatted for broadcast. Should be ready in another week or so. Look for an update then.

Other than that, I've been on my boat a lot. And I've been doing some writing. Unlike a lot of writers, I am SO frickin' tanned right now.

Ant's in Puerto Rico for another few days I think.

I can't wait to see "The Aristocrats"; I heard an interview with director and comedian Paul Provenza today. I think the subversive aspect of this film is what appeals to my inner-anarchist; it's going to be the filthiest movie ever made, and all it shows are comedians telling the same joke in various ways. They chose to skip getting an NPAA rating because there's no way in hell that they'd get anything less than an NC-17. One movie chain has already refused to show it!

Bob Saget and lil' Jimmy Norton at "The Aristocrats" NYC premiere

And the only thing this movie shows are a lot of comics TALKING! No violence, no sexual images; just an old joke that's known for being as filthy as possible. Told in a bunch of different ways.

It's simply United States Constitutionally-protected free speech, if you read the fine print on that amazing old document. It's in there somewhere. Really.

Like I said, this movie is going to be subversive.

That's it for now.

Filler reviews

Some stuff I've seen recently:

"The Virgin Suicides"
Sophia Coppola's 1999 flick stars Kathleen Turner, James Woods and Kirsten Dunst. Nostalgic (to me, having grown up in the '70's), funny, hopeful and tragic, it's a complex look at the life of five teenaged sisters and the people who interact with them. After one of the sisters attempts suicide early on, this bit of dialogue effectively sums up the movie:

Doctor: What are you doing here, honey? You're
not even old enough to know how bad life gets.
Cecilia: Obviously, Doctor, you've never been
a 13-year-old girl.

That pretty much says it all.

"Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith"
OK, I had to see this flick, even though I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. This probably has something to do with the fact that I was, in actuality, dating girls when the original "Star Wars" movie was released back in 1977. I guess the idea of obsessing over intergalactic warfare paled in comparison to making out with young high school girls in the back seat of my beloved but short-lived 1970 red Dodge Dart...and I was only 38 at the time! LOL!! OMG!!! WTF!!!11!1ONE!

Sorry about that...just kidding!

So, it wasn't a big deal to me to wait a month or two before seeing this movie. Overall, I liked it. Some of the dialogue in Sith (like most of the series) was silly; but the general effect was of sinister darkness. Kevin Smith's famous online review of the movie was pretty much spot-on, except for all the fan-boy blathering he did about how great it was.

"War Of The Worlds"
Scary. Good fun. Great CGI. Those Martians were right bastards if you ask me. But you didn't. So I volunteered my opinion. Whether you wanted it or not. Haha.

And my current favorite TV sitcom, "Entourage", is developing into a sharply funny show. Jeremy Piven is really becoming the perfect sleazy Hollywood agent. The writing is getting better, too. Love all the cameos. And Kevin Dillon frickin' KILLS me! Catch this show on HBO.

That's it. Not much news on the projects I'm working on; Ant's on vacation, and it's fucking summertime...I'm on my boat just about every second I'm not working. We only got about 10 more weeks before the weather starts getting a bit sguirrely. Then I'll have all winter to work on this stuff!

No, really, I promise I've been doing movie stuff!

Even though the New England summer is in full swing (read: sailing, socializing, binge drinking, abusing small furry animals) I've still been partaking in important production business.


For instance, we've secured a time slot for "Grandma's Kitchen"; we have 13 weeks of Mondays at 7PM, which is Prime Time for our "target audience". I know it sounds impressive that we have a "target audience", that's why I said it. You're thinking we've invested loads of effort into market research, business planning and consumer auditing. If you were a bigtime network executive, you might even think something like "This guy really knows what he's doing! He's a real go-getter! Quick, let's give him a deal before somebody else snaps him up!"

To be completely truthful, I don't have any idea what our target audience consists of. I'm sure there are people involved somewhere along the line, but beyond that, I'm kind of guessing. Since it's a cooking show, we hope to appeal to people who eat. I've heard that lots of people eat. There's the start point of our audience research, and we'll go from there.

We expect to broadcast within a couple of weeks. We'll have a big party at my house to celebrate our premier, and beyond that we'll continue with our other projects. Like finishing the reshoots and editing "Death Knocks". And shooting some other stuff; this weekend I'm going to document our boating excursion to Port Jefferson. (If you haven't yet, take a look at my sailing blog at Full Tilt Sailing Team Blog; I'll post details there early next week)

Also, today I received the DVD burner I ordered over the Internets. Fuckin' YEAH! I've been essentially crippled by not having any way to easily transfer video files off my computer, so now I can burn finished DVDs for broadcast and distribution.

So yeah, I've been doing movie shit. Are you happy now, huh? Are you happy?

"Grandma's Kitchen"

Last night at the studio, my friend (and sailing cohort) Lori brought in her first six finished tapes of her new cooking show, "Grandma's Kitchen". We transferred the shows from mini-DV tape to DVD in preparation for securing a time slot on Cablevision Public Access.

Lori sits at the editing station as we do the transfers. I think those are some kind of yams on the screen, but don't hold me to that.

Here's the title card for the show.

Antony showed up to help out and also brainstorm on some future projects. Here he tries to look intelligent by wearing eyeglasses. Nobody fell for it.

This is a better look at that bizarre painting of an alligator eating a woman's leg. It was placed in the green room to help calm the talent before appearing on live broadcasts.

Lori's an accomplished musician; here she poses next to her fabulous album "State of Being" (available by contacting lorifogler@aol.com). Those really are her two-toned eyes on the album cover!

We're hoping to get the shows broadcast soon, and then we'll be able to get certified on the high-end studio equipment to edit our movie. It's good to be busy again!

"Be Cool", 2005

I just screened "Be Cool", the sequal to Elmore Leonard's novel/film "Get Shorty", starring John Travolta, Uma Thurmann, Vince Vaughn, Harvey Keitel, and a slew of other Hollywood names.

The movie is basically a version of "Get Shorty" except about the music business instead of the movies. Much like the first movie, it's filled with smug inside references and silly cameos; there are just enough laughs to maintain your interest, but untimately some of the performances damage the overall effect. Vaughn's awful representation of a white "playa'" compares unfavorably with Gary Oldman's electric portrayal of Drexl Spivey in "True Romance"; in a movie as derivative as "Be Cool", you'd think he'd be better prepared for his role.

Also, there are scenes that are directly lifted from other flicks, such as "Pulp Fiction". Whether these are intentional or not, they are so obvious that they tend to jolt you out of the movie. Don't expect to work too hard at figuring out the references; you can possess a movie I.Q. well below triple digits and still "get" all the obvious connections.

Another thing that kept me from getting totally involved in the story was the nagging awareness that Travolta, while not as obviously psychotic as Tom Cruise, is a senior member of the "Xenu Mafia", and every time he's on the screen I'm reminded of some of the disturbing policies and actions of the "church" of Scientology. I'm cool with people's beliefs, even if they differ significantly from mine; but this nutty organization is essentially a "legal" pyramid scheme and toxic psuedo-science disguised as a tax-exempt religion. See www.clambake.org for lots of humorous info on this "church" that the brain-washed disciples of L. Ron Hubbard don't want you to see.

BTW, that last paragraph wasn't me talking; it was my "Thetan clusters". They're evil and interfere with my ability to achive clarity. They made me type this. Don't sue me or kill me please, Scientologists.

"El Maquinista" (The Machinist), 2004

Ever have a sleepless night, and the next day you catch yourself having little mini-dreams with your eyes open? That's what this movie is like. Reality is subjective and sanity is doubtful. "The Machinist" is one of those movies, like "Memento", where things aren't always what they seem.

Christian Bale, the new "Batman" and former "American Psycho", dropped an astounding 63 pounds to resemble a death-camp appearing skeleton somewhere on the shy side of 120. He's lost in a nightmare of intrigue, mystery, and paranoia that make for a really creepy yet compelling movie. I don't want to give too much away; some of the IMDB info contains spoilers, so I recommend you just watch this flick cold, then read about it afterwards.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is cast in a somewhat minor supporting role (yeah, we've all seen your boobs by now, Jen...can you please put them away for good?), but essentially the co-star of this movie is a creepy feeling that sanity is slipping away. This movie DOES have a conclusion that wraps the story up, so don't start worrying while you watch it (like me) that you'll sit through the whole thing and it'll leave you hanging at the end. It was filmed in Spain, but English-speaking, hence the name El Maquinista.

Oh, and can please somebody tell me why "Magnolia" is supposed to be so frickin' good? I've watched that piece of shit at least three times and STILL don't get it! Yeah, it rains frogs at the end. Wow! Quick, somebody dump a truckload of awards on P.T. Anderson! Fucking wanker...

The Perfect Excuse

Lately (as you can read about below) I've been feeling guilty about neglecting my post-production duties in lieu of having fun this summer. I know I should be busy in the editing room working on my video short, but I'd rather enjoy this wonderful weather.

So I started thinking about possible excuses I could give to people who ask me how things are going with the project. Suddenly, the answer dawned on me, courtesy of our Commander-in-Chief, G.W. Bush.



Joyce: When are you going to finish that movie?
Me: Mission Accomplished!
Joyce: You mean it's done?
Me: Didn't you hear me? Mission Accomplished!
Joyce: So when can I see it?
Me: SEE it? It's not READY yet! What part of Mission GODDAMNED Accomplished DIDN'T you understand?
Joyce: (stunned silence)

HOLY SHIT! G.W. used that phrase to perfection! I can put everyone off simply by saying "Mission Accomplished" over and over, while not actually getting ANYTHING done! It's fucking BRILLIANT!

Wow, I only WISH G.W. could run again, 'cause I'd vote for him this time for SURE! He's given me the perfect excuse for not completing ANYTHING ever again. I fucking LOVE "Mission Accomplished"!

Thanks, George. I don't know what I'd do without you.

An Apology to my Blog

----------------------------------------------------

Dear Blog,

Look, I know I've been ignoring you lately. It isn't you...it's me. Honest. You're fine. You've ALWAYS been fine. The problem is with me. I don't want to be insensitive to your needs, but it's just that lately I've had things I had to do. And sometimes, that means I might not have enough time for you. I'm sorry.

You have every right to be angry with me. I've behaved badly. I've ignored you to go out and have fun sailing almost every day. I really don't want to hurt you, but I have to be true to my feelings, and right now I'm kind of in love with my sailboat.

We can still be friends, can't we? In fact, you'll always be special to me. I'd like to think that when this little fling is over, we can get back together and have things just like they were. Just think of this like a little vacation from each other. We can still stay in touch. I'll even make it a point to drop you a line every week or so. It's just that things are different now, and we both have to accept it.

Listen, we're still friends, right?

----------------------------------------------------

God that was creepy. I started feeling like a sleezeball just for writing it!

Anyway, things are a little up in the air right now regarding our projects. Between Antony and me, we've got a lot of vacation time we'll be taking this Summer, and there's always the boat calling me. But we're still working on getting our shows on the air, and I'll be posting stuff on a regular basis, but not nearly every day like I was when we were in production. I expect to get this back on a normal basis sometime after Labor Day.

Thanks for reading, and don't worry, there will still be stuff worth reading here. But don't forget to shut off your computer and enjoy the nice weather once in a while!

Oh no, not ANOTHER vampire movie?

Not a lot happening on the movie front right now. We're still trying to get our requisite TV shows put together for broadcast on public access so we can qualify to use the Premiere editing suites for the flick; the Casablanca stations don't allow for password protection of your work, and we've already had a problem with some moron deleting Antony's project off of it. Once we can use the PC-based systems, we can easily backup to a USB portable drive.



I had an idea for a vampire movie yesterday, so I wrote up a quick treatment last night. It's a horror/comedy, which seems to be a genre I'm slowly being seduced into. I don't know why, but I've always gotten a kick out of being frightened and laughing at the same time. I'm going to watch "Shaun of the Dead" for inspiration.



Monday evening my wife and I invited Antony to bring his family out for a sail on our boat. I'd never met Mary and their son Brian before, but they're really nice and a lot of fun. Brian did a great job steering the boat, too. He's a natural born pirate!

An Update

This is an Update. I'm not doing it because I have much news to report. Because the fact is, I don't. But so many people are bugging me for updates (well, the voices in my head are...hey, they're imaginary people too!) that I'm going to post something here.

However, I CAN promise there IS stuff going on, and it's really interesting. It's just I can't say much about it until things develop further. Call me "Mister Mysterio" if you wish, but I won't fold under questioning.

By the way, right now I'm watching Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" premiere on FX. It's quite good. He's captured the same humor and manic documentary style that made "Supersize Me" so much fun. He's like a slimmer Michael Moore, minus the vicious conservative backlash and slurs about where his loyalties lie.



Morgan Spurlock and fiancee Alex
Speaking of TV, I just saw a commercial that made me cringe. Please, somebody tell me that the new show, "The Princes of Malibu" is just a sick joke, that they're NOT making another reality show about spoiled, rich kids with no moral compass or consequences for their actions. For fuck's sake, has sociopathetic behaviour suddenly become "cool"? Would I be cooler if I was MORE of an asshole? (Of course, my wife would debate whether that's even POSSIBLE)

Oh, and this week I watched "Pi" (the 1998 David Aronofsky movie; awesome flick!), "Kinsey" (not bad at all), and a guilty pleasure: "Fight Club" (ya gotta love that potty-mouthed Helena Bonham Carter). Faulted though it is, Fight Club is a crazy wild flick. Check your logic at the door and step aboard for a fun ride.

Okay, that's my non-update Update. For someone who didn't have anything to say, I sure as hell took a long time to shut the fuck up.

Transferred the last day's footage

Last night we transferred the mini-DV footage from the final day's shoot onto DVD and VHS. There's a total of maybe 170 minutes of footage for our 10-minute short. We've got a LOT of great scenes with our actors, plus a bunch of freakin' hysterical moments for our blooper reel!

Here's James looking very creepy in his costume. Eat your heart out Bergman!



Below, Michael emotes terror for a big scene. Check out how the wide-angle lens makes the walls curve; I think it looks really cool and helps convey the feeling of anxiety that the scene contains.




We're trying throw together some quicky TV shows for broadcast on Public Access, because once we have 4 or 5 shows done, we'll "graduate" to the bigtime editing suites and be able to use Premier to edit our flick.

I've got about an hour of sailing footage I'm going to staple together to make one or two 24-minute shows, and hopefully get them scheduled for broadcast in a few weeks. Ant taped an Hispanic festival last weekend, and he's trying to cut that for another show. Plus, my friend Lori has gotten her cooking show nearly done, and I exec-produced some of them, so they'll count as "my" shows when they're broadcast.

With luck, we'll be able to meet the minimum requirement shortly, and have the luxury of working with the high-end editing equipment. We owe it to our actors and ourselves to do a great job with our movie.

Post production

Time to edit our flick. Here's what we need to do:

1. Transfer all our footage to the editing workstation. We have about 2 hours of filmed material we need to sort through.

2. Edit a rough cut. Ant already put together about two minutes, and it looks really good. Once we transfer the rest of our footage, we'll assemble a complete rough cut.

3. Examine the rough cut for pacing and continuity. Make notes for additional editing and any scenes that require an additional shoot.

4. Cut a more polished version of the movie based on our notes.


No, we didn't shoot on film; I just like this picture
5. Work on the audio. Since we've had various microphones and some audio problems, we'll have to work on getting better sound. It's been said that nearly 50% of the success of a movie is because of good audio. If you have a great picture but uneven sound, you take your audience out of the story.

6. Work with my friend Lori, who's a composer and performer, to produce a soundtrack for the movie.

7. At some point, get the reshoots if needed and edit them into the mix.

8. Put it all together and hope for the best.

That's where we are now. We're also in pre-production for our next movie, which we'll shoot as soon as possible. But for now, we've got the editing station reserved for this coming Monday. Now the REAL work begins!

Take a look at my sailing blog

Since the weather's finally gotten nice here in New England, I noticed that my interest in boating has been slowly infiltrating my filmmaking blog. So, in the interest of keeping my life as organized as possible, I've started a separate sailing blog. It's called the Full Tilt Sailing Team. Because my boat is called "Full Tilt". It's a name that I chose to convey both the boat's speed and my attitude regarding life.



The skipper with his Hoyo de Monterrey cigar
Basically, it's got minimal editorial content, but lots of pictures. Because, you know, people don't really give a crap about what I have to say. And I can't blame them in the least. Not one bit.

Yesterday I created a new acronym for the Internet; feel free to use it in online chat situations. WGAS. Meaning, "Who Gives A Shit"? Watch for WGAS to take the 'net by storm. Get ready to be amazed.

I know...BFD.

Recent blog changes

In response to overwhelming complaints from the readers of this blog (well, my wife suggested this), I've made some changes here to make things easier.

The biggest improvement is the change that limits the maximum amount of posts visible to ten, instead of the 30 or 40 it previously showed. That'll help the blog load a lot faster, especially for those of you who have dial-up (Joyce), or slow-ish DSL (like me).

I'm also going to be tweaking the blog's template to make it more funnier; see if you can find the changes scattered about. Whenever I don't have something new to post for a while I'll do something goofy with the template. And I'm going to be updating my photo soon...I'm getting sorely tired of the old picture; I can only imagine how awful it is for you.

"Vote for Pedro"

What can I say? This is a fun movie. Of course, I'm talking about "Napoleon Dynamite", the little indie feature that was last year's sleeper hit.


"Pedro and Napoleon"
Made on a minimum budget, the movie caused a bidding war at Sundance last year, with Fox Searchlight paying three million dollars for it. Not bad for a flick that cost less than a half million to make. Of course, it went on to do over $40 million domestically, and was equally profitable on DVD.

The characters were oddly engaging, and the tone of the movie was unique. Anybody who doesn't go out and rent this movie right now is a "FREAKIN' IDIOT"! And be sure to watch the extra five minutes of footage that's shown after the credits finish; it's a cute epilogue to the film.

Triva: Jon Heder was paid $1,000 to play Napoleon Dynamite. Shot in 22 days. The movie was edited in producer Jeremy Coon's apartment using a $6,000 Macintosh with Final Cut Pro.

The final shoot day (with pictures, of course)

I'm only slightly LESS exhausted today, but here's something about the shoot, along with a few choice photos.

Ant brought us a surprise; a DVD with a rough cut of the first day's shoot. He's been working in secret editing on his home computer, and had a great little 2 minutes of assembled footage to show us. It looked really good, and our actors got a kick out of it. Good job, buddy!

The pressure was intense to finish in the time we had. We needed to get about 25 shots in two hours; I mean, even when Ed Wood was shooting "Plan 9", he had an easier schedule than that! We needed to work fast; and gosh darn it, we DID.

Typically, when one of us was operating the camera and directing (yes, we're embarassingly low-budget filmmakers), the other would scan the script and try to prepare for the next shot. Hence this highly stylized yet dramatic photo of myself, gripped with tension while planning our next move (yeah, right!)



Antony (for some reason I've started spelling Ant's name the way Paulina does) did a great job keeping things moving; I heard him say "That's great, but let's try one more take" only about 15 times last night, compared to his usual 30 or 40. My teeth feel good today, as I didn't need to grind them incessantly. Antony's unique and innovative style is demonstrated below. Ant directs Michael, who looks slightly befuddled as Ant says "Lean back against that wall, and then back up some more!" (Don't deny it Ant; we all heard you!)



James leapt into his character with enthusiasm and energy; his improvising had us struggling to keep from laughing out loud and ruining the take. Under brutal conditions he consistantly delivered. Some of the stuff he did was just TOO funny. It's really cool to call "cut" and look over at everyone else cracking up at what's been going on in front of the camera!



Something interesting happened once we started shooting...we got into a sort of frenetic rythym, where we began working as a team; knocking out shot after shot, getting our blocking done fast, everybody pitching in to position lights, props, etc. It was fun and energizing in a way I hadn't expected. By the time we had to pack it in, we'd gotten all the necessary shots done, and done well.



Ant and I want to thank James and Michael for all their hard work, patience, and talent; and it's been a blast working with them both. We're looking forward to finishing this project, and getting underway on our next one soon.

Thanks guys; and thanks Chad, Chad, and Paulina for your help also. And thanks Sound View studios for the use of your facilities and cameras (even if we DID bitch you out some behind your backs). And I'd like to thank all the members of the Acadamy and the Hollywood foreign press, my agent Mike Ovitz, all the little people who made this moment possible, and especially craft services for all the wonderful catering.

"You like me, you REALLY like me!"

It's (mostly) a wrap!

Tonight we had a very productive several-hour shoot. I'm completely exhausted after working a full day, then rushing down to the studio in time to set up for the shoot. It went great today, and we finished principal photography. Now all we've got is one short scene on location with Michael, and we're wrapped.

We may decide during the editing process that we need to reshoot some stuff, but for now, it feels AWESOME that we're "done", and can now get going with post.

YAY!

Now I'm going to sleep.

More tomorrow, with maybe pictures. More details at least.

Last night at the studio

Ant and I transferred our mini-DV footage from the last shoot to DVD and VHS for preliminary editing. Like last time, I'll take the VHS tape home and make notes on which takes are best, and what the time codes are for each. That way, when we transfer the digital data to the editing station, we'll be able to go right to the proper take and save time.



I can't remember if I posted any pictures of the production studio, so while I was waiting for Antony to show up I snapped a quick self portrait of me and the cameras. I've used the green screen for a test shoot to digitally insert a video backdrop, with the Panasonic GS-70 3-CCD camera, my notebook computer, and Pinnacle software. It works reasonably well, as long as the lighting is set up carefully.



We're set for Monday's shoot. I'll have new pictures to post afterwards, and hopefully we'll be officially in post next week.

Surviving the Shoot

We have another shoot date. Hopefully we'll wrap this mutha' up! One week from today, May 23rd.

I'm going to try to get to the studio a little early, since James said he's available all day. If I can get everything set up and get some shots done that only feature James, we'll be ahead of schedule when Ant and Michael get there.

"Survivor" finished up last night; did you see it?...the NYFD guy Tom outwitted, outlasted, and out-SCHMARTED his fellow players for the million bucks. I hope he's aware that the IRS is keeping tabs on these shows, and the days of getting a million dollars and NOT paying any taxes are long gone. That is, if they ever WERE here in the first place. Which I doubt. Or if they were here, I missed them. Because I've been paying taxes regularly, just like all the rest of you shnooks.



Did I mention that our own Michael was a finalist for this season's "Survivor"? He made it all the way down to the final cut before being passed over in favor of some dull, boring, whiney people. That's their loss, 'cause Michael's a bright, funny, entertaining guy. He'd make a great "Survivor"...that is, if he SURVIVES THIS SHOOT!

Which he might not, if I keep letting Anthony slam him around like he's been doing. No more stunts or pratfalls until we've got all the other shots done, OK pal? Then go right ahead and get brain damage for all I care!

Hey, now THERE'S a concept..."Special Survivor"! We'll follow the antics of a group of handi-capable young 'tards as they're cast loose in the wilds, only to perish as they fail to properly feed and care for themselves. Coming this fall on CBS.

Oh boy, give me one ticket please, First Class....to HELL!

One more week (and boat pics)

We have a scheduling conflict with one of our actors, so we're not going to get the next shoot day in until the 23rd. So this is a down week, where we'll be able to review the footage from our most recent shoot, and get started on some editing.

In the meantime, I launched my sailboat for the season just two days ago. We went out sailing the last two nights after work in light winds, and earlier this evening we took part in our first club race of the season.


Full Tilt
The wind was honking tonight! At times it topped 25-30 knots, which is fairly heavy for club racing. We were boarderline overpowered, which on a sailboat means you're heeling at about 35-45 degrees, and it's all you can do to hang on and control the boat...which isn't that easy, because the rudder tends to lift out of the water at that angle. Then, while rounding the first bouy, we got tangled up with two other boats, which led to a collision between us and a 27-footer, which hit us solidly amidships.


Imagine it coming straight at you
Luckily, nobody was hurt in the crash, and other than our toe-rail getting demolished and a grapefruit-sized chunk of fiberglass being crushed, we came through it remarkably well. After I bandaged the gaping wound in my hand (from the tiller getting wrenched away at the moment of impact), we resumed racing and ended up having a pretty good race.


My dinged digits and busted boat
Afterwards, over cold beers and potato skins, we discussed the incident with the other boat's skipper and crew. They (of course) suffered no damage whatsoever, having smashed us with their steel bow plate. However, they did admit to a reasonable amount of responsibility over the collision, and pretty much that's what I wanted to hear. At least nobody was killed...and we did beat them, which prevented them from adding literal insult to injury.

So, right now trying to type is a bitch with two fingers on my left hand bandaged up, but I'm glad we sailed tonight. We had a blast, and in spite of the damage and aches and pains, it was fun.

And in some ways, my sailing experience is similar to my filmmaking adventure; yeah, it might be a giant pain at times, but all in all, I'm sure it'll be worth it once we're done.