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.

We hit 1,000!

Yay!

Of course, out of that 1,000 hits, if I could break it down, it'd look something like this:

Me (posting, and then seeing how it looks; compulsively): 319 hits
Cast and crew of current movie project (to see if I'm saying anything worth complaining to me about): 134 hits
Anthony (checking up on me, and collecting evidence for a future libel suit) 94 hits
Joyce (my wife, ditto on the checking up thing): 88 hits
Cherry Moon (fun blogger, and a really nice person who posts really nice things here): 48 hits
Jane Hamsher (author, extremely literate blogger, and Hollywood insider who's very encouraging about my filmmaking exploits): 33 hits
Misc. visitors who don't post, or single timers (c'mon people, even if I'm a frickin' loser, say so in the comments sections so I know people are at least slightly interested in my semi-incoherent ravings): 283 hits
Guy who called me a loser in the comments section: 1 hit

So, thanks folks! I'm gonna keep posting my nonsense, and I hope you keep reading it...hell, even if I'm not getting a million hits a week, I'm having fun. Hope you are, too!

Project Bug Light

It's a wrap! I'm talking about Project Green Light's movie "Feast", of course. Our movie is still in production. But I watched the latest episode of PGL the other night, and had some observations about it. Chris Moore specifically.

God, what a crybaby! He's more worried about being left out of a lousy screening of a rough cut of the movie than the success of the movie itself! He's as nutty as that runaway bride gal, Jennifer Wilbanks.


Chris "Psycho Eyes" Moore and Jen "Perpetually Surprised" Wilbanks
It looks like Director John Gulager managed to pull it off, at least as well as can be expected under extreme conditions. Everything was rushed, underfunded, and over-managed to an amazing degree, and yet it looks as if they may have filmed what can become a decent horror genre movie.

Yeah, a lot depends on the editing process. And the recent Disney-Miramax divorce might affect the film's eventual distribution. But if the movie IS released, I'll be willing to go see it. Especially to see the results of this weekly reality series that I've been following for way too many weeks.

So, after watching this week's episode (next Thursday is the season finale), I was still mesmerized by Chris "I Took Way Too Much Acid In College" Moore's eyes, and I started thinking...

I thought, wouldn't it be funny if Chris Moore and Jennifer "Extremely Bug-eyed Insane Runaway Bride" Wilbanks married and had a child? I wondered what their offspring might look like.

Well, if you know me, you know I'll have a suggestion. Take a good look at the cute lil' picture below, and tell me I'm right.


"Chris Wilbanks, Jr."

Indieclub.com

This is one of my favorite websites for independent filmmakers.



Click on www.indieclub.com

This is a text-based information exchange for people who make movies, and people who love movies. I became a member (no charge) about two years ago, and since then I've learned quite a bit about the art and science of filmmaking. Well, maybe just enough to take the plunge and make my own movie.

If you're new to the idea of making movies, join the website and read the informative, humorous, and spot-on posts about all aspects of modern independent cinema. And if you're already a film/videomaker, join and network with all the great movie folks there.

I'm going to spend the 24 bucks and become a sponsor member; I feel that I owe them at least that for all the info I've gleaned from their wonderful website.

Check it out.

Production Van for Sale

"Production Van 2000"
1994 Chevrolet G20 Van - 180K miles, V-8 engine, ladder rack, bashed-in rear door (works fine), body rot along underside of cargo doors, needs front brakes, couple of tires; otherwise reasonably good condition. Runs like a top (well, a top with body rot and 180K miles).

This historic van was used for production of "Death Knocks"; a certificate of authenticity available upon request. A true sacrifice at $995 (or best offer). Willing to trade for a decent pair of wireless lavalier mics, a good shotgun mic, and a mic mixer. Don't miss out on your chance to own a bit of independent movie history! Email for details. Bound to sell fast! Trust me, would I lie to you?

Present and Future(DV)

I slept like the proverbial log last night...hell, like a literal log for that matter; I've got the splinters to prove it!

The splinters actually came from all the wood I piled on the curb this morning for the bi-monthly "dump pickup" we have here in Milford. Every eight weeks during the warm months our neighborhood is littered with junk heaped in front of each house for a few days before each pickup. Joyce suffers from "Junk Envy"; if a neighbor has a bigger pile than us, she feels like we aren't doing our job and throwing out enough stuff. So this morning, energized from a solid night's sleep, I got motivated and cleaned out a pile of junk lumber that's been sitting beside our shed for several years. When she gets home from work tonight she's sure to be impressed.

(I know Joyce reads this blog, so I just want to say, "Ha-ha honey! Luv ya!")


The Present
I spoke to Ant this morning...he suddenly remembered that he gave Michael a $20 bill for a prop and forgot to retrieve it when we wrapped for the night. Now THAT'S funny!

We talked about the shoot and what we need to do to finish. We'll review the footage later this week and assemble a list of shots we still need to get. Since we're not going to shoot for a couple of weeks, continuity issues are coming into play. Michael's scheduled for a haircut before then, but he's not going to do anything bizarre (I hope...no BUZZCUT!) I'm sure it won't be a problem.

I enjoy directing and intend to continue doing so, but if I lived in Hollywood and worked in the movie business, I think I'd end up being a Line Producer. I'm hyper-aware of the logistics and scheduling, I like the challenge of getting things done, and I'm imposing enough to cajole, threaten, or physically beat our crew and actors into submission as needed to stay on time. Not that I'd need to do that on THIS movie, but it's always good to keep your options open (hint, hint).


The Future?
For the next shoot we've got to arrange more time at the studio somehow. I'm going to have to talk to the staff and see if we can get someone to be on our side and agree to keep it open beyond their normal cutoff time...I'd like to be able to wrap studio shooting this next time. We'll see...

Day Two of the Big Shoot

Just got back from tonight's shoot. I'm somewhat played, but have enough energy for a quick post.

The shoot went great. We added a bunch of shots in the roughly two hours of time we were given. Load-in and setup took about an hour, which Anthony and I did because neither of our Chads could make it (last minute). Then the actors arrived, and after some costume modifications we got our first shot in by a few minutes after 6PM.


Did you ever get the feeling Death was hovering nearby?
We had to be out of there by 8:30, so we set up a cutoff time of 8:10 for our last shot. We worked like maniacs for the two hours, and I'll have to consult my shot list to be sure, but I'd guess we got at least 20 shots in. We literally grabbed shots one after the other; because all the action was taking place in one room, we didn't have to move too much equipment or lighting between shots. Our actors did a terrific job of going from scene to scene effortlessly while under extreme pressure. Kudos to the both of you.

Get used to seeing that costume pictured above...we're on such a low budget, it's probably going to be featured in our next five movies.

We agreed to another day of shooting, probably in about two weeks. More details tomorrow...it's time to crash for the night.

Anthony Tarantino

Every time I see Ant act, I'm impressed. He's amazing...look at him putting himself into his own movie! I'd start calling him "Quentin", but I think he's a better actor than Tarantino. Just look at him emote surprise and outrage -


"You CRAZY, mang!"
We're all set for tomorrow. Everyone will be there for the shoot, with the exception of Paulina, who's got a gig in the Big Apple (75 minutes away by train) tomorrow. She doesn't have any scenes left, but she's a big help as crew and has an extra camera. However, we'll do fine with the two Chads and us as crew.

We're going to knock out most of the rest of the scenes and put together a rough cut sometime in the following week or so. Then we'll see where we are and what more needs to be done.

Oh, and I'm thinking about selling "Production Van 2000". I need to raise funds for a decent wireless mic setup, and maybe a shotgun mic.

I dunno, it seems like a reasonable idea to me.

Racking Focus

This is a great way to make sure your camera is properly focused. You need what's called a Sieman's Star (also called a "Five Degree Focus Pattern") which I downloaded from www.rondexter.com, which is a great website for filmmaking info and downloads. It's a bunch of alternating black and white wedges connected at a point in the center. Each wedge is five degrees wide, hence the name.


Chad holding the card
What you do is this: make sure your camera has a manual focus setting, put it on manual, then have a production assistant hold the card at the focus position (for example, where your actor's face will be). Zoom in on the card, rack the focus back and forth until the fuzzy area in the middle disappears or gets very small. Zoom back to frame your scene, and you're done. It works like magic!

"The Phantom Attack of the Clone Menace"

Today was a rare "down-time" day...there's nothing that needs doing today regarding Monday's shoot. Plus, it's raining and miserable outside, so we're just hanging out home. Which is nice do to once in a while. When we get a chance.

Joyce and I have been watching Episode's I and II of the Star Wars saga this week, in preparation of seeing "Revenge of the Sith" sometime soon. We saw "The Phantom Menace" Wednesday night, and today we watched "Attack of the Clones".

What struck me about the basic plot of the continuing story is that a lot of problems could have been avoided if people just sat down and talked, rather than immediately going to war to get their way. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the series, but I enjoy watching the movies. I'm sure there are super-nerds out there who will defend the necessity of galactic war to solve these problems, but I just can't help but draw some very interesting parallels here.

Director Kevin Smith raved about "The Revenge of the Sith" in his blog, and he's a big Star Wars fan. Not only that, but he was fairly critical of the last two installments, which is rare when you live and work in the Hollywood movie business; his frankness about those movies lead me to believe it when he says that the new one is gonna be great! He did say it's dark, like a thousand times darker than "The Empire Strikes Back"...if that's true, it'll be awesome! (And NO EWOKS allowed!)

Oh, I actually DID do one thing today that's related to our shoot; one of our scenes involves an empty cardboard toilet paper roll as a prop (you can tell already what a class movie this obviously will be), and as fate would have it, TWO became available today. One through regular biological needs (again with the classiness), and the other (in the downstairs W.C.) because it was down to maybe 30 sheets, which I spun off the roll and used to clean the mirror. Yeah, I'm sure I could have done the job with four or five sheets, but I figured this way I wasn't REALLY wasting it.

Hmmm...we ARE going out for Mexican food tonight; maybe I should have saved some of it for later!

I wanted to see "HHGTTG" tonight!

Last night I managed to get a reasonable night's sleep, uninterrupted by any anxieties in the form of arrogant movie stars or unfinished scripts. For the most part.

Then a goddamned fire truck blasted by my house at 5:16 this morning, cranking the siren AND the air horn for good effect. I can't win.

I finished logging the footage today, and did some minor prep work for Monday's shoot. Believe it or not, I'm fairly relaxed going into this shoot. Sure, I'd like to work out some audio issues, but the scenes we're doing are gonna be so much fun it'll be worth the hassles. I probably won't need Production Van 2000; I can load most of the stuff in my car. Trust me, the less mileage I put on that rattle wagon, the better!

I'm planning on buying a wireless lavalier mic ASAP; I'm going cheap, but with a good name. The Audio Technica model ATW-201/L has a receiver, transmitter, and lavalier mic, all for under $125 online. I don't think I'll be able to buy it until sometime before our next project, so we're stuck with what we have for now. We'll manage to make it work.


Cast of THHGTTG
Joyce got called into work tonight, so we cancelled plans to see "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I'm a big fan of Doublas Adams's books and the excellent BBC radio plays, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the flick. I think casting the perfectly droll Alan Rickman as the voice of "Marvin" was BRILLIANT!

Someone tell me why this happens?

Did you ever have a bad dream that was so intense that even after you woke up you still felt weird? Did you ever have a dream that was so real that you couldn't wake up? A dream where you took a red pill and suddenly woke up in a futuristic cocoon filled with pink gel and found you've got all these hoses hooked up to you?

No?

Wait a minute...I'm thinking of "The Matrix"...never mind!

But I did have a nightmare this morning.

The dream went like this: I was at some kind of cool party somewhere in SoHo or Tribeca. It looked like we were in a trendy loft, and there were all these top level movie people there I recognized. I found myself chatting with a small group of actors and filmmakers.

Among them was one of my film heroes, Robert De Niro. Somehow, the subject of screenwriting came up, and even though I was WAY out of my league with this crowd and should have just kept quiet, anyone who's been reading this blog for any length of time has to know that reasonable discretion isn't an instinct I possess. So I mentioned that I was writing a screenplay for a feature I was planning to shoot.


"You talkin' to me?"
Everyone stopped talking and looked at me. Bobby De Niro (hey, I'm at the party, so I figure I can refer to him like he's a good friend) stared at me with his "I'm gonna whack this fuckin' guy" look from "Goodfellas". I broke out in a cold sweat. Any second now Joe Pesci is gonna shoot me in the foot, I just know it!

De Niro says, "Well, let's take a look at it," and motions for me to give it to him. I'm panicking, since it was only a rough draft, and I knew there were lots of things I wanted to change. But how do you say NO to Bobby D?

Apparently I had a copy with me (Jeez, who wrote this dream, anyway? There's no way I'd EVER carry around a first draft of a script where someone might see it!) and I reluctantly handed it to him. With horror, I watched as he read it. He flipped pages, grimacing and making growling statements, like "Are you serious wit' dis shit?" and "You gotta be kidding me!". It was awful!

He gets to the end of the script and holds it up for the group, saying "This fuckin' sucks!". I'm completely mortified! Then he says, "I think maybe I can fix some of these problems here." He starts going through the script, making changes with a pen. He comments on the dialogue of scenes that I fully intended to revise, and without listening to me he makes modifications. I'm trying to object, saying I was going to do that, but he ignores me and continues.

Finally, he finishes, and says "Now you've got a script that will make a good film." I'm totally humiliated, because he never gave me a chance to finish the script, and now I don't even want to shoot it, because it's not MY script. His friends applaud his screenwriting skills, and they detach themselves from me so fast that it's like I'm suffering from an uncontrollably vicious public attack of irritable bowel syndrome!

(Side note: now THAT'S good writing there...try and top that, MISTER TRAVIS BICKLE!)

I woke up angry and disappointed. Angry with De Niro for fucking with MY script, and disappointed with myself that I didn't have the finished version ready for him to read. But honestly, I didn't expect anyone to want to see it yet!

(sigh) I wonder if these friggin' anxiety dreams are a part of the filmmaking process? Because it's exhausting to wake up freaking out several times a week! Did Kubrick ever have to go through this kind of shit?

Logging the Footage

I'm rewatching the footage we have on VHS; we transferred the video from the mini-DV tapes to a single VHS cassette, for preliminary use. Now I'm making notes on various takes and logging the time stamp of good takes so I won't load up the editing system with the roughly 80% of the video we're absolutely not going to use. If there are two or more takes that are reasonably similar, I'll keep them in. Then we'll be able to do a rough cut based on the footage that's acceptable.


Yucking it up between takes
This time around I'm noticing all the little details that weren't so apparent at first. Like the take where James and Michael spill the coffee is a good laugh and will make the blooper reel. Actually, we've got WAY more bloopers than usable footage; I'm not altogether sure that's a GOOD thing. We're also going to try to put together a "Making of..." video, but everyone was pretty much working during the shoot and didn't have the chance to video us making the movie. We've got some stuff we can use, but that's not a primary concern right now...we just want to finish the shoot and get going on post-production.

Monday is going to be "Day Two" of the Big Shoot. More accurately, "Night Two". Or "Night One", since we shot during the day the first time around. Wait, I'm going to stick with "Day Two" and be done with it. Good, I'm glad I settled that.

We'll have about two good hours of studio use, and we're hoping to get a lot of the rest of the movie done. Regarding the footage we already have, there are some scenes with very minor continuity issues (mostly insignificant), but we have the option to do a quick reshoot next Monday in the hallway. One quick take and done. I hope.

Lighting will be very much an issue, and I'm hoping to get to the studio a couple hours early to set up and get most of the set ready. That way our actors and show up and start working without a lot of wasted time. The setups are very simple for these scenes, so we should be able to work fast. I hope.

Note to self for next movie: Be sure to secure the location for 8-12 hour blocks to save unnecessary effort on setting up and breaking down. That's not really an option here, but for later projects we'll make that a major concern.

Equal Time for Anthony

Now that we're in production, Anthony wants to be able to post here, too. Since we're using the "FutureDV" name for our ersatz "production company", I guess its only fair that I allow him to have the occasional post here...rather than his sneaky anonymous jabs in the "comments" section. (Just kidding, buddy!)


Anthony, Bob, Paulina, and the Panasonic camera
Other things that are noteworthy; for the rest of this project and all future movies, we're going to delagate someone to be Director of Photography. It's obvious you can't direct and be a DP without missing some things...there's just too damn many things going on during a shoot, and someone needs to concentrate fully on framing the shots, balancing the lighting, and operating the camera.

That will free up the Director to work with the actors and be creative. I know personally that there were some stage directions I wanted to give my actors but didn't have the time because I was busy futzing with the camera.

Yes, I'll admit it...I said "futzing". It's an old Sicilian word roughly translated as "screwing with".

Also, I'm beginning to see the wisdom in the traditional structure of a film crew, and how important individual jobs are. You need a Sound person to monitor and balance the audio. You need a Script Supervisor to mark off shots and keep an eye on continuity. You definitely need Production Assistants to get you a cup of coffee when you're too busy. And you should have a big guy with a loud voice and a firm committment to the production to be your Line Producer, who, among other things, will keep everyone in line (not that that's the REASON he's called a "Line" Producer).

An Assistant Director would be helpful also, to pick up the slack of the Director and DP. At this level, we may be asking a lot for this many crew, but it's something to work towards.

Today we've been trying to schedule the next shoot date. Problem is, we won't have the studio for more than a few hours any weeknight next week, so we're trying to line everybody up as early as possible to get as much done as we can. If we can get a good three hours of production in, we'll be 90% finished. We're still hoping for Monday.

First Look

Just got back from the studio, where we got a look at the recorded footage and boy, are we impressed! Michael, James and Paulina all did an amazing job, and in spite of our utter lack of experience, the first look is really impressive.


Anthony at the editing station
Sure, there were things that we could have improved upon, such as a few instances of sketchy lighting and audio difficulties, and occasionally on some takes you can catch a glimpse of an audio cable, but overall we've got a lot of top-notch usable footage. Considering our crew had little to no experience, the fact that things look as good as they do is fantastic. (hint: shoot in black and white, and you save a lot of time)

The next step is to catalog what we have, determine if we want any additional coverage, then plan the next shoot date, tentatively a week from today (Monday, May 2nd). That'll give us enough time to begin to organize the editing process. Effectively, we're both in PRODUCTION and POST.

We're beginning to realize that this is our film school. We're learning a hell of a lot during this process, and I can already tell that the results are going to be worth all the effort.

The Big Shoot: Day One

Today was the big shoot.

It turns out that this is "Day One" of the big shoot. Which is fine, as you'll see here. Better fasten your seat belt folks...this is a long ride!

I picked up Chad ("Green"...I'll explain later) and drove to the shoot. We got to the studio around 8AM, and promptly found we were locked out. Anthony called me on the cell phone and said there was a huge line at Dunkin' Donuts, so he'd be a few minutes late with the donuts. Not a problem. Then Paulina said she wanted a bagel. With cream cheese. Okay, maybe it's a problem now. But not really. We just joked about her being the "Bagel Princess", and let it go at that.

A guard finally appeared and let us in the building around 8:20, but after loading in all the equipment we were still too early for the actual studio to be open, so we were waiting in the heated and non-rain-swept hallway instead of outdoors, which was OK.


The homeless film crew

We spent the time doing some blocking and rehearsing, since quite a few scenes were to be shot right there in the hallway. This was the first time the two leads Michael and James met each other, and I was glad to see that they got along great. In fact, because of the way auditions and rehearsals went, most of the cast and crew met each other for the first time at that moment.


James running into Michael for the first time

At 9 the studio doors opened, and we immediately took over the green room. Over donuts and coffee we briefed the crew on what we'd be working on. Michael wanted a cup of real coffee for a prop, and I told him that there's no NEED for coffee to actually be in his cup; we'd just brewed a pot and it was scalding hot. I said, "You're an actor...ACT like you have coffee in the cup!" He smirked and poured himself a cup anyway. Fine, I thought, no big deal.


James, Paulina, Michael

The cast got into their wardrobe and we set up for the shoot. One of the early scenes required James to nearly bump into Michael while he's holding his stupid cup of coffee, with Paulina waiting off-scene to enter. On the second take, James crashed into Michael, demolishing the cup and spraying coffee all over the both of them! Being the sensitive, artistic-type director I am, I resisted saying "I told ya so!", and simply enjoyed a long and somewhat hysterical laugh. Fortunately, my actors aren't the thin skinned types, and they rolled with it and laughed too.


"He spilled my coffee!"

Chad "Red" and Chad "Green" worked grip and gaffer duty, and Chad "Red" also acted as an extra in the hallway. We had to name them that to differentiate between them, so we used their primary wardrobe colors. I don't know what the odds are to get TWO Chads on a five man crew, but considering that it has to be a long shot, I stopped at the 7-11 on the way home and bought a Powerball ticket.


Chad and Chad

Michael and James continually amazed us with their acting abilities and enthusiasm. I still can't believe how lucky we were to get them! These guys both give 110%, even if the script calls for pratfalls, wearing a suffocating costume, or being tossed around like rag dolls. Guys, you fuckin' RULE!

Paulina also gave a wonderful performance. We told her to act mad at Michael. She asked "how big should I act?" I said BIG. Anthony said "Give it that Latino fire." We did a few takes, and each time she did it bigger and madder and funnier! By the last take I had to clamp my hand over my mouth so I didn't ruin the take by laughing. She's a star!


Paulina, Michael

Chad (red) spent last night with us at the studio learning about the mics, so he was a huge help with that, general production assistance, and running the script during the longer dialogue scenes. Chad (green) is a good friend of mine and crewman on my racing sailboat, last week he agreed to be a grip on our movie. He did a great job being "go-to guy", along with using the digital still camera to document the shoot. Paulina also doubled on her camera and helped us immensely as crew.

The audio situation slowed down things. We didn't have wireless mics, and the lavs that we used weren't top notch by any means...we pretty much had to reshoot some takes because I heard too much static through the monitor headset. Our actors were always tripping over the cables, and one take of Paulina poking her finger into Michael's chest sounded like civil war artillery in my headset, because she managed to nail the mic that we taped under his shirt with her finger!


Me, deafened by Paulina's vigorous poking!

I'm sure that we'll manage to get better sound than what we'd get by using the on-camera mics, but I know we can do better, and maybe soon I'll spring for a cheap pair of wireless mics and a shotgun mic. Probably $400-500 will get us stuff that'll do the trick acceptably well. Not only will it sound better, but it'll save TIME and EFFORT. That's the ticket!

We broke for lunch just after noon, and I spoke with the studio manager. She let me know that they had to close at 2:30, which gave us less than 2 hours of shooting time left. I went back to our crew and explained that we could kill ourselves, or plan on coming back ASAP to finish the taping. Everyone was thrilled with the work we'd done so far, and agreed to come back in 10 days and finish the thing (except for some minor additional footage that can be done anytime).

After lunch we finished the hallway and elevator scenes. Anthony did a hysterical cameo in his own movie by playing a nonplussed Hispanic janitor. I can't wait to see the "rushes" on Monday...that's when we have the editing equipment reserved, so we can download from mini-DV onto VHS or DVD to study what we've got so far.


Paulina, Anthony, Chad (red)

You know what's cool? I didn't forget a SINGLE FUCKING THING! We had so much junk packed into the production van that basically, anytime somebody needed something, we either had it right there in the studio, or we ran out to the van. All that worry paid off, 'cause we had everything we needed.

So we packed up around 2:15, after a good four hours of shooting. We've probably got another four or so left, but we're getting there, and next time we'll be shooting in a much more controllable space. We'll even get to use our fog machine!

I can't wait!

Fingers crossed!

10 hours from now we're at the studio. I have to try to get some sleep tonight. This is what's going through my head right now:

"Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything? Did you forget anything?"

That, and this:

"Are you SURE?"

There's nothing more for me to do but try to relax. I've done everything in my power to ensure that the shoot is prepared.

The pre-production phase is officially over.

Now it's PRODUCTION time! I'll try to post something by tomorrow night, but I can't guarantee how much detail I'll provide. We'll see.

Am I "Living In Oblivion"?

Cast of "Living In Oblivon" (1995)
I taped PGL last night, 'cause I couldn't stay awake beyond 10PM. I don't know if it's a good thing for me to be watching the latest episode of Project Green Light right now, less than 30 hours before our shoot.

It's kind of cool seeing elements of their movie that we're going to be using. It's like, "Hey, would ya look at that china lantern they're using? It looks exactly like ours!", or "Their lavalier battery pack is just like the one we're using."

In contrast, there's the stomach clenching pressure for them to stay on schedule, and the tension and arguments going on between director and crew. I worry that we're not going to get enough done in our limited time. That's my nightmare. I feel like Steve Buscemi in "Living In Oblivion". No wonder I woke up at 5AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep! Tonight I'm going to pop a couple of Tylenol PM; that'll do the trick.

I don't know how this is going to affect the shoot, but it's going to rain like hell tomorrow. We're shooting in the studio, but we have actors driving in from 40-50 miles away for an 8AM call time, so I hope they don't have any problem getting here.

It's fun to find new things to worry about. Really.

The Day Before the Day Before

That's going to be the title of the blockbuster adventure feature that I'm going to make someday. I wonder if Bruce Willis will be busy in three or four years.

Re: The shoot. We're almost there! Final prep is underway. We've got Michael, James and Paulina lined up to act. We've got the same Paulina, Chad, and Chad (yes, TWO Chads!) lined up for crew. And we've got Ant and me to direct, produce, bicker, bitch, and argue. We're just about ready.

Today, besides work, I've been busy outfitting "Production Van 2000". That's what I call my rattle wagon '94 Chevy van. It cost me $2500 two years ago; last year a car full of Asians slammed into it on I-95. The back door and bumper were crumpled, but no overwhelming damage. The Asian's insurance company gave me a check for about $2700, so other than having to slam the back door to get it to close, it's good. And paid for. Except for the $888 it cost to fix an ignition problem last week. But it works fine. Now. And it holds a lot of junk; like ladders, tables, lights, supplies, coolers, tools, chairs, actors, crew, and me.

I'm kind of beat tonight, and Blogspot was undergoing maintenance and wouldn't let me post until now. So, not much of interest here...I'm going to bed.

Tomorrow I'm expecting the "pre-shoot jitters" to take hold, but tonight, I'm too drowsy to care.

Audio dynamite!

It was nice not having to work today...things slowed down a bit workwise, and other than a ten-minute call from Headquarters, it was a day to catch up on movie stuff.

Damn, but it's nice that Spring has finally fuckin' sprung! Time to dig out the shorts and sleeveless T's (yes, I'm THAT guy). Today I'd be surprised if the local temperature readings didn't include an "80" here or there...and I'm not talkin' Celsius, friend; it's AMERICAN degrees, or NOTHIN' for me, dammit!

(...what the hell brought THAT on?...)

After helping my dear ol' Dad rewire a lamp (which required a trip to Home Depot and some clever innovation on my part), I went to the studio to confer with Technical Director extraordinaire John Ecay.

Lemme tell ya about John...he's a good guy. He took time out of his busy day to assist me in figuring out just how to make the mics work with the camera. We discovered that several of the $100 lavalier mics were messed up, and sounded tinny and quieter than the good mics. After several rounds of testing, I found two that sounded reasonably good and we can mix into the camera for decent (read: acceptable) audio.

John also helped us get coordinated with the camera and mic reservations. Because it's a public access station, it's basically first come, first served on reserving cameras and production equipment. We found that all the other cameras are being used this weekend, so we only have the one camera reserved.


Bob graces the GS-70
However, our actress/crew Paulina is willing to use her camera for the shoot. The studio cameras are Panasonic GS-70 models, and Paulina happens to own a Panasonic GS-120, which is basically the same thing. Lucky frickin' break there! There's only minor differences between the two models, none of which will be apparent in the video or audio. Both cameras use the same Leica lenses, and both have three 1/6th inch CCDs. The recorded image will be exactly the same. Schweet!

So we'll somehow manage to get by with a two-camera shoot. Personally, I'm relieved. Anthony desperately wanted to go three cameras, but we're shooting in such a constricted space that I think three will be more trouble than they're worth.

He wanted three.
Ain't gonna happen.
Life can be a bitch.
Get over it.
Bigger fish need frying.
Get your spatula, bee-otch!

(Anthony, I kid. Honest.)

Tonight we have a conference call scheduled for 10PM with our other lead actor. We're going to go over the script and touch on some of the rehearsal stuff we did with the other actor on Monday. Basically, this will be it for rehearsals. We're kind of going into this thing cold...the actors will all meet one another the morning of the shoot! That's gonna be interesting, to say the least.

I've also decided to improv a short scene with our actress and the two leads on the spot. It'll be fun to see how quickly we can slam a new scene into the mix. I'm looking forward to it.

My wife just got home from shopping...she bought all the food for the shoot, so I have to help her carry it in. From a financial point of view, this is by far our biggest single expense associated with this project. I wonder how many other filmmakers spend so much to keep their crew happy?

Yeah, lets see that big-shot Spielberg guy spend more on catering than on his crappy special effects! Bet he won't. Wimp.

(Note to Self: alienating Hollywood gorillas not a good idea...if you annoy them, they can bite; or at the very least, they may throw their poop at you.)

Can you hear me Major Tom?

Dateline: Bridgeport Connecticut

T-minus 4 days and counting...

Here at Mission Control we anticipate all systems go for launch at exactly 8:01 AM EDT this Saturday. Mission specialists are busily preparing for this, the first flight of the new millenium. The world anxiously awaits to hear news of a successfull launch, and media representatives are swarming to this small New England city for the historic event.


Photo courtesy NASA at http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/
All of the world's faiths have joined together in wishing the mission well. The new ex-Nazi pope has blessed the launch pad; Billy Graham will say a prayer on National TV; the Dalai Lama sends his holy blessings; Voodoo queen Marie Laveau sacrificed a chicken; and Mission Specialist/Filmmaker Bob Adams consulted his Magic 8-ball.



Adams received a somewhat ambiguous reply, "Ask again later", from the mass-produced divining tool/toy. Portions of the destroyed 8-ball were later recoved from the street in front of Mission Control.

Undeterred by this minor setback, he has forcefully stated for the record that he will meet the brutal timetable created by the agency, and that he fully intends to proceed "...balls to the wall!"

When asked what he meant by that statement, Adams snorted, gave the reporter a withering look, and skulked off to resume his preparations for the launch.

Rehearsal

Drove up to Hyannis for work today. Great trip. Had my MP3 player cranking, cruise control on, and a Cuban cigar puffing away. The sun was shining, the breeze was warm, and because of the Patriot Day holiday in Massachusetts, traffic was agreeably light. Spring in New England is something special.


A Bizarre Looking Freak-Kitty That
I Posted Here For Absolutely No Reason
I really think there's something wrong with me for making you see that.

I'm sorry. I obviously spend WAY too much time surfing the 'net for strange and bizarre stuff.

Got back in time for the 6PM rehearsal at the studio.

We tried our dual mic setup with a camera, but it didn't work. The tech that gave us the equipment apparently didn't provide the right equipment, and the technical director was gone for the day. I'll have to call him tomorrow and find out exactly what we'll need to make it work.

The actor scheduled for tonight showed up promptly. We walked through the script with him, and while we didn't have the other actor there, we did get some good work in. Plus, he's willing to improvise and made some good suggestions.

And he's a funny guy. The script requires funny, and he's sure to deliver.

He also does physical comedy, which is great, but I have to keep Anthony reigned in, or he'll have the poor guy bouncing off the walls! I mean, I love physical comedy. I just don't want to have to splint a compound fracture because we were "shooting for laughs".

Tomorrow's another studio night. We'll try to get the audio issue resolved. I don't want to have to work it out the morning of the shoot.

Stepping lively

Ant and I had a production meeting today. We covered a lot of ground.

We started with practical stuff, like perfecting the fog chiller to enhance the effect; getting equipment together, like lights, specialty camera mounts, and stingers (extension cords); and working out audio techniques.



The audio issue was especially troubling, because we don't have a lot of good audio stuff. We decided to use lavalier mics on the actors, and run them through an equalizer to balance and mix them, then input them into the primary camera's audio input. It's definitely a kludgey fix, but we don't have a DAT recorder or mini-disc system. This way we'll get reasonably decent audio without having to go through a lot of hassle...

...or expense. Expense is a big issue. Huge, actually. Prohibitive.

Also, we don't want to use a shotgun mic on that echo-y set...besides, we'd need yet ANOTHER crew member to operate the boom, and there just ain't enough room in there for more than seven of us (2 actors, 3 cameras, 2 crew).

Next was paperwork. We went over scripts and shot lists. We finalized (more or less) all the camera angles and camera locations; we made lists of items we needed on shoot day; and we compiled a menu for the actors and crew.

I'm learning first hand that creativity is only a portion of what's required to make a movie. You also have to be organized, persistant, flexible, innovative, patient, and confident. Otherwise you'll never get it done.

All told, our production meeting was three hours of "shit...am I forgetting anything?"

Tomorrow rehearsals and test shoot at the studio. That's after I have to drive up to Cape Cod and back (400+ miles)...should be fun.