Production Journal #3: Duct Tape is More Desperate

Tuesday, March 23 2010

Morgan, Greg and I thought it would be beneficial for the project to film on a day during Spring Break. I completely agreed. The original plan was to film early on, like at noon, to late in the evening, but for unforeseen reasons that didn't happen. It wasn't all bad though. I got to drive some early in the day and go to the hardware store, and got a ride to UWM later in the day. When Greg and I finally got to Morgan's, it was obvious everyone was looking forward to today, because, they got to wear make-up! Seriously, if I've learned anything, the best way to make an actor happy is make-up, fake blood, or both, if your shoot calls for it.

When we got to Morgan's we got right to work. Morgan showed us her face paint designs and I agreed and she got to work. It was decided to use an off white color for the base instead of white in hopes the faces won't come out over exposed. I was weary having had bad issues with mixing of any amounts of black into white, but she seemed confident, so I grabbed her ukuelele and let her do her thing. Greg, for whatever reason, was way too excited to have face paint on. So Greg washed his face and Morgan went at it. She was like a seasoned pro at face paint. It was really neat to see. We even filmed parts of it for posterity.

As Morgan worked Matt, her boyfriend, and I were fooling around with different instruments. I mainly stuck to the uke, but he played a bit of guitar and a keyboard hooked up to a distortion peddle and was playing a song he wrote that moment called "Greg". I really wish we would have recorded it.

After the face paint was applied to both actors, Morgan recorded a cover song while sitting in the bathroom. Greg was filming it. She performed it on the uke. I wish I could remember it, but I can't. I'm sure she'll sing it for us again. We then went outside for a photo shoot. They look amazing. My favorites can be seen below.



We then had to take Matt to work. This was one of the fun parts of the day. Picture this, if you will. Two harlequin's, a guy with film equipment on his lap and another guy all driving in a car together, listening to the Unicorns, acting like nothing is happening, while on the East Side. Good stuff. We got some odd looks, which was amazing.

Finally, we got to the park where we planned to film. I was a little worried Greg was going to scare the shit out of the kids playing on the playground. He was taking it upon himself to be as weird and creepy as possible. As I was setting up, Greg and Morgan went over the actions of the scene and tried to pantomime and even broke out in song once or twice. Greg seriously could have a career in it. He's scary good as being a desperate harlequin. The time of the day was perfect. The sun was beginning to set, the park was near empty, and it wasn't too cold. That won't show up on film, but it's nice for us. We then began to film. I wanted this footage to be good. I did match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot, and even close-ups! I did everything, minus use the light meter, to make this look good. I've really began to hate the light meter. The tool that is supposed to make life easier for us has actually screwed me over more than it's helped. So I don't use it. Sorry Rob, sorry Ken. I know if you guys read this you'll not like it, but whatever. It's my film!

Filming went great, but then we were really hungry. Evidence is that Morgan was driving like a woman possessed. Neither decided to take off the face paint when we went to Panera for dinner. I got a chicken and bacon Dijon panini and some lemonade. I recommend it. Afterwards we decided to call it a day. We were going to film the climax of the film, but we were all kinda tired, Greg wanted to see his girlfriend, and I had a guitar at home crying from lack of attention. So, we decided to call it a day.

When I got home I noticed Morgan uploaded the images from the day. Upon seeing them I contacted my friend Steffani, a good photographer and artist, to design a movie poster for this. She did, and you can see it below. Visit her website, which is also below. Thanks for reading.


Steffani Kasulke's website

Yes, the official title is now Commedia dell'arte, and here's the song that inspired it.

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" - Tom Waits

Production Journal #2: Frustratingly Good Day?

Tuesday, March 17, 2010

Hey all, I thought I'd fill you in on the second official day of film, and what a headache it was. If I've learned anything about a film shoot if would be this: nothing ever goes according to plan. To start the day off, I got a text from Morgan and she was under the weather and that she couldn't film today. This wasn't too bad because we were mainly going to utilize the nice weather to our advantage and shoot some coverage footage for the final scene. Plus, I'd rather have her rest up then work while she's sick. I know how it feel to work while being sick; it sucks, so I told her it was fine.

Next I had to text Greg and fill him in. One good thing did some from Morgan being ill. I no longer had to go and check out my laundry list of equipment. I had so much. No sore arms and no annoyances on the bus. Fabuleux!

Once math ended I jumped on a shuttle bus to Riverview to meet up with Greg and his girlfriend Vanessa to help him with his project The Woman in Black. This was truly a fun experience. It was actually one of the first time Greg and I filmed together. We both planned out shots, gave in put and tried to find the best angle for everything. This was great, plus his girlfriend is fun. So, everything went great! After that, we went back to his dorm to re-load the camera with film so I could film... which is where things went bad.

We were in such a great mood we went to Ma Fisher's to grab some grub before shooting and had a delightful conversation with a nice waitress about hollandaise sauce and why shooting a film about harlequins is perfect for black and white silent film. She then tried to get a bigger tip by rocking cleavage, but I missed it as I was trying to get the bottle of ketchup to work. Pity.

We then went to this incredibly dank alley behind the restaurant that was amazing looking! I knew from the beginning the shoot for me would be coverage footage that I didn't need, but would be nice to have. Evidence of this when I was using a shopping cart to do a dolly shot. Ha. In this alley we met a homeless man and some weird smells and found a beautiful sub alley that we need to remember. We got to filming and I was doing different shots that utilized the sunset and was doing different close-up and was playing with the focus. I was happy with my shots! Then, the camera stopped shooting. Greg somehow fixed it and we continued it. It Then stopped again... we didn't know why. We found a darkish alley and opened it up and the filmed was a jammed clusterfuck in the camera! Oh jeez!

We bolted back to Greg's to fix it. We somehow salvaged what we could and we're hoping it turns out. We aren't sure yet. I was upset, but Greg thought it would cheer us all up if we watched some of his embarrassing old videos he made. I won't mention the names or post the links to save him from some embarrassment.

Greg then donned his Mr. Pesti costume (long story for another time) and we went out and filmed an art project and have a very great encounter with a homeless man who really changed the mood of everything. He was amazing.

So yeah, as you can see, things didn't go right, but it wasn't a bad day, which is sweet. I'll let you all know how the film turns out, if it turns out, once I get it back after break. This was all stream of conscience, so sorry. Also, hopefully I'll have some pics to post next time.

First Set of Dailies

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thought I'd keep everyone updated that yesterday I got to see the first set of dailies for the film. I was nervous about them. I was told there was a chance they might not turn out because of pressure plate issues, but we all had our fingers crossed. Both Morgan and I were giddy to finally get the chance to see if our lighting set-ups were any good. Well, when I went to spool the projector, I got nervous. Almost all the film I could see was completely clear. This made me very nervous. When I actually projected it, for whatever reason the few feet that Morgan shot on my roll and the few tests we did came out almost completely white, but all the real stuff turned out perfect! I was really relieved. My biggest complaint: lack of insight to what I need to do to improve. Rob and the class was more interested in why the beginning came up clear more than helping me out, and the few things that were said (one that was rather insulting) didn't help much. Had it not been for Scott, whom watched the footage later on, I wouldn't have any feedback. So, thank you Scott. I am more fueled now than I was before! Looking forward to being on set again next week.

Production Journal #1

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

So, every time I try to sit down and dedicate myself to a blog, it never works. I write one or two entries and give up completely. This time, I hope for it to be different. This isn't a blog, it's a production journal. Hopefully the change of name will help me stay dedicated. This "journal" is dedicated to my current production, entitled Comedy. I guess the best way to start this would be from the beginning.

The idea for "Comedy" came to me when we were given the task of coming up with a final project for our Film 220 class at UW-Milwaukee. The film itself must be between 3 to 5 minutes, and it's to be recorded on Tri-X Reversal black & white film. So, a black and white short is hard enough, but given the fact it's a silent short makes it that much harder. The challenge has been set. I had a few ideas circling around in my old noodle, but nothing concrete. I told my collaborator, and partner in crime, Morgan McPhearson, that I had an idea of showing a break-up. At that point it was nothing unique. I had planned to use my brother in the role of the guy because he has a good face and I feel his forearm tattoos would look nice on film and I figured I'd use his girlfriend as the girl. Well, on the way home that night Tom Waits' cover of the Ramones' song "I Don't Want To Grow Up" came on, and my brain went wild!

When this song started and I heard Tom Waits' raspy ass, three-pack-a-day voice, I saw images in my head. I saw two Harlequin-like mimes arguing. I saw all the images of the story fall into place. It was like magic. I saw a Chaplin-esque male and his cute, Raggedy Anne type girl fighting... with pantomime! The idea of a silent break-up and the obvious theme of growing up was perfect! Also, with b&w, silent film, it could be a nice throw back to the comedy films of days past.

Well, from that moment, I had to call Morgan and my other good friend, and collaborative partner, Greg Bishop, and tell them the news and get feedback. Both felt it was a good idea and it was a story that needed to be told, so I went ahead with the idea. To keep the project in the trifecta of creativity we have going on, I cast both Morgan and Greg in the lead roles, plus, they were perfect for the parts. Greg has the punk rock, Chaplin look that I wanted, and Morgan I knew would have a great patchwork dress laying around and a pair of Mary Janes. From then, we began to work. I talked about my ideas to both of them and we talked about what worked, and what might not. Morgan, who is also my cinematographer, helped me all the way. She's designing the make-up too, which is awesome. Plus, she's letting us film in her apartment.
Morgan's Face paint Design

We started this process by doing some lighting tests at her apartment. We had a Bolex 16mm camera, a tube kit (lights, for those who don't know), and a tri-pod. We realized early on that as good as those tube lights are, they are sometimes too bright (any heavy as hell). So, we decided to go shopping. We got some extension cords, because that's always a necessity, and we bought Clampy (a clamp light to get some more light). We did some lighting tests, and according to the light meter and the view finder, it should be bright enough. Everything was falling into place!

Well, now that the introduction is done, I can move on to today, and our first productive day of filming. Morgan, Greg and I decided we'd film today, even though we lacked the face paint. I have to get it this weekend. Well, we thought we'd film anyway and film all the post face paint stuff now and see if it'll work or not. So we did. The biggest issue with shooting with film, especially black and white film, is you never know, until after the film is processed, whether or not it turned out or if you had enough light. Through our experiments, Morgan and I think we might have found a pretty decent system to judging it and fudging the f/stops a bit with our eye and the viewfinder, but we obviously won't know for sure until the film is processed. We can only hope.

The first scene we filmed was a scene where the main character, known right now as GUY, takes off his face paint for the final time and doesn't put on anymore. He sees his face for the first time in a long time and it's also the first time the audience will see his real face. We tried this a few different way. It was about 4:00pm when we started. We had camera issues, had to run back to the equipment room just to find out it was all working fine and yeah. It was a time suck, but whatever. Film making doesn't always go smoothly. The positive side to this was we got a pre-magic hour sun light that would shine beautifully through the window in the bathroom. Morgan felt we should use the original lighting we planned, but I felt we HAD to take advantage of the sunlight so we did the scene three or four times. The first time we only used the natural, bright sunlight pouring through the window. The next show, we covered up the window with a towel and used clampy laying in the sink to get a great, contrasting evil look. Greg had his face positioned just right to get that Kubrick evil stare that is now so famous. We then compromised at the end and used both the natural light and clampy. We'll see which works best. Either way, Morgan was taking amazing photographs the entire way to document this fun production. I'll attach photos as soon as I can. She's been so great through all of this.

Stills from the shoot

The final scene we shot for the day we a scene in which GUY decides to put on this nice jacket he owns and decides he wants to leave this childish life behind. We filmed it out of order, and we'll be going back and filming inserts to add in later during the editing process. We filmed this in Morgan's bed room and it worked out great. I got, what I feel is, a great reflection shot and the tube light proved to be rather useful this time. I also filmed Greg putting on the jacket, grabbing the jacket and buttoning up the jacket. Also, as stated, it was filmed out of order, and I also listed it out of order. Whatever. Ultimately, I feel it was a pretty good day of filming. It was fun, we discussed the project as a whole, and we also talked about our next collaborative effort. I can't give away too much, but it's a sequel to one of Greg's earlier movies staring Morgan and Greg directing with some directing and producing done by yours truly.

One more shot from the shoot.

I feel that's enough. Until next time, keep believing in film!