Production Journal #7: It's a Wrap!

Wednesday, April 28 2010

Finally, the filming of Commedia dell'arte has come to an end.

It's been a long journey. About two months, I think. I've been physically exhausted for weeks. I'm too tired to do much of anything. It's been a lot of long nights lugging around heavy equipment for the sake of art.

I don't regret a moment of it though. Thus far, this is my favorite film I've made. My rough cut is a little over 5 minutes so far (will be more once I add the new footage) and I love how it's turning out. I'm truly happy with this film.

Perhaps I should show this rough cut to a few more people. Thus far Leanna, Scott, Morgan and Greg have seen it. Most other people have shown their cuts to the class and have gotten feed back and what not. The reason I'm not is because I want to see how this turns out if I stick to my intuition and make the movie I feel is best instead of getting peoples opinions and stressing me out. It's an experiment. Once I'm happy with my rough cut and can call it a fine cut, sure, I'll show everyone. Until then, I want it to stay special. If I show too many people, the final won't be as special.

I guess I should talk about the actual shoot. It was a relatively quick shoot. We filmed what I've been calling "antics" and some inbetweener stuff to round out everything so there are fewer jumps.

The antics were fun to shoot. It was a very mellow, very fun shoot. Morgan made this amazing coffee and some peanut butter sandwiches. It was great watching Morgan, in make-up, try and bite into her food. During the shoot, Morgan and I were switching out our iPod's to pump the place full of tunes. We didn't think it would hurt, considering we're not doing audio. Morgan was playing a lot of Panda Bear while I was sticking to tunes I was listening to while editing: The Dresden Dolls and The Indelicates new album. It really set the mood.

We did so many different things during these antics. We had Greg doing a silly dance with the ukuelele that I've dubbed "the Charlie Brown", we had him pull a bird out of his hat and even tickle Morgan's face with a rather long feather. He really sold the character. Morgan was great too, but most of the focus was on Greg. Greg has the hard job of being happy, yet depressed and ready to crack. To be zany yet subtle. He did it wonderfully.

After we wrapped on my film, we did some credits for Morgan, which was a wrap for her as well and listened to New Order's "Blue Monday". Then shot some stuff for Greg the next day and it was a wrap for his film. Commedia dell'art, Lucid, and The Lady in Black all finishing at the same time. It's a good feeling to be done. Now I just need to finish editing.

Now, time for a video.

"Blue Monday" - New Order

Production Journal #6: Editing... enough said.

Stress is a word. It's also a word to describe my life currently. Fun how that works.

I've been in the editing room for most of the week, and I think last week. I'm not really sure. The editing room has a weird effect on ones mind. Time doesn't exist. It's like the clock in the head is busted. Minutes feel like seconds, hours feel like fractions of that time. The simple process of cutting and taping film onto reels isn't as quick as you normally perceive. I spent an hour (I think?) just re-taping a scene and razor blading the edges to it goes through the projector better.

Yes, it takes time. No, I'm not just a shitty editor.

It's kind of weird to talk about editing, so I guess before I attempt to, I'll give a quick lesson on editing. Not sure how well it'll work. Also, my camera takes bad pictures, as you'll see, so please, bare with me. If you don't like it, fuck you, buy me a good camera.

Here we go.


First, this is the spindle thing we put our reel of film on.


The film goes to this rather dark spindle on the other side. Another reel, known as the take-up reel is placed on there. It takes up the film


This is the Movie Scope. The film runs from the spindle through this to the other spindle. With this, we can see an image.


See? Sorta...


Here's a drawing that pretty much describes what I just told you.

Now, lets say we found a shot we want to use. Well, we take it and attach it to this


That's the guillotine cutter. It cuts the film for you. We then take the bad footage and put it on an OUT roll. An OUT roll is stuff that you either don't want/need or stuff that turned out like crap. You save it for later. An IN roll is your current film or shots you want to use. Usually you assemble all of your good shots at one time. I don't. I just jump in and edit scene by scene and grab the stuff if and when I need it. It works for me.


Guillotine cutter in action.

When we want to attach the new footage to the good reel, we put the two pieces of film in the middle of the guillotine cutter's base.


Once there, we can put tape over the middle of the two pieces to attach them.


We just push the thing down and it attaches the tape and cuts off the excess. If there is still some tape, you just take a razor blade, Exacto Knife or any type of blade and clean it up.

That's editing. I've been doing this for days. It's so time consuming. I'm a perfectionist. I'm trying to get my match-on-action all right and trying to cut out excess time and frames that aren't needed. Plus, inter-cutting footage is a bitch as times. I love doing it though. I wish I had more to say. The days are running together. I can't really tell you about any experiences. Sorry. Perhaps next time I won't wait so long to post. Thanks for reading.

As a special treat, the Indelicates new album has been helping me in the editing room. Fits the feel of the film well. Here's a song from it.

"Europe" - The Indelicates


and another one...

"Flesh" - The Indelicates


Enjoy

Production Journal #5: Filming in a Heat Box

Tuesday, April 13th - Wednesday, April 14th 2010

It's been awhile since I've actually posted a Production Journal, so I thought I would. It's been a pretty odd week.

I guess by odd, I mean busy. I'm not sure.

Well, it all started Tuesday. We knew from the get go that Tuesday was going to be crazy. I had a camera reservation set up to film and was hoping to get some shooting in, but like every great idea, there is something in the way. Tuesday was the day George Kuchar was going to invade the Union Theatre and fill our brains with his own brand of humor via telepathic rays... and short films... either way, it was going to happen. That being said, I knew everything would be hectic, but I thought it shouldn't be hard to shoot 100ft of film. It's not much. Well, my original idea was to film some of Greg's big scenes at Morgan's apartment like we usually do. What I failed to realize was how long it takes to make Ziti. Why is that important? It's important because Morgan was making ziti and she'd be tied up for some time. I wasn't discouraged though. Just a change in plans. Instead, we decided to go to Riverview dorm, where Greg lives, and film the final shot of the movie. A shot that, in it's way, isn't super important, but is important. One shot is important. I know what it's like to try to take film out of a camera and pick up where I left off. It sucks. I decided not to do this and tried to find things to film.

We did some basic coverage footage. Greg's character, clean faced and all, leaving his residence and walking. Yes, like every good film student, I shot a lot of walking. It's what we do best! Ask around, it's true.

We then got to the important shit. The final shot of the movie. You're final memory. If a film has a shitty final shot, it can take you away from it. I needed this to be good. We (Greg, Vanessa, and I) went to this perfectly dank and dirty alley in the East Side and began to work. The final shot consists of Greg walking down this alley. He's no longer the harlequin of old. He's more matured. While walking down this alley, he leaves his derby on a garbage can and walks away. Fade out. The end.

Last time we attempted to film this, it went horribly! If you'll recall, it involved a clusterfuck of film carnage. This time went a lot smoother! We also got done ahead of schedule! So, we filmed trash for Greg. Why? That's not my place to say. Ask him.

After that, we had our Tuesday ritual of Taco Tuesday and we parted ways. I went home, dropped off my crap, grabbed my camera, did some Math and headed back down to UWM to see George.

This is where things got good. As soon as Morgan, Greg, Vanessa and I walked in we were greeted by a new acquaintance, Mark Borchardt, whom we met last Thursday. He remembered us! We gave him a copy of Greg's short film, Void, along with our contact info so he could tell us what he thought. We really want to know his thoughts. He appreciated this gesture greatly. He smiled, and asked us to all sign the DVD and date it so it's not just a random DVD, but a special moment in history for him to remember. Deep. So we did and he let us take some pictures with him like the lame fanboys we are. I asked him for some editing advice, which he kindly shared, and he told me where to get a VHS copy of Coven, his 16mm short he made back in the 90's. As Vanessa would say, "sweet dick". Below is the picture.



He was a cool dude. He talked to us quite a lot through the night. He took some pictures of all of us, and even proclaimed I am a new friend. Awesome. Mike Schank from American Movie, was also there, but he made me kinda uncomfortable. Too many Satanic questions. Sorry, Mike.

Now onto the Man of the hour, George Kuchar! Man, he was something. Morgan and I seriously feel he's from another Planet. We also gave him a copy of Greg's film. He gave me an autograph and let me snap some pictures. We didn't talk with him nearly as much because he was the man of hour, and everyone wanted a piece of him. He was super kind though. When we were going to take a picture he told me to sit next to him so I didn't have to kneel. He placed his hand on my leg. Didn't bother me. He's cool in my book.



He then showed us some films. He showed Libido Lagoon, Burrito Bay, Temple of Torment, Solstice, and Vault of Vapors. Fun stuff. He answered all of our questions with grace, even Vanessa asking how is love life is. Great man.

We had a party for him in the basement of Mitchell. Food, drinks, and Steven DJing some pretty sweetly odd tunes. Fabulous.

Then, came Wednesday. I was so exhausted when I woke up that Morning. Everything started to go wrong. Morgan was very sick. Her throat closed. I was worried. She almost died and I still had to film. Two bad things! I was too stressed to sit in class. I told Rob I had to go and went to the editing room and just edited for two hours. I needed it. It helped.

Morgan was doing better. We finally got ahold of her. She had to go to the Doctor. She told us to just let ourselves into her apartment. Greg had her keys. So, I headed to Gregs, played House of the Dead a bit and we headed to her house. We got to the bus stop and Vanessa pointed out we forgot the camera! Greg ran like hell back to his dorm and ran back with almost 20 to 30 pounds of stuff. That's three blocks! Way to go Greg. I felt bad. We didn't miss our bus though.

It was odd just walking into her house. But we did. We rested and began to set up. It didn't take long to realize how freakishly hot it was in there! As I planned out the shots, Vanessa attempted to recreate Greg's make-up. She did a good job. We filmed what we could. We waited for Morgan to get home to finish the make-up.

Matt was playing Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, so we watched before we filmed.

This footage is also important, but was never too sure about it. The shoot went by way too quickly for comfort. The lighting set ups were quick, and they looked to be good. I don't know how I feel about what we filmed though. Maybe I'll like it more when I see it. I think I was just too out of it to care. Greg was a trooper. Those lights were hot. I know. I burnt myself. Thank God for Aloe.

Afterwards we headed to Piggly Wiggly and got some cheap soda and grabbed some Wendy's before heading back.

Before I went home I met up with an old friend. We had a very nice night at the beach and my favorite spot in Milwaukee. It made the stressful night so much better. I thank them. I then went home, did some Math and passed the hell out. Sleep. It's what I needed. God, was it good. Thanks for reading.

P.S. this was rushed. Running out of time. Bye.

Real Update to Come

I'm still exhausted from the Kuchar screening last night. I'll post an official blog post about it when I get the pictures back from it. Mine turned out like crap. Even though I was told that proclaiming that my camera is a piece of crap is a "bold statement, man" it's, nonetheless, true.

So, instead of posting MY words, I'm going to steal the words from a writer I love. As you all know, I love Neil Gaiman's work and I find any excuse to post his words, so I will. Here's a little monologue from "American Gods".

"I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen — I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkledy lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of the Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

Real post to come. Also, because it's funny, here's a video making fun of Tim Burton. I'm a big fan of Tim, but this is rather funny because it's true. I feel he needs to go back to basics and make films with lower budgets again, but whatever. For every "Planet of the Apes", there will be a "Big Fish" or "Ed Wood" hiding down the road... or at least we can only hope...

Nothing can go wrong on George Kuchar day... except when it does...

Today was George Kuchar day. The film department was in a gleeful mood, to say the least. I haven't seen Carl Bogner so happy. He actually belly laughed! That doesn't happen often.

I was excited. I like Kuchar quite a bit. I really like his narrative work. I wish we would have seen more of that though. We mostly watched his video diaries. More on that later.

We didn't have a 220 class today. Rob was doing individual interviews with students who wanted advice on their films thus far. I was pretty confident with mine, so I skipped that and spent those two hours in the editing room. I was editing my first scene, which works pretty well, minus the inconsistent exposures.

I got angry though. I was being careful. I was even wearing gloves while editing, and somehow my film projected all gritty and scratched. I looked at the film with a light, and it looked fine. My verdict: the projector needs to be cleaned.

I also realized that editing with gloves can suck when dealing with tape. It sticks to your gloves. So annoying.

I spent two hours on one scene. I have to re-cut that scene twice as well because I kept making small, continuity mistakes. A reaction seen twice and so forth. Such is the drawback to inter-cutting footage.

Then I went to my film class and watched as George Kuchar talked a bit, and then showed us some work. He showed us a psuedo-documentary about the making of his film "Planet of the Vamps" and one of his Holiday videos and a film entitled "The Treasure of Creepy Hollow".

If I learned anything today from Mr. Kuchar it was this. 1) one doesn't need a script if you have actors willing to do anything and 2) you can get a woman to take off her top if you say the movie depends on it... and you're partly senile.

Let's hope he can talk a bit more tomorrow night. I also hope Mark Borchardt still allows me to take some photos with him and George like he said I could.

After that, I had lunch with Lea, went to my English class and went back to the editing room for some more fun. I showed Lea a intro to editing and began to work on a new scene. This scene is so much easier, and more fun to edit. Only got a few shots totally put together. Next time should be more productive.

Just for kicks, here's a short little documentary about George making a film with his class at the San Francisco Art Institute.

"It Came From Kuchar" screening at UWM

I went to the "It Came From Kuchar" screening at UWM and had a great time. In case you aren't familiar with the work of George & Mike Kuchar, this is a documentary about them and their zero budget films they've been making since children and their impact on film making today. John Waters has plenty of nice things to say about them. I suggest checking it out. It did well at SXSW, so yeah. Enjoy.



Another awesome part of the night was getting to meet "American Movie" himself, Mark Borchardt, at the screening. He was seriously, one of the nicest people on the planet. I thanked him kindly for being the reason I saw "Night of the Living Dead" for the first time when he hosted the movie on G4. He talked about his memories from it. Shaked my hand and even wished Greg's girlfriend, Vanessa, a happy birthday. He told me he'd be around next week when George Kuchar visits and told me to bring my camera and we could get some pics. In case you haven't seem or heard of American Movie, check it out below. It was made by some UWM students and it's awesome.



I guess that's it for now.

Meeting with Braeger

I'm in my house, and it's very freaking cold. Thought I'd let you know.

I also was completely soaked this morning. Practically from head to toe! My underwear was even wet! Not cool! I skipped class because of it.

Any who, I had my meeting today with the President of Braeger today and it went well. His goal, to do what hasn't been done. What hasn't been done? I'll tell you. You know how when you do a Google search for, let's say Skateboards, you have a link or two, then two to three YouTube videos that are related. Well, he wants to do that. I agreed. He gave me a few ideas, like flipping cars and planned anarchy and such. I'm thinking like old Vonage commercials or if Jackass was advertising for Braeger. Either way, it sounds fun.

Also, the issue of a camera came up. He's buying me one. He gave me a $300 cap, but after doing some quick researching, I can't get crap for that. I'm gonna try to ask for a $400 cap, because you can't get shit for less than $320. We'll see how that works. Greg also suggested a cheap and fairly good editing software called MAGIX Movie Movie Edit Pro 16 that I should look into, so I will.

Finally, some more good news. The video petitions that some friends and I made in our senior year of High School helped out. According to my sources, they were one of the deciding factors to keep the 27th street ramps open. Sure, they're doing some renovations on them, but they are staying open! The videos are still talked about, even amongst the two new guys running for Governor! Ha! Awesome. That makes me feel good that not only did we make a difference, but they're still talked about. Once again, a link to the website.

Governor Doyle, Please Save the 27th Street Ramps

Now for the pieces of bad news. Traffic is still be rerouted by my old High School, Ronald Reagan, and apparently, two kids were hit by a car. My old principal is pissed, and probably has a lot to say. I may do a follow-up interview with her, the kids and maybe their parents as one last punch to the gut. It's not right.

I guess that's it for now. Before I go, once again here's a link to Kyle Duran Wutke's ramblings. Check them out. Especially check out his "Underrated Band of the Week" stuff. Always a good find there.

Thee-BeAtNiK Underground

"In Shreds" - The Chameleons (Kyle's band of the week)

Spreading the Gospel of the Beatnik

Thought I'd let you all know about a young writer who has a lot to say and has asked yours truly to spread his word. I agreed. Be sure to check up on his work. His name is Kyle Duran Wutke, and he is such a cool guy to speak with. One of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to inner thinking and music. Be sure to check him out.

Kyle's website
theebeatnikunderground.tumblr.com

One of his fun rants so you can get a feel for the guy.
Rant the (sea-men) away

A New Project?

Hey guys, I thought I'd tell you about this. I got a call earlier this week from the C.E.O. of Braeger Chevrolet to work on some "cool" videos to put up on YouTube to help business. Essentially, I'm taking it he wants me to direct some internet commercials.

Before you all get excited, I must explain the history I have with this man. Back when I was a senior in high school, he approached some friend of mine and myself because we were big in the Film Club my friend Jordan and I started and wanted us to do some video petitions to save some ramps from being closed on a major street. The ramps being closed would hurt businesses. We agreed. He promised us all a video camera in exchange. Long story short, we did the work, but only two of us got cameras. The ramps were saved and this is the first I've heard from him since September.

Now, I'm not one to hold a grudge, and I'm sure he forgot, but it still sucks. I have a meeting with him Tuesday, and I don't have a camera. I'm gonna tell him this, see if he remembers/what he says and go from there. I kinda expect something from this project because this is different. The last was doing a public service and the cameras were his idea. This one is business and it helps his car dealership. Things are different. I really want to do this, and I hope we can work something out. He's a nice man, I'm sure it won't be an issue.

Wish me luck, all. Also, since I see I only have two readers, pimp this shit out and get the word out!

Until next time, have a good one.

For old times sake, here's the old website for the ramps.
Save the Ramps Website

Be Sure to Check Out "The Lady In Black"

I always forget to mention Greg's film because we never film it on days I film, and usually these production journals are written on days I'm filming. Since we film at Morgan's, her work gets more face time, so I thought I'd take a moment to mention it.

Gregory Bishop, writer/director of "Void" and "C.J. Sunshine" has a new film on the way called "The Lady In Black" about a woman's phobia's haunting her. I've been on set with him a lot when he films and both him and his girlfriend Vanessa both have so much passion that it's always a great time filming with them. I'd show you all some pictures, but none of us ever think to take any while filming... so yeah. I'll be sure to talk about his project more often. Greg, if you're reading this, sorry for not mentioning it enough.

Production Journal #4: Hybrid Moments

Friday, March 26 2010

"Beauty has been flowing out of all my pores lately. Out of my pores, onto paper, through emulsion and onto film." -- Morgan McPhearson

"I'll make you a star!" - Gregory Bishop

Hello all! Once again, it's time for an update! Today started off on a down note. Last night I was up all night playing Mass Effect and lost track of time, and realized I was going to lose some sleep. I was right. I had my alarm set for like 11:15am (random time, but whatever) because I had to go to a meeting at work about how to deal with disruptive behavior at 1. Well, when my alarm went off, I was confused, because I was still in a dream, and was dreaming I was in a musical, so my dream ended as a song ended and the song ended with a bit of feedback. Odd to say the least. What sucks is I woke up with a headache. I layed down for a bit longer and asked mom to wake me at 11:30 or so. She did, headache was still there. I decided to take a shower and eat and then go to work. None of this is really important, but I thought I'd explain why my day didn't start too well.

The meeting was long and boring. I got to talk to my 4th and 5th grade teachers though and have a good cookie. That was kinda neat, but the thing that made the meeting awesome was this. I found an unopened VHS tape of the Rankin/Bass stop motion classic "Mad Monster Party" with the voice talents of the amazing Boris Karloff. I left a note for the woman in charge of the tapes to see if I could have it or possibly buy it from them.

On to the film making portion of this blog. I got to Morgan's about 4:00pm thanks for Nate and Cheryl giving me a ride. Greg was waiting, dressed the the nines like always. Once Morgan finally got home we talked about the plans for the day, while playing some uke along the way. It was decided that we'd film the scenes for her short film "Lucid" first, which would use Greg, and then film mine.

Morgan's shoot was funny as hell. Not much was done as far as camera angles, but Greg's hands were put though hell! We covered his hands in chocolate, had him squish bananas, had his hands covered in albumen (egg whites) that looked like semen, and we even gave him hot dog fingers! We filmed stick and paper hands as well, but the others were so funny. We later had eggs fried with hot dogs and cheese. We had extras, so why not.

Some moments from filming "Lucid"

What made all of this so amazing was listening to David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" and the Misfits' "Static Age" on vinyl as we filmed. All the pops and crackles in the record is so very amazing. It's the best I've heard those albums sound ever. Plus, it was the first time I heard Bowie on vinyl. Morgan and I then had a short talk about how dumbfounded we are by vinyl, then we moved on.

Just for the hell of it, some select tracks from the albums.

"Suffragette City" - David Bowie


"Hybrid Moments" - The Misfits


Now we moved onto my shoot. Oh, how fun this was. First, we all got dolled up in makeup (even me). Morgan redid her original innocent harlequin girl while Greg and I did the few dishes to thank her for cooking, then she did us. She did a very neat looking sad face, which was later messed up by my request, and she did a unique design on me. I can't even describe it, so check out the pics. FYI, I took the pics on Morgan's camera. You will notice, the focus confused the fuck out of me. How I am a filmmaker is beyond. Blurry, but whatever, you weren't there and need to see what happened.



Face paint fun.

The scene we were filming today was the climax of the film. It's where desperation takes over for Guy and he decides to cut out his heart and tape it to her door as a last ditch effort to make her love him again. He is literally giving her his heart. A mime would take that phrase seriously. The hard part about this scene wasn't the heart, as Morgan made a great looking heart. The hard part is the small accommodations in which to film. We had to film out in the hall way with a tube light, the Bolex (luckily I shot hand held) and we were all in grease paint. The last isnt an issue, it just looks odd to onlookers.

Morgan's home made heart

The filming went great. Not once did I have the change the f/stop. I have it opened as far as I could and I it all turned out great. I also made a cameo as a french mime, which is kinda neat.

On a side note, I'm 3/4 of the way done with my second full length script "Yes, Matilda..." and my two fish Bela and Boris died. First was Bela, then Boris.

Finally, as I was transferring some of my raw 16mm footage to VHS so I can show the parents, I snagged a good 35 seconds or so of footage. I thought I'd show you all. It's a really bad transfer, but that happens when you record a recording.




Until next time, ta-ta.