December 28th, 2010
Back to the story of Two. I feel like this could have made an interesting documentary. “Two: The TV Show That Never Was”. Had I thought of it then. Damn. Moving on. We began filming again the next morning. Keith ran all over East-Jesus to find a damn fog machine. We found a K-Mart that sold them the previous night, but he went to Target, thus making it useless. Anyhow, we had one now. We could finally film the way Nuna wanted to, which makes me wonder why he made me director? When we got down to brass tax things began to feel more right. The fog machine was kicking in (slowly), but it was kinda doing it's job. I explained how I wanted the scene done. Nuna, with his facial tattoo completely covered, and in his spiffy digs got into character. All was going well.
The first scene we thought we should film would be the fight in the opening sequence. So, I set up the shot. I knew where I wanted Nuna to come in, I knew when Scott should come in. Nuna and Scott set up the fight. Scott was a bit worried about the giant knife. Etc. Whatever. In the end, Greg and I were both filming. Him with his camera and me with Nuna's, which I used, like, once. Riley also had to use audio equipment he wasn't used to.
In the end, we maybe got like 2 minutes of usable footage. I did get scolded for running the camera way too much. I thought it was the best thing to do. During Brutal Nuna CONSTANTLY had the camera running. I guess he changed his way. Also, the audio didn't come out and we didn't even get the shoot done. Joy. We had two weekends to finish and we couldn't film too late because Scott had to leave and Nuna was filming for Brutal 2. All in all, the shoot didn't go well at all. Torn up by this, Greg and I went to Graveyard Records then watched a few movies at my house. I believe we watched “Otis” and “Behind the Mask”.
A few days to a week after this headache of a shoot (if you want to call it that), we got word from Riley, who spoke with Nuna, about the show's future. Apparently the agent hated our idea and thought it to be one of the worst he ever read. He wanted us to go back to a previous idea Nuna had. At this point my heart wasn't in it, so I quit. I still plan to save the script for the future. I would have love to have kept working with him. Making Brutal with him was and will always be one of the best experiences of my life and he'll always be a good friend.
After the dust of “Two” had cleared Riley, Greg and I weren't sure what to do with our time. All of our free time at the time that wasn't dedicated to homework went towards “Two”. It became such an insane collaborative effort and we made a script all three of us were proud of. We still hang out and talk and try to collaborate on a piece again, but it's never been as fluid of organic as it was those few weeks. After that Riley went back to trying to get his art classes done, Greg went back to finishing some shorts he was working on and writing his first feature length screenplay. I also had to go back to the real world. Trying to pass Math and Bio plus finishing my shorts and so on. The dream ended. We were back in the world.
At this point I went back to editing my short film, “Coins”, that I filmed with my friend at the time. Coins was an interesting little film because it came out of nowhere. It wasn't planned so much as it was thought up on the spot and filmed in two days. I was sick at the time, but it was still a fun shoot. “Coins” is the story of a girl whose collecting flattened coins on the train tracks and she stumbled upon a dead body in the woods. Everything was fun until I had to sit down and edit. I had to do extensive work to the short. Audio was horrible because I could be heard breathing in the background because of being so congested, so I had to lower the audio levels lower than the standard level. I then also did a lot of color correction work, which I strangely enjoy. It gives your work a nice look and can make average looking work look a lot better. I did a lot to the color and always had mom coming in to my editing room and asking her “Which looks better? A slight blue tint or a slight purple tint” and then we'd talk about the content of the scene and what I'm trying to do and she'd tell me which she felt was better. She's great.
After I had a falling out with the actress it was hard to keep editing the short, but I power through and made three versions of the short. A class cut that's a bit shorter and has a slightly different color correction to it, a longer cut that has my favorite color correction and then a black and white cut of the extended version because while filming I kept picturing it as a black and white piece. No one at this point has seen the black and white version in it's entirety. Perhaps in the future.
Right after filming “Coins” I began on my short dedicated to my dad, entitled “Steve”. My original script for it was intended to be at least 10 to 15 minutes long and would mix in narrative elements, some experimental storytelling aspects and real footage of interviews I've conducted with my dad. It was am ambitious process. I even found an actor named Scott who was interested in playing the character of Steve. He told me he was really interested after reading the early draft of my script. I would go on to like Scott's work so much that I'd ask him to play the killer in “Two”. It's a shame it never continued.
Now I say Scott would be playing a character, even though my dad is a real person. Steve is a character, he's a representation of my dad. I described it as such in my script.
NARRATOR
(V.O.)
The man holding the picture is Scott. He's the person I've chosen to play "Steve". Now, let it be clear. My dad is Steve, but Steve isn't necessarily my dad. In this sense, Steve is the vehicle I use to tell the story. Is it my dad's story? Partially. Is it Steve's story? Completely.
See? The short would be almost like those Unsolved Mystery shows where it was part real interview and part dramatization. The short was originally about my dad's battle with smoking and him trying to quit. Scott would play Steve who is the embodiment of the everyman. The way Steve deals with smoking would be different than how my dad dealt with it, but, they're similar. It's sort of metaphysical.
Well, Greg and I went to Scott's apartment to film the opening scene where Steve has a battle with smoking and is haunted by a pack of cigarettes. Scott's process of getting into the character was truly amazing to watch. He really made me feel like a confident director because he was really getting into the character with me. It was great. He then taught Greg and I a bit about lighting. The man is a lighting wiz and helped me get an amazing tone with the piece and the lighting. I owe the man a lot and I always have his back.
Well after that initial shoot I went home that weekend and did an impromptu interview with my dad. It was very impromptu. I had no idea I was gonna do it. I didn't even set up lights or use DV cameras. I used a 720p camera that the CEO of Braeger bought for me set up on a tripod and used a lamp for lighting. The only real piece of equipment I used was a zoom recorder for the audio and then I synched them up later. It worked like a charm.
After editing the footage of Scott and doing color correction to make some Day for Night effects I got it looking really good. Hell, I impressed Scott who is a firm believer in doing those effects with lighting, not editing. The class all liked my cut, but the common consensus was that they wanted more of a my dad. It was an interesting process from this point on because the more that the need to see more of my dad rose the less and less I had of Scott. I eventually cut him out completely and was strictly using footage that, at very most, was going to be used as cutaways or throwaway. I shot it with a low quality camera in a very guerilla style. Emotional content was high but I felt less and less like a real filmmaker because I felt like I was working with found footage and wasn't using anything I set up myself. I had interviews with my dad and I, footage of his radiation treatment, a lot of shots of him interacting with people and stuff with doctors. It was a real headache trying to find a good way to put it all together. As this went on I showed my project and people began to like it more and more, but I felt more and more ashamed of my visuals. My audio work is good and I did a lot with the audio recorded with the in camera mics but there was little I could do with the visuals. I color corrected some and used filters, but I couldn't make them look “good”. I was nervous going into the portfolio review process. Luckily my amazing instructor Alex Torinus had my back going into portfolio and was going to explain my process of why and how I ended up with what I did. I appreciate that because I passed Portfolio review and I have her and my dad to thank for that.
As the semester winded down I began to freak out. My math grade was alright, but I was freaking out about not passing. Even more so with Bio because none of my tests in the main lecture where above 65%. I was kicking ass in the lab with an A, and the lab is 40% of my grade, so I had hope that that would propel me into passing range. It did. I passed Math with a C- and Bio with a C.
Winter break came up and it's much needed. I spent some quality time with two of my best friends visiting from out of town and I saw “Black Swan”, which I loved, and “Tron: Legacy”, which was OK. It was a lot of fun but lacked substance. It's 3D was pretty good, so that helped it. I've also gotten back into the grind of writing. I'm currently working on re-writes of my first feature, trying to get an outline done so I can finish my second and work on a few shorts. The only thing remotely close to filming and editing I'm doing over break is to film some test footage so I can teach myself how to use the program Color that came with my Final Cut Pro studio. I want a professional color grading program. I may do some editing for a fellow student on a short film he wants t make, but I haven't heard back on that yet. I have time to rest, and you're completely caught up for now. Thanks for reading.
I guess I should also mention my Winter playlist of movies. I will list it below. Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
Clerks
Clerks II
Natural Born Killers
Grindhouse (Planet Terror/Death Proof)
The Quick and the Dead
Re-Animator
Saw
Shaun of the Dead (w/ director commentary)
Vulgar
Young Guns
Neil Gaiman's NeverWhere
Inglourious Basterds
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
A Clockwork Orange
Almost Famous
American Splendor
The Anarchist Cookbook
SLC Punk
The Aviator
The Backyard
Bringing Out the Dead
Coffee & Cigarettes
The Crow
The Dark Crystal
Dead-Alive
El Mariachi
From Dusk till Dawn
Hard Candy
Hostel
Hostel Part 2
Hot Fuzz
Raising Arizona
Jimmy and Judy
I've finished some, but still got a lot more. On a final note I feel I should express my excitement for Kevin Smith's new flick "Red State". He's almost completely reinvented himself and I'm excited. Check out the teaser below.
And, finally, for those interested in "Two", if you ask nicely I'll talk with you about it and explain my plans for it, but, if you want an idea of how Riley and I wanted it tone wise, watch the Exorcism scene from "the Unborn" (yes, I'm aware it's not a good film) while listening to Ennio Morricone's song "Ecstasy of Gold" from "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly" and you'll get an idea. Seriously, do it. It works very well.
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