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
Showing posts with label bolex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bolex. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, April 2, 2010
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.
"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 heartThe 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.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 8, 2010
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 DesignWe 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 shootThe 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!
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