where the hell was I?

let me look - hang on...

all right on with that day. Things went well - I said that.

OH - so we had his crew come to shoot us for a TV show they're doing - Booker - lt me find his card, hang on... Cornelius Booker that was his name. A very nice guy, he came with a cameraman and a they shot us shooting. It was kind of funny since we basically had what we had, but we hammed it up a bit. They did and interview with me, the DP and the actors. It was a lot of fun and I hope something comes of it.

It's really amazing what we were able to do with so little. But we all have good attitudes and a bit of talent - and that's about what it takes. Of course we'll see what happens when I start cutting the damn thing.

Back to the script.

great shoot

Saturday went really really really well.

we shot at Connie's house -she'd been in a former movie of mine and I know her well and wrote with her voice in my head. I pushed her a bit on a few things that she had troble with (mostly because we didn't have rehearsal, in which case, she would have had no trouble - I'm convinced) but she pulled through and kicked some serious ass - in thespianic short of way. Is that a word?

Marco got a speeding ticket on his Vespa trying to get to the set. I feel bad - if we had a budget I'd offer to pay it for him, but alas... In any case he did really well - I was also surprised because I hadn't worked with him yet either. I'm going to write him into the script.

Oh yeah - the script - not much more beyond what we did. 17 pages I think - but some of that includes one line descripitions of what we already did so it's actually longer. Though it also includes one line descriptions of scenes I need to rewrite from previous drafts...

Scotty did really well too - his voice is also in my head so I'm writing for it. He was a champ because his character basically sat on a couch for the first half of the day - but he pulled through...

We need a dolly. We shot the whole thing on sticks and got enough angles and moved the characters enough so that I can cut around and keep motion in the scene without it getting stagnant, but I'd like to have a dolly. I'd also like to have a more lights and an actual crew but there you go.

uo-oh -gotta run out - I'll finish this post later... tons to report...

waiting

waiting for a friend of mine to get home from a shoot so I can borrow some of his gear. He has a mic and boom that are great (I used last time) and some small 600 arri lights that will be perfect. Also a video monitor that I'm in love with. Hope he gets home sooner, rather than later...

shooting tomorrow

at connie's house - studio city...

Man

the name of this blog sucks - wonder if I can change it.

Oh - and a TV crew is going to come and shoot us shooting for a show on indie filmmakers. Hmmmm. Don't know anything more about it....

writing - stuff is good - some funny lines...

new script

the script is changing. It's become funny... no more hard core drama for me - no more indie-sensibility-life-sucks-then-you- find-out-the-main-character's-a-pedophile-and-it-gets-into-sundance films for me. This one is going to be funny and sexy and probably very weak in the technical area (I'm still quite the neophyte in sound - one of only two film set jobs I've never actually been paid for - the other is make-up) but that's as it may be...

I'm writing and enjoying it more.

Oh - we're going to shoot again on Dec 11...

Uh-oh

So the plan was to shoot again - up at a cabing in the mountains - but...

Sarah (her character name) went into early labor - a month early - and is on bed rest and such and now I'm rewriting. Cause I ain't got my female lead to shoot.

Well, since I didn't start with a whole script to begin with I guess it's not that big a deal - gotta toss about 30 pages. hmmm....

Time to think.

What do I have?

Think of locations, cars, houses, where can I shoot where I don't need

a permit,
a caterer
a honeywagon
cops
fire
Money

after the first weekend

So here's the update. Things, things, things have happened and I'm so far behind on this blog I can't even conceive of where to start. Where to start, where to - START?


Man - my last entry - which I just looked at - was before the first day of shooting.

Here's how it went.

OUCH!!!

Take -

1 director
1 DP
1 sound man/boom man/ actor
2 actors
1 extra
1 apartment
1 camera (DVX100)
5 lights
3 c-stands
a few rolls of tape
and

way too many pages of script and try to shoot a movie.

It actually went really well. Much better than I expected but I was exhausted at the end of it. We shot for two days and it was way too much. almost killed me. I was exhausted at the end of it. Thinking of characters and shots and coverage and filming/videoing the whole damn thing - and setting lights and stands and everything - was totally exhausting. A crew of two - is two too few.

yeesh.

All that being said - I made some decisions. the script - as it played out - without rehearsals mind you - something that is a first for me - well - a second - but I don't think those love scenes needed rehearsal - you know? I guess you don't because I haven't really let you in on my background - have I? Hang on - let me check the blog...

Nope -guess I haven't - I'll save that.

Where was I? Decisions - the film - as it's playing out is damn dark - and that's not really my style. It was torturous for me. Scary - got way too into my head. Sarah (i'm calling them by their character names) turned out to be a great actress - she was a friend from Burning Man - but I had not had her act yet and she turned out to be great and sexy - even 8 months pregnant - which I never expected because I AIN'T into that - and her character just ate away at me and I didn't sleep - and when I did I was dreaming about the damn story. Which made it all that much tougher.

So I'm going to change a few things. but more on that later. Right?

Found the gun

With our weekend shoot looming upon us - I went digging in a box in my closet looking for the air gun I bought for the OTHER film. It was there and I now have a key prop.

Busy today. Have to rent a wide angle lens adapter, buy some tapes, pick up a mic and lights my friend R is lending me and scout a location.

And get my daughter off to day care.

Have I mention we're making this movie for $0. That's right - no money - just a bunch of friends getting together and shooting some scenes.

Meeting

Had my first meeting yesterday with the two leads. They're both friends. We discussed my 38 pages of script and where it might go and when. We're shooting the first few scenes this weekend, which means that we are literally writing it as we shoot it. BUT I figure since most STUDIO films seem like they were made that way anyway, we should hit big with this one. You never know.

Shooting in Scott's (the character name) apartment. Two characters for most of it and I'll play a third part.

I was worried about shooting Sarah naked - or relatively so - but she's up for it. Good, good, good. I think it will help make the film. Not a lot of pregnant women naked in movies these days.

Now I just have to build a steadicam and find a prop gun. I may still have one in a closet from the last movie. hmmm...

Sitting and blazin' and writing and tearing out what little

hair I have left. Blazin' away on my new G5 which I bought primarily to cut the wedding videos I'm doing to support my indie film habit - and my family - I decided to do an indie film.

Here's what I had - have:
a camera - Pana DVX100
The G5
Final Cut Pro HD
a pregnant actress friend
and a few others willing to do something just to have fun.

Of course we're doing it without a SAG contract - which is the only way we can AFFORD to do this at the moment.

What, where, when - who

Hey, if anyone's reading this - are you? Hello?

I'm a filmmaker and this is called film garage because I make films in - my garage. I used to make films on HOLLYWOOD LOTS - and made a lot of stuff back when I was hourly wage grunt schlepping camera gear and pulling focus. But I gave that up - working for the man, as it was, and have gone into the realms of INDEPENDENT film and even a little late-night skinemax soft core (shhh. don't tell anyone.)

but now I'm down in the garage making films and videos and all kinds of crap on my Panasonic DVX100 and cutting them on my brand spanking new 1.8 dual G5. I had to step up after my 400 mhz G4 just finally threw up it's cyber hands and said - sorry - can't do this anymore.

But I've started on two projects are of interest. More on that as we go.