Life is a film

Cabaret is over

2006-08-12T18:53:00.000-05:00

We finished the run last night and it went pretty damn well. Happy to be done, though (if only to put an end to the hour drives to Forks and back every night). Just relaxing now until I hear about the TV job on Monday (keep fingers crossed). I also broke down (due to cast members bugging the crap out of me) and created a MySpace account. It can be found at www.myspace.com/1in9. Feel free to stop on by and vandalize the page as you see fit. (and for those who don't know what I look like, in my profile pic, I'm the one in front). OK. Video games are a calling my name...

My Top Ten Cues

2006-08-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

(first off, my final interview went very well and I will find out on Monday about the job...I hate waiting...)

What a fun time I had with this. I limited myself to scores that I owned or have ripped onto my trusty mp3 player. I initially considered 30 cues, then began cutting down. The criteria I came up with was very important. For me, a memorable cue is something that is inseperably linked with the footage on the screen...music that, if heard without the visuals, would spring the visuals into my mind anyway.

There are nine honorable mentions plus my top ten. Other cues considered but cut (for various reasons...mostly having to do with the criteria I set) were:

"Fade In" Barton Fink (Carter Burwell)
"Kaleidoscope of Mathematics" A Beautiful Mind (James Horner)
"Brothers" Broken Arrow (Hans Zimmer)
"Mutiny" Crimson Tide (Hans Zimmer)
"River Crossing at Stalingrad" Enemy at the Gates (James Horner)
"Fargo, North Dakota" Fargo (Carter Burwell)
"Buckbeaks Flight" (sorry, Reed) Prisoner of Azkaban (John Williams)
"The Ultimate War" Hook (John Williams)
"The Black Gate Opens" (second half) Return of the King (Howard Shore)
"The Zepplin Arrives" Sky Captain (Ed Shearmur)
"The Throne Room" Star Wars (John Williams) (I couldn't justify not calling that a theme).

And here are the honorable mentions (19-11):

19. The Battle - Gladiator (Hans Zimmer) - Yes, Mr. Zimmer pops up often on here...lol...this is a great, rousing cue that just happens to be in a movie I don't much care for. heh heh.

18. Bim Bam Smash - Bourne Supremacy (John Powell) - While I love the whole soundtrack, this cue stands out to me, maybe for sentimental reasons (it inspired me to craft the climax to One in Nine). Unrelenting and a big builder, this one is mucho fun to blast on the mp3 player.

17. Flight - Psycho (Bernard Herrmann) - While the shower scene is most memorable moment, this cue, while she is driving and hearing the voices in her head, is a delight. All strings and all fun, I guess.

16. Truman Sleeps - The Truman Show (Philip Glass) - I'm a sucker for solo piano work in films and this is a beautiful moment from a truly beautiful film.

15. Clockwork pt 1 and 2/Helicoptor - Back to the Future (Alan Silvestri) - Yes, it's two cues, but damnit, they belong together, just as this music belongs with Marty racing down the street and Doc trying to hook up the cables. I dare you to watch this sequence with the volume off and try NOT to hear the music.

14. Morning Passages - The Hours (Philip Glass) - Glass strikes again. A wonderful opening sequence in the movie complimented by a very circular and appropriate cue.

13. Window to the Past - Prisoner of Azkaban (John Williams) - While I do love Buckbeaks Flight, it is this cue that moves me every time I hear it. The scene it accompanies has some of the best acting from any of the Potter films.

12. Comptine d'un autre ete - Amelie (Yann Tiersen) - Once again, solo piano. Linked with a gorgeous, complex shot of Amelie throwing stones off a bridge, this cue is beauty.

11. The Battle - Chronicles of Narnia (Harry Gregson Williams) - I am growing to really like this particular Williams's work. This cue is nice and lengthy, with some nice choral parts (always a plus).

Still with me? Here is the top ten...

10. Promentory - Last of the Mohicans (Trevor Jones) - A stirring finish to a great film, all you hear during the climax is the music, everything else is dropped out and it is terribly effective.

9. The Hand of Fate Pt. 1 and 2 - Signs (James Newton Howard) - Having already been discussed on other peoples lists, not much more to say except this is a brilliant movie and the score makes for a truly memorable climax.

8. Final Duel/Into the Death Star - Return of the Jedi (John Williams) - Let's face it, the best part about Jedi is the scenes between Vader, Emporer, and Luke. And this cue compliments the best moment, when Luke leaps out at Vader and goes to town. It's not too long, but the use of the chorus is genius and very moving.

7. All Systems Go/The Launch - Apollo 13 (James Horner) - Yeah, I love ripping this guy a new one every now and then, but I have a place in my heart for this film and, in particular, the launch sequence. It still fills me with awe watching it, in no small part because of the score.

6. Indy's First Adventure - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (John Williams) - Pure fun from start to finish, with lots of specific matching of hits and onscreen action. This one makes me smile every time I listen to it.

5. The White Tree - Return of the King (Howard Shore) - Also has been discussed before, but it is the ultimate in giving me gosebumps with every listen.

4. The Trio - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Ennio Morricone) - In my opinion, this is one of the best climaxes in any movie, period. The sheer talent Leone possesed made the build-up to a final showdown between three people absolutely riveting...and the music!! Just as perfectly paced with the right amount of buildup. I can't say enough about this one...but on I go.

3. Battle of Hoth/Asteroid Field - Empire Strikes Back (John Williams) - Yep, it's here too. And yep, I do believe it is some of Williams' best cue work...but I still have to go with one of his other cues...

2. Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye - E.T. (John Williams) - Just the fact that Spielberg edited the final sequences of this movie to the score is impressive. More impressive is how choked up I still get when I listen to it. Gorgeous and heartful, it is one of my all time favs.

and here is number one (and I am fully prepared to get berated about this one...lol)

1. The Greatest Trick - The Usual Suspects (John Ottman) - Yes, he is riffing on Carnival of the Animals, and no, I do not care one bit. What makes this so great is that the composer is also the editor of the film...and this becomes very obvious when viewing the final sequence of this film. Starting with the falling coffee cup, this sequence is a display of editing genius (both video and audio) and the music perfectly captures the mood. I still get a huge rush with the final lines and hit from the music, closing out one of my favorite movies.

So, there ya go. Feel free to argue or agree with me...I know I have some odd choices on here. And feel free to check out the other lists us insane people have been putting up here, here, and here.

And with that...I'm done.

"Be seeing you..."

2006-08-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

Holy crap...It's been a long time since I have gotten truly excited about a movie coming out in the future (although Scorcese's remake of Infernal Affairs, The Departed, has come close). I just read this morning that Christopher Nolan (one of my favorite modern directors period)is going to direct a movie version of the TV series THE PRISONER. Woo hoo! If you haven't seen this series, do yourself a favor and check it out. One of the best shows I've seen and one that was probably waaaay ahead of its time. Wow. OK. I don't know if anyone else can understand why I am so pumped about this, but that's all right. I'm so excited that I had to post this before I found out about my job. Woo hoo, indeed!

Was going to wait a day...

2006-08-10T13:18:00.000-05:00

...but what the hell...

Interesting things going on as of late... First off, Sweeney Todd went extremely well. Audience loved it and the performances all went great. As of now, we are two performances away from finishing our run of Cabaret (which is also going well).

I applied for a job at Prairie Public Television here in Fargo (production assistant/assistant editor). Full time with full benifits. Everyone that graduated with me pretty much applied for the same job (very rare that a job that we actually trained for in the field of film/video opens up around here) and the total number of applicants was about 40.

Finally got called in for an interview (they were only interviewing about 6-8 people). Went pretty well, I think. Then I got a call asking me to come in for a follow-up with my interviewer's boss tomorrow at 9 AM...and if that goes well, she said that I would be talking about my start date.

SO, for the first time in my life, really, I'll have a job that actually pays a liveable wage and gives me full benefits...just in time to start paying off my student loans. AND, I'll actually be doing something that pertains to my degree...a shocker right now.

Of course, I am still editing One in Nine (which is going well). We have talked with the Fargo Theater in town here and are going to have a premiere showing of sorts Nov. 4th (tentatively). So, once my shows are done, it's time to start spending my evenings in front of the computer (after a possible full day of doing that at Prairie Public...if I get the job, that is). And I am still working on my scripts (once three are done and ready, I am sending them off to the screenwriter I met during the Fargo Fest for comments before sending them off to a possible agent).

Things are looking up, for once. With a position here, I could most likely get a position at any other station around the country in the future. But for now, it's about saving up the money to move. And I'm fine with that.

But, on to important things...like Mikey's Top Ten Cues Challenge...which I will be thinking about and posting this weekend. Plus, expect a huuuge post in which I glaze over every other movie I've seen this year (starting with Saw II...lol). I'm hell bent on keeping that on track! We'll see if if actually happens.

OK. I'll let you guys know tomorrow how the job thing went. Go away.

Toe in the water...

2006-08-08T00:54:00.000-05:00

Isn't it frustrating when you don't hear from someone in a while and then they get in touch again and pretend that no time has elapsed?

Opening Night...

2006-06-14T13:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the opening night of "Sweeney Todd". We had a press preview last night that I thought went really well. Early on, I was afraid that we had bitten off more than we could chew with this show, but the cast and crew have really pulled it together. I just don't know how the community is going to react to a show that ends with a throat slitting and three dead bodies laying on the stage. If anything, it will be talked about for a long time afterwards.

Besides that, absolutely nothing else has been going on. The hour long drives to Forks and back are getting a little tiring, but will be over soon (only to start up in August for "Cabaret").

It's odd. The more shows I do, the greater the feeling of "man, I miss doing this all the time". Someone asked me this weekend when I was going to start my professional musical theater career...I scoffed at them, as if they were joking (they weren't). I dunno...I've never thought about doing it as a career (film is bad enough money-wise). I had to make some choices between all the things I love to do. Would I love to give it a try sometime? Sure. Do I think I could make it? Dunno...I think I have a voice for it, but my dancing leaves a little to be desired...lol. Anyway, random thoughts in the afternoon here...

I am not a number, I'm a free man!!

2006-06-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

Since my beloved Lost won't be on the air until October, I have had to find another show to occupy my time. Lucky for me, the local library has the whole set of The Prisoner on DVD.

I am only four or five episodes in (it only ran for 17) but I can already say that it is one of the most surreal shows I've ever seen. The premise is wonderfuly simple: a resigning (secret agent? assassin? night time janitor?...they haven't said yet) is followed to his home after leaving his former place of business and is drugged. When he wakes up, he is in The Village (no, not that one), a small community where everyone goes by a number (he is Number 6). Everyone is very cordial and helpful but there is only one thing: he cannot leave. Every attempt at escape is foiled by the people watching him. This includes Number 2 (who seems to be different from episode to episode). What do they want from Number 6? Information. Whose side are they on? As they say, "That would be telling".

Needless to say, I love the set-up and the episodes all have a very unique feel to them (always involving elaborate ways to get Number 6 to crack and spill whatever beans they want from him). It also has one of the coolest opening themes ever, in my opinion.

So, yeah. That's what I've been viewing. Sweeney Todd rehearsals are going well, and my friend Craig just moved into a new apartment (so we'll have a little more privacy around here now). Time to get cracking on my script and finishing the editing.

THE DAVINCI CODE (2006)

2006-05-21T10:18:00.000-05:00

Aimee and I caught this yesterday in Bemidji. Decided to get to the theaters before my rehearsals suck up all my free time.

How was it?

That depends on the person, I firmly believe. Have you read the book? Do you actually believe that this could be true? Are you distracted by a goofy hair-do?

I read this book last year. It was a very quick read and I enjoyed myself. I'm not going to claim that it was greatly written...though, I probably couldn't tell. Aimee and I had a discussion yesterday about how I read books more for the plot and ideas than for description and character work (and this is pretty evident in my script writing as well...lol...though I am working and getting better at it).

The book is what I like to call an idea novel. You take an idea (Christ had a wife and a child, cover-up ensues) and try to build a narrative around it. Michael Crichton has made a career out of doing this. I read his novels more for the scientific ideas and possibilities than for the paper thin characters. I guess I am more forgiving if there is something to keep my mind going, like the before mentioned ideas.

Now, do I believe the book to be true? Come on. It's a fictional book. Do I believe that the Catholic church is all pure and holy? Not one bit. Do I have a problem with most organized religions? Yup. It's interesting...people let hundreds of movies about our government doing very evil things slide off their backs but the second someone besmirches the church, you better run for cover. Sheesh...get real.

Now, I remember the first words that came out of my mouth after finishing that novel: "They're going to have a hell of a time adapting that into a movie". And I stand by that phrase. They did have a hell of a time.

Why? It's too damn reliant on huuuuuge bits of exposition. This reads fine in a book, but is death for cinema (where you aren't exactly playing to the most intelligent of audiences). I don't understand all these critics that are panning the film claiming that after they read the book, they figured it was written perfectly for adaptation. What were they on? Here is a hero that does his heroic actions inside his own head, following clues that need pages upon pages of exposition. Yeah, real cinematic there.

So, what did I think of the film?

I actually really liked it. lol

I went in knowing the number of critics absolutely ripping it to shreds. I knew about the lukewarm to downright hostile reaction it got at Cannes. But, I also have noticed a trend as of late in cinema and criticism in general.

Everyone likes to take down the 800 pound gorilla. Everyone loves to see something that huge fail miserably. And it's happening to these blockbusters now. King Kong got decent to great reveiws...but the second it didn't generate gigantic numbers at the box office, the backlash began. Same for MI3 (which got mostly great reviews)...but factor in people's newfound hatred for Mr. Cruise (who I could personally care less about...just make good films!) and a mediocre opening weekend, and everyone is happy to jump on the backlash wagon. This films backlash began even before it opened. I fear for Superman Returns and any other hyped up movie...it seems the bigger the hype, the more willing people are to trash it. And let's face it...it is more fun to write a bad review than a good one.

Anyway, the movie.

I thought Ron Howard handled it just fine. I thought that Hanks and that girl from Amelie (Tautou? SP? Too lazy for IMDB?) were just fine (the hair-do, while looking ridiculous in some shots, looks perfectly fine in all the rest)...I though that Sir Ian was excellent...Jean Reno and Paul Bettany were, eh, functional? The two that I have major quibbles with are Akiva Goldsman and Hans Zimmer.

With the amount of neccesary exposition inherent in the material, I thought they would either axe aspects of the story or find a way to make it visually interesting. Howard did the latter, using some nice (though not quite mind blowing) flashback shots showing things as they happen. He also cribs from himself in showing Hanks's thought process in solving anagrams (straight out of Beautiful Mind).

But where things should have been changed up were some of the lines of dialogue. All from the novel...and a lot of them kind of silly. Only Sir Ian pulls it off (he can order a tuna sandwich and make it sound like Shakespeare). Hanks does his best, but is saddled with some lame lines. Also, it seems like Akiva went out of his way to make sure no one thought too badly of the church. The Langdon character in the movie is made to be more of a skeptic than he was in the novel and there is a drawn out scene at the end where Hanks spells out the fact that they are firmly middle ground...no stand to be taken anywhere (despite the revelations and discoveries they just made). Kind of a let down.

The film is shot beautifully. All on location and it shows. The camera work is nice and slick. The editing works for me, for the most part.

It's the pacing that got to me. And oddly, I lay the blame there on Hans Zimmer. I don't want this to read like a rant about the man (although that may be fun), but I did not like his approach to this score. Choosing to go for (what my mind called) a church-like reverential feeling, Hans sucked any fun out of this movie. If only he had embraced the ridiculous, "hey, we're on a Grail Quest" let's have some fun romping around the world feel that I believe the novel has, this movie would have had more life and momentum to it. By choosing to take the movie too damn seriously, it gets bogged down in its own self-importance. There was only one cue that I liked, and that was the final scene. Worked just fine for me. Made me stay through the credits hoping to hear it again...nope. But this may have been Howards choice too, so I can't lay the blame solely on Hans.

But the pacing problems are in the first sections of the movie. This is where big revelations are occuring and things should be propelled off of them...but instead, it's more like you were just told a juicy secret during church and you don't want to react too much, lest you disturb the service.

It gets better in the second half, though.

Man, it sounds like I didn't like this movie. I did. There are fun moments here and there and I honestly didn't feel like I was in the theater for as long as I was. I think the critics are finding it the fashionable thing to rip anything that is trying to be a hit a new one. And that's too bad. I hope this does good box office, just to shut up some of the bandwagon jumping critics. Three out of four stars.

Hello? Anyone here?

2006-05-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Time to visit the ol'blogstead. Hmm...a bit dusty me thinks...

I pretty much forced myself to take a mini-vacation of sorts. the end of school got really hectic and I really needed to recharge my batteries (which I still am, to a point). The past few weeks have been devoted to nothing more than rewatching the first season of Lost with my friend Craig (who is laid up at my apartment for a while recovering from surgery on his torn ACL), watching a good deal of Buffy (thank Craig, you got me hooked), and playing copious amounts of Tiger Woods 2006 golf on my X-Box.

And now I am house sitting.

My dad took his choir to Chicago for a nice tour and Aimee and I get to watch their dog, Shadow. It's pretty relaxing here (and they had a satellite dish!...yes, I get excited about being able to watch CNN Headline news and CSPAN).

I started writing a new script a little while ago, but let it sit until I had it more formed in my head...and while that has been sitting, another idea has started whirring in my head...and then there is One in Nine...heh heh. Editing is on a little break as my co-editor is in L.A. seeing what connections and employment options he can get out there...we shall resume when he gets back.

But then I will be juggling that with my musical theater regiment this summer. We begin rehearsals for Sweeney Todd this Tuesday...I picked up the script and score and read through it last night...ahh, I LOVE Sondheim...although putting this together in two weeks is going to take a lot of work.

The more I look at my blog, the more I want to overhaul the look of it...but none of those damn templates attract my fancy...will think more about that, i guess.

anything else kicking around in my mind? umm...not at the moment. Since I am out here at my parents till Sunday, I might just start cranking on my script tomorrow...yeah, that's a plan. Oh, and more Tiger Woods golf, of course.

Senior Sem Showing

2006-05-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

Well...glad that's done with.

It always happens to me...no matter how much time I budget for something, I always seem to be working on it right up to the last minute. This was no different.

Due to technical difficulties, Reed and I spent a frantic one and a half days on a totally new score for three key scenes (all that was humanly possible to complete in that time).

The next few days found Kak and I wandering campus with a camera recording sounds to use for foley effects (a lot of them coming from me sitting in a quiet conference room in the library beating the crap out of myself...sounded good though.)

The day before the showing was all about working the music and locking the damn thing up. What I ended up doing was taking bits and pieces of the music that Reed composed for those three scenes and editing them to work for about 3 other scenes (I also used portions of the trailer scores...Reed, thank god you composed almost everything in the same key!). The end result was something that I could live with for now...lol. It was fine, actually. But me thinks Reed and I are going to work on it some more in the future.

After locking picture, Kak and I started work on our end credits. We had a nice little starting portion with the names and faces of the actors coming up (always nice to do, especially in an ensemble show such as this). Then, at 2 in the morning, we decided that we could finish the end scroll the next day...shouldn't take too long, right?

Next day

We start working on the credit crawl at about 10 am in a program called LiveType. Problem is, this program is running on a very very slooow computer...so slow that when I type in the letter "D" it appears on the screen four seconds later...and this was the way we did the whole credits...which were long (we had plenty of people to recognize and thank). Once that was all finished (and finished again due to a computer crash wiping out an hour of work), I began to render the credits so we could view them with the scroll...and then the program told me that it would take 2 and a half hours to render...usually, that number will go down as it goes on, but that was actually a smaller estimate (almost three hours it took). And then I had to find a song to put over the end credits, but I couldn't put it on the computer until the rendering was done. This ran us up to over 5:30 pm...with the final projects starting to show at 6:30 (even though we were showing last, it would have been nice to see the other projects).

Then we had to export it to tape, so that it could be played...and that runs in real time and the final running time was 40 minutes...after an aborted attempt on a DV deck (crappy quality for some reason), and the HD camera we shot on (which wasn't connecting for some reason), we realized we had to export it as a quicktime file onto the desktop and then copy that to a tape...the exporting taking a bit of time on top of the 40 minutes we needed.

Needless to say, we were going to miss the projects...well, Kak was. He was taking care of the problems and I went to watch the films (which I really could have done without seeing...bunch of lazy filmmakers). When it came time for the break in the program, I realized that Kak was not back yet with the tape. I ran back over to the editing room and he said that the audio was dropping out for whole lines during the movie...NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT. I told him to keep working on it and went back over, really damn nervous. By the time the second to last project was to begin, Kak finally came over with the tape...but he didn't have time to test it.

And with that, we had to show. Most of the cast was there (which was nice) and even though we were starting waaay late, a good amount of the audience stuck around.

It went really well. The audience reacted in the right places and the first thing they asked me in the Q and A was when it would be all finished cause they wanted to see how it ended. Lots of great comments. My instructor was blown away by it and said to us that it was probably the best project to have ever come out of this program. He is goind to send a copy of it to his friend in LA and see what can be done with it...which is pretty cool.

And with that, it was over. At least that first section...It was funny...that weekend, after finally having time off from the damn thing, not locked up in the editing room for hours on end, I just wanted to go back. Start plowing through the rest of it...cause I want to see how it ends...lol. I want it to be completed so I can show it to people, so that I can finally put it away and really work on my next script(s).

Anyways, it was a great way to close out my time here at MSUM...even though I have a advanced 16mm showing next week (that I care not one iota about), this was the culmination of it all...and we blew them away. Very satisfied feeling. Now, I just have to start working on topping myself again...

10 days and counting...

2006-04-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

Got the word that my senior sem (first half hour of One in Nine) is just ten days away. I am extremely displeased with my department for dragging their damn heels on setting the dates and then springing it on us at such a late date. Not that I am panicking (although we did just have a scare with our external hard drive that contained all the edited scenes...all better as of ten minutes ago). We have a rough cut all ready to go, but there is a LOT of tuning that needs to be done (including traveling to Grand Forks to do a small ADR session with one of the actors). The reason I am displeased is that Kak and I wanted to put up posters for One in Nine so that we would have a nice crowd...now we have little time to do so (although the poster isn't going to be that tough to put together). All in all, it's crunch time here at the ol' ranch.

Graduation is May 12th. Found out that I am graduation Cum Laude, which isn't that big of a deal, but something I find extremely funny due to the fact that my academic career at UND was NOT stellar (due to me not taking my first two years there seriously). I am just not used to doing well in college, grade-wise. Performance and projects? Suuure. Papers and history tests? Not so much. So I was pretty amused when I found out.

Also found out that my summer is going to get busier. In addition to doing Sweeney Todd (where I am Tobias...I get to kill Sweeney at the end!) and Cabaret (where I am Cliff, the male lead), I have been asked to be in their third show, I Do I Do, a two person musical about married life. The actor they had lined up for that is moving and I got asked to replace him (oddly enough, it's the same actor who plays the Director in One in Nine). Fine with me. More money, but also more stress.

Crimson Creek shows are always pressure cookers. We get only two weeks to fully rehearse and stage a full blown musical. When it is a smaller show, it is not so bad. Bigger show? Stress. I only worry about I Do I Do because half the show will be on my shoulders and I only have the two weeks to memorize all the songs (something I am not the greatest at...text-wise. Melody wise? I can nail it after hearing it once...I just have problems memorizing text for some reason).

In other news...

Watched the Godfather last night with the audio commentary from Coppola. Pretty interesting. It's amazing how close he was to getting fired off of the shoot. It was also nice to hear him rip apart some of the second unit shots they had to do with people standing in for Robert Duvall and other actors not available at the time. I love the movie. It's one of my favorites, and I can tell that by the number of times I rewinded a section to watch it without the audio commentary. It is just full of classic scenes and moments.

Well, time for some fine tuning on the movie. (reminder: need to review THE COOLER...along with the hundred other reviews I have to get out...sheesh...)

Very Rough Cut One finished...

2006-04-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

of the first half hour, that is. That is all we are allowed to show for our senior sem final showings. Which is all right, I guess. I don't think we would have the whole thing polished and ready to go (it may be a little crunch to get that first half hour ready). We are taking a day break from it now to get objectivity back and will then start going through it shot by shot to refine every scene.

Up next will be creating the sound design and figuring out what foley stuff we need to record and add in.

I've noticed that as the film goes on, it gets better...lol. This makes sense, since we basically shot in chronological order. At the beginning, I was still on shaky ground due to the early production problems we had and just plain nerves.

In other news...

Got ou film transfer back for our (I mean, Quinn's) final 16mm project. It looks good, so that's nice. But even better is the footage for the shoot that I basically shot and directed by default...looks very nice and I came off looking like a genius...heh heh.

Got the first two acts of a screenplay that my friend Craig and I are working on...rather, him and I outlined the first two acts and he's been cranking on the first draft, due to me being really busy with One in Nine. It's a black comedy (a new genre for us) and seems to be working out fine. We need to get together and hash out the third act and wrap it up.

I've laid out the first ten or so pages of a new screenplay (the one where I am attempting not to kill anyone in the story...lol...I can do it!!). Very rough, but workable I think. I need to give more thought to the overall plot and outline it better...right now I have characters and some inkling of plot, but no direction (usually, it is just the opposite with me).

Well, I am totally exhausted this morning for some reason...a good day to go home early and watch some movies me thinks. Make it so, Number One...

New trailer is online (finally)!

2006-04-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Pretty tired right now, but wanted to post this. Click here and go to the bottom of the page...there is the theatrical trailer for One in Nine. (for some reason, the HIGH link is not working as of now...will be fixed soon).

This trailer was muuuuch more difficult to put together than the first (probably because I had actual footage...ten hours worth...to go through this time).

As usual, all music heard is from the mind of Reed Reimer (Reimer...for all your trailer scoring needs!).

I'd post some interesting facts about the trailer, but I am dead tired right now and just want to sleep...will post them tomorrow me thinks.

Please let me know what you think about the trailer. OK. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Done with that...

2006-04-03T02:06:00.000-05:00

Just finished shooting my last production at MSUM....my advanced 16mm final. Ehh... We are forced to work with partners on these projects and with One in Nine taking up most of my time and concentration, I let my partner, Quinn, take the reins for the most part and give my input when I could.

Boy, that didn't happen.

He came up with the idea (fine) wrote the script (also fine) told me that if I wanted to make any changes to said script, they would have to be approved by him (ehh...ok) told me that he wanted to be sole director, nixing the idea of co-directing, which was the reason I agreed to the partnership in the first place (OK...whatever) and told me that he also wanted to be the cameraman (not OK).

So, what did I do? Sound. I got to hit the record button and listen to the audio. If he wanted to be director, I should have worked the camera. If he wanted to work the camera, I should have directed. Sigh. I was back to a crew position I held my first semester in the program on advanced shoots. Except this time I'm paying a crap load of money for the film.

I wouldn't be bitter if I actually liked the project. I just don't. Quinn is very much about comedy, and he's a really funny guy. I just think that the script he wrote just tried too hard. I like my comedies to be smart. And also *big ego alert* I would have been fine with him directing and doing camera if I actually thought he was better at both. I hate feeling that way, but it's true. I hate that my name is attached to this project. Every project I've done at MSUM has been a pretty big success...I feel like I'm ending it on something pretty mediocre. I guess there's One in Nine, but...yeah. I also have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be locked out of the editing process as well.

The shoot went fine, though. Kak was on board to do lighting and we brought in a very hard working P.A. from our One in Nine shoot to help out (Ryan is awesome) so we were an already tested crew (except for Quinn, but he fit in fine). The actors were decent and the shoots went quicker than expected.

Overall, I'm glad that it is done. I just didn't like the idea of splitting half the costs on a project I really had no input on. I'll go to the final showing and go up in front of the crowd afterwards with Quinn for questions, but I don't think I'll be saying much. Sound guys try to keep quiet :)

(P.S. another movie to review...Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (a six hour BBC miniseries)...I'll get to these soon...I keep telling myself...)

"R"...there, you happy?

2006-03-31T11:11:00.000-06:00

It has come to my attention from an anonymous reader of this blog (my wife) that I have had the word "wonderful" spelled "wondeful" in my mini profile on here since the beginning. In the interest of satisfying said critic, I am changing it. If there are any other things any of you would like changed (barring me getting certain Saw 2 reviews and 48 hour recaps up...when I have time, damnit!) let me know so I can either think about it, then change things, or think about it, then go to the bathroom or something. :)

Cutting the second trailer

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-06:00

(things to do: review INSIDE MAN)

Kak and I figured out the shots for the second trailer last night...wow, it was a lot tougher than I expected putting together that trailer. The goal in this one is to explain the basic concept of the film and then show some interesting shots and parts...man, that was pretty difficult. I've been paying attention to trailers more and there is a lot of thinking that goes into it. I know now how people can have careers just cutting them.

So, the scoreless version should be done by tonight and then it should be a little while to get the music right (through Reed of course). I'll be posting links and such when it finally does go up.

In other news, there isn't any.

V FOR VENDETTA

2006-03-24T00:08:00.000-06:00

V FOR VENDETTA (2006)

Subtle it isn't...

The Wachowski brothers first film since the debacles that were the two Matrix sequels is astonishing. Even though they are only credited as the writers, the influence of them on John McTeigue (their youngish protege) is obvious.

The film (based on a comic) centers around the character V (voiced to perfection by Agent Elrond himself, Hugo Weaving) and a woman he saves in the street one night, Evey (Natalie Portman, breaking away from Padme, finally, and showing good range). V is a...well, it depends on your view. He's either a revolutionist or a terrorist...and the film does a great job of showing that sometimes, there really is NO difference.

Set in a future London, this film takes the current fears people have of the world (and the US in particular) and imagines what would happen if the worst case scenarios came true. That the war in Iraq spreads to other countries, ultimately engulfing the world, that the fear of the people (created by the government as a method of control) leads them to accept diminished liberties and rights (curfews, banned and censored materials, a Gestapo-like enforcement unit), a religious zealot of a leader who lives in a bunker (for his safety), an increasingly intolerant society (gays are rounded up and jailed, for example).

Like I said above, subtelty is not a strong suit of this film...but that is just fine with me. If the film has one thing, it has balls. As a friend of mine who had seen the film before me told me "it isn't an allegory...this film just comes out and plain says things".

In all of this is V, a man with a tortured past (thanks to the government) who feels that it is time for the people to take back control of their country and their lives. On November 5th (Guy Fawkes day), he commits an act of terrorism and informs the country that in exactly one year, he will blow up the Parliament building. Those in the country wishing to witness and support this change are to meet at the gates at midnight.

V is always wearing a mask of a smiling Guy Fawkes (the man who once tried to blow up Parliament). He also becomes first a captor, then mentor to the young Evey, who has a government-tainted past as well (concerning her parents). To go much further into their relationship is to rob you of the pleasure of seeing it develop.

Also in the film is Stephen Rea, a fine actor playing an official charged with finding V and stopping his plot. His progress is intercut with V and Evey's story, as they head for a collision towards the films climax.

The visuals in the film are stunning. To put it one way, I felt like I was in very capable hands. Some of the scenes and images towards the end were just flat out beautiful, gorgeous, and haunting, even bringing me to tears. That damn good.

For a film like this to come out at a time like this is a very gutsy thing. It's like a huge bitch slap to the Bush administration and the way they have been affecting not only their own citizens, but the rest of the world. Conservatives as a whole get a nice slap to the face in the form of a TV star much in the mold of Fox News' O'Reilly...this movie hits it all (hell, avian flu even gets mentioned!).

This is a film centered on IDEAS and IDEALS...how to live without them is to not live at all...how to stand up for them is what needs to be done. It almost makes me uncomfortable saying this, but this movie really is a call to arms. Things need to change. The time for subtelty has passed.

Now...anything I didn't like? Not really...at times, though, it stops being a movie and almost a documentary. The technique of intercutting newspaper headlines and news reports in sequences of montage is something we've all seen in docs. It took me out of the film a little, but nothing too drastic.

Some people will find this film to be horrendous...to be heavy-handed (much like I felt Crash was). My defense is that it is dealing with a subject in which all subtelty has been lost...and it is dealing with a much larger and timely problem. As John Doe in Seven stated "Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention". Damn right. Four out of four stars and highly recommended.

Briefly up for air...

2006-03-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

Just started to look over and import the material from the Spring Break shoot...and it looks good! Pretty damn happy with it. Am furiously trying to come up with a good concept for the next trailer (add dialogue and actual images of the actors...too many options!). Am going to see V for Vendetta tonight...looking forward to that a lot. The final 16mm film shoots have begun and, per usual, I've agreed to help on a good amount of them (stupid me can't say no to experience). I am cinematographer on 2 and sound person on one (sadly, my own project...which isn't really my project since my partner took it upon himself to write it himself, direct and run camera at the same time, and basically keep me out of the loop on the whole damn thing...whatever...I think the idea is crap anyways...I have a better movie to work on). OK. Bitterness out. Good air in. On a totally unrelated note, at the Fargo Film Fest, the guy who played Wolfman in the old classic (in my nostalgia-tinged mind) Monster Squad had directed a movie and screened it at the Fargo. Too bad it sucked big time. And that's all I feel like typing at the moment...

Someone's been busy....

2006-03-21T10:27:00.000-06:00

So, this morning I go to visit Reed's blog and mis-type...instead of www.seaship.blogspot.com, I typed www.seaship.blogpsot.com ...and got taken to a mega church site. Funny, I thought...so I decided to replace the seaship with other blog names that I could think of...yayfilms, musicinventor, warriorbard, etc...every single one led to the mega church site! wow...talk about a lot of work! I wonder what the church would say about subterfuge to get people to visit their sites...

It is done...

2006-03-16T10:45:00.000-06:00

Despite an actor getting lost on the way to the set...
Despite another actor coming in about an hour late...
Despite creative challenges involving a window and not being able to show what's on the other side of it...
Despite awful audio problems due to shooting in a building right on the corner of a busy intersection...
Despite making an actor drink an ungodly amount of ice tea as a substitute for alcohol...
Despite getting a blinding headache halfway through the first day of shooting...
Despite getting a call from an actor coming in the next day and finding out the he went and got a freakin haircut and that it might not look the same as when he filmed over Christmas break...
Despite losing my shot list and schedule for the second day of shooting and having to take a half hour to go back to school and find my printed copy of it (cause I never saved the file)...
Despite an actor on the second day coming in an hour and a half late...
Despite almost starting the set on fire due to a light placed too close to a piece of wood (smelled good though)...
Despite same actor being quite the jerk to the rest of the cast and crew...
Despite making the decision to cut two scenes...
Despite all the vehicles that our cast and crew parked in the nearby parking lot getting towed without our knowing...
Despite my producer shelling out 320 bucks for said cars to get out of impoundment...
Despite before-mentioned problem actor wanting to get out early cause he might have a date (even though we told him to be prepared to go till late)...

Despite all that crap...IT IS DONE...and I am very very happy with the results!

Mind you I haven't watched any footage yet, but the quality of the performances I was witnessing was fabulous. I now have all the pieces of the puzzle...I just need to put them together now.

What really amazed me was that despite having over 200 shots to complete, we finished in two days...and we finished quite early on the second day! I was prepared to shoot for another day, but the crew and the actors worked really hard and we got much more accomplished than I expected.

The set was great (built from scratch again). If I end up directing another large project again, I am going to try and find practical locations, instead of building them...unless I have the budget to hire a professional construction crew and shoot on a studio quality soundstage (something we do not have around here). I am also going to try and get my shot lists done early enough so that I can sit with my cinematographer and discuss the camera set ups before we get on set...instead of being the only person to know what shot comes next. That way, I could relax knowing that after one shot, the cinematographer (or my assistant director) could set up the next shot without me having to explain it in detail, and I could focus on talking to the actors and working their performances.

Well, that's about all I have to say about the last bit of shooting. I did manage to squeeze in some films during my evenings (Jarhead, Pride and Prejudice, Prime, The Aristocrats, A History of Violence) while rewatching a couple of favorites of mine (Panic Room, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Surprisingly, I loved all of them except one (Prime). Reviews to come very soon (expect a glut of them in the near future...must keep up...)

I had a great b-day as well...nice and relaxing and pretty uneventful. Don't know if I blogged about this alread, but I got a nice new wireless keyboard and mouse, plus a very nice three piece speaker set for my computer (with a nice big subwoofer...I can hear everything much clearer now, Reed!).

OK...time to think about getting my butt to school and start editing together all the footage.

Back down the hole...

2006-03-12T14:18:00.000-06:00

Spring Break is now here and that means time to finish off this thing called "One in Nine". I can't begin to express the relief I will feel when all the filming is complete. The set is being constructed as we speak and I am writing up the schedule...Two days, maybe three and we are finished. So, until I am finished, fare thee well...let's hope we meet again under stress free conditions!

Wanna hire a director?

2006-03-07T16:52:00.000-06:00

Just got done finishing the first form of my professional film resume...not too bad looking. Even though I lack the professional credits (almost all are student ones), I have racked up a nice list of things accomplished in only two years! A good selection of skills, awards, and versatility in experience...now, tonight, I have to compile a directors reel, a ten minute clip fest that demonstrates my directing at its best. I'm glad that this school actually tries to prepare us slightly for the "real world"..although it could be better...most film schools have placement programs, but our geographical location (read: out in the middle of nowhere) mostly prohibits this. oh well. After this busy work is done, I shall try and find time to clear my backlog of reviews and maybe talk about the Fargo Film Fest (quite excited about a few developments there). Till then...

A little calmer now...

2006-03-06T13:08:00.000-06:00

Well.

That was a night.

Let's talk about good stuff...John Stewart? Wonderful (although I am afraid that the celebs didn't "get" him and he's going to be branded a flop...which is so sad). I thought he fumbled around a bit at the beginning of his opening monologue, but quickly found his footing and made the evening enjoyable.

The entertainment factor. From Ben Stiller going waaaaaay over the top (nothing new there) to the great make-up presentation to Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin stealing the whole damn show, this was one of the best Oscars to watch. "Coming up next, our Oscar tribute to montages..."

MOST of the awards. Had no quibbles about anything really. I am proud to say that I won our film school's Oscar prediction contest (which involved the major awards plus the screenplays and, oddly, best song). I only got one wrong...ahem...

Before I get to the wonderful thing that is WHITE GUILT, let me express my dissapointment at Mr. Williams not taking home a trophy. Now, the music in Brokeback is nice, but I swear to God I thought I heard similar (and just as effective) scores this past weekend at the Fargo Film Fest...there is something to be said for simplicity, yes, but I just don't agree with how it went. BTW, I really enjoyed Itzhak Perlman's little piece there..."finger synching"...hee hee...

And then there is Crash. I took the time to write my thoughts on this film earlier on this blog (and feel much too lazy to bother linking to anything having to do with that "film"). Score one for the Screen Actors Guild and homophobia...seriously. People may think that Hollywood is a liberal hotbed (and it mostly is) but on the subject of homosexuals, it tends to play it safe. What is so disapointing is that if Brokeback had been named best picture, it would have made a profound statement in our culture (and probably riled up the Right against Hollywood for many more years to come). By saluting a mediocre film that treats the issue of racism so badly, I'm afraid that it is sending out no message whatsoever...and that is a crime for this year, when many films tackled very timely subjects...homophobia, gay relationships, the responsibility of the media, the war on terror, pre-emptive striking, the oil business, eye for an eye, personal ambition, corruput business practice, government incompetence.......and the award goes to a film with laughable voice-overs, overly contrived situations and coincidences, ham handed acting, and Sandra Bullock. COME ON. SANDRA BULLOCK?!?!?!?

ahem

I knew the backlash against Brokeback was big...but I didn't think Hollywood would roll over like this ...it seems to me that, being afraid to alienate most of the country by giving the award to "that gay cowboy movie", Hollywood chose to play it safe...say "we're not that different from you...we don't like gays either!"....The ONYL saving grace about the whole deal is that Paul Haggis didn't win for Director...the much deserving Ang Lee did.

Anyways, those are my calmer thoughts...Hollywood had a chance to speak out about something, persecution be damned. Cultural opinion starts changing in many ways...this could have been a small, but important step.

But, hey, at least the Pimp song won!!

WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT!!!!

2006-03-05T22:49:00.000-06:00

More to come later when I can calm down and write about that....ugh!!

Hectic life...

2006-02-28T11:28:00.000-06:00

(further note to self about movies to talk about: Rent, The Weatherman, Chronicles of Narnia)

The Fargo Film Fest starts tomorrow which means I basically get a free pass to sit on my butt for three or four days watching some (hopefully) decent films and making fun of the god-awful ones. My films are playing Friday morning and then I get to hold a little Q and A session afterwards...I dunno...I HATE talking about my films. i clam up for some reason. Is it weird that I am decidedly arrogant but uncomfortable with self-promotion?

Editing is going well...and I am starting to put more hours into it (which will be needed as the end draws near). I am not too panicked though because I only need to have the first half hour done by the end of the semester (cake). I also have agreed to do a lead voice in fellow students senior sem animation project (which is going to be really fun...the last time I got to act using only my voice was Little Shop of Horrors...very enjoyable and very liberating).

My writing partner, Craig, has started cranking out pages for a script that we are collaborating on. Just got the first bunch today and am going to try and find time to start revising and editing. I'm glad that he took the initiative for the first draft...I just don't have the time to crank out a new script right now (although I am still plunging my way, if erratically (sp?), through Guilty Party).

Saw that Darren McGavin died the other day...he played the father in A Christmas Story, my favorite holiday film. I try to watch it at least once every Christmas eve (more if possible, but my wife gets tired of it...oh well).

"Fra-gee-lay...that must be Italian!"

bloggety blog

2006-02-21T09:51:00.000-06:00

(note to self...movies still left to review: Flightplan, Mindhunters, Serenity, and maybe another I can't think of at the moment...ugh)

Howdy doo

Recorded all the Director's voice overs yesterday. Went very well (perfect actor for the part) and am excited to start laying it over footage.

Tried to watch Broken Flowers last night but the damn disc from Blockbuster was too scratched to finish it (started fragmenting halfway through...and then I gave up). What I did see of it...ehh...Jarmusch is a very particular director, and I particularly don't really care for his direction. Bill Murray is fine..waaay understated, but fine. It gets to a point where it looks like he's not really trying anymore (of course, that could be Jarmusch).

Am finishing shot listing the rest of the film today and starting to put together the shots for the new trailer...Reed, you will be getting some footage to look at soon, I promise!

Anyways, time to shot list. Leave me a lone. grr...!

Time off...

2006-02-17T23:36:00.000-06:00

Dog sitting for my parents till tomorrow (Saturday)...kind of relaxing. Last night, I wrote 14 pages of the script I've been working on (up to about 64 pages now). On Monday, we are recording all of the Director's audio voice-overs for One in Nine...with that done, I'll be able to put together the second trailer for the film...uh, yeah. Nothing much more going on here...just felt the need to blog a bit. oh, have been devouring episodes of Smallville lately (halfway through season 2, with seasons 3 and 4 waiting after that). Fun show...Superman was the only comic I really followed when i was younger and it's nice to see the "reimagining" of his youth. OK. Go away.

LORD OF WAR

2006-02-14T16:39:00.000-06:00

LORD OF WAR (2005)

How did this film get totally ignored while THE CONSTANT GARDENER reaped end of year award nominations?

Maybe it's the approach.

The film follows the rise and fall(?) of arms dealer and gun smuggler Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage in a role only he could have pulled off, in my opinion). A truly conflicted and addicted man (to many things) we follow Yuri from his humble beginnings to present day.

With a surrounding cast of characters (including a decent Ethan Hawke, useful Ian Holm and pretty much wasteful Jared Leto) coloring the story, Cage gives a superb, layered performance.

Can a film have too much voice over? Mmmmm...yeah. And this film comes dangerously close to crossing that line. Filled with wall to wall voice over from Cage's character, it could have gotten overwhelming and annoying...but Cage's delivery and the backing up of the voice-over with a stunning visuals save it.

The director, Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, Truman Show), has fine control of the camera and his actors. The opening is a bravura sequence in which we follow a bullet from it's construction to it's delivery into a young boys head.

Yeah, this film has a message.

The thing that probably worked against this film is that while this film has a serious and well thought out message about arms control and the military's role in the arms race in general, it uses humor and irony to get it's point across. There are parts of this film that are just damn hilarious.

Of course, towards the end, things somber up (especially the outcome of Cage's character). But maybe the damage was done. By not hitting the audience over the head about what is wrong and right, maybe they got confused and just decided to ignore it all together?

Who knows?

I loved this film. A lot. The message is very timely (as a lot of these films seem to be...a very good thing) and the delivery is slick and attractive. It's just too bad that it kind of fell to the wayside cause it decided to use different weapons in its "war" in the cinema: laughter and voice-over. 3 and a half stars out of 4.

CORPSE BRIDE

2006-02-14T16:22:00.000-06:00

CORPSE BRIDE (2005)

Sigh.

I wanted to like this film a lot.

Following the exploits of a young betrothed man on the eve of his wedding, the stop-motion animated film brings back memories of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which isn't necessarily a good thing. You see, that film is MUCH superior to this one.

At first, it was tough for me to pinpoint what I didn't like about the film. The animation is top notch (melding computer and actual puppetry, let's hope the discipline never dies out), the voice acting is superb (Johnny Depp, Christopher Lee and Danny Elfman himself at one point all give standout voice work), and the mood is note perfect for the type of story it is setting up.

Then it came to me.

The problem was the music.

The music?! WTF? This is ELFMAN we're talking about here! How could that be the failing of this movie?

I don't know. But it is.

Not so much the score. See, I loved the score. The piano solo that Johnny Depp's character plays in the beginning is very emotional and effective (as is the duet that he plays with the corpse bride in the films best sequence).

It's the songs. Not one memorable song. None. THe closest I came to smiling and moving my leg (what I do when I get into a song...don't ask) was during Bonejangles "Remains of the Day" (if I remember correctly). That seemed to be the only song that had any heart and wit. The rest fall flat. Not-so-clever lyrics and so-so melodies plague the songs in this film.

At 76 minutes, this barely qualifies as a film, yet it felt a lot longer than that (not a good thing). The songs almost feel like filler, as in they didn't have enough running time to play in theaters so they shoe-horned in two or three uninspired songs.

Once again, sigh.

That's really all I have to say about this film. Pretty dissappointed. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am, but I think I'm sticking to my guns on this one. 2 stars out of 4.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

2006-02-14T15:54:00.000-06:00

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (2006)

As a new movie reviewer, I have found that the most difficult thing to do is write about a good movie. A really good movie. How does one put into words how excellent a movie is without falling back on the usual stable of compliments? (I have been thinking about having a thesaurus nearby when I do these reviews).

This film captivated me from frame one. Shot in beautiful black and white (the choice is wholly justified), the images are captivating and the performances are riveting.

I won't rehash the plot (most of you know about McCarthyism and the threat it posed to journalistic (not to mention national) integrity).

The film begins and ends with Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn in a career changing role, one hopes) giving a speech in which he talks about the potential of television as an educator, to bring the news to the people, regardless of commercial pressure to do otherwise.

The meat of the film is Murrow's battle with Sen McCarthy. Murrow put his integrity and reputation on the line to challenge the tactics of the HUAC. When McCarthy tried to lash back, branding him a communist, Murrow did not flinch. Despite corporate pressure, he did not blink. Murrow stayed the course and, in most everyone's eyes, won in the end.

Ah, to live in simpler times. Today, if one tried what Murrow did, he would be immediately marginalized by an administration keen on media control and a right wing army of radio, television, and blogsphere types always prepped for battle. The integrity of the news is missing. When the majority of people get their "news' from FOX News, while outlets like NPR are branded "liberal biased", how can one get heard in a country where the government is acting more and more like a monarchy?

But I digress.

George Clooney's direction is simple and elegant, like the man it is presenting. These were the days when the news shows consisted of, really, one camera and a man staring into it for minutes at a time, speaking. Clooney replicates this well and with great effect.

The effect comes mainly from Strathairn's performance. There are takes, some as long as maybe 5 minutes, where it is nothing but Murrow staring into the camera talking to his audience on his show (and to us in the theater). During those long takes, my eyes did not wander a bit. So commanding was his presence and delivery, I could not pull my eyes away from his. That is the mark of a legendary screen performance, one that I believe will be remembered for years to come.

As always, any nits? Yes, but a minor one. Clooney makes the choice to bridge sections of the film together with a jazz singer, recording in the studio next to Murrow's. While it fits the mood, it takes one a bit out of the film.

That little nit aside, this film was an experience. I am almost tempted to not call it a film, maybe more a civics lesson? Anyway, more people need to see this important film. American's may not realize the high-wire act our government is performing regarding our liberties. But if more people have the courage to speak out, like Murrow then and Clooney now, maybe we can bring ourselves down before the long fall damages us permanently. Four out of four stars.

Back to the ol' shot list

2006-02-14T11:51:00.000-06:00

We shoot the last 30 pages of my feature in a month and I guess I should get off my butt and shot list the rest of it. We locked up our locations (and they are going to be awesome). Now we just have to get actors schedules arranged (only three this time, instead of ten...thank god). I am going to be dog sitting for my parents this thursday friday and saturday so I'll have plenty of time to come up with shots. I also need to get up my reviews for the rest of the films I've seen lately (new addition: Walk the Line, still waiting on: good night and good luck, mindhunters, flightplan, and something else...i have it written around somewhere). so, with that, it's time to go eat.

CINDERELLA MAN

2006-02-07T09:56:00.000-06:00

Got lots of movies to talk about...and they'll get out when they get out I guess (this one, Good Night and Good Luck, Corpse Bride, and Lord of War). Let's go...

CINDERELLA MAN (2005)

People must really hate Russel Crowe.

That's my conclusion after watching this movie...Crowe delivers an awesome performance that would WIN an Oscar any other year...and I understand that this year has stiff competition...but to not even get nominated? People must really hate him.

The film tells the story of real life boxer Jim Braddock as he falls from riches during the Depression and climbs his way back to the top due to wanting to provide for his family. Pretty simple story, well told.

Paul Giamatti, who I said earlier only got nominated cause he was snubbed so many times before, may have proved me wrong. He's excellent in the film, playing Braddock's manager and corner man, a role that easily could have fallen back on cliched lines and reations. Giamatti keeps it fresh and entertaining.

Renee Zellweger does a fine job in the film, taking a pretty thankless role and developing it into something more. It's not her fault that she gets saddled with some of the clunkier dialogue ("...you are the champion of my heart!").

The real star of the film, however, is the boxing. Now, we've all seen boxing done well in movies before, and I'm not going to argue that this is better...however, as far as portraying acting and advancing a story through the matches...this is done in fine form. Great editing, wonderful sound, and superb camera work all add to the effect of the matches.

Ron Howard aquits himself of being a "soft" director quite well (something I never believed anyway). He does a great job of presenting the Great Depression, gritty throughout.

Any quibbles? Sure. The story seems prepared by studio exec #1...hits all the normal beats, nothing outstanding here. Formulaic. A couple of editing situations during the matches (flashes to his home life and children) are pretty cheesy. Also, an attempt at the end to try and further the tension and the drama just kind of comes out of nowhere and doesn't serve any real purpose (except maybe satisfying a test audience complaint...stupid test audiences).

So, a great, polished movie that hits all the right beats (even if they've been hit over and over again before...pun intended). 3 stars.

Tonight was a first

2006-02-04T01:17:00.000-06:00

Even though it's getting late, I needed to blog about this...too damn funny.

So, our performance tonight? Of our comedy skits? It was for a student nursing convention. Nice big crowd (and almost all female). So, we start our skits...

The first one is kind of a yawner, about a tyrant who works a window at the DMV. Audience reaction? Ehh..

The second one deals with a man (me) encountering a very forward waitress at a French cafe. They liked this one and were finally starting to warm up.

Then came the next skit...

It's called "The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From". I played Joe Hardy. The skit is f'ing hilarious. There is a distinct homoerotic subtext between Joe and Frank that we played up a bit (the mystery is what a "bun in the oven" is and why Nancy Drew has to get married now). We go to the school nurse to find out...and the nurse turns out to be Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest...and a sex maniac.

Needless to say, we end up in our shirts and boxers tied up wondering what's going on (and completely oblivious to the Nurse being odd).

And that's where we got into some trouble...you see, I guess they didn't like the fact that we had a character who was a nurse...and who ended up being a sex maniac. One of the heads of the conference came to talk to one of the off-stage actors asking if there were more offensive skits...she said no (and was partially right).

Then we went into the next skit which..well, involved an insane mother rambling a lot of crazy stuff...the funny thing is, the actress playing the mother was the one that was approached previously and, knowing the head womens problem, censored herself during the skit (this involved cutting out the part where she humps the couch repeatedly). But me, being oblivious to the "situation" continued with the skit...which ends up with me dressed in a skirt and pearls and walking around as if I am on a cat walk (the skit is WEIRD). The audience: silent. After we got done, I went off stage to get into my next costume when I saw the sign from our director. We were done.

They were kicking us out!

This has never happened to me before (and I have performed some borderline offensive material before). They never stated what exactly the problem was, but I figure it had to do with not only the nurse character, but the homoerotic nature of the Hardy Boys (f'ing red state crowds).

So, I thought I would share that with you. Personally, I think it is hilarious...disappointing that we didn't get to finish (we have another performance for the college tomorrow) but very amused that we proved too offensive for a group of nurses...heh heh...

I watched Cinderella Man tonight and am going to go see Good Night and Good Luck tomorrow afternoon...reviews up soon! Night!

Random thoughts...

2006-02-03T12:42:00.000-06:00

Not really, I guess. Just killing time until the Fargo Film Fest schedule is posted...I officially know now that my two films - Death of Art (the 48 hour one) and Matryoshka (my 16mm final from last semester) are going to play at the main venue, which is very awesome. I just need to know what times now...

Came up with the idea for another screenplay this morning in the shower (where great ideas always spring to life it seems). Not much to put down now, but involves a pair of thieves. Yeah. Guess that doesn't tell you much. Tough.

I am going to start combing the web for film festivals to enter my films into now...hopefully I can rack up some awards to put on my resume.

I watched my two films again yesterday in order to get a publicity still from each...both of them could use some tightening, I found out. I can easily edit Matryoshka but 48 is another story due to computer vandalism...we shall see. I have until March 1st to get my viewable copies in to Fargo.

Still haven't watched Cinderella Man yet...but will hopefully get it into the player tonight.

I am in a performance of a friends senior theater project tonight (a bunch of comedy skits)...glad for that to be over soon. Not that it hasn't been fun, but the rehearsal time at night has really been cutting into planned editing times (and video game playing time - almost finished with Final Fantasy X!).

OK. Time to get the heck out of here and take a nap before performance time.

My problems with CRASH

2006-02-02T14:35:00.000-06:00

Since I ripped this movie a new one in my Oscar post, I guess I could explain a bit why I did not like this film one bit. (I don't think I have yet on this blog, but bear with me if I already have).

This movie soooooo wants to be DO THE RIGHT THING set in LA. There.

The difference is that RIGHT THING works, and CRASH doesn't.

What both films try to achieve is to show that there is good and bad in everyone. On the surface. What they REALLY want to do is indict the audience for the feelings they may have during the film, and in doing so, make the audience realize that racism is a deeply rooted and oft ignored problem in a lot of people. How successful are they?

I remember the first time I saw RIGHT THING. When Spike Lee's character throws the trash can through the window of the pizza parlor, I was shocked. I was even more shocked (and a bit outraged) at the destruction that took place after that catalyst. But then I got to thinking - what the hell is wrong with me? I am feeling bad for a freakin PIZZA PARLOR and am ignoring the fact that a black man was killed by a policeman in there minutes earlier?! Once that realization hit me, it made me think. Made me think long after the movie was finished. It was masterful how Lee handled the buildup to that culminating event and how easy it was to fall into the trap of feeling bad for the wrong reasons. it worked.

Not so with CRASH. Whereas Lee was subtle with his manipulation of the audience, Haggis hits you over the head with a sledgehammer right from the start and doesn't let up till the credits roll. I don't mind the message. I DO mind when a film tries so hard and obviously to manipulate me.

The best example in the film is the (SPOLIER ALERT I guess) scene where the little girl gets shot. UGH. First off, I saw what was going to happen from a mile away...plus, I knew how it was going to end cause of a real sloppy set up earlier on in the film...so when it went all slo-mo and dramatic, with the heart stirring music, I was thinking BULLSHIT the whole time in my head. PLUS, I knew that the filmmaker didn't have the balls to really do what was shown...just intuition I guess. But you are really supposed to FEEL that moment! ehh...

Another thing is what I call the MAGNOLIA problem. Too many characters in too many subplots. This film could have done fine with a bit of pruning, even taking out one whole character or two (my pick? Sandra Bullocks character...and not even cause I am not wild about her as an actress). A movie can feel too damn bloated by having too many characters that don't interact that much.

This leads me to another sticking point: the sheer amount of coincidences. Gosh, EVERYONE in the film is connected somehow! LA must not really be that large! It's a small world after all! It gets almost ridiculous towards the end (and way too predictable).

Now are there good things in the film? Sure. The acting is usually pretty well done (except for Cheadle's groan inducing monologue in the beginning...more due to the writing than the delivery). And LA sure does look purty.

Why is this film nominated for so many awards? One could hazard a guess that it's set in LA...and so are a lot of the voters. It's interesting that while this film, this IMPORTANT film about racism, got nominated for Best Picture, DO THE RIGHT THING didn't. Makes you wonder what would have happened had Spike Lee lived in LA.

Anyways, I guess this kind of turned into a rant, but I can't help it I guess. I feel that it is an undeserving piece of work. Go rent Spike Lee's joint instead and tell me what the better film is.

JUNEBUG

2006-02-02T14:11:00.000-06:00

JUNEBUG (2005)

Continuing my effort to catch up on the nominated films this year, I rented JUNEBUG, a very indie film indeed.

Let me explain what I mean by that: There must be a checklist for these types of films - quirky family that doesn't communicate that well CHECK - fish out of water situation that seems to mock a towns way of life - CHECK - odd moments of "ponderance" as we see nothing but frames of nature for a minute at a time - CHECK - a feeling of self-importance (usually not warranted) - CHECK - the desire to leave nothing resolved and barely have any character arcs cause that's what real life "is" - DOUBLE CHECK.

Needless to say, I didn't care for this film much. Indie films of this type just kind of rub me the wrong way. You want a perfect example? Go here. It's the trailer for the movie THUMBSUCKER. Made me want to vomit the treacly indie taste out of my body. (everything from the music, the quirky characters, the self-importance of a "real" coming of age story, and especially the last card at the end...UGH).

ANYWAYS

The movie deals with an art dealer who marries an attractive man shortly after meeting him. For an art deal, she must go to North Carolina, which just happens to be where he is from. So, time to meet the family and the "odd" town. There really isn't much more to say except that the art dealer maybe learns a life lesson in there and that the family really does love each other, they just can never bring themselves to say it.

I was so not impressed with this movie (especially after just finishing HUSTLE AND FLOW) that I was going to turn it off after about ten minutes.

And then along came Amy Adams.

If there is a reason to see this film, it is her. She plays an affectionate, enthusiastic pregnant woman who strives to make a connection with the art dealer ( she is marred to the art dealers husbands brother...got that?). A natural on the screen, Adams takes what could have easily been a very annoying character and turns it into one of the better performances of the year (hence her Oscar nod).

But whenever the film strays away from her, it feels empty. You want to go back to her. And when you realize that she is not what this film is about, you really wish it was. I would have loved to have seen that movie. Instead, I got a two star movie out of the deal. Ehh.

"Everybody gotta have a dream."

2006-02-02T09:42:00.000-06:00

HUSTLE AND FLOW (2005)

Ever had a movie stick with you long after you watched it? I'm sure you have. Any good film tends to do that...it's why we call it a "good" film. This is one of them.

Not really expecting to like this movie all that much, I had to see how Terrance Howard scored a best actor nod over Russel Crowe (and hoped that it was more than Crowe's lack of popularity). It was much more, it turns out.

The movie revolves around a struggling pimp (Howard) who is having a bit of a midlife crisis. After running into an old school friend (played well by the usually over the top comic relief Anthony Anderson, here playing it serious) who makes a living recording music recitals and court testimony, DJay (the pimp) starts to thinking that he can make something happen. Using his long suppressed talent for rapping, DJay, with the help of his women and a geeky musician (the ever geeky DJ Qualls), starts to put together a demo tape full of songs about the life of a pimp (the standout number being "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp", a surprise Oscar nom for best song). His goal: to get the tape into the hands of famous rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris) and make something more out of his life.

What could have been a typical (and highly exploitive) film is elevated by the absolutely phenomenal performance of Terrance Howard. The intensity, complexity, and all around visceral quality he exudes on the screen keeps you captivated for the whole film. It's not often that it happens, but I was so invested in this characters struggle that I was anxiously awaiting the outcome of his big gamble. This from a film I expected to start nodding off during the last hour.

Does the film have exploitative qualities? You bet (being about pimps and the surrounding lifestyle, how could it not?). Yet the director keeps it grounded and never goes over the top.

What stuck with me after the viewing was the music. Three songs in the film are put together by DJay in his very makeshift studio (soda cup holders from fast food joints are stapled to the wall for soundproofing). And they are all excellent. I'm not a fan of rap, per se, but they are undeniably catchy (and still in my head).

The film has a sheen of pure 70's all over it, be it the funky score to the way the opening titles are handled. Since it was produced by John Singleton (who did the Shaft remake, among other things recently) and filmed on location in Memphis, this isn't much of a surprise.

What is surprising is the fact that this was all written and directed by a white man. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong about that, it's just that usually this type of film is handled by a black person. This fact is also what gave the producers a lot of trouble in trying to make it: the studios didn't think a white man could do the job well. They were wrong. Born and bred in Memphis himself, Craig Brewer has an impressive feature film debut here.

Not much more to say here except that depsite the dark dressings of the film, there is a pure message: Everybody gotta have a dream. This director did and it paid off for him. This movie is excellent. Three and a half stars.

Oscar nominations are in...

2006-01-31T09:48:00.000-06:00

I must be slipping...my film professor had to remind me of the nominations that were released this morning. And so, without further ado, my take and predictions...

BEST ACTOR
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE
Terrance Howard, HUSTLE AND FLOW
Heath Ledger, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix, WALK THE LINE
David Strathaim, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Like I have been saying, this is Hoffman's year (sorry, Joaquin. Mr. Foxx did the singer biopic thing last year...and probably worse than you did). It's nice to see Strathaim get some recognition...a very talented and underrated actor. The noticeable snub here is Russel Crowe for CINDERELLA MAN, but given his "popularity" amongst his peers and voters, this isn't much of a surprise.

WINNER: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
George Clooney, SYRIANA
Matt Dillon, CRASH
Paul Giamatti, CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
William Hurt, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Ugh, they pick Dillon over Howard in CRASH? I have severe problems with that "movie", but feel that if they were to nominate any male from that movie, it should be Howard. Anyways, this is an interesting field. If I had to go for performance, I would say that Clooney would win...his best chance of the night, me thinks. Plus, it would be a great reward for the phenomenal year he has had, full of quality work. BUT, then there is Giamatti...who is long overdue for an award...I just hate Oscars way of not rewarding people when they should! Plus it is nice to Hurt get nominated...at least SOME love for the film. Very tough to pick, but..

WINNER: George Clooney, SYRIANA

BEST ACTRESS
Judi Dench, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman, TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron, NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon, WALK THE LINE

Agh! Here's another tough call...Both Golden Globe winners duking it out... I would LOVE to see Huffman win this as I think she is one of the most talented actresses working today. BUT, this category is usually used to crown Hollywood royalty and it looks like it's Witherspoon's turn (following in the undeserving footsteps of Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, and so on...) Color me sick. The only reason I am not pissed is that Witherspoon at one point was Tracey Flick in ELECTION, one of my fave films. SO...

WINNER: Reese Witherspoon, WALK THE LINE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener, CAPOTE
Frances McDormand, NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Usually the category of upsets, I don't predict one this year. Amy Adams gets the obligatory nod towards indie films (the "I'm just happy to be here!" nomination). Keener did not have that substantial of a role in Capote, McDormand was stuck in a weak film and Michelle Williamshas finally shed her Dawson's Creek past (she just needs one more film to win something now). Weisz should win this one, and how about that? She deserves it too!

WINNER: Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER

BEST ANIMATED FILM
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
THE CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE AND GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

Saw none of these (shame on me!) but the good things I heard about Were-Rabbit shoul put it over the top (plus it may win a sympathy vote for their studio and numerous props going up in a fire).

WINNER: WALLACE AND GROMIT

ART DIRECTION

Not really an expert on this (nice to see Goblet get nominated though!). Usually goes to a period piece, so either MEMOIRS or PREJUDICE...me thinks

WINNER: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Batman Begins? I would laugh sooooo hard if that won! But no...

WINNER: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

COSTUME DESIGN

Ehh...I dunno...

WINNER: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

BEST DIRECTOR
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
MUNICH

While I gag at the thought of Haggis winning for CRASH, I smile in knowing he won't. It's Ang Lee's to lose..Spielberg pissed off too many Jews (sorry if that isn't PC, but it's true...and a large portion of the voters are Jewish). Capote is a first time effort (and is justly rewarded thus) and while I would love for Clooney to pick this one up, it goes to

WINNER: Ang Lee, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

DOCUMENTARY
While I know that Enron is widely viewed as a great pic, this is the year of the Penguins...

WINNER: MARCH OF THE PENGUINS

DOC SHORT

I dunno...

WINNER: GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA

FILM EDITING
Where's SYRIANA? Wonderful editing job there! Anyway...as much as some of the camera work annoyed me, the editing in Gardener is great...

WINNER: THE CONSTANT GARDENER

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Yeah, I dunno...

WINNER: PARADISE NOW

MAKEUP
Narnia? Sith? and Cinderella? Here's me pulling for a sci-fi win...lol

WINNER: REVENGE OF THE SITH

BEST SCORE

Woo Hoo!! I get to see Williams win an Oscar! Two noms! If he loses, I'll be PISSED!

WINNER: JOHN WILLIAMS!!

BEST SONG

I hope the pimp song wins and that they get someone really dignified to announce it! hee hee...

WINNER: It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" HUSTLE AND FLOW

BEST PICTURE
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
MUNICH

Not much to talk about here...Crash makes me vomit...give it to the gay cowboys!

WINNER: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

SHORT FILMS
ANIMATED SHORT
????? Who knows...

SOUND EDITING
Give it to the foghorns...in my opinion...

WINNER: WAR OF THE WORLDS

SOUND MIXING
Likewise...

WINNER: WAR OF THE WORLDS

VISUAL EFFECTS
Where the hell is Sith? Narnia? WTF? Me likey the big ape...

WINNER: KING KONG

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Most likely Brokeback, although Capote's script is excellent, and it's interesting that A History of Violence is adapted from a graphic novel...but to take a short story and make it the Oscar contender this year...

WINNER: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Shoot me if it goes to Hack-is, er, sorry, Haggis. Very tough category...Good night...Match Point...Squid and the Whale...Syriana (odd that this is original).

WINNER: ehh....SYRIANA (cause I love the film).

And there we go...I'll probably write more about this as we get closer to Oscar time...let me know what you all think! (and for a list of all nominations, go here).

Waiting for the bus...

2006-01-27T13:31:00.000-06:00

SO, I only had to come to campus today for the whole one minute it took me to pick up my financial aid. I stop by the film office, talk to my advisor for a few minutes, then go out to catch the bus and find that it arrived 5 minutes early....grr...now I have a half an hour to kill...why not on here?

I am eagerly awaiting the selections of the Fargo Film Festival...I entered two of my films (my 48 hour film and my final 16 mm project, Matryoshka). Through unofficial channels, I have heard that both of my films made the festival (which is a touch festival to get into...entries from all over the country for this one). PLUS, I heard that I was a leading contender for Best Student Film...which would be a very nice thing. With that attached to my film, I have a great chance of getting it into other film festivals (possibly larger ones) around the country...and thus, more exposure.

And speaking of that 48 hour film....

Here we go...

When last I left you intrepid blog readers, I was about to go to school and edit the fruits of my labor...

After a lovely meal at the HuHut (home of the best Mongolian grill around) Carson and I got to school and started logging our footage.
In a word, UGH. Nothing looked good to me...framing was off, performances were off...I was pissed off. And then, the damd computer crashed halfway through capturing. That was the breaking point. Taking my frustration and multiplying it with my lack of sleep, I punched the monitor quite hard (enough to have hurt my hand for the next few days) and said screw it, I'm going home.

And that's what I did. At 3 in the morning, I got home and went to bed, planning on coming to school early in the morning and starting anew...things were not looking good for me....

The next morning...

We get to school at about 10 (a little later than I wanted, Carson overslept). We relog the footage and...it all looks amazingly better! My groggy-from-sleep filter gone, I realize that I have the makings of a decent film here...the editing begins...

I feel bad cause I kind of leave carson out of the process, not really explaning my thought process, because I was already feeling the pressure of the time limit (had to be done by 7).

One the other groups are back...heard they went out and filmed a cattle drive..interesting. They've started editing. The other group that went to Bismark is not back yet.

I start from the end and work my way to the beginning (like I usually do). And I edit each scene or sequence on a seperate time line, planning to put it all together on one in the end and print it to tape....

Lots of people coming in to look at what we did, amazed that we were insane enough to do a musical. That's nice, but a lot of distractions, and I start getting a little frustrated that I can't hear myself think. Eventually, I tell Carson to lock the classroom door, which irks a few people, but they'll get over it (and then did).

The other groups is back and they are starting to edit like crazy, having taken too much time traveling. They shot on a 24p camera, which basically gives them a film look to their video. I guess we already lost the cinematography award.

The other groups is in trouble. I hear rumblings about a very stressful and unorganized shoot. I find time to check out some of their footage and it is, to put it nicely, a mess. They have decided to cut it together abstractly and make a "mood" piece. whatever...one down, another to go.

The songs edit together a lot better than I expect...Since I did it totally the wrong way (not prerecording it and lip synching while shooting) it's amazing that it is cutting together at all.

Nearing the end, both of the editing and the competition...feeling a little stressed out.

I have two scenes left to edit, but decide to put together the footage I have now...and come upon a big problem.

The competition states that all films must be 8 minutes of less...anything over is disqualified. And, without the last two scenes, I am sitting at a whopping 10 and a half minutes.

Oops.

I immediately start to panic and look at what I can cut (which is painful cause we didn't write a lot of expendable scenes). One scene goes totally out the window, and that is fine. Problem is, it's only a twenty second scene. I try a few other things, taking out brief bits, but then realize that if I wanted to get it down to 8 minutes while keeping the story coherent, I would have to cut out the scene with the required line for the competition, another thing that could get me disqualified.

I finally reach the breaking point. I stand up and say "fuck it, we're done" and storm out of the room. I go upstairs and just stew in a lounge. i can't believe that after all the work we put into the film, we are going to have to hack it apart and most likely still get disqualified. The time is 6:15...45 minutes left. I basically come to terms that I am not going to enter anything...I feel like quite the failure, having set a huge standard for myself to surpass (not to mention the one other people seem to give me in the department).

And then...after a few more minutes of feeling sorry for myself...

I come up with a way to salvage the project. I run downstairs.....

***********************************

And now I have to grab the bus!

CAPOTE

2006-01-24T09:19:00.000-06:00

So, my producer and I got restless editing yesterday and finally went to the movies. Here we go....

CAPOTE (2005)

Have you ever had something (a project, film, music piece, paper, etc) that you swore you would do everything in your power to get completed? I know I told myself this numerous times in regards to my film. That I would say anything, do almost anything, to get it done. But how far would you go?

These are the questions that came to my mind while watching the captivating Capote. The film is not a biopic in the conventional sense, in that it doesn't follow the once celebrated writer Truman Capote from childhood to death. Rather, it follows Capote as he sets out to write what would be his only completed novel ever, In Cold Blood.

A family in Kansas is murdered by two passing drifters. Capote sees the headline and wants to do an article for The New Yorker talking about the effect the killings had on the small town. He soon realizes that he has the makings of a novel, a non-fiction one (unheard of at the time). He also meets the two murderers and seems to make a connection (or fall in love with...it leaves it a bit ambiguous) one of them (Clifton Collins, Jr. in what should be a career jumping role...superb).

What follows is a look at a truly cold and manipulative man who can't seem to come to terms with why he is feeling so rotten about the situation. You see, realizing he needs a great ending for the novel (including the story of the murders from the killers mouths and eventually their execution), Truman manipulates the situation by hiring them a top notch appeals lawyer. In doing this, he has time to sit and interview (or just be around) Clifton Collins.

There is more to the story, but I won't go into it here. You need to see this movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman is fantastic in a role that could easily could have been over the top and a parody. He rightfully deserves his Golden Globe and the future Oscar he is going to collect.

Any nitpicks? Sure. The beginning scenes are a bit disjointed, very quick, almost as if the director shot a lot more footage than was needed and just put in bits. This feeling goes away once Truman finally meets the killers and probably can be chalked up to the first time feature director Bennet Millet working out the kinks in his style.

The film looks beautiful and at an hour and a half (about) it doesn't overstay it's welcome. One interesting note is that this is adapted not from Caopte's novel, but from another novel about Capote writing his (maybe one day someone will write a novle about the man who wrote the novel that got made into a movie and....).

In the end, it is a character piece: Truman Capote is that character. Hoffman brings to the screen a great indie film that is rightfully deserving of any awards it picks up. 3 and a half stars.

*************************************************************************************

I ope to be seeing Brokeback Mountain and Good Night, and Good Luck soon (before they leave our theaters in town). With those two and Munich viewed, I think I can feel goo din knowing I saw the best of what 2005 had to offer for films. If only 2006 looked halfway decent....

First cut is always the deepest

2006-01-24T09:13:00.000-06:00

Not that the phrase above has much of a bearing on this post...Finally started cutting together the first couple of scenes for One in Nine. THe one thing I realized yesterday is that I gave myself many many options on how to cut the scenes...almost too many..lol. I cut one scene together two totally different ways and am trying to decide which of them I liked the best. But that is good...better to have options than be locked into decisions that I may not be totally happy with.

The footage looks good too...even though it isn't in 24 frames per second (standard film speed) and actually downconverted from HD to fit on the computer, the footage looks a lot better than standard DV footage. I hope to put up a sample scene soon (one of the beginning ones with no real dialogue) just to give you guys a small look. I am also kicking around ideas for a new trailer (or two actually). So, the editing process has started and I am looking forward to spending many an hour shaping about ten hours of footage into an hour and a half.

HOSTEL

2006-01-19T11:39:00.000-06:00

Let's jump right in...
*************************************************************************************

HOSTEL (2005)

Directed by Eli Roth (his first film being Cabin Fever), this movie explores the themes of capitalism, the desire to purchase what you want, and the objectification of women and men alike....OK, who am I kidding? It's half about porn, half about torture porn.

Following the exploits of three frat losers around Europe (one of them being from Iceland, none of them worth looking up their names for), this film gets off to a start full of tits, drugs, and alcohol....and stays that way for half the movie. Seriously. I was waiting quite a while for the "horror" to start.

Do I need to go into the plot? OK, let's just say that somewhere in Europe there is a place where you can pay a large amount of money and get to torture and kill someone. And there are people whose jobs are to find "recruits" to be tortured and killed. Enter our three losers.

Problems with this film? Many. Out of the three, one of the characters has semi-decent development. Unfortunately, the filmmaker decides to kill this person off halfway through the film, leaving us with the least interesting of the three acting as our "hero". Ugh.

Also, the gore, while visceral and gut wrenching at times, gets, well, old. I guess I don't get phased as much as others about that kind of stuff, but I found myself yawning more than once during the film.

Acting is categorically non-existent...sets look like they were bought at an auction for the old Saw sets and gored up even more (although, if anyone has played the Silent Hill games, it looks a lot like the "hell" sections of that game)...and the ending is a big "huh...yeah, right..."

Anything positive about this pile? Yes, actually. Rick Hoffman has two scenes in the film and steals the whole movie..why? Because he has a fantastic scene towards the end where I believed everything he was saying...did not expect to see a very good performance out of anyone in this film, but that was it.

Also...ugh...I guess I could say that there was some attempt at a message. You see, in the beginning half of the film, these guys go to these places where they pay any amount of money and get all the sex and drugs they want. Buy your pleasure. In the second half, they find themselves in the women's place, being the object of people's pleasure...it's just that the "pleasure" happens to be torture and death. So, there is some attempt at parallelism, I guess...but it's not handled well.

Overall, this registered as a big shrug of the shoulders for me. One and a half stars and a apology to myself for letting my friend take me to it in the first place.

RED EYE

2006-01-17T16:08:00.000-06:00

Strapped in? Seats in the upright position? Kid with a big forehead kicking your seat? OK. Let's go...

RED EYE (2005)

First, a disclaimer: I love the Scream movies. Well, just one and three (and mostly one). Oddly enough, it was the first Scream film that made me want to write screnplays and learn more about movies...weird, huh? I can't quite explain it. Anyways, all three were directed by Nightmare on Elm Street maestro Wes Craven. And so is this one.

Red Eye follows the story of Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), a hotel manager flying home from Texas after the funeral of her grandmother. In the airport, while waiting for a delayed flight, she meets Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy), an affable young man with a convenient name (a joke is made in the movie about it, which clues you in to how serious the film takes itself). The two have a nice conversation in the bar and happen to be sitting next to each other on the flight. After takeoff, Rippner informs her that unless she does exactly what he says, her dad will be killed. Flying sucks.

What could have been a seriously boring film is actually a pretty engaging one (for the first 2/3rds). The set up is handled at a nice, even pace and takes it's time building up to the ultimatum given by Rippner.

OK. What did I like? McAdams and Murphy. Chemistry. Very charismatic and attractive young actors. And both on the top of their games in this film. Despite the fact that they would have probably been forvigen for phoning in their performances for a movie of this genre, they put their all into it, fleshing out what could have been very shallow characters with base motivations. Cillian is fast becoming a fav actor of mine (with this, 28 Days Later and Batman Begins). McAdams is the rare young actress that has more than good looks: she has great acting chops and a shine of intelligence. She will be very big one day. Count on it.

On the commentary, Wes Craven mentions that this is a bit of a departure from his usual slasher pic genre. While I do agree that this is more of a thriller for the most part, I still felt touches of Scream all over the place (the second act, which is all on the plane with the two sitting next to each other, is basically the opening scene of Scream played out not over the phone, but on a crowded plane).

Craven knows what he is doing, though. For such a short movie (hour and 16 minutes) and such small minded plot (no big twists, keeps it pretty simple), it almost seems like overkill having him direct it. Kind of like John Williams scoring my next ten minute film. But he's a master for a reason. Despite moves I have seen before, his style is a pleasure to watch no matter what.

Not to say this movie doesn't have it's problems. It does, and it's the third act (a lot of movies are ending up like this...good start, middle, but no freakin clue how to end it). The only good thing I can say about the third act is that it knows when to quit. While other movies would have opted to go longer and make things even bigger, this one quietly comes to it's conclusion and sends you off to enjoy the rest of your evening. Anyways, it basically devolves into a cat and mouse chase straight out of a, you guessed it, slasher pic. Which is a shame because so much time and care is spent building these characters and their opposition to each other up.

Brian Cox has a small part here playing McAdams's father and there are some memorable passengers on the plane. Overall, the movie is lean and doesn't make the mistake of thinking it's more important than it really is. While I doubt it would ever be shown as a late night in-flight film, it's the perfect type of movie for it. Three out of four stars.

*************************************************************************************

If you think that was too much gushing for a small minded thriller pic, you should hear me talk about the first Scream! Up soon, my review of the feel good pic of the year, Hostel.

The Golden Globes

2006-01-17T09:08:00.000-06:00

(Very soon, I will have reviews up of Red Eye and...ahem...Hostel (yeah yeah, I know).

So, I got to catch most of the Golden Globes last night...and while I do think that this awards show is a bit of a joke compared to the Oscars (only 80 or so voters and all of them from the Hollywood Foreign Press...which gives a slight edge to non-American actors) I like to see what wins and make my predictions on the Oscar noms, coming out January 31st (predictions up soon as well). Let's go through the main film awards since I really don't watch TV (except let me say I am damn glad that LOST won best drama and am pissed that Desperate Housewives took best comdey again...it's not a damn comedy and the only reason it's in that category is cause it could never win in the Drama..ahem). Onto the awards...

ORIGINAL SCORE - John Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha

Kind of surprised at this one..not because I don't think he deserved it, but because he almost gets taken for granted during these awards shows..."here's your token nomination for being the greatest living film composer...but no win for you!". Haven't listened to the score yet, but will now.

SCREENPLAY - Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain

No real susprise here. This film is going to be the film to beat come Oscar time...and the fact that it was adapted from a short story makes it all the more impressive.

DIRECTOR - Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain

Again, no susprise. Very humble man, btw. Wonder how much Spielberg pissed off the Hollywood Jewish community with Munich... (oh, and glad to see Peter Jackson still hasn't combed his hair!)

SUPPORTING ACTOR - George Clooney, Syriana

Very happy about this, though a bit surprised. Of all the awards he should be up for, this was the one I least expected him to win (was pulling for a directing win for Good Night, and Good Luck). He's good in the film, but not spectacular. I wonder if it wasn't a "great year, George" award.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener

I know you all know my thoughts on the film (a dissapointment) but I think she was sublime in the film. An actress with great chops (and looks), I hope she gets a lot more decent roles after this.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - Paradise Now (Palestine)

Well, well, well..leave it to the Foreign Press to award a Palestinian film...wonder if this has a chance come Oscar time when the voting is a bit more biased against them...

ACTOR and ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMDEY) - Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

First off, let me say that I think the division of musical/comdey and drama is abunch of bullshit...let them all stand together instead of insinuating that musicals and comedies can't stand up to dramas...

No surprises here. I have not seen the film but have heard nothing but good things. Reese is a lock for the Oscar, me thinks...but Joaquin will have to settle for a Globe...all because of...

BEST ACTOR (DRAMA) - Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Give the man the Oscar now. There is no race. It's so wonderful to see this character actor waltz away with the leading man awards this year...woo hoo!

BEST ACTRESS (DRAMA) - Felicity Huffman, Transamerica

Yes! For taking on such a daring role, I am glad she got awarded for it. I have been impressed with her ever since I saw her on Sports Night (Reed, if you love West Wing, you will LOVE this show as well). She is the ONLY good thing about Desperate Housewives and I hope she gets more awards in the years to come.

BEST FILM (MUSICAL OR COMEDY) - Walk the Line

There's your Globe...sorry about having no chance for an Oscar...

BEST FILM (DRAMA) - Brokeback Mountain

There ya go...another Oscar winner. I plan on seeing this film this week and am very excited to see it in a Red State theater...woo hoo! Ang Lee has impressed me ever since The Ice Storm (well worth the rental) and, except for the Hulk, hasn't made any real stumbles. Great movie, very topical, and very deserving of the biggest award.

So there it is...the Golden Globes. Agree or disagree with me? Please let me know...If there's one thing I like arguing about, it's movies.

The Constant Gardener...

2006-01-12T09:25:00.000-06:00

First off, that Transformer footage? Fakey mcFakerson. Too bad...it looked pretty damn neat to me.

And on to other news...

The Constant Gardener (2005)

I wanted to see this movie in the theaters but never got around to doing so...and am a bit glad that I didn't. Definitely a renter.

Based on the novel by John le Carre, The Constant Gardener follows the story of two people in love (Ralph Fiennes in superb fashion, as always, and Rachel Weisz faring much better here than in those damn Mummy movies....which isn't that hard).

He's an ambassador, she's an advocate for human rights (and maybe more). To go into it too much will spoil the first half of the movie (the best half).

To watch these two people get together (after she rails against him during an audience Q and A at a lecture) and fall in love is a joy. The two have definite chemistry and it's handled just right, not too cheesy, yet not too rushed to make it seem unbelievable. You feel that these people have a connection, and that is crucial for the rest of the movie to work (after all, the tagline is "Love. At any cost.").

Unfortunately, within the first ten minutes of the film, you find out that she's dead.

The narrative structure for the first half jumps from past to present, as we see Fiennes deal with the revelation of the death and see them get together. It works great, seeing the end butted up against the beginning...and poignant as well.

Questions are brought up about the past. Is she cheating on him? Keeping things from him? We are limited to his point of view and his own increasingly nervous and paranoid thoughts about what his wife may or may not be doing.

It's too bad then when the flashbacks are over and we start focusing on the present and the aftermath of her death. The mystery is quickly taken out of the questions we had before (not necessarily in an unsatisfactory way) and new information is brought to the forefront (dealings with a pharmaceutical company and drug testing in Africa).

It's there that the movie starts veering into "been there, done that" territory. Fiennes is trying to "uncover the shocking conspiracy" (which isn't all that shocking if you've ever seen the way pharma company's are usually treated in movies). It all ends with a very subdued ending that tries to rekindle the feelings that we may have felt in the first half, but ultimately fails.

The other striking thing about the film is it's cinematography. Almost all hand held, the camera is always moving, roving about, and sometimes shaking so much as to make one sick (I watched this on my TV at home..can't imagine some of the scenes playing on a large theater screen). For the most part, it fits the movie. In the places that it doesn't, it sticks out like a sore thumb. (It's interesting to note that Fiennes operated the camera himself when it was from his characters POV...a novle approach). Due to the fact that the cinematography draws so much attention to itself, the direction by Fernando Mereilles (director of the excellent City of God gets a bit lost in the mix.

My main problem with this film was that it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. A smart political "message" movie? Or a mystery/thriller? Choose one, please, cause trying to do both does NOT work. Action sequences are shoved into this film like a large foot in a small shoe, and feel just as welcome.

But if it had stuck with the political movie, it suffers by comparision to the much superior Syriana. That movie had it's priorities straight. This one feels like an executive got nervous that it was "too slow" and decided to spice it up with a beating and a car chase that ultimately end up meaning very little.

At the end of the credits, there is a special thank you to the workers for AIDS relief in Africa who "gave a damn". Sadly, I didn't find much to give a damn about in this film. 2 and 1/2 stars.

*************************************************************************************

So, I was a bit dissapointed in that film...I have also rented Red Eye just for shits and giggles and will probably write about that tomorrow. Till then...

Check this out...

2006-01-11T12:33:00.000-06:00

I loved the Transformers when I was a kid...still do, matter of fact. Don't know if I quite approve of Michael Bay directing their big screen debut, but if the effects look as cool as this...go ahead (note: people are disputing whether this really is leaked footage or if it is fake...if it is fake, it's a damn good one!)

Transformers Test Footage

That may not work on a Mac, so try this link as well...

Transformers Test Footage 2

You may have to jump through some hoops to get it from there.

Anyways, since I have no night class and am eager to spend a nice afternoon at home (alas, without the internet), this is the limit of my time on here for the day. But I have 4 hours of office "work" tomorrow morning (or BLOG TIME as I like to think of it). Till then....

Time to bitch...

2006-01-10T17:31:00.000-06:00

So, yesterday I discovered that my free internet connection to my school has been discontinued by the school. No more dial up for me and most likely no more internet at home (cant afford to pay for it monthly). I am quite pissed off...the amount of money I have to pay to that school is ridiculous plus there's the fact that I pay a nice chunk of change in a "computer" fee. UGH. OK. Well, this killing time thing sucks...although it is onyl Tuesdays that will be like this...stuck on campus from about noon to 6:30 without a damn thing to do...tried working on the script for Guilty Party, but couldn't get into the mood...will probably take a crack at it tonight when I get home. and with that....

Oh, and movies...

2006-01-10T14:16:00.000-06:00

One more thing...

I thought it would be fun this year to keep track of all the movies I have watched (old and new) so that at the end of the year, I can make a nice "best of" list. So far, due to previous busy schedule, I have not seen many movies (only one really...and that was with a commentary..lol). So, to start it off...

THE PLAYER (1992)
Quite a nice choice for the beginning of this year in film (and my own adventure in feature film making). My wife and I picked this up (along with Panic Room) at the bargain bin at Walmart. They were nice finds after having to dig through endless copies of reject straight to video movies.

Directed by Robert Altman, the film (based on the novel of the same name) centers around heartless movie executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins in an excellent turn). For the past few months, Mill has been receiving postcards with death threats on them, supposedly from a screenwriter who was snubbed by Mill. With paranoia finally taking hold, Mill does his best to track down the writer. He finds him at an old movie art house. After an initial confrontation, the writer (Vincent D'Onofrio) taunts Mill into a physical confrontation. Mill then proceeds to murder the man (aint hollywood grand?).

Seemingly free of the problem, Mill goes about his regular life, which includes trying to stay ahead of executive upstart Larry Levy (a young looking Peter Gallagher) and dealing with his practical minded girlfriend and fellow employee Bonnie (Cynthia Stevenson). Oh, and it also involves him starting a relationship with the girlfriend of the man he killed (Greta Scacchi).

Life is going just fine when he gets another postcard in the mail, from the threatining writer, telling him that he killed the wrong person.

Things go downhill from there....

This movie is a very cynical (and often accurate) picture of the studio environment. Deals are made and broken by the slightest things, actors egos threaten to derail everything and the eye is on the all might buck.

Altmans films always have a large amount of improv, and this one is no different. From a masterful 9 minute moving camera take to start the film in which all the characters involved improved their dialogue, to some ingenious cameos by as many Hollywood friends and celebrities Altman could wrangle, it gives the picture a vitality and almost grounds it in reality (despite happening in the most unreal of towns).

My favorite section of the film is the first third (up to and a little after the murder). The satire and glimpse into the workings of this particular studio are facinating and now, having learned a lot more about movies, I find it brilliant. From then on, though, it seems to drag. The more the film strays from the studio and into Mill's private life, the less energy it seems to contain (although the film ends with a brilliant scene from a movie within a movie and then a great denoument in which the film seems to create itself). This may be a problem inherited from the novel though. On the commentary track with the novelist, Michael Tolkin, he bitches about how much Altman changed (he comes off sounding like a whiny brat).

If it had stuck more with the studio angle, I think the film could've been brilliant. As it is, it's one part brilliance, two parts good, and overall, three out of four stars.

Time to relax...

2006-01-10T13:54:00.000-06:00

It's the first day of my last semester of college...ever (unless I go back for grad school way in the future). Oddly, I think that it is going to be the semester with the most free time. Here I sit, in the computer lab, waiting for a class that's four hours away. Sure, I work in the film office (if you want to call that real work) but other than that my days are pretty empty. What to do? Start work on another screenplay(s) (and video games, of course!).

The shoot went better than I expected. After the hell that was the first four days, I got my head on straight and planned the last section of shooting out to the last shot and it went off without a hitch (despite actors schedules trying to derail me...I always win!!). I have not looked at the material yet...am waiting till next week to do that. It's still too fresh in my head and I want to take a little more objective look at the footage. I am excited to start editing and seeing what kind of picture it is shaping up to be (we will be cutting a new trailer soon me thinks, this time incorporating actual footage in it). Who knows? we might put up a scene or two when they are finished (not for quite a while).

After a few rounds of video game golf last night, I got restless and opened up a couple of in-progress screenplays that were shoved aside due to One in Nine production. One of them is an adaptation of the first thing me and my writing partner, Craig Petersen, ever wrote: Guilty Party. I am 40 pages into that and, after reading it last night, think it is some of the best screenwriting I have done yet. I also have an adaptation of another play I wrote, Lack of Innocents, that is fully outlined and just begun (10 pages). Both ideas have me very excited and, as I listen to my wonderful new sony network walkman, I plan on working on Guilty Party for the next week or so (enough to get a first draft done).

I do not know if I want to direct either of these ideas (the thought of directing another huge movie makes me sick at the moment), but I might possibly see if I can snag an agent to represent me and try and sell them. I like to keep my options open.

Well, until I get bored putting pixalated words on the screen, I'll be leaving for now.

What are you all up to?

Miss me?

2006-01-06T18:46:00.000-06:00

I miss all of this, believe me. We are two days from finishing filming...a day ahead of schedule (that free day being the day we are required to tear down our beloved set and get everything out of the schools huge ass TV studio). Reed stopped by yesterday to document a lot of it via pictures and video (which should be popping up online soon for all of you to see...and actually get to see and hear who I am and what kind of film I am going to be foisting upon the world soon). Am I happy about production? Yup. Despite nearly tearing the heads off of a couple of actors the other day, I am handling my trial by fire quite nicely, I think. Seriously, no one in my school has ever attempted to do a freakin hour and a half feature film for their senior sem (most are content to do ten minute films that they wrote and directed). Anyways, I feel successful and it's going to be a great feeling coming back on Tuesday to school for the new semester and able to tell anyone that asks if it went well "yes, it did". Time to wrap this up and get some rest...still two full days of shooting ahead of me. Talk to you all soon.

Beginning of the end...

2005-12-14T17:09:00.000-06:00

or end of the beginning...or end of the end and start of the...whatever.

I am an hour and a half away from my 16mm final showings. What a hellish week! On top of pre-production for 1 in 9 (we start SUNDAY!!!! AAHH!!) I polished my directing final scene (from Barton Fink..my choice) for its showing on Monday night (went tremendously well...best received scene that night by far...don't know if that speaks more for my talent or the quality of the other "scenes" we saw). Anyways...then it was on to hardcore editing my 16 project...which was interesting.

It's titled Matryoshka (which are those Russian nesting dolls...one inside another and so on). What I did was film the beginning to the worst student film ever...out of focus, continuity problems all over, all voice over, drugs, alcohol and suicide on the mind...typical student film crap. I even threw a country music song over the beginning...anyways, after two minutes of that, we cut to a light from a projection booth...we pan over to the side and see a woman sitting with a notebook, bored and disgusted. A reviewer. Eventually, after many out loud comments from the reviewer, the actor on the screen flips out and addresses her personally. This starts a big argument about student films (they are crap vs. they are made by people still learning the ropes). It was fun going back and forth from the screen to the theater (and included some crazy hard matte shots of him on the screen and her in the foreground. ANYWAY, after THAT, the credits start rolling on the student film and all of a sudden we are watching it on a screen in a classroom. it is turned off and a teacher comes in asking the classes opinion. This leads to another discussion about the "film" we just saw...the teacher hates it, to put it simply, and starts ranting about it...and his rant is then seen projected on the screen in the auditorium where we are having our final showings...then I, myself, come in and turn the film off...look at the camera, and then says something about pretentious films..and then I turn the whole film off..credits...

Matryoshka...film within a film within a film...

Needless to say, I am damn nervous about showing this...I hate doing comedies (I think I've written about this before). I wrote this at the last minute cause my project partner decided not to do jack...I will be taking a nice long break from comedies after this. lol

Well, didn't mean to ramble on about that, but after the showing tonight, it is hard core 1 in 9 time (and that sounds pretty sick if you think about it). If I ever have any time to get on here, I want to talk about Syriana (excellent film!!) and a couple of others I've seen lately.

OK. Eat well.

Movies movies movies movies...

2005-12-07T13:55:00.000-06:00

Remember that old Starz promo that had them singing "movies" to Beethoven's Ode to Joy? Anyway....

Speaking of Beethoven, before I get to my movie talk, I read today (and would link to it here if I had the ambition to do so) that they concluded that Beethoven died from lead poisoning...either through medication or diet. Interesting...USA Today if you are interested to learn more...

MR. AND MRS. SMITH

Wow. Didn't expect to like this one as much as I did.

Started it late just so I could get drowsy, as movies at night usually do for me. Thought I could get half way through and finish the rest...got all the way through.

It does wonders for a movie when the two star leads have some actual chemistry. Pitt and Jolie, whatever you may think of them personally, do an excellent job in this film. Jolie actually impressed me with the subtelty of her performance.

Directed by Doug Liman (helmer of the Bourne Identity, a movie I really like), the film has all the crashes and explosions you would expect from a summer popcorn fest. BUT...it also has quiet, character driven scenes that actually give depth to the people you are seeing on screen.

The first half of the film is easily the best (not to say that the last half is bad). The wonderful word play and secret glances in all the scenes adds a very playful mood and tone to the picture. The script is smart and knows what it is and isn't, if you know what I mean.

Scored by John Powell (also of the Bourne films), the music bounces along at a nice pace...almost bordering on romantic comedy at times, but almost always keeping an undertone of excitement.

Maybe I liked the film so much cause I'm married and could relate to the domestic parts of the film (even though I'm not a trained assassin...damnit). But it was an enjoyable film that both my wife and I enjoyed (and that's sometimes a rarity!). If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth a rental.

Well, time for me to do some more shotlisting. I'll be talking about A Simple Plan and March of the Penguins soon (as well as wrapping up my 48 hour report...haven't forgot about it!). Till then...

I'm such a tease....

2005-12-07T00:36:00.000-06:00

Here it is...take it or leave it (but tell your friends about it).

ONE IN NINE TEASER TRAILER: LOW MEDIUM HIGH

Since I've been basically giving everyone a look into the creation of this film, here are some tidbits about the trailer...

- None of the shots will be in the finished film (principal photography doesn't start until Dec. 18)...and even then, only one shot is written in the screenplay

- No one who "acted" in the trailer is cast in the film (except for Daniel Dutot...the hand that grabs the gun)...the hand at the end is mine.

- Reed Reimer scored the trailer (and had most of it finished before I gave him the video...he just went on a written description of the teaser).

- It was shot with an HD camera, BUT we shot on Mini DV tape

- Listen closely after the gunshot and you can guess what effects we layered to get the echo sound...hee hee

- The first shot was one of the last completed and done in the freezing cold (winter was in full swing). The "search light" is me standing off to the side with a spot swinging it back and forth. The shackles are lengths of chain looped around my friends ankles and what's shown is the bottom of a pretty beat up truck.

- All the moving shots were done using a very make-shift dolly platform and track with Kak on the platform with the camera and me pushing or pulling it.

- While I supervised the editing and pacing of all the shots, Kak did all the graphic work while I took a nap...lol.

- The teaser was thought up during one of many boring auditions for this film...instead of writing notes about the actor, I was storyboarding.

- I want a t-shirt with the number logo on it...just had to say that.

There ya go. Now that I've destroyed any mystery and movie magic surrounding the trailer, let me know what you think. I need to get to sleep now...lol.

Surviving quite nicely, thank you.

2005-12-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

Well, I am almost out of the woods. My 16 mm shoot went fine (now it's just a matter of crossing my fingers and hoping that images were exposed properly on my film). The shoot I ran camera for went decent (depsite my lack of cinematographer expertise) and I have my final directing scene all scheduled. It's just a matter of editing like crazy (which is no problem to me as long as the caffeine keeps coming) and then getting ready for that little thing called One in Nine.

Currently, I have rented March of the Penguins. Only saw the first ten minutes yesterday (before I was whisked away to another shoot) but what I did see was breathtaking. And a beautiful score also. Can't wait to see the whole film. (I also have Mr. and Mrs. Smith rented...but I'm not expecting too much from that one..lol).

WAR OF THE WORLDS

I have had a few days to digest this movie and ultimately, I was underwhelmed. Visually, it's Spielberg at the top of his game...his cinematographer (Janusz...something...name escapes me right now) shot the film beautifully and it is full of "Spielberg shots" (including a very long, one take shot that floats around the outside of a speeding vehicle...would love to know how it was achieved). And the opening sequence of the film is just great...nice pacing, establishing the set up, building the suspense.

It's just that when all hell breaks loose, it seems like we've seent his before. Now, I am thankful that this "end of world" disaster movie decides to stick with a core family (like in Signs, a movie I love) and not scatter the narrative over 10 or 15 cookie cutter characters (ala Independence Day).

That being said...

I had issues with the characters. I've been recently reading a book that analyzes Spielberg's films, and while I don't agree with a lot of the broad generalizations in it, I have to say that one Spielberg theme remains entrenched in most of his films: the abondoning father and the strong mother holding the family together. Spielberg's father left the family at an early age and this clearly had an impact on his films later in life.

What I didn't care for exactly was Spielberg seemingly working out his "father issues" through the Tom Cruise character. Here is a character that is, quite simply, an awful father. YET, the only reason we don't outright hate this guy is because he is played by Tom Cruise. Knowing Cruise's charisma (although that is taking a big hit recently), Spielberg felt he could pile on the negative characteristics of a father that left him years ago...in my opinion. You see this also in the scene where he almost let's Dakota Fanning get taken away...where he DOES let his son go (even though the son wants to...we'll get to that in a second). Didn't much care for it. While it set up a nice redemption story (which is slammed over your head with visual imagery I'll discuss very soon), I didn't feel the need for it to be a central part of the movie.

The character of the son, while set up nice with his interactions with both his sister and Cruise's character, takes a bizarre turn...wanting to stick around and watch the military fight...?? He "has to be there"? And then SPOILER WARNING he shows up at the end, conveniently at the right time? END SPOILER BLECH. Dakota Fanning was fine, if a little high pitched. Tim Robbins was an interesting character that they unfortunately decided to not do much with.

The imagery...SPOILER WARNING - so Tommy gets sucked up into a disturbing looking alien sphincter (for lack of a better term). BUT, he eventually escapes the orifice, in what looks like a birth, seemingly "reborn", the redemption complete. I really could have done without the blatant symbolism...just a little too heavy handed for my taste.

Also, we can't ignore the post 9/11 issues...from Cruise walking around after the initial attack covered in ash to many shots of American flags to the son constantly asking if it's "the terrorists"...Spielberg must have seen this film as a way to work out a few demons, all under the guise of a summer blockbuster.

The score...tough to hear, actually. On the DVD menus and the credits, I listened and enjoyed Mr. Williams, but, like Spielberg, I don't know if he really put his heart into this one.

Personally, I am much looking forward to "Munich". Is it possible that a small, quickly shot film about events a while ago will have a bigger impact and be more impressive than a lavish, big budgeted movie that deals with issues surrounding recent world events? Hell yeah.

What a blur...

2005-12-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

The next couple of days (and the past couple) have been and are going to be a blur...lots of filming every day! But I have reached a level, I think, where I handle it well. I don't dread stepping onto a set and getting everyone organized (ie bitching until things get done). And that's nice. I feel comfortable in my own directing skin finally (last year was a different story!).

Eventually, I am going to put up my thoughts on a few movies: War of the Worlds, A Simple Plan, and Toy Story...the most recent movies I've viewed and now feel compelled to write about.

BUT, a shot list is beckoning me...time to try and be prepared!

AAHH!!

2005-11-28T12:55:00.000-06:00

Snow! and Ice! and LOTS OF IT!!! Woo hoo...i love storms...but not when i come to school and they cancel it three hours later and I am scrambling to find a way home....

This was also the day i was going to schedule all of my film shoots...i have a coverage scene to shoot in directing, a final scene project for directing (from Barton Fink...anyone know this film besides me? lol) and my final 16 mm shoot...in which i only have the camera for wednesday and thursday....PLUS i need to schedule rehearsals with my main actors for One in Nine and I need to finish my shot list and figure out where to order costumes from....

AAHH!!

OK. I feel better. Time to go home and watch some movies after many phone calls....

**This previous post was written by a very stressed Michael. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T17:16:00.000-06:00

Hope the day is finding you all well. The wife and I just enjoyed a very large and nice meal. It's the first thanksgiving where we weren't able to get to see either of our families and that kind of sucks. But we're enjoying a relaxing day here anyway. And besides, after today...Christmas time!

The trailer is so close to being done...I expect it will be viewable, fully scored, next week around Monday or Tuesday. I'll let you all know.

I guess that's about all for today...don't want to spend too much time online...hope everyone is listening to some good music (I am) and enjoying good food (I did..and probably will again before the evening is over).

movies movies movies

2005-11-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

watched gosford park last night...god, i love that movie. i dont even really listen to the dialogue, just soak in the atmosphere of the work...and the music (by patrick doyle...i hadn't realized) is quite good. but anyway, gosford park is one of those movies i regularly pop in just for noise.....

so, how many preview trailers did you guys get before goblet of fire? my friend craig said he got 15 minutes worth! know how much I got? one stinking trailer...for that dumbass penguin movie (the animated one...not the excellent march of the penguins). with ticket prices where they are, i want more than one damn preview...grrr...and i was so looking forward to seeing the cheaper by the dozen 2 trailer...(nah, the superman one, but i've already seen it online...and was kind of underwhelmed...sometimes a teaser can be too teasing...)

am finishing the last shot of our teaser trailer...and hopefully recasting one of the leads...if they read well....and at this point he better. so tonight, kak and I are going to cut the trailer...should take awhile cause i am quite anal about editing and pacing. then, it is up on the web for reed to see and score along with (and i suppose i could let some other people know where it is at if they are interested in seeing it without a score).

so..yeah. that's life right now. the agatha christie game i bought got a little play last night (was damn tired). and i love it...great adaptation of the book with enough additions to make it more of a game. can't wait to play it---er---work on my film...work on my film...damnit....

Goblet of Fire

2005-11-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

(Conclusion of the 48 hour fest coming soon..including a showing at the Forx Film Fest this past weekend! Stay tuned...or something...)

Saw Goblet of Fire last night.

YAY!

I loved it...I really did. Not as much as Prisoner, but damn close.

I will say that I had lower expectations for this one as the fourth book is quite large and complex, plot-wise. I was pleasantly surprised at what they chose to omit (S.P.E.W. among other things) and what they chose to simplify (Barty Crouch, Jr.'s whole sub-plot). I thought it was effective and necessary.

What's good....

Brendan Gleason...wow! Nailed it!

The death eaters...creepy as hell

Voldemort...hell yeah!

The Yule Ball...teen awkwardness at it's best!

The curse demonstration class...probably the best scene. I want to watch it again just for that part.

Dragons...cool.

The Music...Not Mr. Williams...but effective. I liked it a lot (bought the soundtrack before I went to the theater).

Snape...god, I cannot wait till Half Blood Prince...he is so going to rule!

Weasley twins and the general humor in the movie...laughed many times. very funny, yet very dark.

What I didn't like........

The tongue flickering...what a stupid tell! Of all the ways to clue the audience in, this was the worst choice.

The graveyard set...so looked like a movie set...wanted it to be more decrepit, cluttered.

Michael Gambon....only in the part where he almost tore Harry's head off after the goblet spit out his name...aggressive! Too much so.

The ending...I understand the problem they had...after such darkness, how can you go back to joking and frivolity for the ending...but the kind of wandering ending that was decided upon just didn't close it up for me.

And there ya have it...briefly. I am going to spend the next couple of days listening to that wonderful soundtrack and maybe I'll have more thoughts later on.

On a side note...anyone ever read agatha christie's And Then There Were None? Besides inspiring me to write my first ever play, I consider it one of the best mysteries ever written...and I bought a computer game based on the book. Very interesting. I can't wait to play around with it tonight and will let you know how it is.

All right. Be nice to cats.

48 Hours...Part 3

2005-11-14T13:27:00.000-06:00

7 in the morning...groan...I slept on Carson's couch, kind of. Restless sleep, but much better than the no sleep I got last year during the competition.

I get up to take my shower and Carson stops me, saying that he got a call at 6:30 from a member of Elijah's group, Joe K. Seems his group left for way out of town this morning and left him behind cause he was late to the school...so he is wondering if he can help out our group. Ummm....OK, I say...I know this guy is a theater major so I decide that he's going to play the assistant director. Casting solved!

So, we need to be there by 8...and get there at 8:30...we got a late start away from the apartment. I am wide awake now and raring to go. The other's are all there, except my friend Daniel, who is driving down from Grand Forks...I need him to arrive so we can start shooting.

We get the auditorium ready for shooting and then....wait. And wait some more. Kind of nervous now. So, i decide to go ahead and shoot what we can without him.

Right off the bat, I notice how sucky it is to direct one's self. Cause I am in the shot, my cameraman (Carson) frames the shot for me according to what I ask. But can I check the composition to make sure? Nope. Gotta stay in the frame...this is already awkward for me, putting a lot of trust in someone else, but it's Carson, and I give it a go.

I quickly find that a lot had happened in a year. I am a much more confident director, leader, and general manager. The shots go by quickly, only pausing for retakes (which are few). Even without a shot list, I can see the film edited together in my head, and this helps immensely in getting enough coverage of the scene (a key problem with my 48 hour film from last year...guess my classes are good for something!).

Daniel finally arrives and, professional he is, jumps right in. Daniel is a superb memorizer and has his lines down in a few minutes. And he is perfect for the role. Funny as hell, I let him improv a lot of his takes, asking for something different each time, and he delivers every time. It's going to be tough choosing when we edit.

Problems: The auditorium is within earshot of the train tracks..and eery 15 minutes or so, a very loud train whistle ruins takes...this slows down the pace of the shooting. Also, it is HOT in the room...with the lights and the fact that my character is wearing a pull-over working together, I about overheat.

We decide to shoot the songs at the end of the day, since I have no idea how much time they will take (I can gauge the timing of everything else). We also decide that the last shot will involve the key prop: gravy.

Now, this was interesting. The use of the gravy was that the arrogant actor (me) would only sing after he downs a bottle of lukewarm gravy...YUCK!! Some sort of homespun remedy for a sore throat. Since I didn't know if I was going to get sick from guzzling it, I left it for last.

The shoot goes well...no gumbling from the crew and no cries for multiple breaks. Though, I did call abreak once for myself. Around 2 pm, after a scene where I was yelling a bit, I felt really faint and exhausted and had to get out of there, lest I pass out. Ten minutes of sitting outside in the cold quickly cured that, but I was afraid that I had hit rock bottom and wasn't going to have the energy to film the rest of the script.

So, we wrap up everything except the songs. I teach Emily the duet and she picks it up quickly (although I had to change the melody on the spot since...uhh...I forgot what I had done the night before...oops!) We finish and she is done. All that is left is my solo and the gravy.

The solo goes better than expected. My voice was a little tired from lack of sleep and yapping at the crew all day, but it goes well. What's really good is that I was able to keep the pitch and tempo consistent from take to take, something that will help a lot once editing comes along.

Time for the gravy. I tell them that this is a one shot thing, and it is. God, it was gross!! I guzzled it, taking time to gargle it and swish it around in my mouth...when I had enough I bent down out of the frame and yelled cut. We were wrapped!

The time? 8:30 PM. Time of the first shot? About 10:45. Number of camera set ups accomplished in this time? Over 100. Amazing work.

Now, it's time to go out and eat, go home and take a quick shower, and then head to the school to log our footage into the computer...and stay up all night editing...

Less than 24 hours until the deadline....

Hiatus?!?

2005-11-14T13:09:00.000-06:00

You bet...it was either that or my computer goes out the window. So, I had this nice long post discussing my recent viewing of Saw 2 (yes, i liked the first one, yes I like the second...but I thought it was a little less ambitious). Like, this was a damn loooong post (I was bored at "work")...and then, I got to post and BLOOP...BYE. Lost it all......

GRRRR...

So, I took a little time away from this wonderful site to calm down...shortly arriving will be the exciting conclusion to my 48 hour debac-err-adventure. heh heh

48 hours SEEMS like a lot of time....PART 2

2005-10-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

Wow.

The groups are not happy about the genre. Neither am I, to tell the truth. The groups immediately scatter, leaving the building to wherever they plan on meeting. We take some time to discuss the pros and cons of either genre.

Basically (for me) it comes down to this. WESTERN PRO: NOTHING CON: I WOULD HATE MAKING ONE.

There...that was simple.

Since Emily and I have a background in musical theater, we decide that is going to be our genre. A guy named John (one of the vid pro kiddies) is dissapointed that we aren't making a western. When he's head of his own group in the future, he can Sergio Leone it up all he wants. Not now.

So, off to Carson's. Everyone arrives and I give a quick speech about how we can all come up with the concept, but that eventually, everyone except Emily, Carson and I can get some sleep (it's Carson's apartment after all). There's some grumbling about this and I say that they can stick around if they want to be bored to death. They say OK....grrr...

No one has any ideas...except for Emily and I. We decide that in order to pull this off, we need to have it take place either during a performance of a musical (showing backstage and onstage stuff) or during a rehearsal for one. We opt for the rehearsal.

Since we have to have all original music, we can't have it be an existing work. So, I try and think of the worst possible play to do a musical adaptation of.

I come up with Death of a Salesman.

Perfect.

Emily comes up with the concept of a community theater in rehearsals for a musical adaptation of Death of a Salesman. Now we need a conflict.

We decide that the previous director (and writer of the work...it was his graduate thesis project) just died and that a new director is being brought in to save it, someone from the big city with lots of experience (a pompous ass).

The conflict? The fact that he thinks he's coming to direct a straight production of Death of a Salesman, not SALESMAN! THE MUSICAL (as it is called).

Characters include an arrogant method actor who insists on being called Willy all the time, a ditzy ingenue who thinks that she can get further in her career if she gets on the new director, and an assistant director hell bent on preserving the previous directors vision.

Fun stuff.

To avoid Waiting for Guffman, I decide to shoot traditional narrative style. I also agree to write the songs that will be used in the movie (half of a duet between the actor and ingenue, and a big solo sung by the actor).

We secure one of the performing halls on campus as our location and decide that the movie will take place there, the day of the former directors funeral (the new one is jerk enough to call a rehearsal).

I should mention at this point that I am very nervous...not about the music, but about the comedy. You see, the films and stories I tell are usually serious, dark, a little twisted...it's what I'm good at. Comedy scares the crap out of me due to the fact that what I find funny, I don't think most other people do. So, I stay away from it. This will be my first time writing and directing it at all.

We need actors. I call my friend Daniel Dutot (perfect for the director) and convince him to come to town for the weekend. Daniel's been in almost all of my movie projects here at school...and I'll keep using him as long as he wants to do it...he's that good (and is probably going to be cast as Edwards in ONE IN NINE).

Unfortunately, that's where our casting success stops. Late Friday night, NO ONE IS AROUND. This is bad. So, the worst scenario is realized: Emily and I will play the ingenue and actor. Am I crazy about directing AND acting? Nope. But can anyone else in the group sing? Nope. There ya have it.

By now, the kiddies are bored (told them so). Emily and I sit at seperate computers, she to begin the script (which we both outlined) and me to write the songs. The kiddies leave (finally). Except one. An annoying exception. He won't shut up. He finally makes the comment "Wow, this is exciting," to which I snap "I don't write out loud." He takes the hint and leaves.

Time to write some songs...thanks to the trusty internet, I quickly pull up famous quotations from Salesman. I figured that I may as well use Miller's words instead of my own.

Since I have no piano handy, I improv the melody (these are to be performed accapella (sp?) because the pit is still at the funeral...free food) while sitting at the computer, leading to odd stares from Carson as I hum and type at the same time.

The first solo "Attention Must Be Paid" is a success. Almost all the lyrics are famous quotes. Perfect.

The duet is a little tougher, but eventually comes together.

Emily is having problems spitting out lines. She's a perfectionist when it comes to writing, it seems. So, I sit down and quickly type up scenes and dialogue...rough dialogue...I then give it back and let her refine what I just wrote. This process works very well and the writing goes much quicker.

We still don't have anyone to play the assistant director. This sucks.

We found out that the other two groups are doing westerns. One of them went 3 hours out of town to shoot at a nice cabin out in the woods. We don't know what Elijah's group is going to do.

It's now 4 in the morning. Emily and I finish the script. She goes home to get some sleep. Carson and I talk a bit about shot lists and locations within the auditorium. Now, I love to be prepared and am very anal about having specific shot lists before I get on set (if you don't have a road map showing where you are going, you are wasting everyone's time). But I realize that I am going to have to sacrifice the shot lists for sleep. So, I am going to fly by the seat of my pants tomorrow, all the while directing and acting at the same time, and hoping that we can finish in a day (since the next day needs to be all editing).

So, by 4:30, I fall asleep on Carson's couch, not really able to sleep...very anxious and nervous about the coming day. What time do I have to get up and get ready to go?

7 AM.

Are you LOST yet?

2005-10-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

Quickly, I wanted to send you all HERE . Holy crap...if you have seen this show, then you know how freaking spot on a parody this is of the show...if you haven't seen the show, watch the video, then go and rent or buy it...watch it all (you can do it in one sitting, you pussy!) and then watch it again and prepare to really laugh yourself silly. Genius!!

48 hours SEEMS like a lot of time....PART 1

2005-10-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

Come with me on a 48 hour journey into the heart and mind of a beginning filmmaker....

(what follows is a rambling inner-thought process experienced during the 48 hours...and done strictly through hindsight...)

PART ONE

So, my brother -in-law and wife just dropped me off at the school, where I am to meet my group...I have a bag full of clothes and toiletries and am planning on not coming home for a while...at least, not until the film is finished.

I am nervous about this year. Last year, I won Best Director and my lead actor won Best Actor...I feel like I have expectations to live up to...my own, and others. That kind of sucks in a way.

Just got downstairs in the basement (where they seem fit to hide their film program here). Everyone is here before I am (went out to eat and it ran late). Lots of chatter and excitement as the three groups get ready and organized.

I am the director and head of my group. With me is Emily Beck (writer) and Carson Nordgaard (cinematographer)...both good friends of mine (Carson and I regularly collaborate on projects...him shooting and me directing). The rest of the group is full of kids in Video Production (the kiddie table of production classes here). I ask them what positions they feel most comfortable handling during the shoot. I get a chorus of "I don't know". sigh...this is gonna be interesting.

The other two groups are led by Sam H. (a young kid with good ideas) and Elijah Larson (about the same place in the program as I am...ambitious, but not always capable). The only other person worth mentioning is Ross T in Sam's group...and that's because, as a cinematographer, he just bought a $4000 camera that shoots digital video in 24 frames per second...giving it a film look. Shit...there goes any chance for a cinematorgraphy award.

About ten minutes left. Am wondering what genre we're going to get. Last year was Fantasy...not really fun to do in 48 hours...am hoping for something easier like comedy, or action/adventure...something more mainstream that doesn't have to rely on a lot of special costumes or preparation.

We decide that our group is going to work at Carson's apartment and write all night, with Emily and I taking ideas from the group, but ultimately writing it ourselves...too many cooks in the kitchen you know. We also need to keep this within the time limit of 4 to 8 minutes...anything less or over gets you disqualified. Now, the three groups here are competing against each other to find out which one we actually send to the national competition...a panel of three judges will decide.

Ahh, finally the genre. Ross just came in, he knows it I guess...He looks pissed and looks at me shaking his head.

Meghan comes in (she's a TA around here). The character our production needs is PAT OGLESBY, A DOOR TO DOOR SALESMAN. The line of dialogue we need is "AH, BUT CAN YOU DO THIS?" and the prop is GRAVY.

Oh, and the genre?

We get a choice: WESTERN or MUSICAL

Crap.

December 18th!! Shooting begins!!!

2005-10-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, ladies and gents, there are two months before cameras roll on my film...I figured I better post it here so I have something constantly looking me in the eye going "Hey! Get your act together and storyboard some more, you lazy bastard!" ....or something like that.

Inching ever so closer...

2005-10-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had callbacks for three main roles and have casted two of them (Hunter and Daniels, for those in the know....Reed). Great actors and great people to work with...they are going to take this OK script and make it something much better...at least that is my hope!

I am almost ready to cast another role (Edwards) but I need to see one more person before I make the final decision. And with that, three roles are left...so close to having a completed cast!

IN OTHER NEWS

Mr. Jackson and Mr. Shore have parted ways over KING KONG, citing that rather than fight with a friend over the creative direction of the score, they should just part and bring in James Newton Howard (a decent composer in my mind...loved SIGNS, although it was daaaaaamn simple..lol). What do I think of that? I dunno...loved what they did in LOTR...was thinking it would be another williams/spielburg and lucas type relationship...who knows. maybe it will end up like that after this little break....

Rocky VI just got greenlighted....I think that speaks for itself...

Recently viewed HENRY V and HAMLET, both Ken Brannagh versions...I love what he does with Shakespeare...He really is today's Olivier (and I would say I favor his takes on the roles better than Sir Lawrence's slightly hammy approach). HENRY V really impressed me when I found out that Ken was 27 (!) years old when he BOTH directed and starred in it...and it is very impressive directorial-wise. And I sit here...26...pining to have a tenth of that success! lol.

This weekend we shot footage for my teaser trailer (almost half of it). Went very well and I think the look of the trailer will be quite nice (will let all know when we post it online).

And that's about all the news that's fit to blog about...

Deliciously lazy Friday...

2005-10-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

..so naturally I have to take on tasks to keep me busy. I don't know why I can't be content with having nothing to do...I feel guilty at times when I am sitting doing nothing and thinking about my movie and what I could be doing for that or my school projects that need to be written and planned out. And then what do I end up doing? VIDEO GAMES (right now, a mix between Castlevania: symphony of the night, metal gear solid, and the new tiger woods golf).

sigh

BUT, I am at school, on a day when we don't have classes, to edit a 16 mm film project by hand. Now, if you didn't already know, most actual film projects are transfered into a computer and edited that way and then outputted back onto film. For our first 16 mm project, we not only had to do that, but physically take the film and cut and edit it together on an old flatbed editing machine. I am patiently awaiting my turn on the damn thing right now, as I am not the only one who had this idea. But that gives me time to blog....

Call backs for three roles are on Sunday...and two of them are leads. Very excited to get those confirmed. We also decided that my producer, Kak, is also going to be my cinematographer. We had hoped to avoid this and wanted to bring in someone from outside of the school (as we didn't have much confidence in any of the students here), but time and budgeting constraints have forced our hand to this option. We had planned on paying a nice chunk of change to whoever we hired, but now that it is Kak, our budget just got a LOT more manageable. YAY! The drawback is that we are probably going to be bringing on another producer to assist Kak since his duties just ballooned.

Don't know if I have posted this or not, but the concept for the teaser trailer is solidified in my head and we got permission to show it before all of the final projects this semester to get interest stoked. It was a challenge coming up with the concept, since we won't have a frame of actual principal photography to use in it, but I am excited about it...plus, Reed will be composing a wonderful mini-score just for the trailer...give him a taste of things to come.

Well, the machine is ready. My project beckons...farwell.

Congratulations to my sister!!

2005-10-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

I know she would never read this blog, but I wanted to post a congratulations to her and her new husband (and my brother in law) Steve...she just found out that she is pregnant!

I get to be an uncle!

I'm pretty damn excited...but this is so weird...one of my best friends, Drew, just got married and has a kid on the way and then I found out a little bit ago that my other good friend, Adam, and his wife are having a baby.

Lots of babies to spoil!

(if you can't tell, i like kids)

ok...that's all.

Auditions are over

2005-10-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

Got back yesterday from the last set of auditions for my film (held in Minneapolis). All tallied up, about 40 people auditioned...waaay more than I expected. Also, the long trip to Minneapolis proved fruitful (and not just cause of the shopping....yes, I'm such a girl when it comes to shopping for things I like...such as movies and games) as I know I am going to cast one of the people I saw and am calling another back to read him one more time (he's in the running).

I feel that I saw my cast amongst the 40 people...just who they are, I can't say at the moment. There are about three people I feel comfortable offering roles to right now and about 3 other roles that are between two people. There is one main role that I am still debating about rewriting to fit a specific person (marcus) but I don't know.

Let me tell you, the first time you hear words that you have written spoken by an actor, it's great. BUT...hearing it over and over again...that gets challenging! I began to hate my lines...I began hating auditioning a person I know 5 seconds into the reading that I would never cast, yet knowing that I have to treat them the same as everyone else....

Surpringly, only one actor I read was an asshole towards me. Clearly older than I am and with a bit of community theater experience (and some professional), this man read for Marcus and at first, I thought he might fit. Then, we started talking after the first reading. What a condescending dick (a sorry goes out to my wife for my language). So, he went from an almost cast lead to a person I'm not giving a second thought to. I wanted to whip out MY acting resume and shove it in his face going "wanna talk experience? I have you beat by twenty shows...a lot of them PAYING". But I didn't. cause I didn't have my resume with....

ahem...

Now comes the fun process of pairing people up to read for call backs...there are a couple of people that I want to cast, mainly for sentimental reasons...but may not be "perfect" for the role...but screw it...I think I will anyway...what fun is being a director if you can't be a favortist? (to clarify, these people would be excellent in the roles that I am considering them for...but there might be another person that auditioned that might be better...but is an unknown to me).

The ball is rolling...quicker and quicker...soon, I won't be able to stop it and I might actually have to make this film. But anything is better than having to watch 15 girls read for the only female role in the movie...and having all 15 of them rejected within the first 5 seconds...sigh...such is the life of a director.

Auditions....

2005-09-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

So, this weekend was all about auditions for my film. And, for the most part, I was quite happy with the turnout and quality of the actors. Out of the eleven roles, I would be very comfortable offering two of them right now and I am close to that feeling with two other roles. There are also two roles that are giving me a headache right now (one of them VERY critical).

The lone female role in this film calls for an attractive girl with a very un-attractive attitude. You would (or wouldn't) be surprised at the number of girly-girls that came in to read that just sounded laughable trying to handle the side I handed them. Sigh...I fear that this will be the last role cast.

For the other tough role, I was looking for a specific physique (overweight). No takers...and the ones that could do it read pretty badly. BUT...

I held three auditions today for people who couldnt make this weekend. One of them, a short, skinny man, gave a pitch perfect read for the role (I decided to take a chance and my intuition payed off). SO...I am thinking of rewriting the role to reflect this guys build...BUT...the reason the man was written overweight was to set him apart from two other leads...I don't want the audience to be mixing up who is who (when they are all in the same outfit, it's a risk). So, I'll be thinking about that.

Haven't had a chance to see any movies lately, but hopefully that will change. Now, it is time to catch the crappy late night bus and begin the long trek home...tally ho!

Getting closer...

2005-09-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

Auditions for my film are beginning this Friday. I still haven't decided if I am going to have the actors read from the script itself or from little scenes I am going to write that won't appear in the script...I dunno. The script is in good shape...4th draft solidified and the 5th (and last for now) draft just started last night (in my head)...not really changing much at this point...just cleaning up descriptions and cutting or modifying lines here and there (although there will be one added scene in the 5th draft...I gotta stop coming up with ideas for this script or it will end up over two hours long!).

A friend of mine at school here, Kathy, has agreed to be casting director for me, which is really nice. She will be reading with the actors and giving me input about who she would recommend in the roles (surprisingly, this is what she thinks she wants to do for a career).

The first day of auditions is being held in Grand Forks. It will be nice to go back there for a bit...see some of my friends that I haven't seen in a while. I am not really expecting a lot of people to show up for auditions, though. I'll be happy if 5 per day show up...lol.

IN MOVIE NEWS

Been watching a good amount of films lately. In addition to finishing off LOST (go rent it!!), I watched the whole first season of Project Greenlight...which gives a very good look at the process of making a studio film.

I've also rented the made for TV version of The Shining (4 and a half hours long!). While I do enjoy Kubrick's version (despite him not being one of my favorite directors), I do have to say that I preferred this one. Maybe because it was written by King himself and stayed true to the themes and events in the book. And boy...for watching a movie in the middle of the day, this movie scared the crap out of me at least twice and made me regret being home alone for a while. The atmosphere and tension, once it built, was amazing (credit goes to director Mick Garris). Steven Weber (best known as one of the brothers on Wings) does a remarkable job making the role of Jack Torrance his own, despite having to live up to Jack Nicholson's performance. If I had any problems with it, it was the way the revealing of the final crucial information at the end was handled (Danny is supposed to remember something his father forgot...and what that is is telegraphed way too much for my liking, as opposed to the book, where it happened at the perfect spot).

MEAN CREEK is an indie film starring Rory Caulkin and some other decent kid actors. It's about a prank gone wrong and the after effects of it. While I enjoyed it, I felt like I wanted more from it. Well made, well acted, just not following through on the ending I felt (which is the problem with a lot of indie films...they have great concepts, but as for tying things up, they leave things unresolved or just end on an unsatisfactory note...which may be the makers intentions, you know, being edgy and not traditional, but it doesn't always work for me).

Which leads me to THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND. Produced by Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street productions (he makes an appearance in the film as a raging asshole), this film is another one that has good ideas, good acting (especially from Don Cheadle and Ryan Gosling, in a very low-key role that is handled just right) but the ending is rushed and waaaay too pat (not to mention a bit unbelievable).

I started watching IN THE LINE OF FIRE last night but quit halfway through due to not feeling well. I love that film to death. It's a smart thriller that fires on all cylinders and I try and watch the film at least once a year (maybe I should buy it eventually...lol).

Anyone else do that? Make it a point to watch a certain film(s) once a year or so? I'm like that with a bunch in my collection (Fight Club, Se7en, American Beauty, Memento, Usual Suspects, Insomnia, Road to Perdition, Gosford Park, The Fugitive...and on and on).

As I type this up in the film office ("working" is fun!) I am again listening to movie scores on the web. The Back to the Future score just came up...what a fun one! Alan Silvestri was asked to come up with a large, grand sounding score for these films and delivered, I believe. I might have to track it down one of these days.

And I see that James Horner did the score to the upcoming FLIGHTPLAN (with the wonderful, beautiful, and talented Jodie Foster...sorry, Aimee!). That will save me the time from buying and listening to it...I'm sure it's a glomming together of themes from his other movies, like they all seem to be (not that I don't like the music...I don't like a composer sampling himself so blatantly!). Maybe it's unavoidable at times? Any composers out there care to chime in on that?

All righty. Time to jot some notes down on a small film idea that is forming in my head for my 16mm class...we'll see if it turns out all right. Till next time....

Crash and burn...

2005-09-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

So, finally saw CRASH. Am sorry to say that I did not care for it that much. Not that there wasn't good performances in there (there were quite a few) and not to say that it wasn't filmed beautifully (it was)...but the story. UGH. Yes, it exposed me to quite a few uncomfortable situations and displays of some of the worst held racial fears...but did it have to be so heavy handed? I felt like I was hit over the head with a hammer for a couple of hours: "THIS is important...GOOD and EVIL are in all of us...we ARE the same, but we AREN'T...if the story had been handled with a lighter touch, I would have enjoyed the movie more.

This film also suffers from the MAGNOLIA problem: too many damn little stories and not enough development. Like MAGNOLIA, I thought this film could have dropped one or two characters (Sandra Bullock's comes to mind) and the film would have felt leaner, more concentrated. Also, some of the coincidences that occur are just a little too convenient.

Not a terrible film, but not a great one.

IN OTHER NEWS

I found a nice streming radio station on the internet that plays only movie scores. Very enjoyable. streamingsoundtracks.com . While there are some clunkers occasionally, there are quite a few scores that I have forgotten about (I am for sure getting Williams's score for JFK...what a great opening theme).

Well, tonights movie will be The Machinist, so we'll see how enjoyable that movie is. and that's all

and awaaaaay we go...

2005-09-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

The film is moving full speed ahead and there isn't much I can do to stop it. We've secured a main location for shooting (only two main locations in the script) and that is a huge weight off of our shoulders. Best of all, it's free! We've also started setting up audition sites and times. I think the other people in the department are finally catching wind of what Kak and I are up to and the reactions are interesting. A few are pulling out the condescending, negative attitude (and I know enough to ignore them...what project are they putting together? exactly.) The majority are supportive though. It's scary though...I feel that by attempting this huge project that I have painted a bulls eye on myself and that everyone is looking at me, waiting to see if I fail...and if I do, being sure to be there saying "I told ya so". Anyways, those are some thoughts right now as I plunge into the deep end of the pool (how else am I gonna learn how to swim?).

Back by popular demand...

2005-09-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

OK, two people, but still.

Yes, the school year is in full swing and that means free time is non-existent. Not that I'm complaining. I'm back to doing what I really love and getting geared up for my biggest project yet.

One in Nine is currently in it's third draft, with a fourth to be done quite soon (Reed, the only major change between 2nd and 3rd is a different last scene...while the substance is the same, the tone is different).

I had a very productive meeting with my producer this week in which we set upon a start date for shooting. December 15th (give or take a couple of days) is the day. Does this make me nervous? Hell, yes! BUT, it gives me motivation to get off my butt and get working!

Auditions are going to be held two weekends from now...one day in Grand Forks, two in Fargo, and then two days of auditions in Minneapolis the week after. If the roles are not cast after those calls, additional auditions will be set up.

The script is in good shape. The only thing that I am refining is some action descriptions and fine tuning some lines (and dropping some all together...it's amazing what you don't need to say in a screenplay).

IN OTHER NEWS...

As I am writing this, two discs of the TV show LOST are sitting on my table, waiting to be viewed. Before the other day, I had never seen an episode of this show, but now that I am 8 episodes into the first season, I am hooked! What a great show! All I have to say, though, is that these creators better know where they are going with this...I don't want another X-Files on my hands...grr, Chris Carter...

MOVIES I'VE VIEWED LATELY

Most recently, LAYER CAKE. A nice, tight little British gangster film (yet, I feel wrong pigeon holing it in that genre...it feels more expansive). Daniel Craig proves why he would make a damn good James Bond (though I hope he stays far away from that flailing, dying franchise) and producer turned first time director Matthew Vaughn shows off a very nice visual style in transitions and shot compositions. A word of warning, though. The plot is DENSE...and due to the thickness of the accents in the film, I had to view this movie with the English subtitles on...lol! Highly recommended, though.

Then, there's OLDBOY. You like a good mind f***? Don't mind subtitles? Like a little disturbing imagery to go with your evening? Then get your butt to Blockbuster or the chain of your choice and get this film. Now. I'll wait.

Back? Holy crap! This movie floored me. From a simple premise of a man being kidnapped and locked in a room for FIFTEEN years, not being told why, comes a story that at times made me laugh, cringe, and say "oh my god" out loud at least twice towards the end of the film (and I am NOT one to say anything when watching a good movie). I am not going to say anything more except that if you feel your life is incomplete because you haven't seen a man eat a live octopus, you should be fulfilled after this film. Also, for you dental hygiene freaks (like my wife..heh heh) there is a wonderful method of tooth care introduced in the film (should be a standard paractice in a few years).

BTW, as is the case with another superior Asian film, INFERNAL AFFAIRS (find it if you can...great cop/criminal movie), there is an OLDBOY remake in the planning stages here in the US. (the INFERNAL AFFAIRS remake is DEPARTED, directed by Scorcese and almost finished).

Well, golly gee willickers. That's a lot of words. I'm gonna try and get my thoughts back on here more often (cheaper than therapy, I guess). back to LOST (I have a whole season to watch before the second one premiers).

Back to school

2005-08-25T00:29:00.000-05:00

Today was the third day of being back to school and I am already back into the swing of things (like I never had a vacation...wait a minute...). I'm taking both a directing class and a 16mm production class, so I will be quite busy. PLUS, I'm working on preproduction for my feature.

Good news!

I sat down and finally talked things over with my producer. Seems he didn't quite grasp a concept that I was working towards (we determined it was his fault and not the script being unclear) and most of the problems he had are now gone. So he is in the positive camp now. That is quite the relief for me. I am now in the midst of finding more photos to display visual concepts that only reside in my head right now and am asking a talented friend to become my production designer (so he can draw what is in my head...and help make it a reality).

I've been biking to school (which is quite a ways...about a half an hour one way and I keep a good speed). Today was hell though because I was biking into winds with gusts up to 40 mph! My legs are shot and I am not going to be riding for the next couple of days (taking the bus and giving my legs a rest). The upshot is that I am slowly getting into shape and can already feel the healthy effects of the regular excercise. But once winter hits...we'll see.

That's all for now, I guess. Keep the world safe from, you know, things. Night.

Fun with photoshop...

2005-08-23T03:43:00.000-05:00

Here is a little logo I made tonight out of boredom. The pic makes sense if you've read the script (and only a few of you have, I guess). I also started photoshopping concepts of props and sets because I am a crappy artist...my "conceptual drawings", much like my storyboards, can easily be outdone by a competent first grader. Tomorrow, I am printing out hard copies of the 2nd draft for people to read (and am going to give to my producer...I'm not expecting a big turnaround in his opinion, though, cause i only changed stuff from my own notes...once we have an in-depth conversation about the script and making sure we are on the same page, then I'll start modifying it to our compromises). I'm going to post tomorrow and talk about some of the movies I finally got to see during my days off (no theatrical ones, just DVD's). Till then...

I'm baaaaaaack...

2005-08-21T02:46:00.000-05:00

and finally finished with the second draft of my screenplay. I added about seven more pages, bringing the total to 105 (still within normal screenplay standards). Am I happy with it? Give me a week away from it and I'll give you my answer. I'm too close to it right now.

I pretty much put a self-imposed ban on blogging towards the end of my runs. I just didn't have the energy for anything other than final rehearsals, performances, traveling back and forth and living out of my bag for a few days in a row.

Oklahoma went well. I am very pleased with my performance (which is rare) and people I talked to afterwards liked it as well (once they got past the obligatory "you were scary!" comment). It was a successful run with many full houses.

I had a great time visiting with my friend from Seattle, Drew, and his girlfriend, Bridgette (sp?). Wish it could have lasted longer, but that is life. They are expecting a baby boy in November and I am very excited for them.

School starts for me on Monday. Good news on the money front for me...despite not having any work study, the head of the department put in a request for and received general funds to pay me wages during the school year. I'll be mainly working in the office and helping out around the department (which is great cause I can get paid to work on my film...heh heh).

Anyways, tis late and I need to get on a better sleep schedule (too many nights staying up late playing GTA: San Andreas lately...the things I do when I finally do have free time...sheesh). Hope you all haven't totally wandered away. Night!

OoooooooK!.....I'm tired...

2005-08-02T04:33:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma opens tomorrow and I am quite tired. I think that we are ready and I know that I am, but the grind of traveling back and forth from Fargo to Forks every day (about an hour ride) is killing me.

If you didn't know, I am playing Jud, the "bad" guy of the show...and I am having a blast. This is the first "villain" role that I have had the chance to play (having been stuck in comic relief-supporting roles and the occasional lead roles in the past). What is fun, is that I wanted to take the character in a different direction than the usual production, making Jud more sympathetic and thus (hopefully) conflicting the audience a bit between Curly and I. My director agreed and it has been fun trying to wring the sympathy in the scenes.

So, with Oklahoma time running from about 3:30 to 12:30 (including travel time), I don't have much time to work on my script...but I did make some headway earlier today. The second draft is slooowly forming up and should be ready in a week or so (depending on how much computer time I get). My personal notes on the script ran four pages long and I can't tell yet if the overall length of the script is going to be lengthened or shortened...depends on how the cuts and additions work out.

IN OTHER NEWS

My mind was brought back to thoughts of school this morning when a fellow film student called me up. He is trying to make up an incomplete in his directing class and had to fire one of his actors (not doing well on the whole line memorization). Being the softie I am, I agreed to be in the scene for him. I'm the Tom Cruise role in Born on the Fourth of July in a somewhat tense scene (I can't say that I have seen the film). I'm filming that on Sunday and I have about 4 pages of lines to memorize (which isn't bad at all for me). But this all brings to mind that I need to start coming up with ideas for my production classes this semester. I aim to impress and improve on my past work every time, and the best way to do so is to be well-prepared with ideas (that way, when you are put in a group, you can usually get yours done cause no one else will have thought of anything to do). I have a few ideas in mind (including a totally risky directing experiment that will either get me lots of praise from my instructor or lots of yelling).

Well, it's pretty damn late. If you are in the Grand Forks area, come check out the show at the Empire. If not, make a road trip out of it. That was a joke. Laugh damnit!! OK...sleepy...

Das Bitch Slap...

2005-07-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

Well, finally got word from my producer about his thoughts on my script...ouch...lol. Pretty harsh. Thought the characters were weak, the ending dry and too easy, the script was too "studio-like", and that there were not enough complications. Valid comments all...except now I'm a bit paralyzed. I know that I could defend my script to him and possibly win him over if I chose too, but do I want to do that? Am I at the point in the development of this story that I would want to defend what I have (albeit with many changes that I have already planned for the next draft) or do I abandon it's side and totally rework it? I am no stranger to criticism (and pretty thick skinned at that) but this was the only really negative feedback from anyone about the script. I would put the whole script up for you all to read if I felt safe putting that material out there before filming was done...I dunno. I haven't suffered from self-doubt in quite a while (I suppose a bit is healthy) but this is worrisome to me. I am about to commit a large amount of time in my life to this project...

ANYWAYS

That's enough of plumbing the depths of my doubt and mind. I plan on going through the script again, taking notes with those comments in mind, and seeing what I can do to improve the it. It's a baby right now and changes can and should be made.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately again...Oklahoma's run begins this Tuesday and it's in rough shape right now...lol.

BTW, my younger sister, Marie, is getting married on Sept 4th. WOW...this still kind of blows my mind. I have to run to the mall today and get measured for my tux (I'm gonna be a groomsman). And while I'm there, I think I'm gonna buy Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and renew my Game Informer subscription...

and on that bit of not really needed info, bye!

Been a while, huh?

2005-07-26T06:53:00.000-05:00

Juggling rehearsals for one show and performances for another is not fun, I tell ya. Toooo busy (but I'm enjoying myself, at least).

MOVIES

Watched "The Final Cut" last night. Starred Robin Williams and was a direct to video thing (I think). Had a lot of good ideas, but no real development of them. Williams (in Good Will Hunting serious mode) is a Cutter, a man who receives implants that parents insert into their kids at birth that record everything their eyes see. He takes the images and edits together a "highlight" reel of that persons life when they die. This usually is preceeded by consultation with the family of the deceased. Interesting concept, no? Too bad the filmmaker (first time writer/director...he'll do better his second time out, I bet) tries to cram too many concepts and genre's (thriller, redemption story, mystery, and sci-fi) into one script. The result is a film that feels too short, as if some scenes were missing. That wouldn't surprise me as I am pretty sure that this movie was intended for a theaterical release, but has all the fingerprints of a studio that was afraid it wouldn't do well in the theaters. It is worth watching, though, to get a glimpse of what a real movie editor does (the machine that the cutter's use is remarkably similar to old time editing machines and new, modern computer programs). Is that enough to convince you to see it? Well, I'm not going to bother selling it anymore.

MY SCRIPT

The notes are done (my notes, that is) and the second draft is underway. The reaction was pretty positive from my readers (kind of surprising to me...I didn't know what my harsher friends would think, but they are being pretty supportive of it). I am going to try and cram as much computer time into the following weeks, but it may be tough due to the shows I am in.

ANOTHER SUBJECT HEADING

well, not much else to say. Am pretty tired and ready for bed. Will try and update this despite my schedule!

and the Half Blood Prince is....

2005-07-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

a tremendous book. I just finished it and haven't had much time to reflect, but for now, it is my fav of the harry potter series. As I am leaving for Frostfire in a few minutes, that is all I am going to say right now...but if you are a fan of the series...READ IT...and if you haven't read these books...READ THEM ALL...you won't be let down...and if you are, oh well. I will write a better look at the book when i get back.

I heart Sudoku!

2005-07-16T12:26:00.000-05:00

This past week, USA Today started running a sudoku puzzle alongside the regular crossword puzzle and I am addicted! Sudoku is nothing more than a nine by nine grid with some numbers in them. The goal is to get every row, column, and 3 by 3 section to contain the numbers 1-9 , no repeats. The puzzles range from pretty easy to pretty damn hard. Now, I am not a numbers person (math totally sunk my test scores for college), but the logic it takes to solve these appeals to me. I crave more!!

Moving on...

Harry Potter 6 is out!! And I don't have it yet!! And I won't get to read it until at least...MONDAY NIGHT! ARGH! Stupid ass Frostfire...I will most likely be leaving before it arrives in the mail today...Aimee will get to read it this weekend. THEN, instead of coming home sunday night, I am staying at a friends place in Grand Forks because I have Oklahoma rehearsal...and then (being car-less) I will try and find a ride home. Grrr...Poor Jud is me, poor Jud indeed.

Another person will be reading my screenplay this weekend (possibly two)...and then, my week exile from it will end and I will start revising for a second draft. This will most likely consist of me taking each scene and looking at it in the context of the whole, writing down what is important about the scene, what isn't, and then probably polishing the important parts and excising (painful as it may be) the unneccesary parts. But, the good news is that at this moment, I don't feel that a whole lot is unneccesary...I kept it pretty lean. Once, the plot stuff is polished, then it's time for dialogue (which might wait until draft 3). I hope to have a final draft by the end of summer (end of august) so that I can start pre-production (finding the two main locations I need to shoot...put out a casting call...hire the crew (most likely from my school)...and start storyboarding). woo hoo...we'll see hom much longer this enthusiasm lasts...lol.

and that's it for now, intrepid blogger-trolls. won't be on here till monday, at least.

Film's a dirty business...

2005-07-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

I finished my book that traced the history of the independent film movement up to present day and just had to put a few thoughts up.

A few things:

1. I will never use a movie's box office take to influence my opinion of a film's potential quality. There are too many examples in this book about film companies (most often Miramax) purchasing film packages (script, director, and a few stars) and letting them make their movie, hands off. The director will get final cut and all should be happy. Until the executive sees the movie and isn't happy. They will try and force many cuts on the filmmaker and, in most cases, the filmmaker will refuse, citing the mythical "final cut". Sometimes they will compromise, sometimes the executive will win (rarely will the director). But, to punish the director for daring to defend their artistry, the executive will take the film and either not promote it well or open it on many less screens than promised. This, of course, damages the films box office take. When exhibitors see the weeks take and realize that the small film they have on one of their screens didn't stack up to the others, that film will die a quick death the following week (better to make way for a money maker than one that is floundering). All due to the studio not pushing it.

On the other hand, there are a few movies each year that get a huuuge push despite their mediocrity and messiness. They get rammed down your throats on TV ad's and talk shows and are booked on many screens across the country. Because of more screens, they take in more money and stick around. Because they stick around, the studio goes to the acadamy's voters and talks it up as much as possible. This is why we end up with films like Gangs of New York (admit it Scorcese fans, it's a mess of a movie) and Cold Mountain in the running for Best Picture when they are average films, at best and why you get films like Fantastic Four winning weekends, when they are awful films.

2. As a director and future filmmaker, I will give serious thought to becoming tied up with options from studios (basically saying I have to make my next so-many movies with them). Now, granted, I probably won't be complaining if I am ever in this situation (a dream it would be), but from reading this book, I realize that autonomy is a wonderful thing. It's what brought about the indie film movement in the first place. A bunch of people saying "hey, we got a camera and some film...let's shoot something". Filmmaking, as all things these days, is all about business and the bottom line. All too often, the artistry is lost in the shuffle. Studios don't care about films, they care about films that make money. With indie films increasingly being picked up and retooled by studios before mass release, the spirit of many of these films is lost.

So, next time you see a bad movie (studio or "indie"..if that even exists anymore) don't automatically assume that it started off that bad. The meddling of studios and executives has led many a great film down the path of mediocrity and eventual obscurity.

3. All that being said, I cannot wait to begin work on my feature. The creation process is wonderful and what I enjoy the most about film (besides watching other films). If I go "big" and find myself confronting any of the above issues, I will try and remind myself that I can take solace in just creating something...and no one can really take that away from me...and there are always more movies to be made.

My harshest critic...

2005-07-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

My wife has read my screenplay and I just got done asking for her impressions. I came through pretty well, me thinks. She rightfully took me to task for a few things. Not to say I agreed with everything...lol (what fun would a marriage be without that?). It's nice to have her approval of this project that is going to suck up time this next year.

While I'm on here typing...

Donated plasma today. OUCH! Lady hooked the machine up wrong and caused me to overwork pumping my arm and pretty much killing it...she didn't catch her mistake until towards the end. Oh well, money is money.

My friend Reed posted a while ago about cell phone and hands free headsets and how them might not be safer. USA Today had an article and an op-ed piece about a study done that concludes that even if people are using a hands free set, they are 4 times more likely to get into an accident. Reed shoots, he scores!

I've been trying to keep track of the Tour de France, hoping that Mr. Armstrong can pull it off. It is looking like he will (barring some freak crash). What is it about this man that causes him to dominate that race so? (and don't say drugs...stupid French press). I just don't know.

Also been keeping track of the World Series of Poker (I play when I can). Can't believe that the main event is taking this long and am a bit surprised at all the veterans knocked out already. Just goes to show that while skill is important, luck is something you need in the long run also.

well...my cats say I should go (you listen to your cats if you are smart).

On lying for fun, free scripts, monkey grooming techniques, and Oliver Stone...

2005-07-13T03:42:00.000-05:00

I spent today at school trying to find ways to con the financial aid office into giving me aid (found a loophole, but it would involve getting a new advisor and convincing them to plot out a course schedule for the rest of my time at school and sending it for an appeal...and then, once I got the money, change my major back and get the degree I'm already pursuing). SO, I am still pondering the ethical ramifications of doing that (OK, I'm a liar...the ethics don't bother me, it's the possibility of them demanding the money back once they found out what I did to get it in the first place). BUT, the financial aid offices of both schools I have attended have fucked me over enough in the past (sorry for the language), that I don't give a damn. Expect to hear about my upcoming trial date sometime Spring semester....

In other news...

Speaking of ripping off my school, I took my script to school today on disc and proceeded to print out three copies of my 98 page script in the computer lab (Free printing...your student fees at work). Well, I guess I used up about 20 student's fees by printing it all out. It was a quiet day there, so I printed them out in chunks of 20 pages each (even then, a lady in the adjoining office was questioning people about the same pages printing over and over again...I avoided her carefully). It was wonderful to finally physically hold my script (although Reed was the first to actually do this...I've heard he's going to start the bidding for it soon). My wife is going to read it tomorrow and I gave a copy to my producer today (hope he likes it...he's gonna be spending money on it!).

I am now looking through my idea folder on my computer and realizing that I don't know what I want to write next...there are about three solid ideas (each with a script started...one even up to 50 pages!) and another two or three concepts floating around in my head. It's tough to decide which script to start working on next...BUT, that is the future. I need to get a final draft of this one done first, but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.

In the movies today...

I heard that Oliver Stone will be directing a 9/11 movie for Paramount pictures. Sure enough, every right wing blogger and columnist that has gotten ahold of this story has flown off the handle about how the "insane leftist conspiracy freak" Stone is out to make a movie sympathetic to the terrorists. I consider JFK one of my favorite movies, even going out and reading the two books that it was based on. Stone is a spectacularly talented director (just don't bring up Alexander) when given good material. For those right wingers frothing at the mouth, they should fucking relax. Stone will be directing someone else's screenplay (definitely not a plus for fans of Stone's films he has written himself..including me) and he's going to be micromanaged by Paramount to the nth degree...count on it. They don't want to be branded "unpatriotic" by the "true patriots" of this country...excuse me while I go vomit now...

OK done.

Well, quite the post here. On tomorrow's agenda, more blood letting for the sake of science (and my wallet) and the resting of my sore butt (riding for an hour a day for two days in a row when you haven't rode a bike in about 8 or so years is a baaaad idea for your ass). Until then, __________ (enter your own clever sign off here).

Duh Dum...Duh Dum...

2005-07-11T03:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, I finally got to rent Jaws and see the whole thing. Was not dissappointed by anything really. I loved Richard Dreyfuss's character and personality and Shaw is mesmorizing (sp?) in his monologue about the Indianapolis sinking. And of course, there is Bruce the Shark ("Hi, Bruce!").

Aimee and I bought a mountain bike today. It is quite nice. I took it for an hour ride and, despite a sore ass, found that the bike held up well.

I feel kind of lost without my screenplay to work on (I have told myself that I won't look at it for one week so that I can have some distance from it and be more objective when I go to revise it). Reed is the first to have read it (thanks, Reed) with my wife, a couple of friends (including my producer) and possibly one of my instructors to follow. Once I get their comments and criticisms and answers to some questions I want to ask them, it'll be time to hunker down and give it either a polish or an overhaul (depending on the comments and my own satisfaction with the material).

I suppose I should be storyboarding my short film. Kak (my producer) and I decided that we won't shoot until early September, but I should get it done soon. I also have to recast the female lead due to the production dates being pushed back so far. Such is life.

Time for bed, methinks.

New stuff

2005-07-11T00:54:00.000-05:00

I just added some new links (to some truly dorky material) and made a few very minor cosmetic changes to this here private swamp on the internet I call home now. Why post about it? Good question...

One in Nine

2005-07-11T00:05:00.000-05:00

The above is the title (working, but possibly final) of my screenplay. Clocking in at 98 pages (8 more than I had anticipated..gee, and I thought I wasn't going to make 90) here is what it's about.

In another now, the death penalty has been outlawed. In addition, the Draconian penalty for murder of any sort (including manslaughter) is life imprisonment, no parole.

Due to this, the nation's prisons are overflowing. With no way to thin the population, an interesting procedure has been put into action...

In groups of nine, prisoners serving life sentences for murder are brought to a facility and put in a room. Supervised by a Director and an Assistant, the nine are told the rules of the governments sick method of decreasing the prison population: each prisoner draws a marble out of a box. The one who pulls the black marble is to be put to death...by one of the fellow prisoners. These drawings keep occuring until one person is left standing and receives their reward: a full pardon.

The film follows one group as it participates in this twisted program. The title, One in Nine, refers to the odds of winning the "game".

So, that's the gist of it. Of course, there is more to it, but I'm not giving everything away here. I first came up with the idea over a year ago and have been developing it over the year and finally started writing it about two months ago (although total days I spent on actual writing number about 6). The first draft is in better shape than I expected it to be, but there will be more. I plan on directing this for my senior seminar project at my film school (like a thesis film). It's a large undertaking, but this is what I want to do.

Through this blog, you will most likely get a look at what I go through making this film...and you get to do so from the beginning. :) anyways, that's all I have to say for now.

Hot, hot, hot

2005-07-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

For those of you who think that North Dakota is a freezing wasteland, I beg to differ (about the freezing part).

After finishing my screenplay (more on that in a later post) at 6 in the morning, I realized that I needed to sleep and get ready to leave at noon for my three o'clock call at Frostfire (on most weekends, I perform in a show at Frostfire theater, three hours away and near the canadian border...this year it's a 30's and 40's song and dance review called All Night Strut). ANYWAY, despite having barely any sleep, the show at 6 went fine...except for the HEAT!

Low 90's, very high humidity...and a 100% polyester zoot suit for the first act and a nice black tuxedo for the second. Singing and dancing for about 2 hours is not enjoyable in this weather (I guess I failed to mention that this is an OUTDOOR theater..ugh).

I thought Saturday was bad...our Sunday matinee was in the mid to high 90's with worse humidity. You really have to like wallowing in your own sweat to do this (either that or like the nice paychecks...take your guess). This is my fifth (and last) year with Frostfire. From now on, only indoor theater (which reminds me that I start rehearsals for Oklahoma in a week...the fun never ends!).

THE SCREENPLAY IS FINISHED!!!

2005-07-09T08:08:00.000-05:00

...and now I sleep.

When lawn care is your life...

2005-07-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

Granted, it's been raining pretty steadily here this summer. But I really wish the man next door could go for two days without mowing his freakin lawn! I'm serious! Almost every day, he's out there either with his riding lawn mower or weed whacker or some other instrument of lawn care. If that's not bad enough, our landlady (or should that be landperson?) likes to make sure our lawn gets mowed pretty constantly...which would be fine except we live in a garden level type apartment and get a nice blast of noise and dirt kicked up when we have our windows open. Makes me wish for the days when we would have landlords who didn't even visit the property.

If haven't guessed, I was woken up by a damn weed whacker this morning (OK...that was tough to guess) and I'm still a bit tired from last night. Grrr...

in other news...Fantastic Four opens today. I cannot state accurately how much I don't care about this mediocre looking film. One of my film instructors likes to say "every film is worth watching...once". I dunno sometimes...this movie really looks underwhelming in every aspect. Other reviewers have already made the comparison, but I predict it will be the Daredevil of this summer. Let' s just hope it doesn't rake it in this weekend and encourage them to make more (looks like Fox and Marvel are doing a pretty good job at tanking their comic book franchises...I'll rant more about why X-Men 3 is gonna suck at another time).

Wow...nothing but "grrr...roar!" this morning. So, in closing, grrr...roar!

Almost done...

2005-07-08T05:07:00.000-05:00

Whew! 17 page marathon tonight...and I am tiiiiiired. The screenplay sits at a nice 70 pages...I think there are about 20 left. If all goes as planned, it will be finished tomorrow night. I think there is stuff in this last section that definitely will get some revisions in the next drafts, but I am nearing the end and plunging forward quickly, before my narrative bite and ambition start to wane.

In other news....haven't read too much about the London bombings. Will be doing that in the morning...but those pictures sure aren't pretty. What a blow for London...they get the 2012 Olympics and then this so soon after. Although, I am not too crazy with some in the press already calling it the 7/7 bombings. Are we out of names for disasters like this?

Speaking of disasters, here's hoping that the rumors I'm reading about Karl Rove soon being in hot water over the Valerie Plame incident are true. That man is a blight on the country and has been since Bush's first term.

Well, I'm too tired for any more liberal rants. Here's to a happy morning (I get to donate plasma tomorrow..yay...blood money!!).

Book update

2005-07-07T02:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I spent a good chunk of today reading my film books. The Academy Award book was pretty dull and didn't tell me anything I didn't know already. The behind-the-scenes books I am reading now (Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, and Down and Dirty Pictures, both by Peter Biskind) are fascinating. Easy Riders covers the decade of the 70's and the counterculture revolution that took place and fizzled out at the end of the decade. Down and Dirty digs up dirt on the 90's, Sundance, Miramax and the independent film revolution. I am reading both books at the same time, jumping from chapter to chapter. It's amazing to find parallels in both decades and reading the books this way just reinforces the fact that things in Hollywood and film never change...just the players. I don't know if I would recommend these books to anyone unless they are prepared to wade through a lot of business speak and names of endless executives...but the gossip and stories are worth it.

Anyways, as my wife watches a Fred Astaire film (Silk Stockings...I think) I am going to hunker down and write some more.

Music to write by

2005-07-06T04:48:00.000-05:00

SO, I just cranked out 8 pages on my script (it's grown to about 43 pages now...scripts usually run a minute per page in movie time). I'm aiming for a 90 page script. One of the things that helps me write is soundtracks to movies. I cannot write in silence. I need to have music. I usually take great care in selecting the music for the writing (usually taking up too much time). I try to match genre's if I can. For this script, I've been leaning towards more modern, techno soundtracks. I just bought the Bourne Supremacy soundtrack and i love it. It hits all the right beats for me and puts me back into the story whenever I've been away for a while. Anyways, I am dead tired and kind of rambling in this entry. But you're reading it, so who's more pathetic? night.

The 4th, The Abyss, and The Script

2005-07-06T00:12:00.000-05:00

Spent the 4th visiting my parents in Minnesota. Very relaxing. My friend and producer is back from Japan and we are going to try and find shooting dates for my short film "Waiting" soon, although I just looked at the rest of my summer schedule, and it's depressing how many shows and rehearsals I have coming up.

But, there is always time for movies! Since Jaws was checked out at Blockbuster, I rented The Abyss and watched the lengthened edition (by 28 minutes). I've always liked this film because the characters are pretty well developed and while it could have easily devolved into a plot driven action-disaster fest, it always finds a way to bring it back to the characters (Ed Harris is especially good). The additional 28 minutes actually brings a motive for the aliens contacting us and has a pretty strong (if somewhat ham handed) moral message about nuclear weapons (9 out of 10 water aliens think we're stupid for messing around with them).

Went to the public library today and checked out about 4 books on films, ranging from behind the scene industry expose's to a history of the oscars...well, at least I find it interesting!

Up next, I am going to attempt to finish my feature film script before my schedule prevents me from having any free time. Until next time, sports fans, brush and floss daily. Your gums will thank you.

Dark Highways strikes again!!

2005-07-02T14:33:00.000-05:00

Yes, the first movie I have ever acted in (and no, it isn't a porn, despite the director's subversive intentions) is back from it's trip to the Cannes Film Festival and is now, according to this, going to be available as part of a video-on-demand network called Akimbo. From the King of Cinema himself, Christopher P. Jacobs, Dark Highways is a "North Dakota Neo-Noir Thriller".....that WON'T DIE!!!!! If you live in Fargo or Grand Forks and want a fun evening of watching a film and then playing the blame game (no, it was YOUR idea to rent it...nope. YOU said it would be good!) rent a copy of this film from your local video store (blockbuster or a local chain). Look for yours truly in a performance of a lifetime (ugh) and whatever you do, don't blame me. I'll keep the world posted on the developments of this work of cinema (could a wide theatrical release be far behind?)

FRENCH HORN STINGER (for you, Reed).

Stream of thought time...

2005-07-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

I re-read what i've written on my feature script last night before bed time...bad idea. Maybe I wasn't reminding myself how rough first drafts are, but I suddenly am very concerned about the pacing. but, things can always be rewritten.....
Speaking of Speilberg (like I have been recently), the new york times has an article about his new film, Munich. Seems like it's going to along the lines of a Schindler's List-Saving Private Ryan type movie instead of a summer blockbuster......
So, if you didn't know, I am doing Frostfire again this summer (money whore that I am) among other shows. My choice for this weekend's only show (sunday matinee) is to drive up tonight and stay the night in the dorm by myself (pretty damn creepy) or get up and leave by at least 6:30 am sunday morning to make the call and then drive all the way back home. Wonder if I can just call in sick? They won't miss me in a five person review......
I hope my friend and producer, Kak gets back from Japan soon. I would like to get my short film (titled 'Waiting') completed by the start of school so I can say that I did something this summer.....Played more of Jade Empire yesterday. Got the hang of the battle system, but wasn't too crazy about a mini-game in which you fly a plane-type vehicle 1942 style. Feels very out of place......
13 days till Half-Blood Prince comes out. Yay! Have you pre-ordered yours yet?.......
The favorite movie section of my profile ticks me off. First, how can one pick favorite movies? Second, why limit a person to 600 characters? I only got through half of the DVD's I owned and didn't get to the ones I don't......
That's all for now, I guess. Eat well and have good BM's.

RE MI DO . . . DO SO . . .

2005-07-02T04:44:00.000-05:00

So, I didn't go to War of the Worlds tonight...but I did rent Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Oddly enough, despite knowing most everything about the film, I had never actually seen it before.

Not really going to go into specifics about a film most everyone has probably seen...but I do have to say that I loved Spielberg's imagination in this film (how generic a comment can one make?...heh heh). The scene that involves probably the five most famous and recognizable musical notes in a film (well, not counting the Indy theme and the Star Wars fanfare...all done by Mr. Williams himself) was put together with a great sense of wonder and awe. The phrase "music is a universal language" gets tossed around a lot, but Spielberg takes it literally in this scene (and it is comforting to know that alien ear training students are forced to learn the damn hand signs too).

I love the open ending of the film...letting your mind fill in the next events. I'm sure the movie exec's were begging for Spielberg to do a sequel (let's have the good aliens threatened by bad ones!) and I am glad that none was ever done. One last little thing I liked were the closing credits over the ship flying away and a beautiful starfield. Makes one want to see the names of those that created your last 2 hours of entertainment.

I also listened to the director's commentary on Primer...informative and helped me understand the film better. The film also was more rewarding the second time through...

Next on my viewing list: Aviator commentary (let's hear what Scorcese chooses to talk about) and Jaws (yes, a little Spielberg kick), a movie that I have not seen all the way through (bad film geek!). It also contains a very recognizable musical motif...how does Williams do it?!

Shit...God save the Supreme Court...

2005-07-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

So, Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring? Great. That means that Rhenquist will definitely step down soon and Bush will get to cram 2 conservative idealogues on the bench. Even though she was appointed by Reagan, O'Connor proved to be a middle-ground seeking justice and was the swing vote in abortion and death penalty cases...which are sure to be brought before the court again once Bush packs it and will surely give conservative christians what they seek: the end of Roe v Wade. Already, there is talk about our wonderful Attorney General (and long time friend of Bush) Gonzalez being nominated. Hope those memo's on torture come up...not that I expect the media to really try and dig on any of the nominees or anything really that would hold this administration accountable (see Downing Street memo). OK...liberal rant over. I feel refreshed now...

The wondeful jade empire...

2005-07-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

Being the video game junkie I am, I had to check out jade empire on the xbox. Being a big fan of Knights of the Old Republic, this game, made by the same team, is proving to be quite enjoyable. Although I suck at real time combat (i never seem to press the damn block button..too much offense!!) the game is deep and involving. I put in three hours last night and am looking forward to more (if I don't go see War of the Worlds tonight, that is...and speaking of movies in the theater, go see Batman Begins...yay Batman).