The News and the Noose

There's a new site up at "filmaka.com" where they'll be posting AdMuse at some point.

I was one of the four folks chosen for the GM contest at filmaka, which is cool.

I've finished synopses for 10 more episodes of AdMuse with the hopes filmaka wants to do more. Fingers crossed.

TELE-VISION
I've been writing CRAZY amounts of television/web series comedy, and getting really into the form.

AN AGENT
I think it's time to get an agent or a manager, and I'm about to start the hunt.

THE NEW FILM
The big news is that we're shooting the new feature mid-may through june. There's just one big role left to cast, a few smaller roles, and then we're set.

LOCATIONS
If anybody reading this has a nice HOME or a MEDIUM SPACE (art gallery or party-sized establishment), please email and let us know! It's only for one day.

AUDITIONS this week.
WRITING the treatment for Telefilm.
WRITING bibles for 3 TV/Web shows.
WRITING my thesis (feature film)

I need a new computer and I'm trying to decide between a desktop and a laptop. Macs obviously, but which way to go?

news

AdMuse (web series)

The five Season One episodes for AdMuse are finished, uploaded, and awaiting final approval from filmaka.com.

Brothers (feature film)

We're not quite fully cast, but close...pre-production is in full swing. We NEED locations, a couple cast members, and a bit of luck.

Strawberry Splits (pilot)

We're hoping to begin serious pre-production in May for a late June shoot. We're still figuring out one cast member, but we're close...

School is out! Whew. One more week of serious paper marking, and then things are going to pick up in the production world. Let's make some movies.

HOPEFULLY WE'LL HAVE MORE EXCITING NEWS TO COME VERY SOON!

please drop in for a visit!

repeated viewing

There are films like Husbands & Wives, Winter Light, The Passenger, Turning Gate, Last Life in the Universe, that, like a great work of literary fiction, you can return to and "re-read," finding more than you remembered each time through. Then, there are films like Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, etc...that may have entertained the first time, but yield nothing upon re-visitation.

The next film we're shooting (This April) tentatively titled "Brothers" (a little nod to Woody Allen as that was his original title for Crimes & Misdemeanors") is an attempt to make a film that works like the type of novel you re-read for years. Interestingly, I think the key to making this type of film is using dialogue sparingly. Not even close to a "Cafe Lumiere" level of quiet, but a certain austere stillness in the characters, sequences and photography can be much more telling than constant literary chatter (something I find myself guilty of in my writing).

Planning is underway for an April/May shoot. I'm going to look at locations this coming week. Time to start saving some money (or making some money to save).

film lighting, a true story

A little quote to inspire the believer in "practical lighting" (from a Maysles Brothers crew guy).

TRUE STORY: I was working on a Documentary series of interviews with THE ROLLING STONES. The director was Albert Maysles, one of the Maysles brothers who had directed the famous Rolling Stones documentary "Gimme Shelter". Obviously it was quite a high-profile job and there were two lighting guys, two grips, and a 10 ton lighting truck, with generator operator. We ran heavy duty cabling from our generator in preparation for a huge lighting set-up. The D.O.P. (whose name I unfortunately forget) ended up using only ONE CHINESE LANTERN connected to a dimmer. By the end of the day we just plugged that into the wall so we could wrap out our cabling. He also used a 100 watt pepper as a Backlight because there were people filming video as well as the two 16mm cameras.

duplassed

I really can't keep making films in SD.

It's time to do the HVX thing. Good enough for the Duplass Bros. Good enough for me. (Expensive, but good enough).

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:418678

cloverfield hvx200

I would have been shocked if most of Cloverfield hadn't been shot on an HVX200. It just makes too much sense, knowing the camera (and everything else that's out there) and having seen the film.


It looks like most of the film was shot on the HVX.

Read about it here.

It was a pretty alright monster film that had me jumping around in my seat.

It also looks like I'm going to have to take out a big loan and get a new camera, tripod, editing suite, and the rest. I wish I could wait, but now is the time.

It's time to make movies. Monday, it's time to sell everything around here that somebody wants to buy.

Shopping.

New Soo

Now, here's a guy who knows how to make a film.