The Superblog 5000

Tags: Directors, Filmmaking, Movies, Screenwriting

There’s no process cooler than that of a film. From lonely nights typing to sets of strangers working towards a common goal… the set-ups and shots and rehearsals and catering (mmm) and creativity is what makes the film business more akin to experiences, as opposed to “jobs”.

On Saturday I was Grip(ping) on set for my friend Kirill’s final film project for Ryerson. Was a pretty good time and a neat shoot. The movie was some kind of Poker/Gambling movie… I think it was called “High Stakes” or something… like many of the other crew, I hadn’t even read the script, but I knew they had already shot some footage in Las Vegas, and that it was for a school project.

Kirill Kripak was directing and Tom Nagy was the DoP, which was cool, because the two of them had worked on my film, French Onion, so there was already established chemistry.

They were shooting on an HVX with an adapter for lenses they got from the school, which looked a bit like this:

Sexxxxy. I got to touch it. I did some focus pulling and grip-work under Tom and Kirill’s lead, chatted with the actors and film students, most notably about Star Trek, until the day was done. For a student shoot, it was pretty well done- some pro actors, p2 cards and HD footage, catering (yum) and a pretty stead-fast and easy-going crew.

After getting a ride back to the subway, I packed up my own camera and headed down to Pascal’s house for a Saveslot meeting, which is WAY more informal. Saveslot is a video-game themed sketch-comedy show we’re currently filming. We wrote out the rest for what will be episode 3 or 4 (though we have 5-6 filmed) and then filmed a short “bit” before I collapsed for the night, exhausted.

Which, in turn, made Sunday the equivalent of a hang-over day, even though there was stuff to be done! After shopping for the groceries to cram the foods in my face, watched Shoot ‘Em Up (which was pretty decent) and worked on my short screenplay called “The Mushroom Farmer” and edited some of the footage from yesterday.

There’s still a lot of Voice Over work to do for Saveslot, which is such a hassle- but thankfully we have an audio guy we can go to for that.

So tomorrow is Monday and it’s back to the 9-5 thing, where I get yelled at by customers all day and then bang out a page or two for a screenplay in the evenings. We’ll be shooting again next weekend, so there’s that to prepare for, and I want to shoot another sketch for The Poke Show soon as well. Throw a feature film script in there, and the next time you ever hear me say the words “I’m Bored”, smack me with a red herring.