I have no idea why I haven’t put some of these clips on Revver yet. IF you haven’t seen this piece of archive footage from the making of our first feature film, Macbeth 3000, it’s an interesting look at the the kind of operation we were running at the time.
I love the fact that no one died during that film, except that Chris Bohren guy. But I survived, and it’s a good thing, because otherwise that would mean I’d be ghost-blogging right now. Hopefully if that were the case, Bill Cosby could be my GhostDad. And Dan Akroyd would be there too, with a jug of wine and a proton pack. And heck, why not invite Patrick Swayze, or was it Whoopie who was the ghost? Wow, this place is giving me the creeps, I’m out.
What a flurry. Where does time go when you’re in the quantum state of filmmaking?
Last Saturday we shot the first bits for episode 5 in our “Saveslot” video-game-sketch-comedy endeavors. Episode 1-4 are almost assembled, minus a few pick-up shots and sound/music mixes, but things are looking up. The quality has been steadily rising, and we’re actually nearing the point where we’ll start releasing the videos online! Exciting shit, I know.
But the plus side is, with all the Poke Show sketches I’ve done as good training, I’ve become a guerrilla film force! I may not be making ground-breaking stunning-to-look-at sweeping epic dramas that deal with real issues in society… but for web video sketch comedy, we can pump out some pretty good jam with a bare-bones crew (sometimes just me) and no budget.
I met with Sean Jordan, who you may know as the Wordburglar, recently and his friend and cohort Tanya, both of “Party Couch” repute. They are planning to host and headline a live sketch comedy event in June and wanted a video segment done, parodying a sort of reality/make-over show. I’ve left most of the creative development to the two of them (I gave them my take during our meet) because it’s for their show (and planning it out will be enough work anyway!), but I’m pretty excited to test my mettle with that project, which we’ll be shooting in early May. SJ’s a lot of fun to work with (he also did “Orange Crush” with us, as both actor and 1st AD), and as an added bonus, he knows a cinematographer who’s coming on board and bringing a Sony HD camera!
The best prosumer camera I’ve worked with directly is the DVX-100a, which I love INTENSELY. But I’ve been wanting to try shooting with an HD set-up… we’ll probably shoot standard def, because it’s a web video, and I haven’t edited HD yet, but with all the extra resolution, the image is going to be SEXY. And the idea is really funny. I won’t spoil it, because it’ll surely make it’s way online, so perhaps you should bookmark this blog and come back when it’s ready. STOP PESTERING ME!!! THE VOICES, ARGH!
But since I’ve been filming regularly lately, with short shoot spread over evenings and weekends, at the end of each shoot, I find there is nothing more satisfying than saying the words “That’s a Wrap”. It’s like warm milk from the tit in a pre-chilled mug on a hot summer day, in the Caribbean, with a large wad of gold bullion in your pocket and hot dame in your pants. And on that note, good morning grand-papa.
I almost blew up my blog last night. I backed up the folder and then installed the newest version of wordpress, but when I updated, all my posts disappeared! When I went to back it up, I realized I hadn’t backed up my posts (I still don’t really know how to do that), but after the saving help of Globat’s live chat with a technician, I had my hosting site send me a backup of the database, which restored everything!
I nearly crapped my pants, I swear to you. Ever since the great post meltdown last September, the LAST thing I wanted to do was loose ALL my posts again. But now they’re back! And my wordpress is upgraded properly! COMPUTER GOOD!
And also, you may have noticed the mutating theme. I’m working on bettering the look of this site, in the hopes that the cyber-Gnomes will stop leaving dead cats in my mailbox in protest to it’s ugliness:
Check out the trailer for the new Ben Stiller movie, “Tropic Thunder”. It looks KICK ASS. I love Ben Stiller… from “There’s something about Mary”, to “Meet the Parents”, to “Dodgeball” to “Zoolander” to his episode in Ricky Gervais’s “Extras”, I’m just one of the percentage of people who finds Ben Stiller to be one of the funniest people alive. And all he has to do is pucker his lips and raise an eyebrow to elicit a rumbling belly-laugh.
Anyway, based on that trailer this looks lie it may well be a “Stiller Masterpiece”. C’mon- Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downy Junior (as a black-face actor!) and Nick Nolte, playing actors playing soldiers, having to be real soldiers? Brilliant! And it’ll probably contain the usual cadre of celebrity cameos and wacky humor… but something looks different- something not “usual” in the world of today’s wacky comedies… it looks to be set in a more “real” scenario than movies like “Dodgeball” or “Zoolander” (where the world is as wacky as the characters); this one looks like it’s wacky characters in a mean-spirited (normal) world, trying to survive… which, as a personal preference, I think works better in comedy.
In any case, I can’t wait to see it!
Written on March 19, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Just got back from a shoot for worldgaming.com, a new website coming soon where you can bet on online video game matches… gambling and video games, together at last, and after all the credit card limits of the 19-40 year old male demographic!
I found the ad on Craigslist and sent in a headshot/resume. They responded by phone and emailed the details for a face-to-face meet with the producers of the company. I met with them after work one day briefly where they explained the concept for the video we’d be shooting.
Around 3:35pm, the president of the company came out and brought me into a small room with a camera-man, camera/audio guy and best boy/grip. They were using a Canon XL2 for an angled shot, and what I think was a DVX100 for the main camera, though it might have been one of the HD models.
A two light set-up, key and fill, with the best boy holding a reflector under my chin against a completely black background. We did a variety of takes, with the President feeding me lines… and then after we had a take or two for each line, I did some improv with me ranting and shouting insults to gamer-foes at the camera. Everyone became involved in this process, and we probably got a few good shots (I hope). There was no hair and make-up, and it’s hot under the lights so thank god I showered. I had to take my shoes off though to step on the black backdrop and my socks smelled, so that sucked. I need peppermint spray for my shoes next time.
Anyway, after about 10-15mins we wrapped and the next person arrived… wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Smoothly done, and I hope I gave them some good material to work with. When the video launches (they said they’re aiming for 100,000+ views) then I’ll post the m’fucker here!
Now I’m going to go get my ass kicked by a Painted Troll in Oblivion.
Written on March 16, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
The Superblog, written by Dennis Logan of Supergun Cinema, covers the exploits of his guerrilla filmmaking and screenwriting in Toronto, Canada as well as news and commentary on anything film.
