What I am Doing this Summer

This post is not about a sequel to the silly teen slasher series.  There haven't been many posts recently because this last semester was fairly uneventful outside of standard day to day school activities., but this summer has proven to be quite the opposite.

First of all I have been hired as the assistant editor on an indie feature called Thrill Kill.  I am also working on campus this summer so this keeps me crazy busy because I work all day on campus then drive over to the director's place and help him edit all evening.

Next semester I will be co-editing a documentary about Lupus.  It is a very exciting project to be working on as my co-editor and I will get to see what it is like to create a story in the editing room because that is what documentaries are like.  Also we are going to get to work on animated sequences too!

Most exciting is my new business.  Two of my friends and I have invested our money and opened a production company around a camera we bought together.  This camera is one of the tops in the world.  It shoots over 4x the resolution of high definition and is the sister model to the camera used by Hollywood big shots Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and David Fincher (The Social Network).  We are officially announcing the rest of the details in August but everything is looking very promising.

The camera is currently out on a rental but our package looks very close to this.

Finally I am starting work on a super hero web series.  I have Season One mapped out and I am in the process of finishing up the individual scripts for the eight episodes. Lots of interesting characters and action sequences.  I have high hopes where this can go and I have a great team backing me!  Expect more updates as that continues to progress!


 

Golden Globes 2012

I live tweeted during the Golden Globes- here it is just for the record:

• Salma Hayek is still incredibly hot. She is 45? Are you kidding me? #GoldenGlobes
• Hey Paula Deen is there with the Masterpiece Theatre crowd. #GoldenGlobes
• I like how Rob Lowe said Kate Winslet like its no surprise. #GoldenGlobes
• If you know you're gonna win, sit up front! #GoldenGlobes 
• Oooh Frida Pinto. Keep her on screen #GoldenGlobes 
• Sears has a MLK day sale?
• Mmmm Morena Baccarin... #GoldenGlobes 
• "I'm sorry, I'm French"- Quote of the Night #GoldenGlobes
• Thomas Newman loses again. A predictable tragedy. #GoldenGlobes 
• I am not used to seeing Kristin Wiig as a brunette.
• Peter Dinklage looks so unamused. #GoldenGlobes
• George Clooney doesn't need a pimp cane! #GoldenGlobes 
• So Spielberg neglects to give credit to Edgar Wright? #GoldenGlobes 
• Its my man-crush JGL! #50/50 #GoldenGlobes
• The perennial Woody Allen category. #GoldenGlobes 
• Wow, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is so into themselves they even have absent people thank them in their speeches.
• Alan Ruck is there! #GoldenGlobes
• This is the funniest speech ever. #SidneyPoitier #GoldenGlobes 
• What was that Casket thing? That was amazing!! #GoldenGlobes 
• Must see Electric Company.
• YES! YES! Hugo is SO good! Go Scorsese! #GoldenGlobes 
• Every shot of Ricky Gervais is of him drinking. #GoldenGlobes 
• Tilda Swinton, you just so... weird. #GoldenGlobes 
• They hate Thomas Newman as much as they love Meryl Streep #GoldenGlobes 
• Screw you HFPA. Seriously. Screw you. It's all about Hugo!

Next up: This semester I am taking Intermediate Editing, Intermediate Directing, and Analysis of the Film Genre (Action Films).  I'll post about those classes periodically.

Skyrim, Subway and Sunlight Jr.

@TheScarletRebel: Filling up the store. 20 minutes left! #SkyrimMidnightRelease #OccupyGamestop
@TheScarletRebel: Just got a picture and had an awesome conversation with Patrick Fugit. Super nice and cool guy. #SkyrimMidnightRelease
@TheScarletRebel: I am turning #Skyrim into a lesbian, medieval Thelma and Louise.

For those of you who don't know, Skyrim is an epic role playing game that will be remembered as a landmark achieving in gaming for the level of depth and detail that went into the making of this game.  It just won game of the year at this years Video Game Awards.  I had high hopes for this game and it has not disappointed.  What I did not expect was a celebrity sighting when I went to the midnight release party for the game.  While in line I hung out with Patrick Fugit, star of "Almost Famous" and costars in "We Bought a Zoo".

@TheScarletRebel: Lugging a desktop around Dallas Int'l Airport so I can do VFX work at home over Thanksgiving. #AdventuresInFilmmaking

So after working on the visual effects on Thanksgiving day and wrapping up the sound and post work on Meet Derek- 508 was finally over. The film screened at the USC First Look screenings and was very well received.  All the jokes were laughed at, people seemed to like the action sequences and lots of people came up to me and congratulated me on my work afterwords.  Also my homemade fudge that I made for the reception was gone before I even hit the lobby.

 @TheScarletRebel: 508 is over, and the very next morning here I am working out and then running to set. Nothing has changed.
@TheScarletRebel: I am in a Subway commercial today with @JPerryFilms
@TheScarletRebel: Day 2 of Subway job. Praise the Lord for this beautiful day!

The very next day I started work as a key grip on a Subway ad.  Paid work! Woohoo!  The first day was miserable.  It was raining. It was cold.  And if you have ever worked with an HMI light you know they can't get wet.  Rough day.  The next 3 days were gifts from God!  It was perfect weather outside and we were on a football field for 2 of those days.  And all I had to do really was move around these big 12x12 frames and make sure they were safe.

So Meet Derek was well received and I just had 4 days of paid work and was now going home for Christmas.  I didn't think life could get much better at this point.  But on the way to a Christmas party I got a call asking if I wanted to work the next day.  Before I said I really wanted to spend time with my family he said it was paid work. I accepted.  At this point all I know is I am working and getting paid.  I show up on set and start to work and I see this is much bigger than a music video like I was expecting.  This is a feature film.  I am on set for 4 hour before I see the star walk by.  It's Naomi Watts.

@TheScarletRebel: I'm a grip today on the set of Sunlight Jr. starring Naomi Watts and Norman Reedus.

I run up to my friend as say the star looks a lot like Naomi Watts. He laughs at first until he sees I am serious and tells me that it is indeed Naomi Watts. What else was I suppose to say? You think he would have mentioned that when he called me up and asked if I wanted to work.  And the last place I was expecting to met a huge star like her would be St. Petersburg, Florida.  It also turns out that Matt Dillon and Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints, The Walking Dead) are in this film.  So I was only supposed to work the one day but by lunch I have been booked for the rest of the shoot meaning I will be working up until Dec. 23rd.
Some of my tweets from set:

• Just booked 2 more days on #SunlightJr. Matt Dillon will be here tomorrow.
• A mom in a minivan just got into a fight with a motorcyclist. A fun little event for us on set here to witness. #SunlightJr 
• Driving to set. Somehow Pandora has decided to convert my "Nirvana/ Rage Against the Machine" station into an Indian Dance music station.
• Smoothies??? This set is awesome! #SunlightJr 
• Filet Mignon for lunch! #SayWhat #SunlightJr 
• Our Best Boy Grip took a speargun to the face. #TrueStory #SunlightJr 
• #SunlightJr is officially hiring me on until the end of production.
• Doing the Diet Coke + Mentos trick on set. #SunlightJr 
• I'm playing football with Matt Dillon. #Awesome #SunlightJr.

Literally "Making it Rain"

The film centers around this gas station called Sunlight Jr.  Production was using an old station that had been out of business for a while.  This meant the production design team had to make it look like a fully functioning place.  Meaning they had to bring in all the food and drinks that a convenience store would have.  Once filming was over they could only return certain items- the rest was up for grabs.  Best shopping spree ever. Since I was on set I found that Xmas shopping was difficult but when this raid happened I decided to grab ALL the coffee and made a gift basket for my mom. She loved it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517249/

Sunlight Jr.- everyone go see it when it comes out later this year. Go see my name in the grip and electric department!

Part 5: Burning Down Places with "Meet Derek"

@TheScarletRebel: The Falcons won, I can get away with anything this Tuesday. #TheKenCosbyDeal

When you are in 508 you also take a editing and sound theory class called 509 and a writing class called 529.  My writing professor was Ken Cosby, who happens to be Bill Cosby's nephew, a longtime ghost writer for Law and Order, and one cool dude.  He was the perfect writing professor for me due to his hilarious nature (he is also a stand up comedian), his love for comics (he once worked for Marvel as well) and his love for football.  At the begining of the semester we made a bet on the Falcons after he said they wouldn't win 5 games.  Later I found out we even share more in common as he was in an episode of How I Met Your Mother as a cab driver, and I am inexplicably mentioned in Season 5 Episode 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiGrw7WcKM

@TheScarletRebel: Thank you @markdanielewski for such an inspirational evening! #REDCAT #T50YS

Each year on Halloween my favorite author, Mark Z. Danielewski, performs a live reading and interpretation of his rarest book live at the REDCAT theater in downtown LA.  I am a huge fan of his other books "House of Leaves" and "Only Revolutions".  I am such a huge fan of his unorthodox style that I have considered flying out to see this in the past but it was never practical.

A page from House of Leaves.

But now I am in LA and I finally got to go see this.  This was so exciting because this book is so rare I have never gotten to read it so not only was I seeing a live interpretation of the story, I was experiencing for the first time all together.  Also like I expected I got to meet Mark, but what I did not expect was they had a small collection of his rare book there for purchase.  It was $100 (this is how rare the book is) but all the money was going to charity and Mark would sign it when you got to meet him.  When it was my turn I talked to Mark about how I was going to USC for film (because he also attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts back in the early 90s) and how I had the same writing professor as he did.  After a short chat not only did he just sign my book he wrote a small poem just for me on the opening flap. "To Michael, Who shall find the angle, the light and the shadow, and give it meaning."

So Halloween was now over and now it was November, which meant it was time for Meet Derek.  After two heavy emotional films, The Black Mambas were all set and excited for an action comedy.  I was the writer/ director, Drue Metz was our producer and editor, and Alana Waksman was our cinematographer. Alana got into the mood of things by wearing my trademark bandana on set. Drue worked like a man possessed getting all the things I was asking for.  Whenever you hear about big expensive Hollywood pictures you always think of action films, because the reality of it is- action films are expensive.  And in 508 all films have to come in under $1000.  Of the 60 films in 508, only 2 were action films and we were the bigger one so we had a daunting task ahead of us.  The film required 2 restaurants, a nightclub, lots of guns, fire, 30-40 extras, zombies and a burning building.  I could tell our directing professor didn't think we were going to be able to pull it off until the day before we started shooting and we presented our final shooting plan.

The shooting plan for the big shootout scene.  

 Our first day was the first scene which features several cameos and inside jokes.  We got our editing professor, Bob Jones, to play the part of our piano man.  This is epic because as I have said before the man is a legend. He is an Oscar winning writer and editor. He has done everything, except apparently act in a film.  Afterwards he said it was a lot of fun coming and being in my film and thanked me for letting him experience another side of film making.  Our other cameos were made by the lead actors in Alana's and Drue's films.

Grandpa Bob!

Our second day was our zombie scene.  Here is where it gets interesting.  We shot our establishing shot of the restaurant that night.  We then wrapped in the early hours of the morning.  This where everyone gets to go home and sleep before we start shooting that night. Except for the effects artist who has to make it look like the restaurant is burning down.  That guy is... me.

It took all day.

Luckily our third day was an easy day.  An average film should have about 15-20 set ups a day.  Day 3 of our shoot had 2.  But as fate would have it we nearly lost this day due to lost paperwork and scheduling conflicts on our soundstage.  We jumped in and had to help another film breakdown and move out of the stage so we could get in to get our 2 shots.  The stage manager, who was not happy with this mixup, gave us a one hour ulitmatum to get our shots.  This sounds easy but 2 effects shots (see above picture) in an hour is not easy.  We got it done with not a minute to spare.

Drue never gives up, never surrenders!

 

 

So after a 3 day weekend full of shooting we had a week of classes leading up to our final shooting weekend.  We only had one day left of shooting but it was the big one.  The shootout.  As I mentioned before, an average 12 hour shoot day will have 15-20 setups.  We had our location for 5 hours, and we had 32 shots planned.  How does one mentally prepare for this?  By not worrying and getting his mind off it so he doesn't stress. I went against everyone's advice and played Skyrim in the final hours leading up to the shoot.  The 5 hours went by in a flash.  It was a blur but I was in the zone.  Planning the gun fight with my stunt coordinator Jason was the most fun I have ever had on set.  We ended up dropping a few shots but I think we may have added one or two.  Thing is we got in close to 30 shots in 5 hours.  We rocked it.  The whole teams was top notch and was on their A game.  Thank you again to anyone and everyone who came out and made that night a success.

Stunts!

Our lead actors Julian Leong and Mary Black

Casey Bond and Marten Borg checking out their guns.

Epic stunt coordinator Jason Avina.

Alana and I frame up an insert on a gun.

Here is a link to the film.  It is password protected for festival purposes.  The password is guns.
http://vimeo.com/33645821

Part 4: Cheyenne is Burning!

@TheScarletRebel: Camera tests in Stage 3! #AdventuresInFilmmaking

@TheScarletRebel: Driving 15 miles to pick up a fog machine should not be a 3 hour endeavor! 

The Black Mambas, having finished a touching story with For Closure, began work on our second film immediately. This film is called Cheyenne is Burning, directed by Alana Waksman and shot by Drue Metz.  I was the producer and editor.The editing part I was excited about.  The producing terrified me. I am not the organized man in the world and I hate paperwork. Producing requires both.  I did have one hidden strength as my team discovered. I can make killer phone calls to get things done.  I apparently turn on this incredibly professional voice when I get on the phone.  And I did get things done.  A major important scene of this film is a dream sequence where Cheyenne is in this vast wide open space and she is on fire.  To achieve this we needed to play around with projector effects and lighting styles.  So on multiple occasions I had to procure sound stage reservations way in advance or on some occasions at the last minute. What was harder was facing the horrendous LA traffic to get the fog machine. But it all worked out and we got some incredible footage!

The Black Mambas fog up up a soundstage.

 

 

 

 @TheScarletRebel: Editing while listening to Pink Floyd. #win

Like I said before I was excited to edit this project. Alana wanted to capture the emotions and moods of the character and since she rehearsed the dance sequence to Pink Floyd I decided to listen to that same song while I cut that scene. We ended up going with a more experimental direction and the project really turned out great.

The infamous dance sequence

@TheScarletRebel: Good news: I scored my all time high score of 147 points in #FantasyFootball. Bad News: I still lost. #FML

We ended up each putting in $10 into the Fantasy Football pool. This was the first time I have ever bet on this, because I have never even come close to winning.  Even after this unfortunate case here I was currently second in the standings and looking good for the playoffs at this point.

Up next is Part 5: Meet Derek and the Conclusion of 508.

Part 3: Back to USC and For Closure

So 508 works like this. You are in teams of 3, or trios, and you must make 3 films in 15 weeks.  You are the cinematographer for one, the producer, editor and sound recordist for one, and director/ sound designer for one.  Our trio decided to call ourselves The Black Mambas. My trio mates were the amazing Drue Metz and Alana Waksman.

@TheScarletRebel: FILMMAKING TIME!

Drue was the director for the first film, For Closure, and it was produced and edited by Alana. I was the cinematographer.  It was based on the true story of how Drue's family got divorced and had to sell their home.  Now as much as you plan ahead, and Alana wonderfully dealt with a lot of potential issues very well, things always go wrong on set.  That accounts for the following two tweets.

@TheScarletRebel: I'm on set, the location owner is drunk. She keeps coming into frame for more pasta. @ailise my life IS that interesting

@TheScarletRebel: Come to set location to find a saw waiting in the kitchen. That's not scary at all. #AdventuresInFilmmaking


See, our location owner just might be crazy. Despite these issues (I have a picture of the saw if you don't believe me) we made our days, got what we needed, and were confident going into the dailies to show our teachers.  Well, maybe my teammates were, I was a little scared of disappointing Charlie Rose, our cinematography professor.  Turns out he was very impressed by my work.  Said I wasn't afraid of the dark and avoided over lighting things. I also apparently employed a unique style called Harlequin lighting.  I was just doing what I thought looked good but now I can give an excellent backup to my methods.  Charlie is an amazing fountain of information.

The Black Mambas on the set of For Closure

Our other professors are amazing as well. Our producing professor was Gail Katz who produced Air Force One, The Perfect Storm and In the Line of Fire.  Our directing professor was Peter Sollett who directed Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.  Our sound professor was Robb Navrides who was the sound supervisor for the entire run of Desperate Housewives.  Our editing professor was Robert C Jones, or as we affectionately call him Grandpa Bob.  The man is a legend.  He is an Academy Award winning writer and editor.  He wrote On Golden Pond and Being There.  He edited Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Shampoo, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Heaven Can Wait, Days of Thunder...  The list goes on. Just look at all he has done on IMDb: Robert C. Jones


@TheScarletRebel: What a great start to the season! #NFL

One last thing they say about 508- you don't have much of a life outside of it.  So I chose just a few "escapes" from 508 to relieve the pressure and to focus on those things.  They were exercise and football.  The exercise kept me in shape- in fact I may have been the one person to improve how they looked over the semester.  It also gave me the energy to get through the long days.  The football was my outlet for a life outside making movies- if just for a little bit. I love it, we all do- you couldn't make it here otherwise.  But you need something else or you will go crazy.  So I watched football and played Fantasy Football (3 leagues in fact!).  So it happened to be on the first night of the season 8 of us were sitting down in Tommy's Place (a bar under the school- how cool is that!) watching the New Orleans Saints face the Green Bay Packers. It came down to the last play in the final seconds. God I love football!  It is also nice to see film students here take an interest in football. Nobody at UCF did. Strange.


Next up is Part 4: Cheyenne is Burning!

Part Two: 15 Minutes of Faye

Part 2: 15 Minutes of Faye

I had to leave Territory to jump on another feature, this one in Bradenton, Florida directed by my good friend Josh Ingle.  Yes, I was leaving a job as a sound mixer to be a cook, but I like cooking and Josh is a good friend of mine. Also it meant a paid trip home where I could see my family on the days off.  It was a super fun shoot with old friends, cool days off at the movie theater AND I got to start up the Insanity program again to continue my goal of getting in epic shape.  My usual routine was to wake up and make breakfast for the cast and crew.  Then I would prepare the 2nd meal, do a round of Insanity, then I would go for a run with the producer, Addison Bryan. I would put the meal into the oven, take a shower and then drive the meal to set.  I'd come back, prepare third meal, clean up the leftover mess and then sit back and play some Bioshock 2 or Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Great days- I had a blast on this shoot.

Here is a list of the great tweets from set.  Prepare yourself, I tweeted the hell out of this adventure:

-"I want escargo on set." "Well fuck you." #crafty #cooking #15minutesoffaye

-Walmart sells dentist scrubs but not beanies. #WTF #15minutesoffaye #adventuresinfilmmaking

- My new living arrangement for the shoot has family photos in it. I feel like a squatter. #adventuresinfilmmaking #15minutesoffaye

- Lead actor here has gotten into a pillow fight with Justin Beiber and a towel war with Miley Cyrus. #15minutesoffaye
  (One of our lead actors worked at a Bed Bath and Beyond in LA)
- Also apparently it takes Kel Mitchell three hours to choose curtains at Bed, Bath and Beyond. #15minutesoffaye

- Conversation just went from Inside Job to gonorrhea to CatDog. #waitWTF #15minutesoffaye

- I just cooked a double batch of pasta in half the time on medium. This stove is powered by Satan. #cooking #15minutesoffaye

- Walmart doesn't carry cilantro? #screwyouguys

- My homemade salsa is a success.

 
- A Walmart Supercenter across the street from a Sam's Club. #theendoftheworld

 
- Watching The Room... Again #WorstMovieEver

- Spent lunch on set discussing the nature of art. "What is art? What is good art?" #15minutesoffaye #highbrow

- The 80's station is playing "Would I Lie to You (1985). We switch to the 90's station and we get "Would I Lie to You?" (1992) #WaitWTF

- 3AM shopping at Walmart in Bradenton. I feel and might possibly be the only customer in the store right now.

- Telling boogeyman stories from the #Sanctuary shoot over third meal. #15minutesoffaye

- You wake up at 3pm and say good morning to people? You have fully switched over to nocturnal morning. #nightshoots #adventuresinfilmmaking

- Discussing the artistic integrity of Lady Gaga over third meal. I love film sets! #15minutesoffaye 

- Add beer, wine, ramen, and ice cream sandwiches now. Wait, when did this set become a college party? #15minutesoffaye #waitwhat

- Empty beer cans, dirty wine glasses... Money in the fridge? Did I get sucked into The Hangover? #adventuresinfilmmaking #15minutesoffaye

-"I'm gonna blast you like a whore." -Our gaffer Zac #15minutesoffaye 

- "When you die in Naples, you die in real life." #neverforget #Sanctuary

- Theory presented on set: It is impossible to NOT like Queen. So is anyone out there who can disprove this? #queen #15minutesoffaye 


- I am being moved again. Le sigh. #15minutesoffaye

- Locked out of Wal-Mart because they lost power and apparently have no backup. #fail 

- Throwing free condoms around like ninja stars at third meal. #15minutesoffaye 

-Had to toss a whole new bag of sugar cause of ants. #fucknature 

- Illegal parking a moving van, Led Zeppelin, actors answering the door in nothing but towels... #adventuresinfilmmaking 

- Traveling down I-75 in the back of a U-Haul moving van. #dangerous #adventuresinfilmmaking 

- The Change-Up and then Captain America. #doublefeature #daysoff 

- I was just described as a "worldly man". What an awesome compliment!

-"Eating at Waffle House is like listening to Ke$ha. You end up greasy, gross and have a whole bunch of nasty in you." -Kyle Shelton

Up next, Part 3: Back to USC and For Closure