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!