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
 

What happened to the blog? 508 Happened: Part 1

For reasons that are about to be explained the blog was out of commission over last semester. The second semester of USC's graduate film program is called 508. Now 508 is over and I will basically recap everything that happened over a series of posts. I will be able to do this thanks to my twitter feed reading like a history book of what I did.

Part 1: The Summer Before Faye
 
@TheScarletRebel:

Meeting McG, director of Terminator Salvation

14 Jun
  

We left off at a nice hike and finding the Cave of Life.  A few days later I met Bridget Moynahan and McG as part of the closing of the Youtube Institute Program that was being held at USC.  McG was very cool and actually talked to each of us who arrived early. Nobody does that! Bridget was super sweet as well. She wasn't there to be interviewed and was just there to support McG but was kind enough to talk to me anyway.

@TheScarletRebel

Chess Boxing is everything I thought it would be. #exhaustion #somuchblood

19 Jun
For those of you who don't know I started a Facebook group where people could challenge me to any experience or challenge they could think of. One I discovered myself while online at Cracked.com was Chess Boxing. Yes it is a real sport. It is quite big in Germany. It is exactly what it sound like.  11 rounds, alternating between chess and boxing. 4 minutes of chess, two minutes of boxing. Win by checkmate or knockout.  There is nothing else you need to know, you can watch the match in the video below.

Challenge 1: Chess Boxing


@TheScarletRebel

Going all Hermione Granger in Doheny Library. For real this time.

27 Jun It was great working with both of my trio mates over the summer before 508 began. (In 508 you work in assigned teams of three to make three films in 15 weeks.) I worked on Territory with Alana and was in a Critical Studies class with Drue Metz.  This class was taught by the infamous Drew Casper.  He is very intense as he goes into the history of film and he is very theatrical and animated.  He also assigns these huge papers that cover vasts amounts of film history.  I has to watch 7 Billy Wilder films outside fo the ones we watched in class and he also assigned several readings in books that were nat available to check out of the library.Turns out that of those 7 films I needed to watch the expansive USC film library had just 1.  So I watched that one and then on the morning of the day that paper was due (because the section of the library with those books is closed on the weekend) I went to the historic Doheny Library, down to the basement and pulled out stacks of books.  Anything written by Casper and wrote like a man possesed. I really looked like Hermione Granger because that library is like a castle and it looked like Hogwarts. And I was surrounded by books. And then everything I wrote was sourced by the books, not the internet. I found enough material in the books to cover up the fact that I was unable to see those extra films.  I spent the whole day on that paper and turned it in on time.  I think it is the paper I am most proud of in all my schooling years.


@TheScarletRebel:

I hereby commandeer this bathtub in the name of sound! #adventuresinfilmmaking

8 Jul
I got hired onto a feature film called Territory directed by the head of the USC Directing track and produced by the amazing Alana Waksman and Bernardo Duran, Jr.  I was the the sound mixer. We were in a hotel room and the only place sound could hide out without being seen by the cameras or mirrors was the bathtub.  We went to some really cool locations around LA including a toilet factory and some alleys full of the most amazing graffiti. I guess there isn't too much more to say about this now, it was just a great working on another feature.

Oh and yeah I died my hair red for the summer.

Up next, Part 2: 15 Minutes of Faye

Topanga State Park and the Cave of Life

8 of us decided to go on a long hike in Topanga State Park on Sunday.  We never actually intended on it but we ended up going straight through to the other side.  This was discouraging when we were tired and discovered we were on the other side and would have to go all the way back through it again to go home. But we all had a good time overall and it was great exercise.

Me, Fangso and Brian

There are several trails and our goal was to make it to the waterfall that is deep inside the park. After some detours and other distractions we did find the waterfall. It is actually off the path a bit and you need to go boulder climbing up the creek to get there.Once there I tried to scale the cliff face of the waterfall like an idiot. I was almost successful.

Me being an idiot

Damir at the waterfall

 

Kristin, Sean and Steven

There were also several cool caves slightly off the path we discovered.  One of them is the apparent hideout of the Zodiac killer. The other one I call the Cave of Life due to the secrets it holds.  What so I mean by this? Fangso ran up to the cave first and saw some letters and notebooks hidden there.  Messages, secrets and truths from the past!  We left our own message but I plan on returning and reading the entirety of both books and writing a script about it!

The cave of the Zodiac killer

The Cave of Life

Anyone interested in journeying back to the Cave of Life in the upcoming weeks?

All picture credit goes to Micaela Colman and her camera.

Sorry for the incessant emails

I set up a new Facebook group in order to experience new things and get the most out of life. It was so I could get suggestions for challenges I would have never even thought of. It has been a huge success except for one little flaw.  Facebook now emails you every time ANYTHING happens in the group. So I apologize for that inconvenience- I never intended that to happen.  You can easily disable the emails on the group page. There is a small box at the top that says "Edit Settings". A dialouge box will pop up and you can disable email notifications.

The idea for the group is as such:

"After I played Zelda for 48 hours straight Shyam said I should create a blog where I got suggestions about what else I can do for 48 hours.  I thought about it and decided I shouldn't just limit it to that. I have been trying more and more to live life to the fullest. So now I am opening this group. I will consider and do anything anybody suggests that isn't illegal or will kill me. So suggest away people!"

I will be taking these suggestions and fulfilling these challenges. Most of them will be filmed and probably posted as a web series of some sort.

Fell free to shout out suggestions here as well!

Sunset Blvd. and other madness

I feel bad when I don't update this more often. I want a solid record of my adventures so I can remember all the stuff I do out here. I should be more diligent and post regularly like the amazing Crissy Kikkawa does over at PlayBackFilm.

I worked on a couple of thesis film over the past week. One was at a crazy mental institution that had some abandoned wards in the back. Creepy stuff!  Then this past Monday I was in the mountains of Malibu and had to drag a 300 pound Fisher dolly up a very steep hill. Not fun. But I like exercise so... worth it?

This thing

 I am taking a summer class about Billy Wilder. Shockingly up to this point I had only seen one movie of his and that was "Some Like It Hot". this will be a perfect opportunity to see several films that I have been meaning to see. I guess I can call it catch up work. For example tonight I finally got to see Sunset Blvd.

I also went to a special karaoke event with some Reddit-ers last night.  My song was never called though. They were all spared of my awful voice doing my version of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. It was my first karaoke song I ever sang and it's amazing so I wanted to do the same here. Oh well...

On a final note my class ends at the end of June instead of August. I can has summer vacation?

My P2! Finally!

I wanted to post my film earlier but I was having computer problems.

http://www.vimeo.com/23968488

Disharm0ny.com, 508 and the Zelda Documentary

My P2, Disharm0ny.com, is finished. It has been very well received so far in class. My friend Bryce is putting together a Vimeo group for our P2s and it will be up there shortly and I will provide the links for it here. But for now here are pictures:

After 4 years of having this idea stashed away it is now a film. The premiere screening is on campus this Friday. Thanks to all my cast and crew for helping this dream project become a reality.



We had our first meeting for 508 this week as well. 508 is the class number for Production II, our fall class in which we work in randomly selected teams on three projects.  My team consists of Drue Metz, Alana Waksman and myself.  You are the Producer/ Editor on one project, Director of Photography on one and, Writer/ Director of one.  I am DP first (for the film Drue wrote), producing second (for Alana) and directing third. The film I wrote is tentatively called Meet Derek.  The film is about Derek (surprise!), a 25 year old guy who has bad luck with the ladies.  He has only had 4 dates and they have all gone poorly.  So he is extra determined to make things go well when he meets Bridget. Much to his dismay the world seems out to make things difficult.

On a final note I shot a feature documentary outside of school this last weekend. It is a film about video games as an art film, the limits of human endurance, and insanity.  A small group of elite Zelda players have teamed up to beat 4 Zelda games in 48 hours.  I documented my journey to join those ranks... by myself.  Special shout out to Michael Starr, Shyam Sengupta, Brian Ott and Bryce Kho for helping me on that endeavor.  

Catching up

Sorry the long gap in posts. Spring Break was a whirlwind of seeing as many people as I could.  This week is jammed to the brim.  I didn't even get to watch "The Office" last night. Usually thats how I unwind after a long day. (Thank God for Netflix!)  This weekend I am the cinematographer for my P2.  So I am planning those with their directors while working with my producer for my P2 that takes place the following week.  I am also building a dolly.  It is almost finished. I just have to tweak the trucks a little.  I plan on using it on Xu's P2 this weekend.

Sleep will be a luxury with all the shooting this weekend.  Thursday at midnight I will be seeing Sucker Punch. Then I grab as much sleep as I can before Kristin's shoot Friday morning.  I will be wrapping around 7pm and I start Xu's shoot immediatley after and we go to 1am.  Now my AMC work schedule isn't done yet but I may be working Saturday or Sunday there and then have Xu's shoot from 7pm-1am on both those days. And then school starts up 9am Monday like usual. Exciting!

My P2 is called Disharm0ny.com.  It is about a website that helps you find your worst enemy. Someone you will be bound to hate so you can fight them and take out your stress on them instead of your loved ones.

Finally today is Career Day at the cinema school. Over 40 different companies are coming today and we can talk to reps about jobs and internships.  I plan on talking to Pixar, Warner Animation, Disney, Sony and Lucasfilm.  I think with all these Pixar events I am going to I am bound to eventually get an internship or residency there.  Their camera staging artist position sounds like a dream come true.

My P1

Sorry about the downtime between posts. I was enjoying my Spring Break.  Anyway the good news is, while I may not have my editing assignment or my FoD scene that I have been promising for so long I DO have a cut of my P1 on a private Vimeo page.  Click the link below, password in angel.


http://vimeo.com/21223064

Working on 3 projects at once

Sorry about the gap between posts recently.  I am currently trying to output my Directing project on DVD, edit my P1 and write my P2 all at the same time.  P2 is an interesting project.  The only thing we are required to do is write it and then we can have other crew members help with any or all other duties. We can also have dialogue this time.  I am again Group B so I get a chance to crew on Group A and C projects and have already been chosen to DP a film in Group A.  In other news I got to meet Lee Unkrich, Oscar winning director of Toy Story 3 at an event at USC.  There are a lot of other interesting events comng up and I will post more on that soon.

Into Dust

I shot my P1 Wednesday night. I haven't gotten on here to tell you all about it yet because it has been an sleep depriving situation and I wanted to be coherent as I wrote this.  So here is an hour by hour breakdown on how it all went.

Hour1:
I wake up at 8AM. I go through the morning routine as usual. I leave my sound kit at the apartment because I plan on coming back for supplies and don't want to lug it around all day. That will be a challenge though because I shoot in 14 hours and I don't have location permits finalized, homework to print out, work and classes to take of today. I pack food in my backpack in preparation of not having time to stop by Armando's for lunch as per my usual routine. I walk to campus.

Hour 2:
I arrived at work. If you didn't know I work in the Production Equipment Center at school. I pull equipment for orders and act as the repo man for people who don't return their stuff.So today I was pulling light kits for all the P1s including my own. I tagged it as mine and said I would pick it up at 5. I really don't want to carry this thing around. Heaviest kit ever.

Hour 3:
Still at work but got all the kits ready. I asked if I could take a quick break finish getting the permits finalized. They are super cool and let me. I am now officially allowed to shoot at the fountain tonight.

Hours 4-5:
Made some repo calls, surfed the web, found this picture also known as the best Zelda fan art ever.

Hour: 6:
Clocked out of work and found a secluded spot. I pop in my headphones and listen to this song as I write and organize my shot list for tonight. Now I know what I am doing tonight! Hooray sanity!

Hours 7-9:
I attend my writing class. I eat he trail mix bars to stay awake.

Hour 10:
I run and get my light kit before the PEC closes. I walk to my next class early so I can take care of some business. I want to know if I can leave early so I can prepare for my shoot tonight. Dominic stops by and delivers our camera and tripod. I am now carrying a large tripod, a decent size camera case, my backpack and a easily 70 pound 5 foot light kit. I set it all down and start calling UPS numbers to find my angel wings for tonight. Turns out the one dead spot in the whole cinema complex is right there. Thankfully Orlee- Rose was walking by offered to watch all my stuff as I found a signal and worked that out. Turns out my apartment building doesn't hold packages so since I wasn't there to take it UPS takes them to a warehouse and this warehouse closes at 7. I would have to skip class to get them and even then I would be cutting it close due to LA traffic. I decide I have permits for tonight and tomorrow and I can reluctantly film all the non-wing shots tonight, get the wings tomorrow and film those scenes tomorrow night.

Hours 11-13:
I attend my Fundamentals of Directing class. Peter Sollett says I did a good job with my cut considering the circumstances with noise. The rest of the class wishes me luck on my P1.

Hour 14:
John gives me and the huge equipment load a lift home.  I return to my apartment to see my roommate there. He was supposed to be at work.  Turns out he got a ticket for driving a California truck with a Florida license and the truck was impounded for the night. So since he was home when the UPS guy came by I have wings for tonight. Rejuvenated by this miracle I pack the food, the chocolate syrup (excellent blood for black and white films!) and a whole bunch of blankets. It's going to be a cold night.

Hours 15-21:
The wind has died down so it wasn't as cold as I expected at first but it slowly got chillier and by the end it was really bad. But it was worth it. the footage looks great. Sharon and Kevin were real troopers dealing with the cold and Mahin was a fantastic assitant. Here are some photos from set. Take note these are not screen captures.

Hours 22-24:
Sleep!

Hour 25:
I wake up with a slight headache and head back to work at PEC.

Hours 26-30:
Of course today would be one of the busiest days at work. I got a free burrito from some guy who stopped by to fill out an order though.

Hour 31:
I sit on a couch and beat the fire temple in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the DS as I wait for class. Nathan sees me and tells me he heard that my P1 is being talked about as the most visually exciting in our class.

Hours 32-35:
In Cinematography class we broke into two teams (picked 4h grade kickball team style) and in less than 3 hours write, produce, setup, light and shoot a scene based on a picture.  Each team amongst themselves would select 2 actors, a director, AD, DP, key grip, camera operator, and 1st AC. I was chosen as director and decided to have fun with this. I decided that the scene would be at a house party between a government spy and a vampire fighting over a potion that would allow vampires to come out in the sun.  The sheer lunacy in the scene went over well. We are doing another assignment like this next week. This time we are doing the steak scene from Raging Bull and I get to be Jake La Motta.

Hours 36-41:
I go home and watch The Office and Kevin Smith's Too Fat for Forty. Then I go to sleep.


On a final note I am coming home for Spring Break on the 11th. I want to see as many people as I can so I need you all to comment and tell me when you want to hang out so I can schedule it and see as many of you as possible. Pick your time slots for March 12th through March 18th.