The Goblet of Fire

I am on the road again.

My apartment in California for the last month and a half has been basically an air mattress, TV and computer. So my dad and I are driving the rest of my stuff out this President's Day weekend. The extra day off makes it possible. The only downside it trying to setup my P1 while on the road. Lots of things still need to fall in place. My actress might need to leave early for New York. Will my angel wings arrive in time? Location permits and light kit forms need to be finalized. So I am a little stressed about all that.

I went to a presentation Tuesday night by Bill Kinder. Bill is the head of post-production at Pixar. He spoke about the differences between editorial duties for live action and animation. Fascinating stuff and I would have gone to that seminar for just that but there was more. He talked about the PAID Editorial internship Pixar has each summer. In that moment that roomed turned into the Goblet of Fire. Why? There is only one spot. I am going to apply even with the crazy odds.

Blogging via my Blackberry. Not looking forward to West Texas.
-Scarlet Rebel

Fundamentals of Directing

First of all, I am not changing my metaphors, Editing is still Potions, but it is resembling the Harry Potter version of having several Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. So far here at USC I have had classes with 4 different editing professors. Here they are and what they have edited:
Phillip Neel: Boston Legal, Twin Peaks, Ally McBeal, Remington Steele and currently Human Target
Tom Porter: Golden Girls
Normyn Hollyn: Heathers
Reine Claire- Assistant editor Assassins, Space Jam

Yes, this movie.

I worked on 4 Fundamentals of Directing projects this weekend.I was boom operator for two of them. I provided location for another and then I shot my own.  Lesson learned from all this: don't shoot yours in a parking garage on campus on a Friday night. I am praying I have decent enough audio to cut together a scene I am proud of.  It was a challenge for me and my actors but in the end we decided to try and use it to our advantage. My scene was from "All The President's Men" and we decided to try and make it a scene about paranoia.  Every time a loud distraction came by, or which there were many, I had my actors look quickly around and act as if they were being discovered. It should work.

My P1 is coming around the corner.  It is about a man who gets into a car crash and is clinging on to life but needs to let go.  An angel comes to comfort him in his final moments. It is shot in all black and white and at night.  Luckily it is a silent film so that should help because (see prior problem) it takes place on campus and I have to shoot on Friday.  I already found an excellent source of music for my piece. I am getting an original song from the band Gemeni.  If you are not familiar with them, check them out. They are simply amazing.  If you live in Orlando, go see them live because they have shows almost every weekend.

Gemeni

 

 

Steve is working on getting a sizeable upload of the Boston Legal scene and I will also post my Directing project after I edit it this week.

My P1 has been approved

Lots of news, so little time to post. 

Quick points:

1. My P1 has been improved and approved.
2. My Fundamentals of Directing project shoots this Friday.
3. Steve is converting our Boston Legal cut into a smaller file so you all can see it.

I'll post more news later when I have more time.

Happy Chinese New Year

I finally did it. I am not allowed to answer questions in my cinematography class anymore.

 

In all honesty, I am not trying to brag.  I am fortunate to have worked with a lot of the equipment on the indie features over the summer.  That combined with my eagerness and enthusiasm of being at the Hogwarts of film making have turned me into Hermione Granger.  I wasn't called out as an "Insufferable Know-It-All" but the above statement is true. I am still learning a lot and it's great! So today in Transfiguration (That means we are studying lighting which tranfigures the scene into something cinematic- I am not letting this metaphor die.) I got to finally understand F stops and how it effects exposure, the one thing that continued to escape my comprehension.  I am very excited.   

In Potions (Editing) my Boston Legal  cut came out pretty good but since it was a first draft they are having us all tweak it for next week. So that will be the one that I post on the private Vimeo page for you to see. It was a great experience. I had edited with a partner before coming here but it was always so frustrating for multiple reasons.  This time was different thought. Steve and I banged it out in just a couple of hours and we agreed on a lot. We seem to have the same vision for the pacing and timing of cuts.  It was also clear from the dailies that William Shatner is so "over the top" ridiculous that, as one fellow student put it, "it's a miracle he has a career". 

Steve and I are working on a project called Lotus.  It is very complex and will take a long time to explain so I won't get into details here but I want to say we are very excited.  Our TA in that class is very hard to impress but over dinner he told us that the idea was golden and not to waste it on a 546 project. 

As far as my P1 film goes I had an idea and pitched it my writing class yesterday.  I discovered that this idea needs some work.  The class was very helpful with the constructive criticism and I have gone back to the drawing board to iron out the details.  One thing is clear, I want to start off in black and white. I know the mood and look I am going for.  Yes, this probably is working backwards but I think I can formulate a story for the elements I have at hand.  I want my film to look something like this:

Oh and it happens to be Chinese New Year.  Like I said before we are a very eclectic class from all over the world so I am off to a party to enjoy some home cooked meal that I probably can't spell right.  Night!

I love film school.

So Sunday morning I woke up and it was cold. I bundled up and at first did not feel like working out.  That plan changed as it started to rain and I booked it over to church.  From there my day just got more exciting. I had to go through security on Jefferson because of the SAG awards were being held right next door to the Zemeckis center where I was working on a 546 graduate film called Volcano Girl.  I helped out in the grip and electric department for a few hours and the headed back through even more security because the event had just started.  Then that night we I went to a little documentary screening party for a great doc called "The Five Obstructions" which was about a film challenge between Jorgen Leth and Lars Von Trier (Dogville, AntiChrist).

Jorgen Leth

Today between my theory and directing classes I edited a scene from an episode of Boston Legal with my friend Steve. Very enjoyable exercise due to the fact that the production value and acting was better than some of the previous exercises (James Spader beats David Caruso any day) I had in my undergraduate years. Later that night, my directing professor Peter Sollet (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) offered to set up a workshop next week with some of our actors. I signed up right away.  I hope that I get selected as it would be a great opportunity.

I will post again when I have a link to my Boston Legal cut.  It will be on a private Vimeo account as I can't publicly release it due to copyright but as you are my family and friends you will get the password to the page.

A New Purpose

So this blog is being revamped and has a new purpose- my journey through the USC Master's program for film production. It has already been a crazy journey.  Most of you followed my trek across the country via the Facebook album so I won't re-hash any of that here.  The group that I am part of here, the 2011 SCA Spring Graduate students, is an amzing group of people. We are a very diverse group coming from all over the world and we will all being making very different films, each with a unique perspective.  I can't wait to work with all of them.

I already have several assignements and I will be posting links to them here for you all to see. Over the next couple of weeks I will be editing a scene from Boston Legal, recreating a scene from "All the President's Men" and my P1.  My P1 is a solo project that I must produe, direct, shoot and edit all by myself.  It also must be silent, have no guns or cars and be made for less than $100. Not sure what I am going to do yet for that.

I am enjoying the benefits of being out here. I saw both The Mechanic and Sanctum before their release date for free. I nearly hit Winona Ryder as she booked across the street in her Golden Globes dress as she had illegally parked her Mercedes.  I must admit though, I hate the traffic and parking in this city. and it is always cold.  But these are trifles as this oppurtunity is beyond brilliant.  I feel like I am at Hogwarts. The way the Dean talked about how we were all hand selected and this was beyond a dount the best film school in the world.  She once joked that if all the SCA students didn't go to work one day Hollywood would shut down.  And the she realized that it wasn't a joke, it was true.  To further the Harry Potter analogy I decided that Cinematography is Charms and Transfiguration, Directing is my Defense against the Dark Arts, Editing is Potions and Sound is Herbology. Don't ask me why, it just feels right.

"Your cuts are too arbitrary Mr. Potter!"

I am working at the AMC Del Amo 18 because after a year of 80+ free movies I am not paying for movies anymore.  I am also working in the equipment room at USC. Great job as it is pretty relaxed and I get to be very familiar with all the tools at my disposal.

That's all I can think of for now but this blog will finally be updated on a regular basis because there is always so much going on I want to tell of you.  Also these posts will be prettier in the future with pictures and video but I am on the computer at work right now so I am limited.

(500) Days, (0) Nominations, (1) Angry Blogger

So the first couple of thoughts after glancing over the nominations at 8:30 this morning:

1."Apparently I am not allowed to sleep in." I am a late night projectionist at AMC but despite that there is ALWAYS something happening really early. This just may be the factor behind my insanity.

2. "The Blind Side is nominated for best picture, so is UP" The Blind Side I have not seen but that was unexpected on my part. Now on the matter of deserving it, I'll have to see it first. Now on the other hand Pixar has deserved this spot at least 3 or 4 times now and it finally has it thanks to the 10 nominee slots. It still doesn't stand a chance for the award thanks to the unfortunate attitude against animated films winning the coveted award but it's nice to see the recognition of a nomination. Plus it also is nominated for Best Animated Feature.

3. "Jeremy Renner for Best Actor" Look, I thought Hurt Locker was a very good film. Very intense, pretty original for a war film, as far as I could tell accurate as well. Renner was also very good. It's just, in comparison to many other winners, for example Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood", there's a big difference. Watch Jeff Bridges or George Clooney run away with this one.

4. "Thomas Newman isn't nominated for Best Original Score. Neither is Clint Mansell for Moon. Randy Newman's got 2." ...
...
...
Are you telling me that there is a possibility of Randy going up two wins to nothing over his more talented cousin? This is a travesty. And "Moon" was the Best Score of the year- just saying.

5. "2012 is NOT nominated for Best Visual Effects" Hey, I agree with this!

6. "(500) Days of Summer is NOT nominated for Best Picture or Best Screenplay" Oh come on. Really? Look I could understand the Picture snub, if not condone it. But Original Screenplay? REALLY? It's only the most original "Rom-com" in decades!

7. "Avatar is NOT nominated for Best Original Screenplay" GOOD! Now all you wanna-be film snobs can SHUT UP. It's about how you present an idea and Cameron did that masterfully, that's why he is nominated for directing and the movie is up for Best Picture- where I will be rooting for it. Because it is "Best Picture"- that means everything wrapped up as a whole.

The Academy's Top 10:(not in order)
Avatar (2009)
The Blind Side (2009)
District 9 (2009)
An Education (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
A Serious Man (2009)
Up (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

My Top 10 (and why I am angry):
1. Avatar
2. Moon
3. (500) Days of Summer
4. Up in the Air
5. District 9
6. Up
7. Away We Go
8. The Hurt Locker
9. Watchmen
10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince


Next year's best picture:

Just kidding.