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?