Gone For Good: Shoot Day Summary

Busy busy weekend!  About two and a half weeks ago I finally had an idea for a film.  The title is:  Gone For Good.  It's a funny little story of a typo that sends our protagonist (Elliot Nevills) into a fit of remorse and identity crisis.  Emily Bennett plays Elliot's significant other (in real life as well) and she leaves the note containing the typo.

I'm really excited about this film because:

A) I know my actors from High School

B) It's in color

C) There's sync sound (Courtesy of Gunnar Jebsen(Thanks Gunnar))

D) Extreme close ups of potted meat

E) Cross dressing

F) And unlike the stuff I shot last year this film is funny!

I threw together my two films last year and because of that I shot a thriller and a horror film.  Genres that don't do too much for me.  This time I think I wrote something that's truly funny and will make people smile and even laugh.  The shear fact that I'm as big of a Tim and Eric fanboy surprises me that it took this long for me to do something like Gone For Good.

I will admit though the film didn't come without trial and tribulation.  I could spend all night typing out a detailed recap of the night before my shoot and the morning of but instead I'll summarize my troubles in a list :D :

1. My $300 Bogen tripod broke the night before.

This lead to me having to resort to using a cheap plastic still camera tripod which I had to reinforce in order for it to withstand the 50lbs Bolex.  This issue wasted the most of my time since I tried fixing anyway I could.  Yet to no avail.  you can bet I'm taking it back to central camera for my manufacturer's warranty.

2. Two of my partners from class couldn't make the shoot to help me out.

This was actually kind of a blessing in disguise because with Adam, Gunnar, Elliot and Emily we were doing just fine.  Not to mention that was reaching our apartment's max capacity.

3. I forget to ask for a Grey card from the Film Cage.

This is important for color film so that the developer can tint the film correctly.  I looked everywhere online for a printable grey card but to no avail.  Luckily in the morning Gunnar did another search and he found one . . . hopefully it will work but by no means was printing a grey card a recommended thing to do.

4. I woke up later than I intended in the morning.

This is my own fault but the CTA saved me and made everybody else late too.

5. I blew one of the two circuits in our apartment.

This lead to me running up and down from our apartment to the basement about 4 times trying to get the switch the right way to give back power to the living room so I could turn the ceramic heater on so we wouldn't have to wear coats indoors.

6. I forgot my debit card on my run to Dunkin Donuts.

This meant I had to run back to the apartment. . . probably the least of my troubles but at this point I had about 10 minutes before people would start showing up.

okay so I extrapolated a bit. :/

The shoot went incredibly smooth! :D

I've already sent an e-mail to everyone involved expressing my thanks but I'd just like to put out a more public thanks to everyone:

To Elliot and Emily

for being so willing to act for me.  A little potted meat never hurt anybody.

To Adam

For being absolutely and positively helpful in the most possible ways.  Your friendship and will to do things right the first time are priceless.  We talked about fate the other day briefly and I have to think that me meeting you is a prime example of fate.

To Gunnar

For being such a great friend.  I can't imagine how much I would've had to pay for somebody to provide me the services you offer out of friendship.

To Wayne

For plowing forward and your insight.

And to everyone caught up in the madness while they tried living their lives: Erin, Kim, Gill

Most people wouldn't put up with my nonsense on such a consistent basis.

I'd be lost without you all!

Well now that the ball is rolling I'll keep everyone updated here all the way up to the completion of Gone For Good.  Stay tuned.

Latest Endeavors

Mid terms were about three weeks back and as soon as they were done I was ready for something very extracurricular!  So I bought a Ticket to see Crystal Castles at the Metro.  Now I love Crystal Castles just as much as the standard hipster but I am by no means a hipster so for the once in my life I found myself being a poser.  I went to the Ark thrift store down the street (a jewish run thrift store with pretty much anything and everything on God's green earth) and once there I bought a pair of red jeans way too small for me and I borrowed a black snap up cowboy style shirt from Gunnar.  I would've worn a bandana but I couldn't get ahold of one but the costume was good enough...I got to the Metro early but there was still a line down the length of the black with hipsters...low and behold...they were all wearing combinations of red and black shirts and jeans.  It was cold out and we waited outside the metro about an hour after the doors were supposed to open...the line got obscenely long.  When we finally got in I found a spot up in front of the stage and psyched myself up.  It was the best concert I've been to.  I went by myself for no other reason other than nobody was up to willingly beating people up and get beaten up.  Two opening acts were okay and pretty mellow but as soon as CC came out...which was a long wait...mayhem ensued!  The crowd lost it and the clusterknuck of bodies began!  Here's what it looked like:

Clusterknuck

Holding the strobe

Alice

(complete with batman shirt and strobe)

Mid strobe

A concert not for the weak.

Alice crowd surfed during the second song and during Crimewave she reached out and grabbed my arm with one hand and held the mic with the other......I was going absolutely CRAZY.  After their last song she threw the mic into the crowd and then they left the stage.  I left the metro completely soaked in sweat, mine and everybody else's.  I left the concert changed...If you don't know Crystal Castles, go listen!

Oh and then Halloween.  Here's some pics of that too:

The family

My Pump

Kim's pump with Darce

My pump with Darce

Kim and I stayed home that night carved pumpkins, ate pumpkin pie and watched the Addam's Family movie.  Good times.  Surprisingly despite midterms being over things only seem to be getting busier...that's Production II's fault.  Shooting my first film this semester on Sunday.  Should be fun!  I got Eliot Nevills and Emily Bennett to be my couple in the film.  The working title is Gone for Good and there's a good chance I'll just keep it that way.  Don't let the title mislead you...it's definately a comedy...I had to do a comedy.  My two films last year were way too serious for my usual taste.  I mean for christ sake, I'm a Tim and Eric fanboy...how can I not do something funny or at least demented?  It'll be awhile before I can post it online but I'll most definately keep an updated log on how production and post goes.

Stay tuned.

It's been awhile since the last update but nonetheless it's here.  It's my Junior your and things have been pretty good so far.  I live up in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago and The cast is the same as last season.  It's Adam Erin Kim and myself.  HEH Funny to think that I haven't disclosed this info yet on here...

Classes (in order of attendaence):

Post Production Audio 1

Production II

Abnormal Psych

History of the American City

Pretty BA lineup in my opinion.  Production II and PPA1 are heating up and about two weeks ago midterms were had but never to fear as I PWNed 'em all.

Oh be sure to check out the new music lineup down at the bottom of my page!  First track should be a raw recording of Gunnar and myself playing two covers by the Kings of Convenience.  Good stuff!

well gotta go...Erin has recruitred me to help take Darcy (our Tabby) to get spayed (have her female part augmented)  should be fun...

Edit:

I'm an Uncle!  Have been since october 30th.  Her name is Jillian Griffin!  JG...good initials! :)  I can't be more proud!

Uncle Joey

Well this post is way late in the making and with no excuse whatsoever.

I'm gonna be uncle Joey!!!!!!

My older bro Dave and his wife are expecting a baby! I've actually known now for a long time. When I came back from spring break the big announcement was made. Dave and Jess had arrived in town a day or two before me and although my plans were for a short spring break I was ecstatic to get to see them since they live VA. I arrived late that night and so I didn't get to see Dave or Jess till the morning ...I knew something was up because things seemed different somehow. I had slept in a little since arriving so late but I roused myself with some help I'm sure from someone...when I got upstairs I hugged Dave and Jess and then noticed that my mom and dad were wearing somewhat matching shirts...at first I just passed it off since I already accept how odd they can be sometimes (a trait I swear I didn't inherit ... :) ) As they were fixing lunch I slowly came out of my trance and then it finally hit me...I looked at my parents' shirts and noticed they weren't just odd...they were REALLY ODD! My mother's simply said "Grandma to (be)." be was replaced by a graphic of a bee. My dad's said "dad's know a lot but Grandpas know everything" and had a graphic depicting an elderly gentlemen. Although I registered what the shirts said I still hadn't grasped the implication until everyone Dave, Jess, Ma, Pa, Andrew, and Ryan all glared straight at me...in wait. Then it hit me - I got the quite obvious message and was caught speechless!

:)

Hugs and kisses exchanged and to this moment as I type this post I'm still wrapping my head around this monumental event. It has been almost 9 years since our family has gained a member...if you don't count Bandit or Shirl. I can't post in this entry whether it's a boy or girl because if my information is straight then my dad is waiting for the birthday to find out.

To explain in this post the utter joy this news of a new family member brings me would be a crime. Rather, you should ask me yourself when you see me and I would be much more accurate in such explanation both verbally and gesturally.

For now it's a waiting game but when the day comes you can be sure there will be ample amounts of play by play coverage. :D

That's all. I'm a happy man!...Uncle!!!

Back in Loveland

It's been two weeks since I've arrived back home in Ohio. Spring semester ended at Columbia on a good note with As and Bs across the board. Since I've been back I've had some time to finally focus on a few projects of my own.


One project that I'm really excited to finally not only have the time but also the means of which to perform is transferring all my family's old analog video to DVD and then also to the internet. It's a fun project not only because I love video and anything to do with it but some of these Hi8 tapes haven't seen the light of day in years. I found stuff from back when I was a little boy and all the way up to when I was performing in the fresh/soph show for my high school. This project is way overdue and the importance of saving these memories from being lost is of importance not only for me but for my whole family.

A more recent project has arisen in only the past few days here. My father must think I have some talent in video production because he has indirectly volunteered me for an even more weighty video project putting together a 5-6 minute portrait of the Cincinnati division of Proctor & Gamble for his boss Bill. My dad offered the challenge and after I did some preliminary research gathering information on rental houses and pricing the costs of such a production I've concluded that not only is it possible but I would be privileged to be the one to put it together. I spoke with my father's boss and we exchanged expectations and some basic ideas. Tomorrow morning I'm going into Cincinnati with my father to do some location scouting and to get a better idea for my project outline. I'm aiming high here and I look forward to slapping this one on my resume...a project for the likes of P&G is something to boast about.

Oh and on top of all this I just so happen to be working 40 hours a week and come mid June I'll be taking an online class...

so much for summer :/

speaking of work...I walked in the other day and guess what was playing over the intercom.....Rick Atsley....My workplace Rick Rolled me at 9a.m. C,mon!

Father Wrote the Play: by Leeland Greenmess

TA-DAH!

Here it is...the long awaited premiere of Father Wrote the Play: by Leeland Greenmess. If you haven't heard of it then that's okay but now that it's here you should definately tune in. If you want up to date ... updates on progress made in the series then get a Vimeo account at www.Vimeo.com and join the Father wrote the play channel! The story follows Leeland Greenmess on his quest to direct his fathers last play: The Haunted Conifer. Leelas journey begins when his father dies and bids him to go and direct the play. Although Leeland is hesitant at first he knows that as his father's dying wish he must go through with directing his father's play. Enjoy!

The Death of Father from Adam Robinson on Vimeo.

Cahoots

Cahoots from Joseph Griffin on Vimeo.

Well here it is...My first 16mm film. I think I did alright. although exposure seems a bit overexposed at time I promise that when you watch the straight projection it's fine...stupid DV. Anyway watch for the scene where I'm running behind Sam and you might see a glimpse of the tree that I hit and then try and find my one continuity error.

Hamlet

The long awaited release of one of my first ever feature length (approx. 8min) films is here. I found this forgotten project a long time ago. I saved all my video projects onto my external hard drive before moving out for school even before I went to BG and I have just recently started mulling through the archives. The embedded film is one of those archived creations. I made this abridged version of Hamlet for a group project for British Lit. during my senior year of high-school. Tig was my partner and to be honest...I don't know where he's gone now after school. Anyway, here's the film and be sure to watch it through to the end for the special reading by my brother Ryan.



Hamlet from Joseph Griffin on Vimeo.

Ground Zero

Here's some pictures my T.A. Evan took a few minutes after the catastrophe:

Hi8...Bye8

So my roommate and I were having a conversation when the topic of Hi8 camcorders came up. Everyone remembers the damn things from that wedding or birth or crappy zombie thriller they shot in their backyard in the 90s. Hell, I can recall one Christmas in specific where my brother, myself and the family's Hi8 cam ruined Christmas for the whole family. Probably my first attempt as a filmmaker, as far as I can remember, I dressed my little bro Andrew up in a big puffy vest and sunglasses. The idea was a sort of James Bond thriller in the arctic tundra of Siberia (Wisconsin in the winter time was an obvious choice for the location to get this effect across). Andrew slinked around the porch and down into the yard improvising as he went along. The bomb that he was supposed to disarm was in the shed connected to our house and underneath the porch. Mind you this is like Christmas eve now. Andrew goes in to open the shed door and instead of the bomb we discover every single Christmas present unwrapped and exposed to our curious little eyes. Yes we were in shock and yes we thought about just closing the door and leaving...but then...what if the bomb went off....right? So we continued in and at this point I broke the silence and began the commentary on the early unveiling. Me being that avid little filmmaker I was I forgot to turn off the camera and one present in specific I remember was one of those little plastic play kitchens with the little plastic burgers and hotdogs, Andrew wanted it, He noticed the picture on the box and felt no shame in going right up to it and approving of its presence. After we had scoured the shed we finally left and without stirring Mom or Dad. We thought we were in the clear! It wasn't until later however that we found that our efforts for being undetected were in vein. Mom found the tape in the Hi8 camcorder and along with it all the evidence that "Christmas was ruined". I don't remember a more sullen and remorseful Christmas in my life. Mom was mad and we knew it. Actually, to this day I don't think my mom has been more mad than she was on that fateful Christmas day. To be honest though, they should've just wrapped the presents instead of leaving them exposed for us to walk in on like that. I digress. Back to the original topic. Hi8. Not only does the quality of the Hi8 camcorder suck but my memories of it suck. It's funny to think about the bastardized medium now that we have DV and more recently P2 card technology. I made a joke to Adam saying if I ever make it in the film business I'm going to shoot my first and subsequent movies all on Hi8. It's amazing that they are still selling like hot on eBay and other marketplace websites. Then while I did a search on Hi8s I came across this link to a posting where a guy is set on transferring Hi8 to 35mm...which is a freaking joke! I thought it was funny and if you've ever used Hi8 and understand the superiority of 35 then check this link out and try not to laugh:

http://www.likeastory.com/boards/cgi/noncgi/Forum8/HTML/000373.html

Poor guy.

Edit: Then again the post was made in '98. Maybe he was serious...all the more hilarious!

The Big Zero - Five

Long time no update, so here it is:

I turned 5 this last Friday! My fifth leap-year birthday was kicked off as such that the year can only get better from here on.

The following series of photos depicts the results of my first film shoot here at Columbia. The shot was of my main character running to a woman who was hurt. I followed over his right shoulder as he ran. In retrospect I believe I had made a mistake and whereas I wanted a wide shot with a 16mm lens I in the process of winding the camera up had moved the turret so that I was looking through the 25mm lens. This vastly reduced my field of view but I decided to compensate by simply backing myself up a bit in order to get the desired framing. This decision would lead to a tree with a hole cut out of it and my whole face becoming very bruised. As I ran behind the actor I all of a sudden came to a complete stop and pain surged through my face. After coming to my senses I noticed I had run into one of the park trees and tore a chunk of it out with the sun shade on the 75mm yvar lens. Luckily the camera was alright...the only thing I was truly worried about after hitting the tree was the camera. Opposite the tree and it's injuries were me and my injuries:


I didn't black out and I never got any sort of a headache besides the initial dazedness that I experienced the whole thing was really no big deal. We continued the shoot as usual and the camera clicked of film just fine. After a bit we took a 30 min break in the nearby Dearborn Station and two off duty bike police had some sanitizer and a band-aid. The rest of the shoot went smoothly and once I got back to my apartment I simply iced the wound for about half an hour and then went on with my day. I couldn't have asked for a more eventful 20th birthday.

Back in Oswego this weekend I got the chance to help in a fellow scouts Eagle Court of Honor. Dave Stewart and I were good friends back when I was in troop 63 and to have the opportunity to see him get his wings was quite special.

I bought three movies while I was in Oswego since I got some money for my birthday.

1. The Third Man (Criterion Edition)
2. Hard Candy (creepy thriller gone controversial with a young Ellen Page)
and
3. Heat (a personal favorite featuring a scene with Al Pacino AND Robert Dinero)

All long awaited additions to my collection! :)

Other than all this my birthday was rather lax. No party but now that I think about it my mother sent me some cookies that have my name plastered all over them in the kitchen and that to me sounds like a good enough party so I'm out for now. Stay tuned for more details as things progress.

Red Car

Today was the long anticipated first day for me as an intern at Red Car Productions. It was a long day from the start but very exciting. I got up extra early so that I could walk the 30 minutes it takes to get to E Illinois street and the River East building where the Chicago Red Car Offices are. I got to Red Car a little bit early and that was a good thing since I got a bit lost in the River East building. I met the other intern, Chris, and all day I found myself running around northern Chicago. Food runs, coffee runs, deliveries...everything. I am beat. The people at Red Car are incredibly kind and their attitudes are anything but pompous. Tomorrow is my second day and with all the buzz that I was subject to my first day of work I expect tomorrow to be no different.

After work I caught the El up north and bought an old bike off Gunnar since my Huffy is a POS. Hopefully the bike will help make my errand running a bit quicker at Red Car. I only wish that I could someday work at a place like Red Car. I'd go into details about the building and the Offices but I'm tired as hell. I'll provide a detailed analysis of those and more subjects tomorrow...if I can muster the strength. Goodnight!

Fatal Feline II

So over the past two days I've been working hard at a little project for my future filming endeavors. My big bro and my sister in law have stopped into town this week and so I got my big brother to help me out with building a PVC pipe camera dolly. The finished product is pretty nice. We did some research online and came up with a hybrid design for the dolly and the track. I'm quite impressed with the end product. It all comes apart and can be stored in a bag and hefted around. even the track has been cut into 5' pieces. For the wheels my little brother Andrew gave me the wheels from his old skateboards. here's some picthahs -

Dave cutting angle irons to mount the wheels onto

Mounting the wheels

All the pieces of the dolly

The dolly on the track - Perfect fit!

we used doorstoppers fot the tripod legs to rest on.
later we're going to add eye holes to the PVC so we can fasten the tripod down securely with rope or bungie cords.

Perfect!

Each 5' track piece has a male and female connector end. This makes for easy assembly and makes the track portable.

Beautiful!

The next day right after our new years celebration with fireworks and confetti I got my brother and cat together to make a short film so I could test out my dolly. I don't own a professional camera, or tripod but I was able to slap something decent together. I used my dad's old Kalimar 960 tripod (not a fluid head) and my Casio Exilim digital camera to make my short which I've titled: Fatal Feline II. There isn't a Fatal Feline I but that's all part of the fun of it. It's a sort of Dramatic/thriller/horror/comedy that I think anyone, who owns a pesky cat, can find something to laugh about in it. Check it out on Youtube!

Fatal Feline II

Post Holiday Assessment

Alright...semi-long hiatus here from the old blog but I'm back!

Fall semester is over with no difficulty. Next semester I'm looking forward to shooting some film finally. Christmas yielded a Krasnogorsk 3 16mm film camera for myself and so I feel rather prepared. :)

If one can't tell I'm rather enamored with this hunk of Russian metal. I can't wait to shoot some footage with it!

In other news - Rock Band. I don't know if any of you have been graced with the opportunity to try this game but , for lack of better words, it rocks! Take your standard guitar hero game and then add a bass, a mic, and a drum set and that is rock band. This game, unlike the others in the genre, relies on multiplayer participation. Guitar hero is mostly a single player game where you have the option as an added bonus to plug in a second guitar and play your homies. Rock band does this as well but you can also choose to do a band tour where you and your buddies play and progress to the goal of rockin' the world. My brothers and I named our band "teh Griffin" and I have to admit we do rock. My character is a pirate with nimble fingers made for sliding through solos. Andrew's character is a hardcore hitter who isn't afraid to spank his drum set in public. Then finally there is Ryan...we put him on mic and he does pretty well...granted he doesn't always know the words. His Character is a bit emo but that doesn't hold him back from affecting the crowd with his mass vocals!

My favorite song in the whole game has to be Boston's Foreplay/long time. I was SOOO excited when I first got a chance to play it. I always thought to myself that that song would be a great one for guitar hero. I absolutely love that now with rock band I can play just about every instruments' part in that song now, save for the organ...watch that's coming next I bet.

Rock band is no doubt a great game but one must ask one's self whilst playing...well, why don't I just get real instruments and play those...

It is a bit silly I think to look at yourself while playing and realize that - except for the singer - you're not really playing these instruments....they're toys. They might as well just sell a big box with the actual instruments. Wanna start a band? Okay lets go buy....blahblahblah and start one. Could that be rock band's founding company Harmonix's goal...world wide rockouts! A world where those that can't rock are labeled obsolete and then exterminated...maybe we would live in a better world. At least there would be good music before we die.

I know it has been on all your minds...why the crazy villain 'stache. Because! I've been called Luigi, Dali, Snidely Whiplash, and sinister. I've been called pretentious, over-zealous, and shameless. I agree with you all. I don't use hairspray as doing so would 'cause brain damage and provide trips that I just don't want to go on. I use Clubman Mustache Wax:

It is simple to apply and smells like the air after a light rain. My reason for growing the 'stache is quite unclear even to me. Everyone wants a reason especially since I've been curling the ends lately. I just like it. My favorite characters from the old silent, noir, and western films I believe have a large subconscious influence on me. I also believe that Brandon Flowers, the lead singer for The Killers, and his recent mustache growth was a trigger for me. Whatever the reason may be the fact remains...I like my mustache. Your last and final question, I'm sure is how long will this "phase" of mine last...here's your answer:

(All in due time! Muahaha!)

The Columbian Review

Hello my faithful readers (I think I can pluralize that...),

Just putting out a notice for a new project that I'm working on. My roommate Adam and I have started a restaurant review page and have titled the project the Columbian review. We originally named it the Bearnaise Buddies but I believe that name to be a bit too cheeky. So far all we have posted is our mission statement but our first Vlog is in the woodworks and will be posted as our first video review of a place called the Thai Spice. Be sure to check out the link under my Friendlies section on the right column of this page. If you like what you see bookmark it and be sure to keep an eye out for new reviews as our restaurant quest matures. I'm honestly quite excited about the idea. As we progress through our reviews you may find other tidbits such as mini cooking show segments where Adam and I will show easy and tasty ways to make some of our own favorite dishes. Production is still pretty early as far as the site goes so expect changes and additions as time goes on and as I have a more free schedule to fiddle around with the layout. Until we get things going spread the word and keep checking the site for any new developments.

Nick & Susan

Here's our three minute film:

Nick & Susan

Feel free to leave comments and give a rating.

Again thanks to everyone who helped out!

Insomnia

Thanks everyone!

Although our efforts were in vain, working with you all was exciting and a privelage that no award from any big name company could ever award.About a week or two ago my roommate sent me an e-mail regarding an Apple sponsored contest called the 24 hour insomnia film festival. The idea was intriguing enough...24 hours to write-shoot-edit-post a 3 minute film using 3 of 10 prompts that are given to you at 9a.m. eastern time. The winning teams would be picked by the public for one prize package and by a panel of judges containing renowned directors and other such "pros". The prizes themselves were 5 apple mac book pros with a myriad of apps for editing and such.

Well Adam and I got a team together and started off. The team consisted of 5 people -

Adam
Myself
Gunnar Jebsen
David Aragoni
and
Jordon Hoeft

Since Gunnar is a graduate he couldn't technically be in the festival so we just credited him as our sound guy in the credits and had Adam's GF Erin (whom was basically already a team member with all the work she had put in) register herself in lieu of Gunnar.

We've spent the past week planning and getting everything together from elaborating on an idea of Adam's to pooling equipment and people. At the film building here at Columbia there was a flyer offering the rental of a Panasonic HVX...very nice camera to say the least. Our five man team was all thumbs up for renting the Camera despite the $200 a day fee. I called the liaison's name which was printed on the flyer and told him of our interest.

Now we couldn't do much until the festival started even in regards to writing but we decided to go ahead and write up a loose idea of an idea that Adam had wanted to film for and decided we could just amend it when we got the prompts so that it could cater to the requirements.

Friday came around and it was time to get the HVX. I called the liaison Jamieson again and told him we were ready to pick it up...then he mentioned he didn't feel like lending it to us since he realized we were rather inexperienced...his advice was to hire him to come along with us and watch the camera for an extra 50 to which I said...NO! thus began the problems. Although we didn't have an HVX we had an old mini DV cam that Adam owned and we decided that for our purposes it was all we needed anyway.

Saturday came and we all woke at the crack of dawn. Breakfast was served - cinnamon swirls - and the prompts were received. the prompts were as follows:

Location: Park Bench

Prop: Bird Cage

Character Name: Robin Darjeeling

Background Sound: Radio Static *

Costume: Tuxedo

Camera Angle: Dutch Angle *

Narrative Device: Dream Sequence

Editing Technique: Match Cut *

Dialogue: “Don’t tempt me.”

Makeup: Old Person

* We chose these

The dutch angle was easy since at the end of our film there is a part where the girl stands the guy up and also because it is one of my favorite filmic techniques.

The match cut was simple enough since it's such a standard editing technique.

and the radio static was all too perfect since what we had written even before we got the prompts was for there to be a split screen of two radios in the first and last shots.

Filming started at 10a.m. and ended near 7p.m. -

we rode the el to Gunnar's house where I edited the video and Gunnar mixed the sound and did some Foley sound.

from 8p.m. to 5 A.M the next morning we confined ourselves to Gunnar's studio except for two leg stretching breaks one of which consisted of a trip to El Taco Loco. there were a few scary points throughout the night that made for locked muscles and shouts of profanity. Earlt on in the video editing I lost all of my work when the power on Adam's Mac Book went out...someone had kicked the power cable out and I had forgotten to save. I was only about halfway through though and I was quick about getting everything back to where it was. Gunnar's sound mixing had also provided some mini heart attacks since after we loaded all the video onto Adam's external hard drive we realized Gunnar's computer had no firewire port so transferring the audio to him was mired by this. Thanks to Gunnar's 2 gig lexar thumb drive that problem was a non-problem. Then when he began mixing another problem occurred when all the drivers on his audio mixing program uninstalled themselves. Restart -reinstall - fixed -OKAY! once 5 a.m. rolled around it was time to upload!

5a.m.
.
.loading....
.
6a.m.
.
.error - file too large
.reloading........ :I
7a.m
.
.
.recompress resubmit
.recompress resubmit
.recompress resubmit
8a.m..................... shit.

Apparently Apple hate us. The file was supposed to be 15 mb and we had compressed our film down to about 2 mb...looked like shit but even so despite our accommodation the site kept telling us that the file was too large. We felt so good about our film and to have worked for so long to have it never shown just outright stinks. Many screams and clenched fists waved at the air as if Apple was some deity this morning here in sleepy Chicago. I was the loudest and most vicious of them.

Thank goodness we didn't end up renting that $200 HVX...that woulda sucked.

On the bright side we have this real cool little film. :-)

I'll post it up here in the next day or two...for now I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll get back on a regular sleep schedule tomorrow...

Till then here's some pics to hold ya over:

Erin's amazing set design work

We had an issue figuring out how we could match the dialogue we recorded earlier of Jordon (Nick) talking to Kim (Susan)
Gunnar came up with an instant solution - the sound genius that he is

Just inert earbuds here

Viola! The new Iphone. we made an audio file of Jordon's dialogue loaded it to an Ipod and just played it to her. Quite the technical feat.

Gunnar was pretty impressed with himself.. as was I

?????

...we're not stressed... :/

Mixing

Nice

The Darjeeling Limited

Spooky...absolutely spooky!

I won some tickets in a raffle to see Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited advance screening this previous weekend and tonight me and my collegiate friends went to go see it. I won't give away any plot since I'm sure you're all going to see it...you should. It was funny and it struck a very personal chord within me. For those of you who don't know the premise of the film it follows the story of the three Whitman brothers who set out to reunite on a spiritual journey through India via the Darjeeling LMT, a train line. The movie was artfully shot and although Wes did a spectacular job of orchestrating the mise en scène it's really hard to go wrong shooting in the beautiful countryside of India. The Whitman brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman are met as they resurrect their relationship after a 1 year hiatus since the death of their father and this sets the scene for sibling feuds, absolutely hilarious bloopers, and moments of monumental camaraderie.

One theme that follows through to the end of the movie is the importance of family. Despite time and space family is always family. Sometimes life leads family apart but to keep those ties is an inherent goal and to some is worth traveling across India and risking your life for.

The spooky part comes where I could absolutely relate with the brothers, minus the whole traveling across India thing. My father is quite alive, thankfully, but my father's father died in April of 2007 after fighting cancer. Since his funeral there hasn't been a large scale family reunion. I don't want to say our family has grown apart but I feel that since our loss there hasn't been a moment for us to all sit around a table and have our own spiritual adventure. I love all my family tremendously and I used to look forward to having large get togethers and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandpa was always the center and seemed to hold us together. I lie in saying that I haven't seen family since his death because I have but those reunions filled with endless platters of food, hearty laughs, and games of backyard baseball where all the balls would innevitably end up in the neighbors yard are so long passed. I feel I have lost touch with some family and would absolutely love to just catch up. Mrs. Whitman put it best...I forget word by word what she said but something along the lines of maybe we should try not talking and just show how we feel. I feel my family needs to stop using words and just be. Just share being. Sitting together eating together and best of all laughing together. Grandpa would want that. thoughts lead to words and words are the worst means of communication.

I'm done. I feel really good being so moved by a film. It has been a long time since that has happened to me.

Aside from the D.L. I've had an altogether spectacular time here in the windy city. I went to a tea party where I won the advance screening tickets, movie poster, and other assorted D.L. merchandise and then I had two cookouts. I LOVE COOKOUTS! I promised you some pictures ma so here they are...wish you could be here to share in the festivities!

Me with my buddy Roman Coppola son of Francis Ford Coppola and producer/co-writer for D.L.
This was from the previous previous weekend at the screening of part one of D.L.
Hotel Chevalier
After the clip there was a Q&A, very interesting to say the least.

we were there starting the line at 4

stoop sitting till 6

Adam and Erin

watching the sitarist

The Sitarist

First one in the door and the holder of the winning raffle ticket shown here

me burning myself

Sipping on Darjeeling

Joe Griffin + fire - fear = good

We are go for cook

Adam surveying the damage

Shopping for consumables

mmmm