maybe it’s because i’m tired

but I’m discouraged and unenthusiastic. this is taking so long and some of the footage is so bad. I can’t wait until this is over. this is how I felt a lot during shooting. It’ll be a long time before I do this again.

Summary: more time.

I am blessed enough that my job rocks. A lot. An increasingly large part of my job is making movies and learning to make movies (they buy me books and send me to classes and I get to use the equipment for non-work related projects to practice). Having said that, if I made movies full-time - like I got to make feature films or whatever - my wish wouldn’t be for budgets in the 6, 7, 8, and 9 figures. My wish wouldn’t even be for creative control. It would be for the time to do things right. At present, both work and personal (honestly, I don’t separate the two – I wish my boss saw it that way) projects are always rushed. With Madre, I started the project thinking I had to finish it right away to get it into the festival. I certainly didn’t think the concept and script would impress them so much (they did) that they’d hold a slot for me.

I’d love more time for pre-production. For Madre, I did a lot but still not enough. For work, I never get the time to do it. I’m sure that will change, but for the remainder of this year and all the projects I’ll be doing - it’ll be rushed.

I’d like more time for production/principal photography. I don’t even want the audio equipment or lights as much as I want a little more authority and discipline to get things done right. At work, this doesn’t tend to be a problem because everyone is totally committed to the results. Last night on the bus home from class I was reading a really great book, Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video by Rea & Irving. It says that even for a short film, break up the shooting schedule over several days/weekends. The rule seems to be two pages a day. Wow. With the main cast for Madre, though, I couldn’t ask for that much time.

And more time to concentrate on editing and post-production. Right now, it’s just - for work, whenever all the other projects are caught up because the video stuff is the lowest priority (at present) and for personal it - well, in addition to it has to be A) after work and B) AND when the boss is gone so he doesn’t bug me but - it then steals time from family and lately that’s been killing me.

Watching that again

Maria was really spectacular. Especially right after Reynaldy drops the baggie.  That frozen look of … terror … on her face … is priceless. It looks like I didn’t get Sylvia’s expression that I liked … which is okay … my vision of the mother is … more like … Kane from Kung Fu … laid back … only noticing what’s important …

Another Scene Down

The Bus Boy scene is (roughly) done. I’m not sure how different the final cut will be. Too many of the scenes are difficult to edit because there is a lack of good footage. This one was difficult because I had plenty of good stuff and couldn’t decide what to use and how to combine it without having 100 cuts in this one scene.

Sylvia said her line perfectly in one of the takes and since she didn’t have to concentrate on more than one line, she really interacted great with the other actors/actresses. All four of them had especially great expressions I wanted to use … Sylvia gave this one glance at the bus boy that was priceless … I’m not even sure if I used it … I’ll have to watch it again.

It broke my heart that I couldn’t really fit in this shot of Reynaldy Molina’s expression when his character reacts to dropping his bag of weed.

I didn’t notice until tonight that in each take, Maria Angulo would roll her eyes or something at Sylvia’s line. I managed to fit in the best one which made me happy.

Andrea Bush, of course, was great throughout … if only I could fit more of her in!

Dos Madres

The mother I envision(ed) was/is an old, soft-spoken wise woman. She’s old-world. Like the grandma (was it a grandma?) in Como Agua Para Chocolate. Sylvia played her as a modern, irritated, snappy mom of two modern daughters.

She didn’t know any better. I had no back story or description in the script. I also didn’t give the actresses much guidance while they were (supposed to be) reading the script ahead of time.

I also should have been more forceful about rehearsing and reading. I wasn’t because they were volunteers and I spent all my time kissing their feet. Figuratively.

Digital Video 1 @ the DFC

Week 2 included this tidbit: Always scout your locations at the same time of day you’ll be shooting there.

I filed that under “Now you tell me.”

I scouted Super Mexico in the evening and shot in the blinding light of noon to 2 PM.

Thursday and Friday

Filming in a store for work and scouting a location or three for work.

Got a Little Done Tonight

I was scared at one point I had no video for a few lines. I really need to figure out a way to compensate for lack of good video. In some cases I have to compromise the audio (by using some not so great audio just to have some video) but … perhaps I can be creative (there’s a thought) with the video … in the commentary for House of 1000 Corpses, Rob Zombie said he’d rather have something look weird than bad. In other commentaries I’ve learned that some really cool moments arose from necessity rather than planning. I’ve been mulling over something … but it … these ideas don’t really fit the mood of the film … perhaps I can adapt them … and they’ll meet in the middle to become something watchable.

Letting Josh #2 Down

I totally don’t have time to help him. He did say some of my ideas/feedback were amazing. That made me feel cool. Josh #1 is gonna help with music for Madre and Tell-Tale. Groovy. He’s one of the most talented people on the planet.

My Wife Thinks I Rock

She said the leadership video I made was the best thing on leadership she’d ever seen. It made a couple people at work cry.

Movie Projects at Worky Work

Chris is one of my main actors at my day job. Here are some shots from my current project. Locations include the Natural Science Museum and the ENIAC display at the University of Michigan Computer Science building.

Movie topic = history of selling pizza. We begin with prehistoric times …

and ancient Rome …

Thanks to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, we’ll have a scene in a castle & tavern with live horses, wenches, and knights!

Thanks to the Detroit Historical Museum we’ll have a scene in a Fur Trading post from 3-400 years ago and …

thanks to Greenfield Village … well, I’m still deciding which location to use there …

I can’t believe all these people said yes! This presentation (multimedia including dancers! No kidding!) and movie is going to kick serious butt.

Chuck Told Me To Get Cut-Aways

I should have gotten more. I had to concentrate so much on the acting and the ticking clock, though … he also told me to get a camera-person …

While trimming away bad video (people looking at their scripts, mostly) I might be left with usable audio … but not enough video to go with them.

This is the first time I’ve worked on Madre in days. Other work projects, including the leadership video have taken up all my time.

Construction Zone

I’m gonna try for a third time to do some techie/audio/light work for church. There’s this guy named Zack who hosts the kids stuff. He’s like an over-the-top kids show host. Just finished seminary. I’m excited about working with him.

Once upon a time … a long time ago… I tried helping with the kids at the Vineyard church in Ann Arbor. I didn’t like it. They were too young for lessons or anything … it was more like watching … well, toddlers. Nope, didn’t like it.

I’m hoping Zack is … a visionary. If not, I’ll just keep my mouth shut and do what they tell me.

The Leadership Testimonial Video Thus Far

Gets people all misty-eyed. Choked up, even.

Tell-Tale Heart teaser is finished

The sound is a bit too quiet in the middle…

less and slower

Watching that first bit … maybe I could use less of the footage of the wedding album and slow it down a bit …

As promised

So much to do on all movie fronts … two personal projects, a project for the church, and movies at work and all my other work that has to come first … well… I got a bit of time this evening to work on Madre so here, as promised, is a rough-to-final cut of the first third (not literally a third but the first of the three parts I’ve divided it up into) of the movie.

Books

Got a few books on directing and producing documentaries from the always awesome Canton Public Library. The CPL even surpasses the Plymouth library in selection and greatness. They have everything. The Detroit library absolutely sucks. Even if their catalog says they have something, neither you nor the librarian will likely be able to find it and if they do find the book and you do something as ridiculous as request it to be held and delivered to a location more convenient, be prepared to wait several weeks and more likely than not to make several follow-up phone calls to move things along.

More for Churchy Church

Got a call from Josh from church. He’s a great actor who does skits at church and wants to let me work with him on an idea he has for a video. Yay! Things are good…

My Childhood

When I was a kid, my favorite magazines were Famous Monsters and Fangoria. I loved seeing the pictures – not just because they were gory or scary but because I couldn’t see the movies and the pix were the closest I could get. So, for all you kids who aren’t old enough to see R-rated movies …

Chris was as good as I thought he’d be. Outrageous and dangerous off-camera, but on-camera he was an absolute professional.

And my favorite shot … from under the floorboards…

Sound Effects

The best part of filming today was the audio while he’s hiding the body parts in the crawlspace! Most of the movie will have voice-over narration and the story is told via flashback. However, I have to find a way to use the sounds of the trapdoor opening and closing, the carpet being removed and replaced. It’s easily the creepiest stuff I’ve ever heard. I’m making a trailer just for fun and the only audio will be those sounds and, of course, a heartbeat.

Tell-Tale Shooting Day One

We’re done. Taping and not being able to edit drives me crazy. It’s a long wait to just capture it Monday morning. I suddenly remembered today I’m supposed to be editing the Christmas program for the church. I really need to get that done. It won’t require much work but I want to get it back to them. This next week I really need to get to work early every day and stay late so I can start to get some real work done on Madre. I want to get the teaser trailer done for Tell-Tale. And I’d like to get the church thing started and finished this week so they can have it next week.

Chris is crazy. For real. Absolutely crazy.

I thought filming from the crawlspace would be too hot but it wasn’t. I was sweating before and after that but, praise God, being in the crawlspace wasn’t bad at all. Except when Chris was screwing around while I was down there in the dark waiting for him.

Nikki left early in the morning to run errands. While she was gone I cleaned the bathroom and cleaned the ten tons of crap out from underneath the stairs. Chris arrived and we went to go get the stuff for make-up, ingredients for blood, etc. I left a note for Nikki just in case saying, “I promise I’ll clean up when we’re done.” I left the baggie of tarragon (left over from the Madre shoot) on the counter. She came and left again while we were gone and left me a return note: “Yes, please clean up, Spielberg and what is in that baggie on the counter?”

After we’d shot upstairs and were getting ready to shoot under the stairs, Nikki went upstairs to see not only the bathroom drenched in blood but the bathroom door off it’s hinges and set aside.

“Oh. My. God. Jaaaaaaay!” was all we heard, followed by a pause, then, “I have to go PEE!”