I No Longer Support the Writer’s Guild Strike

Not that my endorsement or lack of one matters to anybody, but I wanted to rant. I was on their side. Even when they prevented a Golden Globes ceremony. But now … they’re going to allow the Grammies to go on. The Grammies. The lamest “major” awards show. It’s worth mentioning they’re still not budging on the Academy Awards. The Grammies. They might let the Academy Awards die which is important but they’re going to waste time and effort on this … I … I can’t even type right now.

Screening

Robert couldn’t show up because of  a bizarre incident involving his pants getting stolen. That’s two screenings of two movies he’s been in that he’s totally missed.

Danny, Jose, and Maggie showed up. I only talked with Jose – I didn’t get a chance to talk to the others. I left early because I had a killer headache and my stomach was killing me. I saw some cool shorts from the animation class and the beginning of Danny’s edit. Actually, I didn’t leave early … they started pretty late because of technical difficulties, among other things.

Last night I watched Cabin Fever which was very good. Much better than Eli Roth’s other two flicks, Hostel and Hostel 2.

The Red Eye Is Delayed Indefinitely

I’m simply lacking the time and resources to work on it for the remainder of my time in Michigan. I’ll just post Danny’s edit. Maybe I’ll put up some extra shots I took or something.

I was going to try to squeeze in the time but I really want to focus on my Flash & ActionScript 3 skillz in preparation for potential jobs in Florida. One in particular that I had a phone interview for yesterday and have a face-to-face for while I’m down there for a day on Feb 5. SproutMeansGrow is my graphics blog & site.

The house is ours as of today. Nikki and the kids arrive there by train tomorrow. I dropped them off at the Detroit station yesterday.

I’d love to see Rambo after the screening of Red Eye tonight but I spent $85 on those books and getting them overnighted so I gotta cool it with the money for, like, a year.

Tres Películas

Last night I caught the 6:15 showing of Cloverfield. Juno started ten minutes after that left out. The previews before Charlie Wilson’s War had just started when Juno got out so I caught that, too.

The whole 20 screen complex was almost empty. Maybe that’s why tix were only $5.75 each. Charlie Wilson’s War was the first time I’ve ever been alone in an auditorium like that. I’ve almost been alone a few times but someone (usually someone loud and obnoxious) always comes in at the last minute or late.

New Category: OPM (Other Peoples’ Movies)

I have a rare date with Nikki tonight. Last evening we’ll have together until Feb 4 which will be, again, the last evening we’ll have together until Feb 20. We’re going to see Juno, which we’re both really excited about. It’s directed by Jason Reitman who did Thank You For Smoking which we both enjoyed and stars Ellen Page who was half the cast of the wonderful Hard Candy which we also both enjoyed. I’ve wanted to see it for a while because of Page, but the multiple Academy Award nominations yesterday certainly helped.

I rented Eastern Promises last night solely based on Viggo’s (we’re on a first name basis) Best Actor nomination. I wasn’t impressed.

I still haven’t seen Charlie Wilson’s War which I really want to. I have a mild curiosity about Cloverfield and The Orphanage. I would be ashamed over how excited I am about Rambo, but Rocky Balboa was so great I can admit this in public (at least until it comes out and potentially makes me look like an idiot).

Speaking of Rocky Balboa, I saw the alternate ending on the DVD in which he wins the fight. Not only was the writing so stupid it didn’t fit in with the rest of the film, but … it was just awful. Having him lose and still be proud/victorious … it brings the series full circle. Now if only we could wipe the planet clean of every copy of Rocky IV and Rocky V, all would be well in the world.

I can remember eating my way through several boxes of some disgusting cereal as a child over a period of weeks so I could send in the proofs-of-purchase to get a Rocky II poster.

I’m Dreaming of a …

I really want an exterior shot of the Henry Ford Hospital so I’m hoping there will be a time of no snow sometime between now and when I leave Michigan. Sooner than that, actually, so I can capture and edit that shot into the movie.

A couple weeks ago, I found a sweet parking space in front of the hospital, put money in the meter and took the camera with me so I could get the exterior shot(s) and hopefully guerilla myself a shot of some interior and, in particular, “room 314″ before getting kicked out. My camera’s “on” switch is very sensitive. If it rustles in the bag, it’ll turn on even though it might not be recording. So all the charging done the night before was wasted. As soon as I pressed record, the thing died. That’s actually okay, it was rather dark by that time – I should really do this over lunch instead of after work (my building is just a few blocks away).

I thought to myself, “Well, I’ll just take some still shots and creatively use them somehow.” Of course, those batteries were dead, too. I’m loathe to admit all this because it makes me look like a most unprepared idiot.  

I’d really like to get the Fisher building in the background but there’s no way to get a “Henry Ford” sign in the shot and the Fisher building unless I do some sort of pan which … I really don’t want to do. It would be sweet to get the old GM HQ in there, too but that’s even less practical. Gosh, the original Motown/Hitsville USA house would rock, too. This area around the hospital, called the New Center (check out the slide show on the home page) area of Detroit, is really rich with awesome architecture and historical significance.

Michigan Building Parking Structure

Whenever you see a shot of Maggie sitting at the table … look for the parking structure out the window in the background. That’s the parking structure used for major scenes in The Island and 8-Mile.

This Isn’t Going To Work

In an effort to have something ready to be screened Jan 25, I thought if I can’t have the footage I still want to get and don’t have the time to edit what I do have, why don’t I do super-scaled-down version using as little as possible? My idea was to make a silent version and see if the story could tell itself through imagery. I even thought if I inverted the colors whenever The Woman shows herself … that might help with the ending …

Both Nikki (that’s my wife) and I agree it doesn’t really work. For this concept to work I’d need different shots than I had – which brings me back to “I don’t have all the shots I want.”

What I did was do a “save as” on Danny’s finished version and just cut it up, remove the sound, take out the color, etc. And Danny’s version/vision is just very different than mine. Eventually, I’d like to have both Danny’s and my edit up so you can compare them. He includes stuff I won’t and excluded stuff I consider essential. Danny Martinelli, by the way, is the guy in the movie with long hair playing the pinball machine.

So, I’m not proud of this at all, but … here it is for posterity. Stay tuned for the “real” version in 2-3 weeks (hopefully).

Funny = I cut so much out that the opening and ending credits are longer than the movie itself.

I’m A Gangsta

The final bit of paperwork I have to submit for a job application packet is any arrest reports for any arrests. So, today I spent the day driving to places and requesting arrest reports. Ann Arbor was even kind enough to let me have a copy of my mug shot which I’ve attached (Yes, that’s a tuxedo shirt I was wearing and, yes, I thought I looked pretty cool). My “criminal record” works like this:

1. Get pulled over for speeding
2. Forget to pay speeding ticket
3. Get bench warrant out for my arrest
4. Get pulled over for speeding
5. Get arrested because of bench warrant for not paying last speeding ticket
6. Repeat

This happened a few times.

Why is this relevant? Well, while I was at the Jackson County Sheriff’s records place, I walked into a Bail Bonds place across the street to try scoring an interview with the proprietor. They also do fugitive recovery which is the really relevant part. I’d like my next little project to be … accurate.

So, I’m kinda gonna be like, Danny Trejo – a hardened criminal turned big Hollywood star.

Final Cut Plug-Ins

Updated (with examples below): January 11, 2008

I can’t believe I never wrote a post about these – I was positive I did! Anyway, here are two free plug-ins for Final Cut that came in quite handy for me.

Final Cut doesn’t ship with a guides or grid feature like, well, every other app in the universe. Even with these plug-ins, creating guides isn’t as easy as pulling them from the ruler like in Photoshop, but at least you got ‘em.

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/freeware/dh_grid.php

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/freeware/dh_guides.php

I can’t believe this other plug-in is free because it’s so awesome for that old movie or damaged film look. It allows you to make your footage look old and damaged in all kinds of different ways all of them can be adjusted to your tastes.

http://www.cgm-online.com/eiperle/cgm_aged_film_le_e.html

As part of a “Then and Now” series for Little Caesars, we did a few black and white videos of how things used to be and full color videos (with intros featuring the THX logo and sound) of how things are now. All “Then” videos used the Aged Film plug-in so you can see how awesome it is. I don’t even think I tweaked any of the settings.

The Remedy Process … Then still makes me laugh every time I see it. Dan Walker, who plays the customer has worked his way up from store manager to Senior Director of National Training because every moment he spends working (which is almost every moment, period) is given all his passion and dedication to standards of excellence whether it is lifting up the employees or serving the customer. Jeff Drozdowski, who does a great job of playing the awful store manager is one of the Managers of National Training and is an extraordinary teacher, also exemplifying the company’s #1 Founding Philosophy: “Little Caesars Must Be A Fun Place To Work.” The best part was an accident – Jeff throwing the returned pizza onto a pile of empty pizza boxes makes it look like it’s a pile of returned pizzas. His delivery of the line “Have a good one” is one of the best in cinema history.

Orientation … Then has another accidental gem. Our first take was interrupted by the phone ringing. These videos were shot really early in the morning so it couldn’t have been a customer but the fact that no one answered it was hysterical as we re-watched it and worked it into the final take by using a cell phone to call the store.

Finally, Workplace Safety … Then, is short but funny. That sound is actually Jeff screaming.

More Florida Goodies

I emailed the Sarasota Film Society, based on the photo of what looked like students working on Macs on their Filmmakers Forum page, asking if they had Macs to rent for editing and such. Jerry Kovar, the Executive Director, emailed me back and said that, no, they don’t but he would forward my message to others. One of those people was Rick Hughes, of anythingarts.com, who suggested the Digital Technology Centre which looks pretty sweet. Sarasota seems to be pretty happenin’ when it comes to cinema and other arts so I’m getting excited.

Mr. Kovar also asked what I would be doing in Florida. I had to say, quite confidently, “I have no idea,” which I’m sure made me seem like quite the professional. He said I should send him my resume so he could see if anyone would be interested. I couldn’t help but get really excited about that (against my better – or should I say bitter – judgment).

Red Eye Screening at the DFC

Updated Jan 10, 2008 
At least one version of Red Eye will be screened at the Detroit Film Center’s new location on the evening of January 25, 2008. I have two concepts for my version – one of which I just thought of in the last couple days. This new version would be quicker and easier to edit so I have a wee bit of optimism that I’ll have something screened then. Otherwise, I’ll do my original idea later which will have to be finished … sometime later. I might … MIGHT … get this new idea done tonight. I can’t help but get my hopes up about that. Getting my hopes up is a new, very bad, habit I’ve developed lately.

Pearl of Great Price

I managed to get a copy of the music I started to compose for my third film, tentatively code-named “Buscar.” I thought it was lost forever. I’ve finally just written the first few words (as opposed to just taking notes) this very day. The music is called Siren (go ahead, click it). I’m not sure if I like it better than Madre’s Theme or not. Madre’s Theme is universally adored but, so far, Siren has gotten mixed reviews.

Update: Someone asked if these were difficult to make. No, I didn’t “write” or “play” them. They’re just arranged loops from Garageband/Soundtrack. I can read music a wee bit. I can barely – and I mean barely – play the flute and guitar. I just threw loops together until it sounded right and fit the mood/purpose.