I just got this DVD set in yesterday. Some really great stuff inside.

Current Project Blues

Well, I'm still trying to complete my urban road picture. Been moving and starting a new life. Still unemployed, so I have no more excuses.

I'll be back later with more. Peace.

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Stay Tuned

Updates to the movie blog are coming up very soon.

San Antonio Film Foundation featured!

I just got an email from the fine folks at NING, where I have started the San Antonio Film Foundation, that they featured the site on their blog.

SAFF on NING!

Take a look! And if you haven't joined...what's the hold up?

On other fronts, I'm going back into production for the film I started back in late 2006, "The Road".

Currently, I've got Mike Roberts and Christopher Liserio in the two main roles, but after looking at the story closer, I might end up making a few casting changes, as well as many revisions to the script to make it more gritty.

I haven't yet spoken to my current cast and I still have a couple of other roles to fill, so I'll be coming back with more posts very soon. My current work schedule frees me up for weekend shooting, as well as evening shooting (which is the time this story takes place).

I'm glad to be back and I'll be posting soon.

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Dark Night

In my previous post, I rambled on about how I thought Heath Ledger was rising to a true artist and about how there's an empty space now where he should be.

I also talked about how it would truly be a dishonor to pull back the reigns on the publicity for The Dark Knight. I wondered what Christopher Nolan might feel about Heath.

Click here to see how Nolan felt about him. Its truly awesome.

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An Indelible Impression

The first time I saw Heath Ledger was on Ten Things I Hate About You. An adaptation of Shakespear's "Taming of the Shrew", it took place in a high school. I was resistant to liking Ledger.

Later I remember him in his short role in The Patriot and his equally short, but impressive role in Monster's Ball. I had started to really give him a chance then. There was something about him.

Then came movies like The Order and Lords of Dogtown. By then, I came to the conclusion that this guy had real talent. He was charismatic, sincere, engaging and insightful. His choice of roles was ever changing and made him a joy to watch. He made shaped himself how he best felt the role needed and he didn't short-change himself or those of us who watched him perfect his abilities movie after movie.

Then came Brokeback Mountain. The buzz was almost deafening. And when the movie finally premiered, he was instantly praised for a truly remarkable performance. It was his breakthrough role.

More recently, he was cast as The Joker in Christopher Nolan's follow up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. Like many Batman fans, I was hesitant to think of Ledger as The Joker. I've followed the storyline since I was a little boy and have seen the countless rebirths of the character. But none prepared me for what Ledger and Nolan would do to him.

Ledger as The Joker.

What emerged in the viral campaigns was a totally new incarnation of the character. And after the full trailer emerged, it was clear that Ledger had made the character into less of a punch line and more of a punch in the junk. And the studio took full advantage of this new persona for the viral campaign.

Several days ago, Heath Ledger was found dead in an apartment in New York City. While no conclusive medical examiner's report has been delivered, it is widely concluded that he accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills of some kind.

His death has stunned the world. It even stunned me and I wasn't a huge fan of Ledger. He has gone, leaving behind a body of work that took his abilities right to the brink of true greatness, but which will never be fulfilled.

He had said, in several interviews, that his work on the latest installment of the Batman franchise had left him physically drained. That the energy he put into immersing himself into the role of The Joker had took its toll on him. And in the wake of his passing, the studios are considering pulling back the reigns on the use of his image as the villain in the new film in fear that they might offend or hurt his family.

While I understand that there should most definitely be a period of mourning for Ledger, I disagree with straying off the path they've set upon. I know, it sounds cold and selfish, but if this role is everything it appears to be, Ledger should be remembered for his incredible talent.

My heart goes out to his family and to his two-year-old daughter, Matilda, who will never get to really know her dad.

So long, Heath. Thanks for giving us a part of your talent and your life. We will miss you.

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Close but no cigar

SHOOTING DELAYED
Foul weather played a part in the cancellation of my latest shoot. Well, foul weather and the fact that I never got the location I desired locked down. Actually, it wasn't so much that I didn't get the one I desired; none of the ones that Theo looked into were a lock.

"The Road" has been plagued by starts and stops. Most notably, a stop for nearly a year.

Out to shoot the end sequence, which originally took place outside, in a field, I had to re adapt the script for it to be an interior shoot, due to a rainy cold front we had last Monday.

I figured that we could hijack a parking garage and use the ambient lighting in place of fill lights and bounces. Although we'd probably need some kind of key lighting somewhere. Still I was willing to take a chance.

It got later and later and before I knew it, it got foggy as Hell, so I just pulled the plug on it.

We're going to try again, next Tuesday. I'm trying to line up a rehearsal day so that we've got the lines down and some of the blocking.

MIXED IN
I was finally able to attend one of those San Antonio Film Commission mixers yesterday. I arrived quite a bit late with my brother in tow, but it was an interesting time. I saw one of the actors, Mike, who's appearing in "The Road", not to mention Theo, Hope and a few other recognizable faces.

It was interesting to see so many people. I'm guessing a lot of them have been involved in the scene for some time. I didn't get to meet too many people, but, honestly, I was just there to get a glimpse of the scene. I'm glad my brother was able to go. Turns out he knew a few faces there too. Being a Mac Genius, he will undoubtedly work on many of the Macs these would be filmmakers own.

Well, that's all for now. I'll report back after rehearsals.

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There Goes My Hero...

Martin Scorsese is probably my favorite director. I enjoy interviews with him or articles or books about the man. Especially when he injects his own thoughts, motivations and ideas about film and film making.

Yesterday a friend at work who is also an avid film buff, told me about a site where Scorsese had apparently done a commercial in Europe. Its for some kind of champagne or wine or something.

I don't know what it is about Europe that actors and directors feel that there's no stigma to doing a commercial or filming one. Maybe they just throw them bags full of money or something.

Anyhow, after watching the "film" Marty did for this champagne, I said, "Damn!" I mean, it's fucking Scorsese so you know it's gonna be good.

Here's the link: Scorsese's booze ad

Enjoy!

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On 'The Road' Again...

Oh, I just had to use that title.

Well, I'm struggling with editing two films right now. One that I directed; the other I did not. The second is KICKING MY ASS. Its hard to cut without being intimately acquainted with the materials or really knowing the vision of the director. Or the writer for that matter. Ugh.

So, despite my better judgement, I'm going to get back in the director's chair while I cut these other projects.

I finaly got Chris and Mike, the actors from my car jacking picture, locked down for a night shoot a week from today. I've also got my ever handy cinematographer, Hank, back on board, so I feel confident this will work out just as good as the first round of shooting.

I edited the initial footage a while back and man does it look fantastic. I think only my wife, my parents and maybe two others have seen it. Its the grittiest thing I've done so far. Profanity and violence galore. I know that will probably get the film excluded from several indie showcases. A lot of them tend to have you scale back the profanity. But I say, FUCK THEM. I thought indie film was about uncensored voice.

The end of the year is almost upon me and I need to know that I was able to complete another film from first frame to final cut. 'The Road' will have taken me nearly a year to complete. That's just insane. Gotta get it done.

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Holidaze

I've been caught up in some personal things right now and I haven't had time to post anything, even though I've wanted to.

Balance, I keep thinking, balance. But I find none. Yet.

Coming back, I promise.

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Drunks, Day 7: Well Oiled Machine

Mike rounded up Heidi, Theo and his son, Michael the day before to rehearse what had, up to today, a difficult scene. Since I started working in film, I have noticed the quality that rehearsals add to a shoot. Today was no different.

They all rehearsed yesterday and came in today with a strong game. I took them through a dry run, to allow Hank to get the camera angles worked out. Before we knew it, we had gotten some really great shots.

Michael, Mike's son, is a natural. This kid has natural talent. He takes direction well, remembered everything we wanted out of him from previous shoots and delivered a great performance.

Heidi, who takes acting classes with Mike and Theo, still has some learning ahead of her, but she takes direction well and asks questions that help hone her skills. I predict that she will eventually blossom into a fantastic actress. She has her doubts about her abilities and expressed as much. I tried not to flood her with useless knowledge, instead concentrating on what I thought she needed to convey in her role. She did great.

Theo is a class act and a really great actor. He always brings his 'A' game. And he can take a punch in the gut. Over and over and over and over and over again. Michael kept having to punch him, an act he thoroughly enjoyed, throughout the shoot. And Theo was a trooper with every hit. He'll always be on the top of my casting choices when I have something right for him.

Mike is a terrifically talented actor. Although, I have to admit, I haven't been happy with his take on a drunk accent. I tried talking to him about it in the beginning, but I think something was lost in translation. Regardless, he brings real sincerity to his part which really makes him shine. He's willing to do whatever it takes to make the movie work. As an actor and a producer, he's tops.

Rounding out the cast is Tim, who also takes classes with Mike & Theo. He's a very useful guy to have around. Not only is he a very natural, very gifted actor, but he's willing to jump the fence and crew if it's needed. He's been on boom for the previous shoots. He's now playing the cop who will have a run in with Theo & Mike in the film's finale.

Hank. What can I say about Hank? He's my ace in the hole. He did some great work on a couple of hand held shots. Without him, I know my work would lack a certain style and maturity. I need to get myself up to snuff in case he's not available for other projects. I hope to work more with Hank as the year progress.

We closed out the day with an impromptu rehearsal for next Sunday's climactic ending to this film.

I am anxious to start editing. More to come.

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Drunks, Day 6: Shooting Around

Greg wasn't able to make the shoot we had last Sunday (Sept. 30). We were missing the majority of extras, our second camera man (Sky), but we had everyone else. Jason, our bartender, really didn't want to be there. I think he had some plans with his wife, but he came out because he'd committed himself to Mike. I dig that in an actor. And he wasn't dragging ass; he came to work.

We managed to get it all done pretty quickly after setting up. We went through a couple of dry runs before we worked out how everything had been done the first time out. Hope and Vicky, the two actresses who are victims of Mike's drunken blathering were both very patient as I walked them back and for from the front door to their seats, over and over again. Before long, we'd run through everything we needed to do and at last, managed to finish all the interiors for our little film.

Having to shoot around Greg's absence was a bit difficult at times, but we managed to get it all taken care of. It will be up to me, in editing, to fill in any holes or apply cover ups to anything we might have too much of or not enough of.

Next up, we rehearse with Heidi, Mike's son, Michael, Theo and Policeman Tim for the final sequence.

I'm really looking forward to finishing this. I enjoy the work, but I'm anxious to start one of my own projects. This film has taught me quite a few things about directing someone else's work. That being said, I'm going to be more cautious about working with my own.

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Drunks, Day 5: Shoot The Shoot Again

After being forced to do things over and over again, last Sunday's (Sept. 9th) shoot went pretty good.

Our new bartender, Jason, was on the mark. He required very little direction from my end and had previously done some bartending, so he wasn't a newbie behind the bar.

The New Bartender

We set up pretty quickly, having taken lots of continuity shots to go by and fired up with almost no problems. Almost.

Once again, something got left out. Hank har originally lent his floppy Outback-styled hat to Ventura, who was the fill in for one of the first cast members to drop out of the film.

I had to go back and look at the first sequence of the film to see if there would be any kind of problem using some of the footage we'd already had in the can. At first, it looked like we might be able to, but when I looked at it all, the previous bartender's face and tattooed arms were visible in several good takes. I had to make the call: we'd have to reshoot the intro. So this would free us up to put Ventura in a new hat or go without one. The hat looked good on him and lent itself to his character, so we went with a new hat.

The Pour

Having two cameras on set is always handy. We were able to get the primary take and have a secondary angle for coverage. Not to mention the fact that when it came to tight quarters, like behind the bar, our second camera, a Canon GL-1 was easier to take off the sticks and go hand held. I made work of that by doing some hand held stuff with the sequence with Ventura and the giant beer.

Having a small crew is great because you don't have to wait on a lot of people to get fired up, but I'm finding that I'm going to need a larger support staff. And I'm finding out the hard way. After examining the footage from this weekend, I could just kick myself in the nuts. We've got boom mics and people who should be out of frame reflecting off mirrors. And this was after my speech about clearing the frames before each take and how it was also partly my responsibility. Which means I'm just as much to blame, if not more so, for these flubs. Thankfully, we've got several takes and covering angles that might allow me to cover up those mistakes with little effort. I'm not going to say that for certain, but I'm confident and hopeful that said statement will apply to everything.

As for the support staff, I'm going to need a continuity manager and an assistant director. There might be use for an assistant of some kind, someone who can float from job to job and handle a myriad of things (script supervising, location/actor relations, etc.) I'll have to really sit down and think about what's the best thing to do so as not to complicate things too much.

Still, even with the small problems we had, we got through the work very quickly and got the shots we wanted.

Sky, on B camera, had this great idea to help make Theo's fall even funnier. We had originally had Ventura and Mike look at one another, in separate takes, once Theo hits the ground. Sky suggested a low angle shot where the bartender, who we never shot during the fall sequence, looks over the bar and shakes his head at Theo and then calls for the bouncer to do his job and we see Ventura and Mike peek their heads into frame and look down at the fallen Theo. It worked out great, but we had a few problems during the first couple of takes. Ventura and Mike didn't look at each other at the same time. They kept moving in and out in bad time. Eventually, we did manage to get a good take, however.

Are you okay?

With my impending birthday coming this Sunday and my family coming into town, we won't get to shoot this weekend. Theo is going out of town the following Sunday, so that's another weekend we won't shoot, but that Sunday we plan on blocking the outside sequence with all the available players.

We're all determined to see this through. Mike especially, but I'm not far behind. This will be my third film. There's three projects on the horizon now. Maybe even blowing off the dust from my 'road' picture and finally finishing that.

Lots to do. Lots to do.

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Big Bang Films on IFC.com

Well, I've got my first film up on IFC's Media Lab online. It's kind of exciting to see it on the web. The counter says there's been 50 hits so far. Here's the link:

Big Bang Films, FIXER

If you can, please leave a comment. Or come back here and leave a comment.

I think the film might be entered in a short film festival in Cali called "The Vines", but I need to check the rules & regs about it being on Media Lab.

More to come.

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Drunks, Day 4: You're Fired

Okay, so last week's shoot didn't go over very well. Not only had we not gotten in contact with Hank, my regular DP, to confirm him, but the centerpiece of the entire fucking shoot bailed on us AGAIN.

We sat around for a while with our thumbs up our asses and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, all we could do was set up stuff on the bar as we had before and take pictures for continuity's sake.

Mike was pretty frustrated and I can't blame him. I could have been at home with the family, but instead I had to replan what will surely become a new shoot of sorts. There was a lot of stuff with a bartender that we needed to get and now, we'll have to reshoot everything that the guy was in. Ugh. We gave that shmuck 3 chances. Casting seems to also be working against us. Mike is considering letting our second camera operator, Sky, fill the part. I'm hesitant about that since he's not an actor, but then beggars can't be choosers.

Oh, and did I mention that a featured extra who has come regularly wasn't available for the shoot? Oh, yes. And that might also throw us for a loop. How I'm going to work it out right now, I don't know?

Still, I know this is the kind of thing that's going to happen from time to time. I just hope we can get it all together this coming Sunday. The word is that we'll be there setting up at 9AM, but I'll believe that when I see it. Don't get me wrong, this bar is giving us free reign over the place, but anyone you're not paying for a service won't always come through like you expect. Sometimes, dealing with glitches in that department makes me wish I had a large pool of cash to sweeten these pots.

I guess we'll see how things go on Sunday.

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Bio Hazard?

I've got a lot of ideas for films. There are a few ideas that I have which involve writing, and maybe even shooting, a bio-pic. I've started a script for a film based on one of my comedy idols, Bill Hicks. I started it a few years ago and I write on it from time to time. I'm trying to carefully craft it to do as much justice to his life and his comedy as I can.

Recently, I had a dream. A dream of another bio-pic. But I can't say of whom. I can only say that if I do it right, I might be able to end the year as I had hoped- with a script sold.

I'm going to attack this in a very unorthodox way. I just hope it works. Then maybe I can concentrate on the Hick's script.

Stay tuned for more cryptic posts.

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IFMASA Film Showcase

I submitted my last project, "Fixer", to the film showcase of the Independent Film Makers Association of San Antonio. The film had originally been On The Lot-bound, but then wasn't due to a flub in the application process. I forgot to send a physical copy of the film. Duh.

Having had some time to look at it, I realized that I could trim a few seconds here and there. I also realized that I forgot to lay down a separate audio track to add more ambiance to the film. And finally, I misspelled the name of an actor.

Unfortunately, I won't get to see how it does. I haven't had a chance to spend too much time with my family lately. First things first.

I look forward to hearing how it fares. I only regret that I won't be able to see the audience response for myself.

Currently, the link to the IFMASA site is down, but I'll make sure to update it as soon as it comes back up.

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The Saga Continues

Okay, I'm back.

Well, it's been kinda quiet on my end and I should have been yelling and screaming. I've got some stuff I want to post about filmmaking in general. Some really great links for people interested in the biz. Lots of really useful stuff.

Anyhow, I'm currently sitting on my Powerbook dumping in footage from "Drunks". I'm also working on editing Hope & Theo's last film. It's interesting just being the editor. But I know I have to stay true to the vision that Hope and Theo have for this film. Not to mention I have to record my own voice over. I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow, we continue with the "Drunks" shooting. We don't have much time, so I have to make sure when I show up to the set, I have a tight shot list. To compound problems, Greg, who stepped from behind the camera to fill in for an actor we lost, has some sensitive time constraints that we must work around. It might even require us to shoot without him, which means I'll have to figure out how to shoot around him.

Setting up and getting ready.

This will be the first time I edit on a laptop. I kind of like that idea since I can carry it around with me and edit whenever I like. It does leave a lot to be desired in the way that I don't have a really great, static place like my iMac's. Still, this Powerbook is top of the line and suped up, compliments of my brother.

We'll only have one more day of shooting for the finale of "Drunks". The dreaded external sequence. We had originally shot a bunch of footage for that and a lot of it turned out to look quite bad. It was just lack of planning that started on the day we couldn't get in the bar. I wasn't ready for that and I should have been. I had spoken to Mike, the producer-slash-actor, about reshooting everything. And we even started to do it. I had hoped that we could keep a few of the shots we had in the can, but now it appears we'll have to reshoot, no matter what. Michael, Mike's son, was forced to cut his hair in order to play football. He had this full head of curly hair that really gave him a fun, playful look. I haven't seen him yet, but Mike was kind of aggravated that he had to shave his head, considering he just spend some serious cash on headshots for the kid.

I'm really excited about tomorrow and grabbing the rest of this footage will put us closer to finishing this. Or at least to approach the editing process. We've been running the interior, bar sequences without music, so I'm also looking forward to scoring the film.

And the year isn't even over yet.

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