Pro. Gress.

I'm nearing the end of the writing phase of my short which means I am entering the ever so important phase of pre-production. During pre-pro I will need to assemble cast & crew, scout & secure a location, storyboard, rehearse, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. One of my biggest lessons in film school was, "Pre-Production is insanely important." It can truly make or break your days on set.

I've already worked ahead a bit with assembling my cast and crew. Here is my line-up thus far:

Cast/Talent

Jessica Sapick & Jonathon Musser

Crew

D.P. Sean Sullivan

A.D. Jackie Gross

Capture Tech: Nitin Veludandi

Some notes on the crew. A D.P. is a Director of Photography and/or Cinematographer. I will work with Sean to accomplish the look of the film. He will decide what camera and lenses to use along with the camera angles/movements and lighting of the scene. The Assistant Director or A.D. is essentially the foreman on the set and keeps everything running smoothly so the director can direct. We will shoot this film digitally and this is where the Capture Tech comes into play. When shooting digitally, all of your footage is captured onto cards in the camera. When said card is full, it is taken out and handed to the Capture Tech who will transfer all the data to a hard drive or multiple hard drives and then he/she will hand the empty card back to the D.P. It may sound easy but it's an insanely important job as the footage that you've worked so hard to get is in their hands. You always want at least one empty card available because if you don't the entire production will come to a screeching halt waiting for the information to be transferred onto the hard drives.

Of course, these oh-so-brief job descriptions are for a small crew indie set and are vastly different on a big budget set. I still have some other spots to fill and hope to wrap that up in the next week or two. Really excited about filming. It's getting closer...

-b

Consider my fancy tickled... 3/19

Due to it being an all around shite week I haven't done much work pushing my current project further, therefore I don't really have anything to add about my personal projects. Planning on some writing this weekend, hopefully... On to what I found interesting about film this last week.

Avatar is truly one of those rare films (Matrix, Pulp Fiction) that will change films and how we watch them for years to come. Interesting article on the negative effect of 3D and movies.

In addition to the poster mash-up at the top of this post, here is a cool Jabba The Hutt mash-up.

Normally I do not like to discuss politics, religion, or sports... but the brain-trust that is the Floridian Republican House Leaders are wanting to cut tax-incentives for movies that do not live up to their ideas of traditional family values. That means if you're making a movie about homosexuals don't bring those GAYS to the Sunshine State. Gotta love a failure of separation of church and state.... Sorry Key West!

To wrap things up, I'm actually gonna leave you with a helpful article (yes, I read other film related sites than Perez Hilton!!) on professional tips from a camera operator. I've enjoyed being a DP on friend's projects, and grabbing the camera on my own projects, but being a DP is a highly technical job and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that life-consuming undertaking. Still it's a great read...

-b

Consider my fancy tickled...

Does one have a fancy? If so, how do you go about tickling it? While you consider this deep deep ponderance, here are a few items that piqued my interest recently. This is the first of an ongoing column of film-related posts that have nothing to do with me except I curated them and presented them to you.

The above picture is a response to John Krasinski being up for the lead role in the upcoming Captain America film.

There is a special level in hell for people who talk during movies and here is an article about the shusher and shushee. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent at the Century 20 in Daly City.

Up until today, I have never heard of the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl." Wiki describes this stock character in a film as "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." Think Zooey Daschanel. Here is the AV Club's 16 Films Featuring MPDG.

For all you scriptwriters/film junkies, Rian Johnson (writer/director of Brick) posted the complete shooting script to the The Brothers Bloom online. Available FREE for download here.

Some of my friends started their own production company and have been making some gorgeous music videos as of late. Clean White Lines is the name of their joint and you'd be a fool not to follow them on their website and vimeo page. Good stuff guys... now please let me work with you! haha

-b

The first cast is stoned... or something like that.

I just finished writing a short film that happens to fall into the genre of the romantic comedy. I set out to write a story that involved two characters, one being a woman, and limiting myself to one setting/location. It's not completely finished and I'm sure there will be a couple more re-writes between now and shooting... and during shooting. However, I'm far enough along that I need to move on to the next phase of pre-production which includes location scouting and casting. Lucky for me, the lovely and talented Miss Jessica Sapick (see above) has agreed to jump aboard this lil' project of mine as the female lead. A bit about Jessica... she just got signed to an acting and modeling contract at Stars Agency (Congrats Jessica!!) and like myself is also from the Midwest. This will be my first time working with Jessica and probably her last time working with me! haha

From here I will begin looking at male actors to play opposite Jessica and start scouting video stores for a shooting location. There is a third role that needs to be filled but it is for a non-speaking part and worst comes to worst, I can just pull a Hitchcock and cast myself in the role. Not out of vanity reasons of course, but just pure necessity. Actually it's totally for vanity reasons. The only reason I am doing any of this is for fame, fortune, and glory... and world domination.

-b

Uncle Lazlo, father of Benjamin Linus...

SFSDF is the film school which I graduated from and being the kick-ass center of learning that it is, they allows students back in the door for all kinds of the things. Be it to use camera equipment, editing stations, rooms for audition/filming, etc. On top of all that goodness, they host the occasional mixer with a special guest or theme. You need a guest or a theme because drinking and talking about film just isn't enough right? WRONG! Seriously the guests and themes are amazing otherwise its just me and my friends standing around drinking beer and dropping lines from Evil Dead III: The Army of Darkness. (Give me some sugar baby!)

This last week's mixer was a conversation between John Gries and James Savoca. John had starred in a movie that James had written and directed so they were familiar with each other and their work, which was nice because it gave their conversation an open and laid-back feel. John was the "main" guest of the evening and if you aren't familiar with the name you will be with the face. Look at his IMDB page. It has ninety-five entries for acting alone! 95!! My favorite is Lazlo Hollyfield from the 80's classic Real Genius. (Side note: they wanted him to read for Kent) The focus of the night was being a character actor and the director/actor relationship. How they had the evening set up was that a clip played from a movie staring John and then discussion followed. Lots of funny hollywood anecdotes and really insightful nuggets on filmmaking.

Here is the list of notes that I scribbled down throughout the night. Sorry if they come off all stream-of-consciousness:

-During an audition, have actors read off-book.

-Move your actors around in scene. Give them action/something to do.

-After writing a character, give it to the actor and get out of the way.

-Be open to improve, but anchor the improve to the scene.

-if you learn your lines well be fore the scene, it opens you up to explore other avenues. Kinda like "know the rules before breaking them."

-If you start to fall behind, slow down!! Speeding up will only cause mistakes.

-Be economical with your camera angles.

-Find the physical truth, then the rest. How does a character walk, etc.

Great evening and left feeling rejuvenated if slightly tired as I was up past my-living-with-a-baby 8 o'clock bedtime.

-b

Is this really your final draft?

Upon my arrival home this fine San Francisco evening, my upgrade version of Final Draft was awaiting me in my mailbox. For those of you that don't know, Final Draft is the "professional scriptwriting software." Logic states that just by using it I am a professional, right? This is the program that is used by most industry professionals writing for movies and television in Hollywood today. Being that I haven't got a chance to play around with it yet, I can't tell you how much I like or dislike this version (8.0) over the previous (7.0). I just wanted to share my excitement about coming home to a new toy!!

Speaking of Final Draft, they announced this week that they are working on an application for the soon-to-be ubiquitous Ipad.

AND... speaking of screenplays, I am reading Good Will Hunting with Inglorious Basterds next on my book-shelf.

-b

It puts the pen to the paper.

When you get right down to it, I am a lazy procrastinating complacent bastard. Okay, the bastard part isn't true but the rest is. I am well past the stage of denial when it comes to this issue. This is really coming into play with life post film school. There are no deadlines or someone standing over you to make sure you continue on down this path you have chosen. That path for me is writing and directing. To partially combat this laziness o' mine, I have started a writing group of classmates and prior alumni.

The whole point of this group is to get together and work on your scripts in whatever state of completion they may be in. Be it one sentence pitch, one paragraph pitch, or final draft. You read your work in a round-robin format and then everyone tears it apart hoping to make it better. This structure helps me stay on target as I don't want to shame myself for showing up without anything new. That and it will hopefully turn my scripts from drivel to greatness. I will introduce the group to you, the reader, at a later date.

Our third meeting is this Saturday and I have a rough draft of my next short for the ready. This project is still in the gestational phase. It's all zygotes and what not. I will do a few more drafts and then move on to the next phase of pre-production, of which there are many. It's not to say I don't enjoy screenwriting. I really do. It's solitary and quite fun honestly. I need to to do it more often. For those of you that are dying to know, I use the Final Draft program on my fancy-dancy MacBook. (notice the absence of the word "pro" after Macbook) *insert sadface here*

Apart from procrastinating, I also partake in other activities while I should be working on my scripts. Activities such as this blog. And with that I am leaving you with an interesting article about screenwriting in Hollywood. It's a juicy read.
-b

Brave New World

Dear friends and family at SFSDF,

I've decided to start seeing other people. It's not you, it's me...

While maintaining the priceless relationships that I've created with both the staff and alumni from the San Francisco School for Digital Filmmaking, I've decided it would be both healthy and worthwhile to start branching out into different communities of filmmakers in and around San Francisco. Staring locally, there is a network of filmmakers in my neighborhood of Bernal Heights centered around the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. Tonight they are have a screening and meet/greet with local filmmakers at the newly renovated Bernal Heights Library. This is the first of their quarterly screenings and I am going to attend. The above flyer is for the event. After that, maybe start attending meetings for the San Francisco Film Society. Attend local film festivals. Submit my work to local film festivals. I really don't know actually. I'm just kinda making this up as I go as there really isn't a blue-print for what one should do post film school. If you know of one, please send it my way.

-b

*insert tampon joke here* -or- OMG YOU GUYS!!! THE IPAD IS COMING!!

The only thing I really know about the ipad is that I was really tired of hearing about it leading up to the announcement of it. So let's talk more about it, right? Right? Who's with me?

*crickets*

There have been some really cool filmmaking apps that have been released for the iphone, but that isn't what I am talking about now, BUT I will talk about at a later date. Excited?!?! As you should be. Both with that and my run-on sentence that started this paragraph. What I am covering today is how the ipad will help the filmmaker. Being that I still have trouble referring to myself as a filmmaker, I am going to pass the torch to to some much smarter and more experienced folks than me in the art of filmmaking and the aid of an ipad. (Yes that's correct, I am linking other blog entries to my blog. How lazy is that?)

Screenwriter extraordinaire John August on the ipad and screenwriting.

Fresh HDV and the ipad and creative types.

Enjoy.
-b

We've got to go back... to the FUTURE!

Greetings gentle reader. I've missed you. *tear-drop* As my friend (who I often want to punch in the junk) Rommy says, "this blog is an update FAIL." I originally started this as a way to chronicle my time in film school but the responsibilities of said school, work, pregnant wife, and household duties trumped my blog time. Well baby is now here, I have my fancy-dancy film diploma, and life is starting to revert back to a semblance of normality so I am going to update as often as possible. "What will you be droning on about Bucky?" you may ask. I've jumped back in to the world of screenwriting and independent filmmaking so I will chronicle that, but I will also be posting whatever I find interesting that is related to the world of film and filmmaking. There will be a few retroactive posts regarding some projects I've worked on, which include a day-shoot for a music video with Talib Kweli. Please feel free to send complaints and cool film related items my way. I will promptly ignore all complaints and post the cool film items as if I found them myself. Speaking of which, the above pic can be found here.

-b