peaceman630

2:59a

It's still a good 10 hours or so before I have to leave and surprisingly I'm all packed up and ready to go. We are leaving for Hagerstown tomorrow afternoon and are going to be there for about three weeks. The project is called Loudoun Heights and I'm not really sure what I'm allowed to say about it as per our contract with the client, but I can tell you that it takes place on a hiking trail in the wildnerness. No spoilers there. Which means that it's going to be a hot, damp, blistering, tick infested three weeks. It may not sound like it but I'm actually looking forward to it.

( ....more? )


I'll try to stay in touch while I'm out of town, but if I don't, just assume that I'm having a good  day anyway. Wish me luck....

Schpadoinkle

3:38a

2:53a

I fear that despite...or rather...because of my best efforts I have become addicted to smoking. I came to this realization after I had a cigarette one morning and it made me feel immediately better, no sore throat, no cough, head buzz...yeah that counts as addiction doesn't it? I plan to quit, or at least greatly reduce my nicotine consumption before we leave for our next feature at the end of the month. But this is definitely un-groovy.

I've written about my smoking before. I basically picked up the habit at the tail end of college and have been doing it off and on since. I've really taken it up in earnest in the last few months. Why? I'm sure you know why.

It just centers me, what can I say?

---

Good news. I am scraping out a living (paying my bills, buying food, paying my rent and still having enough left over for unnecessary frivolities like trips to the bar, dinner out, movies and hookers...well maybe not hookers) doing what I love to do, and that's video production. And the great thing is that Joe and I haven't had to troll craigslist or bug clients for work in months. The work has literally been pouring in. Which means that three years in, my company is....well, I won't say successful...but it's not dead. It's not even dying. If i had to equate it to anything, I would call it a scrappy, under-privileged, third-world child. It's not exactly what you would call healthy...but somehow it's surviving, and maybe with a little luck, some street smarts and a few bucks from some gullible Christians...it just may pull through.

I've noticed that my metaphors have become pretty laborious as of late, has anybode else noticed this?

Anyway, we've worked with a lot of wonderful seasoned local pros recently and working with them has sort of revealed something to me. As cool as they are, I don't really want to be them. I want something more for myself, and for Joe, and for our company. I want something more for my end game. I really really want to be a sucessful film and television director.

I'm not sure what the path to get me there will be, but I do know that I have the all the resources at my disposal to make something of myself, and I want to do just that.

To that end, after Joe and I return to Baltimore next month I want to:

1) Produce the short film that I mentioned previously. - it's entitled 'The Feeling is Mutual'
2) Produce at least one spec music video. - using a great Black Keys song
3) Begin pre-pro, if not production on Your Mom To The Future - A short script I wrote last year.
4) Produce multiple trailers for BOOM II - A terrible idea that Joe and I devloped, and a sequel to a short film that nobody saw.
5) Develop the web series that I'm co-writing with Greg.

Let's be clear, there is no money in any of these endeavours. Short films don't sell...ever. We won't have premission to do anything with the music video other than maybe use it as a demo, and Boom II....well.....what can really be said about Boom II?

The web series though has some potential....

The idea is to....finally....get me directing again. I wanna be a director right? Isn't it about fucking time that I directed something?

Anyway, that's my plan over the next several months. Will any of it actually get done? Any of it? Stay tuned.

---

On the 'good habits' tip, I can tell you that I remain a loyal member of the Meritt Athletic Club. I try to go at least twice a week. I actually really like working out, as difficult and as painful as it can be sometimes. It feels like I'm bettering myself, as opposed to the other thing. And that feels good. It's funny how my most recent lifestyle choices are pulling me in polar opposite directions. See I told you I was like an onion. Like a really...fat...uninteresting onion....with great hair and sexy brown eyes.


Schpadoinkle

3:09a

Back in 1996, I was in Mrs. Jenning's sixth grade class. It was getting towards the end of the school year and we had whatever passed for senioritis in elementary school children ready to make the jump to middle school. We were having a pizza party for some reason. The pizza party: the kiddie version of a wine and cheese gathering. The social event of the month. And there was dancing. All of the kiddies had formed a little circle and everybody was taking turns in the center dancing to mid-nineties house music. I remember thinking at the time that I really wanted to jump into the middle of that circle and bust a move but I was still a painfully shy little boy. I didn't. And I remember saying to Mrs. Jennings when it was all over and everybody was disbanding "I should have danced." and Mrs. Jennings turned to me and said. "Yes, you should've."

---

I've had a few conversations about regret recently. The position that everyone seems to take is that one should live life completely without regret. While I believe that goal in itself to be admirable I think that anybody who says that they don't have any regrets at all is spewing bull-puckey. I equate the word 'regret' with 'mistakes'. When you say you have no regrets what you are really saying is 'I've never made any mistakes'. And we all know that that cannot be true.

I believe it was the great philosopher Frizzle who said: "Take chances, make mistakes...get messy". I believe she's also responsible for the inspirational words: "Bus, do your stuff!" But that's a nugget to be dissected in a later entry. Anyway, the point is life is about MAKING mistakes and thus incurring regret. While we do our best to learn from those mistakes and hopefully correct our behavior to avoid such mistakes in the future we cannot avoid them entirely. So saying that you have 'no regrets' is false, isn't it?

Sure sure, I could just be jealous of these people that say that they have no regrets. I wish I could be like them, that I could have lived the first 25 years without regret. But I just don't think that would have been possible.

---

Back in high school there was a girl I had a really big crush on. Okay, to be fair I think I had a yearly crush through every year of my schooling (including college) and if you pressed me hard enough I could probably name each and every one of them. If you pressed me even harder I would probably ask you if you wanted to start dating.

She was a salsa dancer, not professional mind you, just a hobbyist. She invited me to her sister's birthday party, it was at this really nice ballroom, and she kept telling me not to leave before I shared a dance with her. She had a boyfriend at the time and I was still a very shy young man. I had no idea what I would do to even get her out on the dance floor let alone what to do if we actually did get out there and start dancing. I'll never know, because I left without getting that dance.

---

I think that a little regret is healthy, it builds character, kinda like a nice scar or a slip and fall into a vat of acid. Look at what acid did for Darkman, he's happy right? No, Darkman is probably the most miserable superhero on the planet. Nevermind. I'm sure he regrets being dunked in acid. But see, he took his regretful experience and turned it into a positive thing. He became a super hero, and before you knew it he was fighting crime and killing his arch nemesis in violent helicopter crash.

Anyway, I convey these little anecdotes for you not to illicit pity or anything like that but just to tell you what memories I'm coming from. Today I go line dancing on a weekly basis. I'm up there with 30 to 40 other assholes kicking and scraping my away across the floor, and I have fun doing that shit. I dance at weddings, parties and in ridiculous little dance floor circles constantly. Basically, regret can be a nice way to motivate yourself to do the things that you want to do, if nothing else, then to avoid further regret.

For example, i regret that this entry has gone on so long and so pointlessly. And I will remember this entry when writing further entries so as not to bore you, dear reader.

Lo siento.

Schpadoinkle.

5:12a

Having just purchased new glasses to replace my old, scratched up, bent ones where the lenses fall out and being very satisfied with the purchase I've decided to move to another area of self-improvement - My teeth. Specifically one amazingly large cavity that has been developing over the past few years. I literally have to attack it with a toothpick EVERY time I eat. I was kind of alarmed today when I pulled a hunk of food out from it that could have sustained a small tribal community for several days. I figure...I have a little bit of money now...might as well look into this situation. I think I might have the hook up for a dentist in Baltimore. He's probably some kind of mafia dentist...but that means two things 1) He'll be relatively cheap.. 2) He won't mind accepting cash with dried blood on it. Both are pluses.

Bit of news today: I got a bite on my craigslist ad asking for a music video project. It's an indie rap record label in VA. I was hoping to snag something closer to Baltimore, but I'm not going to complain. I'm going to e-mail the guy later today to see if I can get a feel for what he wants. The guy seems to represent a lot of artists, and assuming that it all works out there could be a lot of potential projects on the docket. The main problem I have right now is that Joe, my DP is going to be out of town in May on a feature, then after that we're going to be working on two more features together meaning that I won't be free until early July. That in itself is good, but it means that either I have to wait until July to get working on directing these videos or do it in May with a DP that isn't Pepe. Gotta think on that one.

So my taxes are done...my bills are actually...right now up to date and I still have a postive bank account...enough to get my teeth fixed. This 'having enough money to live kinda comfrotably' thing is weird. But I could get used to it.

Sidebar: I finally visited the Tanytown Deli which comes highly reccomended by a good friend of mine. Good stuff. Good food. If you go, get a specialty sandwhich with lots of mayonaise. Also, have your order completely ready by the time you get to the counter and order quickly. You will get yelled at otherwise. Take it from a guy that knows.

Lastly: Peep this. It's a little glide cam trial that we spent most of the day doing once we got back from Trellis. Maybe one day I'll post a version with the audio, I'm ad-libbing some relatively amusing stuff, but the point is the glide cam move so...boo. Anyway, Joe's a pimp. Believe it.



5:05a

Schpadoinkle.

Ok so it's just after five am, in about four hours I'll be shooting another video with Trellis Services. They're a learning center for children with autism that is conveniently located about five minutes away from my apartment. That being said I should probably be sleeping, but I don't think I will. I'll probably go lie down after this, but sleep is out of the question. Thankfully you only have to be remotely cognizant to hold a boom mic, ask most sound guys. Sidebar: Did you know that the word cognizant is spelled with a 'z'? The mind boggles. Especially at 5:22am.

--

So LiveJournal says that I haven't updated in 68 weeks. It's hard to believe that to be the case but it makes sense. It's been a busy year and I haven't been able to chronicle it, and candidely a lot of the writing I've done in recent months has been for my eyes only. But I'm ready again to share with the rest of the class. Anyhoo: Here's the cliff notes update of my life and yes there will be a test later:

- Lia and I broke up. It's been on my mind front and center since it happened nearly six months ago. Sucks. But I'm well past the point of my friends, even my best friends wanting to hear me bitch about how unhappy I am so I know it's well past time to move on. I haven't really seen her since we left things, but I've managed to think about her several times a day EVERY day since. We talk occasionally, and that's nice, but the idea these days is to focus on my career, my company and the rest of my life.

- The company is doing well. I've been surviving ever since I quite my job at LTVN on freelance gigs that we've been getting through word of mouth. It's true, we've done zero advertising for the company save biz cards and the website and somehow we're managing to etch out a living. Is that a phrase that people use? Etch out a living? Is 'etch' even a word? Last year we put our first feature under our belts as 1st unit, and this year we have three features on the docket, one of which Joe will be DP'ing, his first DP credit. Looking forward to that. So, though it's been a struggle at times at this very moment, April 14, 2009 I am somewhat financially stable, all through freelance film work, all through doing what I love to do...and that does feel kinda good.

- The universe has lit a fire under my ass and I'm suddenly very antsy about getting my own projects off the ground. I have a very short script that I wrote a little after Lia and I broke up to kinda get things off of my chest that I'm looking to produce. At the time I thought is was a little too moody and bitter but I'm told that it actually has some merit. I need two actors and a skeleton crew for a day's worth of shooting, a couple boxes of pizza and Bob's your uncle. So I think I'm going to produce it around mid-may when I have some time. Aside from that I've also posted an ad tonight on craigslist pimping out my services in directing a music video. I just want to do something, we'll see if anybody bites.

- I just turned 25 last week, and I feel particularly oldER...if not particularly old. I have racoon eyes most of the time and I generaly look pretty haggard. But that could be from anything...first on my list of candidates would be the healthy amount of nicotine I've been ingesting on an increased basis. Oh yeah, we're living it up these days.

---

That's all I've got for now, I plan on doing this more often. And by that I only promise to not wait another 68 weeks before I post again. So um, how are you doing these days?

5:40am

Schpadoinkle.

I am quitting my job in ten minutes.

Six weeks since the last update? Holy carp! And yes I mean 'C-A-R-P'. I'm trying to bring that expression into the American lexicon because...well..I like it.


Schpadoinkle.

As I'm writing this to you I've just spent two hours labeling and loading equipment into my truck. I have laundry running and need to pack for four days away. See, we are set to begin SABERS AND ROSES tomorrow, for which I will be in Frederick for four days. Did I say tomorrow? I meant in like...six hours. Holy crap. 

Anyway, while my laundry is running I figured I'd check in with you fine people. There's a good chance that I could be offed by a musket fired by an overzealous cast member tomorrow so I might as well leave you with something right?

Last night Lia and I attended the release party for THE MURDER GAME. And as I predicted it was wonderful meeting up with the cast and crew again. I told them about Nice Guys, gave out some business cards and rattled off our eq list and it looks like they're interested in hiring Joe and I on as 2nd unit for their next project. It's by the dude who wrote and directed the GHOSTWATCHER films (first one's okay but the second one is really enjoyable, reccomended). They told me they'd look me up in a few months when they go into pre-pro, so....yay.

I have to comment how great it was to have Lia there at the party with me. I love this girl, she's bubbly, smart and gets along really really well with anybody she meets. This I think makes her the perfect party guest, and the perfect party date. (And let's face it, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that she's a knockout beauty...that certainly doesn't hurt ;) She knew I was a little nervous going into the party...I was...I had remembered walking up to the house that ...'oh yeah, I don't like parties'. I know I've written before how I don't do too well at social gatherings in general. Well i've gotten way better, but it still takes a little while to get myself going. Still, I followed her lead and by the end of the night I was networking with the best of them. More importantly I had a great time seeing these people again and hopefully joe and I will be working with them sooner than later. 

So at the party Rob was previewing the dvd for all of us. We checked out the movie again and then watched the bulk of the special features. It's not an overly packed dvd but you'll certainly get your moneys' worth. But really, how cool is it to have something that you've worked on come packaged and nice?

I'd reccomend the film to you if you enjoy slashers, blood, gore etc. The makeup effects are great and the production values are pretty darn good for an indie flick. 

Of course the real reason that you should buy the dvd is to hear my mention in the audio commentary. Yep, that's right, during my 'critical scene' the dp and director give me some kudos and and a shout out (albeit slightly mispronounced...but hell who cares?)

Become Anecdote on DVD Audio Commentary -- done.

Anyway, enough patting myself on the back. Okay maybe one more. Pat. 

So about now I'm probaly down to maybe five to five and a half hours of possible sleep time so I better get on it. This reality show is going to be grueling I can tell. But at least I'm getting to do what I love right? Plus I'll have more stories for you to skim though. Fun fun.

Schpadoinkle.

I can't believe that it's only Thursday and there's still ONE MORE WORK DAY after this before the weekend. What the hell. Aren't short weeks supposed to feel...you know. Shorter? Very odd.

It probably is just me.

Anyway, it's been an interesting week thus far. The Law Firm that LTVN runs out of just hired a new associate, incidentally they now have more lawyers here than offices, so that means someone had to give up their office. And that someone was Mr. Producer man (me).

That's what I get for not going for a law degree. If I had a law degree I'd still have an office. But it'd also mean that I'd have to become a lawyer.

My mom always wanted me to be a lawyer, have I ever told you guys that?

So I've moved into my boss' large-ish office and I'll tell you what, I think it's definitely made things a little easier for me. Now whenever I need him to come look at something I'm working on I can just spin my chair around and bug him, saving me a walk down the hall.

It's all good though, the fact of the matter is that I'll be out of the office all next week filming SABERS AND ROSES, and after that Joe and I are looking to keep on freelancing more and more and more, meaning that I'll be out of the office more and more and more. By the end of the year I'm going to be looking into freelancing as my main source of income. I still won't have health insurance, but that's easily remedied by never getting sick. So I should be fine.

So I'm just riding out the week, trying to get whatever editing done that I can. Tomorrow is the DVD Release party for THE MURDER GAME, and if you haven't picked up your copy yet shame on you. For the price of three Double-Quarter-Pounder meals you could be watching a very gory and very fun indie horror picture. You don't need the burger, but you DO need to see someone get stabbed in the throat with a lead pipe.

Who doesn't need that?

Anyway, I'm off to get some work done. Oh look at that it's already past noon...how the time flies...

Schpadoinkle.

It's been up and down the past couple of months, but summer is finally coming to a close and what do I have to show for it? Well, not very much in terms of entries unfortunately. And the bitch of it is that I've had some great ideas and some very good titles in mind, but I just haven't been able to sit myself down and type something out.

It's the end of August and there are a ton of things going on with the Nice Guys that I'll update you guys on. First off, we've secured a major gig with a reality show pilot called SABERS AND ROSES. Think of it as Survivor meets The Real World meets The Civil War....not the television series, the actual Civil War. Joe is operating and I'm going to be his AC/Gaffer. It's four days in scenic Frederick MD and I'll tell you what, I'm actually looking forward to it. I should probably mention that we just picked up a brand new HVX-200 High Def camera and a glide cam (Just like a stedicam except it's a glidecam....think of it as the rc cola to steadicam's coke.) And that's mainly why we're getting these other gigs.

Other gigs, you say? Indeed, more paid work. Imagine that.

Last week we filmed the red carpet premiere of FEAR OF CLOWNS 2 (If you don't know you better IMDB that shit ;) down at the Senator Theater. We got to mingle with the stars, including the dude who plays the giant muscle-ey clown who is actually a really nice guy. Joe was  second unit DP on that film, and it turns out that he got to shoot a giant chunk of the movie. I know this because I sat next to him during the screening and every five seconds he was pointing to something that he did. So maybe in our wildest dreams our footage from the premiere makes it on the eventual dvd release but in the mean time we can look forward possibly to some internet video action.

Speaking of DVD releases I don't want any of you to forget to pick up your copy of THE MURDER GAME this Tuesday when it drops. (that's what the kids say these days.) It's the film that I gripped on back in '05 yadda yadda yadda you know the deal. Pick it up. The MG guys are great people and great people to work with. And you can see a teensy tiny bit of my handiwork if you're paying attention.

Of course the most gi-normous project on the horizon for us is PENNY DREADFUL which is actually due for a title change soon. I'm in charge of the lighting department which means that I need Grips! If you're even remotely interested in plugging lights in and pointing them at people I need you to get in contact with me so I can put you on the awesome list. Joe will try to steal you away to the camera department, don't listen to him. He's a bastard. Grips are way cooler than Camera Assistants. You want to be cool don't you? Of course if you have no interest in production at all the movie could still use your help, they are looking for people in every department from wardrobe, to makeup to set-design, to casting to bitchwork, i mean PA's....You want to work on a movie? Start on this one, just hit me up and I'll put you in touch with these guys.

Beyond all of that, Joe and I have music videos and a couple other shorts lined up. Independent of the company I've also got some connections rekindling with my friends from channel 7. I don't think I did such a hot job the last time I was out with them a couple weeks ago but hopefully they call me back for more gigs. I'm also prepping to direct again (God knows when with the schedule that I have) but I'm excited about it, it's a script from the mind of Johnny Benson and I won't say too much, but it's going to be a departure for me based on my limited um....works. Stay tuned.

Amidst all of this Lia and I quietly celebrated a year together. I can't believe that it's been that long already, but it's all very wonderful. We don't get to see each other nearly enough but we always make the best of the time that we do have.

Oh, before I forget guys, do check out WWW.CLIENTELEVISION.COM I don't mean to pimp to you too much but we are trying to build some serious traffic so I'm pimping to everybody. It's the latest project from The Legal Television Network and features nearly a hundred videos, all of which yours truly had a hand in creating. So click away friends, you just might learn something. And please tell a pal.

Alright mofos that's the update for now. Pray for your favorite filmmaker, he really wants to do all of this for a living...

Shpadoinkle.

Just fell asleep at my desk for a second, which can't be good. I need a coffee... I'm heading up to Baltimore for what I think may be the final day of casting for Penny Dreadful, but when I get home tonite I'm going to try and post an entry that I wrote a few days ago. See you later assorted peoples.

Schpadoinkle.

I seem to have hit a dry spell since we last spoke, friends. I'm talking about the working world of course. I've been DP-ing a short film for Mike Barroga for the past few weeks and that looks like it'll continue through the end of July. But as of yet that's been the only constant set work I've had in the last month. Still, it's been nice to get out there and shoot, as opposed to just lighting a film. Reminds me that I do actually have skills behind the camera. I think I may have gotten complacent in the past year with Joe Pepe as a partner. He always does the shooting and I always do the lighting, but he had to sit this production out which left Mike without a DP, for some reason he asked me to do it and frankly it's been a refreshing experience. Hopefully before the end of the summer Greg, Hanyok and I will get a couple of shorts off the ground, one of which I really really really want to write and direct. If I've gotten complacent with my shooting then I know I've gotten really complacent with my directing. And that's a skill that I've not nourished nearly enough these past few years. (The last original short I directed was in 2005, wow.) I guess I have to stop waiting for other people to give me my shot and take it myself. But I'm taking steps in that direction and who knows friends, you may see something original from me before the summer is out.

The thing is that I'm really fucking good at it. And I never toot my own horn so you know I mean business.

Lia has really been wonderful in encouraging me to finish writing the short idea that's been kicking around my brain for the past year or so. It's a stupid little script. But with it done I might be able to move on to other silly little scripts and then eventually one that I'd be willing to produce. Get the ball rolling on this whole young auteur thing. I believe that Kevin Smith made his breakout film when he was my age. I am so so far behind that it is unfunny.

On a more successful note, I was recently informed that The Murder Game got picked up for distribution and will be hitting your store shelves next September. That is fantasmagorical news. For those of you that don't know, (there's bound to be one of you out there) The Murder Game is the first feature that I ever worked on. It was back in December 2005. I was still very green as a grip (ah, who am I kidding, I'm still green) but I'm proud of the work I did on it and I'm proud to be associated with the final product. (This is more than I can say of a lot of the projects I've helped out with thus far in my young career in the film industry.) You'll probably find numerous postings that reference it if you go back in my journal but it was an amazing shoot with really awesome people who seem to have spent every waking moment since then pimping their film out to festivals and the like. And, it would seem that all of their hard work and dedication has paid off. Look for it at your local video store, and if you don't see it. ASK FOR IT! DTV baby, all the way. Fuck yeah.

Today was an awesome day. Originally, Lia and I had planned to go to a Drive-In with some friends, but those plans were up-ended when her parents put the kibosh on that idea. Whether they didn't like the idea of a drive-in, or the location, or the fact that the tripp feature would have kept her out past 3:00, or the fact that the third movie shown was to be Disturbia...I don't know what the problem was. But the alternative plans that we forged worked out way better than the original plans would have. See, today's my mom's birthday (Happy 29th, Mom) and I thought that I wouldn't get to spend the day with her. (Don't look at me like that, I got my mom everything she wanted for her birthday minus the Filipino pool-boy, oh wait, she's married to him, nevermind. I got her everything she wanted.) With my other plans singed, I decided to ask Lia if she would come down to Bowie to have birthday dinner with my parents. She obliged and we all had a great time. Afterwards we came back to Towson and saw 1408 with Beth and their buddy Brian. (Ok he's my buddy too...geez)

Short reveiew of 1408: Not scary, semi-creepy, Cusack remains a pretty darn good actor in my eyes and Sam Jackson remains unnecessary in 80% of the movies he randomly shows up in. When is Hollywood going to realize that you just...can't make a really good and scary PG-13 flick? You know what creeps me out? People whose intestines fall out, somebody punching a hole through a wall, grabbing someone elses head and banging it into a nightstand to gory effect. Tits. Ok, maybe not tits...BUT, tits are certainly another crucial element of horror films that was sadly left behind in the 1980's, along with character development, good dialogue and interesting plots. A decade of politically correct nonsense will do that to people. I want my shock jocks to use racial epithets and I want my John Cusack to be able to show his tits when the artistry of film demands it. Rant over.

I drove Lia back home, stopped at Sheetz, had a cigarette and drove home. And now I'm home writing this to you. The usual.

So if you're keeping track, I drove to Baltimore to pick Lia up, drove her to Bowie to have dinner with my parents, drove back to Baltimore to watch a movie, drove Lia back home to Pennsylvania and then drove back to Bowie. I don't know if it comes accross but I do a lot of driving these days. I think it's good though, good for the soul, and cruise control is boss.

One last thing that I wanted to touch on before I go to bed. I have decided to no longer put up with small children who think it's a great idea to walk in front of me while I'm walking and slow me down. Kids just don't fucking watch where they're going and it pisses me the hell off. Has it always been this way? When I was a tiny tot did I just toddle my way in front of some unsuspecting adult pedestrian and slow them down? Did they get pissed? Why didn't they just throw me like I surely am going to do from now on. There are the kids who will dart right past you and nearly make you trip into a vat of acid or something, but the worst are the ones who just amble right ahead of you as you're walking, and then proceed to walk at their little kid pace and bob and weave everywhere so you can't get past them. Get out of my way! The daisy train is pulled into the station my friends, I'm done. If a kid gets in my way I'm not going to stop, I'm not going to slow down I will simply walk right over them. They'll learn a valuable lesson and I won't be late for free samples at the food court. It's a beautiful thing.

So that's the long and short of it friends. As always I hope all is well with you. Check in, let mama know that you all are doing okay. I worry.

Schpadoinkle.

So it's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting here in the media center office with Lia. It's the final stretch of the 48 hour film festival and both of us are beat. We both spent the brunt of Saturday shooting with our respective groups. She acted for her group and I lit for mine, and now the projects have entered the editing phases and there's not very much we can do for them except sleep and root them on. We've of course been doing more of the former.

It's Father's Day, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get to see my dad today, but I'm sure that he'd be happy with this as a father's day present, his son very contented, doing something that he loves and spending time with the woman that he loves.

Schpadoinkle

AWAKE



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This is a short film entitled Awake by Charlie Anderson. I lit most of the interiors for this as well as the night exterior and Joe Pepe did the camerawork. This is a special piece because it takes place ENTIRELY from the perspective of the main character, and it's Joe behind the lens in every shot, so those are his hands and shoes etc. It's a very very decent short and it was shot for Film II if you can believe it.

This weekend Joe and I will be working with Charlie for a 48 hour film fest, and it's sure to be a fun and productive time. Enjoy the flick!

Some people volunteer at soup kitchens, others volunteer to donate blood, even more volunteer for missionary positions (I myself prefer the reverse cowgirl) however last weekend I, volunteered to work on a production.

Perhaps you remember family friend Chris, who I was receiving work from a couple years ago with him and his production peeps Lars and Dave. Well, he's long been threatening to get me back out on production with them again and last friday I finally got the call. I notice that this business is very 'out of sight - out of mind' meaning that if you stop making yourself available for work in the industry you are quickly forgotten and replaced. Now, I had done four or five different projects with these guys a few summers ago, but when I went back to school they moved on from using me. Now, while they still remember me and in many ways my working and training with them has continued where it left off (albeit I know way more about lighting now than I did two years ago) I still feel that in a way I'm starting back at the bottom with this particular group. But I did a lot this weekend to work my way back into the fold.

The gig was for the National Wildlife Federation, apparently the NWF gets a lot of requests for stock footage and b-roll of national parks, and rather than dole out old and crappy stock footage, they've chosen to produce some new work of their own. So the basic thrust of the shoot was filming people out in nature, canoeing, fishing, cycling, hiking, camping et cetera, and just making it look as fun and as beautiful as we could. For my part, I was the low man on the totem pole, making me a grip/pa, but I jumped into the work as best as I could.

The cool thing about working with Lars is that he tends to favor working with a jib. For those of you that aren't familliar (greg), think of a jib as a giant see-saw. The operator is on one end and the camera is on the other, weights are placed on the operator side of the jib arm to counterbalance the entire thing. And on the nicest of jibs, the camera is mounted on what's called a remote head, which allows the operator to pan and tilt the camera as desired. So in essence, what you have is a device that allows the camera to glide left and right or boom up and down as well as look around in nearly 360 degrees of motion.

Of course it was sweltering this past weekend, and I didn't realize that we were going to be outside the entire time, so the first day I wore my usual ensem of jeans, boots and a black t-shirt. Oh boy was that a bad idea. If the heat and the gnats that were attracted to my clothing didn't get me, the constant ribbing from Dave the gaffer on my poor clothing choice did. Needless to say the next day I was back with a white t-shirt and shorts.

Did I mention they invited me back for the second day?  Yeah, I guess I had managed to do such a good job (or at least not screw up as much as I could have) to warrent returning for the second day of production. Free help is free help I suppose, as long as they are semi competent.

So I gained a lot more groovy production experience and got to work with professionals who will hopefully one day pay me for my trips out.

One side note, I forgot how much people tend to 'call out' on professional sets. By that I mean calling out loud to the group what you are currently doing, and barking out and responding to military-like orders. We've made fun of this technique in the past but they do actually do it. You constantly hear "copy that", "panning, tilting", "rotating", "standing by" etc. But oddly enough, you never hear "striking". That's only for rank amatures.

Aside from that I also found myself on Horror Creek Manor again, hopefully the penultimate day of shooting (I think Joe and I have been on that show for nearly a year at this point). As well as Mike Barroga's newest short Peephole, for which I seem to have become the defacto DP, but it's going well thus far.

So alls well here folks, I'll check in again when I can.

Schpadoinkle.

The first of what will be a host of postings of new videos that I've worked on. See folks, you don't even have to go to a different page. I bring the videos to you now. I'm awesome.

Anyways, maybe you'll remember last April I wrote about a film that I was working on called 'The Love Hit'. The film is now called Assassination Game, and I don't think it'll ever really get completed. Instead, a trailer was created, an excellent trailer which you will now watch.

Couple of extra tidbits, one is that this film cemented Joe Pepe and myself together, and it was shortly afterwards that we founded Nice Guy Productions. Also, this film is now being expanded into a feature called Penny Dreadful which Joe and I will be shooting late this year. I've read the script and folks, it is fried gold. Lookin forward to that one. For now, enjoy. (Oh, and LOVE Hanyok as the Hitman...hilarious.)

Schpadoinkle.

Today's startling revelation is that I really really miss summer vacation. I kinda had one after graduation last year because I didn't start working at Legal News until August. Up until that point is was relaxing at my apartment or at my parents house, coming up to help Josh, or Mike or to see Lia. And THEN I started working.

Now, as all of my friends still in school are settling into their summer vacations I find myself very envious of them. Here they can relax for a few months, or work, or whatever, and go back to class in the fall. Whereas, things for me just don't seem to change day to day. I go to work most days, and if I'm lucky, once or twice a week I'll have a shoot. But as far as this, three month period where I do nothing is concerened, it just doesn't exist anymore. And I'm kind of sad about that.

But there are upsides. While I do have a job, I don't have a real real job that I work 9-5, 5 days a week. I have a freelance job that I'm at a lot of the time yes, but I can roll in at 11, and leave early from or miss entirely if I have a video shoot. My boss has been really cool about that, and I don't think I could get that kind of flexibility working at Foot Locker or IBM. Not that I've really ever wanted to work at those places.

So yeah I'm kinda envious, but I also realize that as awesome as sitting at home and doing nothing at all would be for...maybe a few days, maybe a week...after that I would start to go insane. I'm definitely one of those people that needs something to do, and if I can be here producing, or if I can be in Baltimore shooting, all the better.

So, it's been a long long time since I wrote, here' s the quick update.

1. Lia and I will be celebrating a year together next month and thus far at least, all signs point to awesome. I don't think I could be happier. She's very very wonderful and I'm very very lucky to have her.

2. Joe and I are still plugging along with the company. We're currently begging for money from banks to buy more equipment. Unfortunately our problem is that even though we've been in business a year already, this industry requires you to work for little or no money for a long time after you start up. Banks don't want to give us the money because they aren't seeing any cashflow. In order to generate the cashflow we need to get newer equipment. In order to get the equipment, we need to get a loan from a bank. You can see our dillemma. Still though, work is flowing in a steady pace, and some of it is paid. We're booked to do two features in the fall and in january, and before that we have a bunch of music video shoots.

3. The Sunshine Boyz, an inane film group of which I am a founding member and which sprang up last summer much like a bad case of herpes, is ready to spring back into action this summer with among other things, a film festival and a whole host of shorts. One of which I plan to direct.

4. The directing bug and the writing bug have both sunk their teeth into me again. I feel the awesome need to direct something, as I realize now that it's been nearly a year since I had the opportunity to. I've also felt the strong urge to write something, or rather, to finish writing something. For years and years and years I've had tons of ideas in the hopper, but never the inclination to pan them out into full fledged scripts. Well, it is my hope in the coming months to hammer something out for my friends consumption and possibly for production. I realize more and more that a lot of people are asking me if I'm writing or directing something in the near future, and I don't think they're doing it for their health. So there you go.

5. As for summer, I plan to do a lot of things to enjoy my summer. I want to go on a few trips to the beach, or at least to places untraveled, and I want to go with friends, and especially Lia. I'm also planning on a few concerts this summer, one definitely that I'm heading out to is the Opie and Anthony traveling virus tour in August. But I'd love to check out some of my favorite bands along the way too.

6. X BOX 360!!!! WHEN LORD WHEN?!

So, I got the opportunity last Friday to film again with the peeps from Convergence, the short film that began working with as a gaffer last summer. They seem to be in the final stages of editing, but still needed some pickups. We were shooting in the Enoch Pratt Library in the Edgar Allen Poe room. Exciting right?

It was strange because it's been a long long while since I've been completely in charge of a lighting scenario. Normally, Joe and I brainstorm what's best for a scene and I get to setting it up. Even though I was working with Joe this time, he was my key grip instead of the DP. So it was strange and a little terrifying to have the DP and the Director look me in the eye, tell me the shot, and tell me to do whatever I thought was best. That's something I hadn't experienced in a while, and it caught me off guard. But thankfully I fell into a good rhythem quickly and of course Joe and I work together very well, so we got things done. It's just that normally, for all intents and purposes he's in charge, still, the role reversal was nice, not because I wanted to order him around, but just to inspire confidence in myself. It reminded me that yeah I can do the job too, and it felt good.

But just as a sidebar. What is up with Librarians? (Sorry Matt) Our liason to the library seemed nice at first, but she just kept getting spacier and spacier the more she interacted with us. And I'm sorry but she just seemed off her rocker. And I gotta say that this trait seems common among people who work at Libraries (Sorry Matt). What is up with those people? (Sorry. Sorry.) Even my high school librarian was a little um...distracted, we'll say. I just don't understand it, but they just seem consistantly well...off. (Look Matt, I'll buy you an ice cream, I'm sorry.) End Diatribe.

So, yeah that's it for now. I've got a ton of new videos that I want you guys to check out, and I'll post them the next opportunity I get, but there's the update on my life. See you around...

Schpadoinkle.

Sorry Matt.

Chalk it up to the fact that I'm older than ever before and feel much much more like an adult these days. But I feel like I'm entering a different mindset and a different segment of my life. I feel that my online journal has to express that. So, in the very very near future we will be kissing 'Better Living Through Procrastination' goodbye, and welcoming in something a little different and a lot better...

Schpadoinkle

Hey guys, for my latest musings you're going to have to log on, or get an account and become my friend....perhaps you might start your own journal and begin opining on your own life for me to pry into. Either way...not sure if every entry is going to be friends locked from now on, but definitely this one...