Sean's DVD is released and reviewed

Sean Townsend, founder of Somnambulist Red, did a fantastic job on our soundtrack. He did a short movie "Dream With A Window" a while back and has now released it on DVD. Check out Sean's site (the link is to the right) or read this article.

Now that the movie is out of my hands for a bit of time...

...I decided to do some drawing. Here's Lilly so far. I'll finish this tonight.

47 and counting...

The first 47 minutes is ready for review...yikes...I'm a bit scared. What this means is that Ted is burning the first 47 minutes to a DVD and we are going to send out copies to people we respect/admire/trust to give a solid critique of the first half of the movie. The narration, ADR and foley are still absent, but the color correction and editing is done.

What can I say?

Michael Clark has come through again. I just received another batch of SPFX scenes for the flash back sequence. There is a scene where the rain gets cursed by God and the people become blinded by it. I threw out the idea that it would be cool to see one of Michael's gliders get struck by lightning and burst into flames and then crash into a zeppelin and have the zeppelin fall in a flaming mess from the sky.

Well guess what Michael sent me...a glider getting struck by lightning and bursting into flames and then crashing into a zeppelin and the zeppelin falling in a flaming mess from the sky.

YEAH BABY!

Just finished SPACED.

I finished watching the last episode of SPACED. It left me totally depressed. The show was pure genius and it only lasted 14 episodes. There was more laughs and emotion and cleverness in just one episode than there was in the entire 10 year run of FRIENDS. (I've only watched a grand total of maybe three episodes of FRIENDS, but that was enough to convince me that the show went on about 9 and 3/4 years too long).

I'm depressed because there won't be any new episodes to watch.



I'll get over it and yes, my wife is rolling her eyes as she is reading this, but it's going to take a while. Perhaps the viewing of Shawn of the Dead or Hot Fuzz will pull me out of my funk.

Sally has been crankin' on the GRAPHIC NOVEL!

Check out her stuff...

Ted's been busy

Lilly and the Drifters. The Drifter demons burn up in the atmosphere as they have to use their power to fly since their wings have been burned off. The bottom three images are the result of Lilly and her rocket launcher. Every movie needs a girl with a rocket launcher...adds a bit of class I think.

This is what I have been watching as of late...

SPACED...it rocks!

I've been workin' on some LILLY action scenes...

What a fun gal...

Leigh Meadows was with us for just one day...but she had fun and died well...

Showed Ted the rough cut...

...he loved it.

(screen grabs)

Been editing...

1 hour and 20 minutes edited...
1 hour color corrected...
35 minutes sound mixed (rough)...

pictures will be posted on Saturday...tomorrow I sleep in for the first time in MONTHS!

Slept all day Monday. Slept in today.

It's Spring break at both schools that I teach at so I'm relaxing a bit during the day. But at night, I'm an editing/color balancing fool! Ted and I had originally discussed making a 'filter' for the movie to get the desired effect. However, some shots are much brighter than others and my original idea was to use color to set the mood of certain scenes. I am therefore color correcting each scene. I have almost one hour completed and starting next week we'll be doing ADR.

I'm back!

As some of you know...this has been the worst week of the year for me and if you read the post below, you'll know why. WE ROCKED THE HOUSE, BABY! It was great. We got a standing ovation and my boss complimented my program for the first time. The important and amazing part of the evening was the fact that these actors pulled off the musical without a problem, never missed a cue and entertained a full house!


Now I can devote more time to my family and to the movie.

Falling off the face of the Earth...

I probably won't post for the next few days...as some of you know, I am the director of a rather unique theater troupe. All 42 of my performers are children and young adults with special needs (non P.C. term is handicapped). I write a musical, compose the music, direct the thing and hope that all goes well and no one has a seizure on stage (which has happened) or gets sent to a hospital two days before the show (happened with my lead last year) or no one walks off the front of the stage (almost happened a few years ago with a blind girl).

These next few days are the most stressful days of the entire year. I would rather deliver a speech to angry art critics who hate my paintings while a badger chews my foot off than go through this weekend. I honestly believe that this will be my last year doing this. Say a prayer, wish me luck, buy a ticket or simply knock on wood...whatever works for you. Sunday night I will be sane again.

Bring it on!

It could be a 2 hour movie...

...but it would be so boring! One of the most difficult tasks as a director and editor is knowing when to cut out scenes that do not advance the story. I have so many cool scenes that we shot, but they are just eye candy...they don't take the story forward. I have cut from the one hour and twenty minute rough, down to a one hour and ten minute cut. I have a feeling that more will need to be trimmed, but we also have more to add. The important thing is to have a movie that people want to watch and not a movie that the director says, "hey, look at that...ain't it cool?" while the audience sleeps...

It hurts, but it will make the movie a better product.

p.s. Michael...we'll be sending you your official Darkness Aftermath CAP soon. Wear it with pride...or at least when you are in the pubs!

Editing is rough...

I showed Danielle Magner (Gwen) the first rough cut...she loved it. That was good. After 2 plus years working on this project, if the lead thought it was no good, I'd have been really frustrated. I showed a few more scenes to my best friend who I have known since the 80's (Bob...coffee Bob to some of you). He too was impressed. This is not a post to blow my own horn, but a post to say to all who have been putting their heart and soul into the project, we are almost there and it has been worth the wait! Great job people. Don't stop!

Below I have included some of my favorite scenes...

1. Gwen's dream of 'no rain'
2. Li defending herself against the GARUM
3. Clarr kisses Gwen during the training sequence...(the first kiss I have ever shot)
4. The Death Runner is too tired to run any further...
5. Gwen calls out to "god of our world" and challenges him...

One hour and twenty minutes...

That is the current length of the movie. I am still short about five minutes of footage that I am still trying to find and about five minutes of green screen and SPFX shots. It looks as if the movie will be an hour and a half long. That does not include the end credits. I'm psyched. I've been trying to get this thing edited for months now and finally a solution was dropped in my lap. a great friend of mine hired me to video tape an interview and then edit it. He said that he could not pay me, but he would let me use his TOSHIBA (his brand new TOSHIBA) Laptop to edit my movie. For two weeks now I have been editing and am almost done. When I realized the task of taking all that I had edited up until the TOSHIBA and cutting it into what I was about to edit, I scrapped it all. Two weeks ago I started fresh. I am extremely pleased with the results. Next week we (the team and I) will pick a night to view the rough cut. Can't wait for the SPFX to come in.

I'm hosed! Good night.

It's what?

Just realized that it is 2:14 a.m. and I have to get up at 6:00 a.m. Better stop editing.

I have got to get an earlier start on my evening editing routines!

BTW, Thursday is my birthday...I'm 1,236 years old.


Well, actually I'm only 41, but sometimes...sometimes...

Anyway, I am hoping for Battlestar Galactica season 3...


I am not going in to work Thursday.

FRAKIN' REBEL!

P.S. Art history class still meets tonight. I'm not canceling that class.

real vs. digital

A few posts on down a comment was left about the difference between my working with 8mm vs digital. Sure, there is something nostalgic about holding the film in my hands and getting superglue finger prints on a much needed frame, but I am truly glad that those days are behind me (as is my back...hated bending over the editor all night long). And here is why...

The other day I was showing my Illustration class a documentary on the making of "Blade Runner" posters. One of the artists said something to the affect that photoshop allows anyone to manipulate images...and that is true. However, I look at photoshop in the same light that I look at oil painting or any other media. It is different than oil painting, but it is just a tool - much like the camera obscura was 'back in the day' (and a lot of artists were dogged for using it). Just google "Photoshop art" and you'll see way more worse art than good art. If you aren't an artist, all the software in the world still makes your images look naive.

So, as far as editing 8mm vs Premiere Pro and needles scratching the emulsion vs After effects? I prefer the digital. It's quicker, cleaner, easier and allows me to use more of my creativity instantly. Now I can alter color and sound with out having to rely on the limits of 8mm. I can edit the very day I have shot a scene. I can cut and re-cut and re- cut over and over without worrying about ruining the original print.

I still draw on paper, I still oil paint and watercolor, still sculpt with clay and still (on occasion) shoot 35mm stills. But I'm sold on digital when it comes to editing. Hope that makes sense without sounding like I am anti film.

uh oh...

Apparently there is a new movie coming out with Julianne Moore about a town where everyone suddenly becomes blind except for her. ummm...




I just hope it's not raining in this movie.


The movie is called "BLINDNESS".

I started editing when I was quite young...

...maybe 13 or 14 years old. I had bought an 8mm camera and made some short films. Later I upgraded to super 8mm and sound and started cranking out short 5 minute movies. My longest was 28 minutes. It took many months to edited.

I currently edited a sequence for Aftermath that took about 5 hours. It is a little under a minute and 30 seconds...and it was not fun...at first. The problem was that there are three people in the woods, Gwen, Elder Stahl and Granes. All three need to interact. Problem was as follows...

Norfleet (Granes) only had a few hours one day to shoot his three scenes. He could only do two scenes with Danielle (Gwen) where they interact. The third was shot with him leaning against a tree talking to Gwen who is seated further away from him against her own tree. However, by the time we got to Gwen's scenes, Norfleet had to leave.

A month later we shot Elder Stahl (Susie) walking with Gwen and talking to her before she is to meet with Grane.

Problem was, I was not there to shoot it and a lot of the footage is unusable not to mention that it was all shot from the same camera angle with the same camera movements walking through the same track of woods...Ted even made a brief cameo as he was seen walking next to Gwen and Susie. Susie became quite ill, tho she's doing fantastic now, and for budgetary reasons her costume was taken apart and re-sewn into another costume.

At first I was angry (this was the first time I had actually seen this footage as my computer is too slow to handle the great amount of footage we have. But then I took it as a challenge. We lost a few lines of dialog and I had to get just a wee tad artsy, but it's going to work.

I think that in the end, it might actually be better than what I originally envisioned.

Still editing...

Danea (Debbie) practices her 'moves' but is interrupted by Kassel...he's got some bad news for her...

ROY SCHEIDER R.I.P.

One of my top ten favorite movies is JAWS! I just saw this on line...

"LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Feb. 10) - Roy Scheider, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie "Jaws," died Sunday. He was 75.

Scheider died at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said. The hospital did not release a cause of death."

The last movie I saw him in was "THE PUNISHER" and he was still lookin' great. Monday night I'm watching JAWS.

NEW TRAILER

Ted posted a new trailer on the main page...he also updated the web site. Check it out here. Ted still has some bugs to work out on this site as the trailer takes FOREVER to load...hopefully you'll find the wait worth it.

The show

Lana and Joe at the show.



Danielle, Joe, Lana and Debbie.



Lana's boys.



Matt and Danielle.



Students from IPFW.



Ted and some more students from IPFW.



Random shot of the coffee house.



Me and Max.



I just looked closely at the photo of me and Max...I need to shave and a have a long rest...I didn't realize that I looked that beat up. What a week...I'll post later the week that was WATER WORLD!

Tonight is Lana's photography show at the GRIND COFFEE HOUSE

Lana is having a show at the Grind. She is displaying 16 photos that she took while on location shooting our movie. I am displaying seven sequences of screen grabs and my poster. We'll post photos of the show tonight.

MUSIC!

I have been enjoying Sean's music for some time now and have been cutting the scenes together using his stuff. But today he dropped off the final mix nd I am just floored! IT ROCKS! This is more than I could hope for!

Gwen gets abused...Danielle takes abuse...

I told Danielle, two years ago, that the shoot would be rough...but I'm not so sure she realized how rough it would be. We had her bouncing off of trees, crashing to the ground (repeatedly), getting punched, tackled, hit, slapped and pushed. She endured it all. What a trooper.

She shoots...

...she scores!

Lilly - 2

Drifters - 0

The drifters...test one by Ted (with a wee bit of photoshop by allen)

When the Drifters take to the air, they exert a great deal of power and burst into flames...

This is fun...

Been editing...a lot!

Okay...wah...I was in a bad mood last night.

Feeling much better. Last night I was in a funk, but today I'm feeling better. Much better. Lana is getting work ready for the show...oh, did I forget to mention the SHOW? Lana is showing a bunch of photos, that she took during the production, a a local coffee shop called THE GRIND! The opening is Feb 9th at seven pm. I expect Michael Clark to be there on time. :)

About there...

I'm about half way done with the Bree and Gwen fight...I really enjoyed working with Brittany Stabler and the whole team hopes to work with her again.

Okay...I've calmed down a bit...but only A BIT!

I've been re-editing the fight between Brittany (Bree) and Danielle (Gwen). But this time I am editing it with the sound of rain and thunder as well as the FANTASTIC soundtrack provided by the sleepy red boys! It is so much fun to edit a fight to music! Having a ball, right now!

FRUSTRATED!

There is a scene in "A Fish Called Wanda" where Kevin Kline opens the safe only to find it empty and he shouts out "Disappointed!" That is where I am right now with this production. If I had a computer that could handle all of the footage, it would have been edited and done a month and a half ago. Or maybe two months ago.

Tonight, I'm just not happy at all about the progress of the movie. There are things that should have been finished weeks if not months ago and I'm frustrated. I'm sure that tomorrow I will see things in a brand new light, but let me rant this evening. I want a real computer that can handle the amount of footage we have shot so that I can get this done NOW! It is dragging on too long. We should be dubbing and adding foley by now. It's pathetic.

ps. Thanks again to Michael for delivering superior stuff! Cheer!

Workin'

Cutting, editing, moving things around and listening to music. It's all part of the gig. Ted is dropping the footage that Michael sent over into our movie. It's flowing nicely, tho slower than I'd like. Tonight I'm re-cutting the fight between Danielle and Brittany...somehow, its been misplaced.

THANKS MICHAEL!!!

I got a package in the mail today and it was a real treat. Michael sent over his effects shots and they look great. I'm only posting a little of them here because some of them I really want to keep for a surprise. Thanks Michael!

(keep in mind, these posts are low res versions...the actual stuff is really tight!)

One of Michael's gliders doing a fly-by.


The sculpture of Garault just before the storm hits!

Gotta love soundtracks...

Back in the 80s (tho my first was in the 70s) I started collecting LPs of movie soundtracks. Not the rock and roll blend like "Top Gun" and such, but soundtracks to movies like Star Wars, God Father, Raiders and the like. I would lie in bed listening to them for hours on my ginormous headphones. I have always liked soundtracks and collected a lot of them over the years. Somnambulist red has been producing our soundtrack and I am just floored by it. They have captured the mood of the movie in a way I never expected. I (and here I am a nerd) have the 'love theme' they made as a ring tone on my cell phone. Yeah, you heard right. Want to make something of it? Sorry...I had a third cup of coffee today so I'm wired.

Anyway...I got a call and it woke me from a much needed nap...as it happened, I was actually dreaming about the scene where Gwen is walking through the woods and she is utterly alone and it just hit me hard - because the music was playing on my phone and I was in that 'not-quite-awake-mode-but-aware-of-my-surroundings' state of mind.

These guys, Sean and Jay, have created a score that really moves me and has altered the feel of the movie. The image below is the best way I can describe the feeling of the music they have created.

All that's left to shoot...

All we have left is a few green screen shots...

Lilly and Switchella in the cave

Gwen – pull out from eye (if you've seen Star Trek - First Contact, you know what I mean)

Gwen – close up of hands reading the POLL

Gwen – dodging the attacks of the Garum (three, maybe four shots)

Lilly with gun shooting at Drifter (one shot over the shoulder of Lilly)

Mechanical Garum arm digging in the dirt. (not to the Peter Gabriel tune)

Once these are done (and I believe the Lunch Bunch Production Crew is going to do these) we are finished...AGAIN.

Megan was a real problem...

But not for reasons you might think. The problem was that she was EXTREMELY expressive with her eyes and they had to be 'blacked out' for the final production.

I've got the Post-Production Blues, baby!

The temperature is about 40 f and it's been raining all week. 1) where was all of this rain last summer when we needed it? I know, I know! It was screwing up "Removals" production in Scotland. That was our rain, Michael. ha ha. 2) the rain has now effectively flooded our basement...wherein lies my studio and workout room thing.

So yeah, I'm sorta bummed. I want to be editing more stuff, but my computer is so slow that it takes a year to load the footage and then it just stares back at me and laughs.

So yeah, I'm bummed. And I go back to work tomorrow. No more free Saturdays.

But wait! What's that you say? You found photos from Dan-the-man that you have not viewed in months or posted ever? Well, by all means, post those bad boys and lets get past the brooding.

So here we go. This is how Ted maintained a level of authority. NO NAPS ON LOCATION!



No...that isn't a rain soaked T-shirt I have on. I was thinking so hard that day that every sweat gland in my body erupted. Yuck. I know! Deal with it. The crew did!

...except for Megan. She told me that I stank.



I have actually lost over twenty pounds since the start of shooting! That's a good thing as I look at these images and see how fat I was...but enough about me...Let's look at Megan - the one who said I stank. Here Stephanie is helping her remove two and a half hours of make up.



Actually, she was a fantastic trooper...she came to the set with her lines memorized and she put up with all of the make up and the ice cold make up removal system...

And here we have Danielle and John at SWEATBOX STUDIO!






And honestly, does anyone really miss the ice cold water?

um..wow...what a relief...

I've been immersed in this project for over two years now and I was starting to question the final product. However, last Sunday Ted and I started putting together the edits I had been assembling. He dropped them off this evening and as I watched them, I was filled with so much excitement. IT'S ACTUALLY COMING TOGETHER! And that is a big thing right now in my life! The edited footage looks fantastic and everyone's (AND I MEAN EVERYONE'S) performances ROCK. I can't believe what I subjected these people to with the faux rain and fighting and the running through the forest blind. What a fantastic crew! This is a dream come true for me because it looks SO INCREDIBLE and we haven't even added the SPFX or color balanced the footage.

I be happy!

This is a desk top image collage I am working on...cause I be happy! Remember?

Blade Runner Review

Okay, as we ease our way through post production like an air bubble in a jar of syrup (yeah, it's going that slow) I have had the opportunity to get caught up on some much needed movie watching. And yes, as the heading reads, this is my Blade Runner review. But not just any old Blade Runner, all FIVE Blade Runners.

Yes, for those of you not in the know, there were five versions of the film and numerous well made documentaries.

1. Final Cut
2. (so called) Director's Cut
3. American theatrical Cut
4. European theatrical Cut
5. Work Print...uh, Cut

First off, I loved this movie when it first came out, though most of my friends and family did not. My biggest problem was that the film (I had it on Beta, VHS and Laser Disc) was no longer viewable after our Beta was stolen (the player, not the tape) my VHS was damaged (overplayed) and my Laser Disc was sold to buy my first DVD player. Oh sure, they had the Director's cut but it did not have the dialog and there was the stupid unicorn dream and the depressing ending. So I never bothered watching it...till now.

I popped in the Final Cut, the one Ridley Scott said was his favorite. And guess what? No narration, the stupid unicorn dream and the depressing ending. I LOVED IT! I don't know why. I then watched the American theatrical cut and kept finding myself annoyed by the constant talk over the music and sound effects. The unicorn footage no longer bothered me and I felt really good when all was over. I could have had the footage in the car without the narration at the end, but I was quite honestly fine without it.

Andrew G. has a great review as well with some images on his blog and he tackles the color changes quite well. So I won't bother. Check out the images he posted on the stunt woman with the bad wig crashing through the glass and the final cut version. FANTASTIC. Ridley also fixed the scene where Dekard is 'speaking' to the snake seller. Harrison Ford's mouth was always moving tho it was the snake seller giving up Taffy Lewis' establishment. Now, his mouth doesn't move.

And the documentaries? Excellent. They even have one where they bring in writers and such and they all give their argument as to the origins of Dekard. Is he a replicant or not. A must see.

My only disappointment was the work cut. Not really all that different. Would have liked to have seen more in it.

And now, back to the bubble.

Questions and ridicule...

The artist asks "How was it done? Can I do that? Can I improve on that? Can I do the same sort of thing, but only different-perhaps from my own unique style?"

The non artist simply makes fun of the artist and adds nothing to the joy of life. Poop on you!

I might need medication...

For some reason I think that this video is cool...AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!

Here's the TALKING HEADS concert movie version...

And the MTV music video...you know, back when MTV actually had music videos...

Feelin' Alright...

1) Michael has dropped his SPFX in the mail and we should be getting it soon!
2) Ron and I met and the GARUM is almost done! Now comes some green screen fun!
3) Ted and I are finally putting all of my edits together for our first rough cut!
4) I've got MUDBOX! FUN TIMES!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF THE DARKNESS AFTERMATH CREW! WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!

Just an idea for evening...not night time...

Stunt people vs the insane actor

We obviously couldn't afford stunt people on our project. That's why we only used crazy people. Danielle got a bit bruised crashing into this tree. We had a mattress for her to land on a foam rubber 'thing' behind the tree to crash into, but it still hurt. I know. I did it first to show her how it was done. I merely lied about how much it hurt before she did it THREE TIMES. What a trooper.