Update on Projects

Haven't been posting much, so I figured I'd just give an update on what's going on in general....

Finished the first cut of the end of the world short. It's coming along really well. I got the composer who did the music for the Pac-Man short and the Steve Chong movie to agree to do the music for this and it looks like it is on track to be showcased for that thing on Dec 8th. I'm pretty happy with it, but it has a long way to go from here.

The music video thing that I had planned is kind of falling through. At least my involvement with it. I hadn't done a music video before, so I was excited about the prospect of doing something really cool. As the weeks went by, it was becoming clear that it was a bigger ordeal than everyone was making it out to be. As it stands, we were supposed to shoot last week and the song hasn't even gotten finished yet. I met up with a friend on what could conceivably get done by this weekend before I had to leave to Louisiana for Thanksgiving and he said.... not much. So I told the group good luck and went off on my way. Oh well.

The voiceover project is still in development, but needs another script pass. We probably won't be able to get it done for the 8th, but it will definitely at least be shot before the end of the year.

I got my rejection notice from the Armed with a Camera fellowship. I was kind of disappointed, but having talked to other people about my idea I think it was very unlikely that they would accept it. Having said that though, I still might want to make it down the line. It was basically a commentary on the nature of race in films and how more often than not it is more convenient to just take it out of the equation by just making everyone white.

Haven't gotten very far on the feature script lately. I have been kinda backtracking and wondering if the idea we have is even the one that will make us break through. I believe it still is.... but in the meantime I still feel like it is important to get short projects off of the ground to build a base of sorts.

Anyways, lately I've been kind of inspired by the work of this directing duo named Daniels. They're more known for their crazy music videos (which I had been watching a lot of lately), but they also made shorts that I think are just really cool to watch. They released one recently that kind of.... blew me away. From now on, I think I definitely want to just make stuff that has a super unique voice and gives people the impression that they've never seen anything like this before.

Interesting Ball from DANIELS on Vimeo.

Wrapped on Short #1

Recently finished principal photography on the end of the world shoot. I Acted, Co-wrote, Co-directed, and Co-produced and will eventually add the editing credit to it. I wanted a co-director actually because I personally find it to be really hard to act and direct at the same time. I think because I started off as such a technical minded person, when I'm in front of the camera I find myself looking at all of the technical stuff in front of me and I can't help but think about that stuff and I usually step out of the character. I think this time it wasn't too bad since I had a co-director. I tried to not look at playback or even the monitor unless an opinion was really needed on my part.

Overall, I think the production went really well though. We had a 5 person crew, which technically makes it the biggest production I was able to assemble in Los Angeles. Most of the sketch comedy videos I had made recently have been super low key and usually it's just 1-2 person crew tops. I was able to borrow a camera from one friend, lights and sound equipment from another friend, and get most of the cast and crew to work for free. So yeah, it's good to know I can get a decent production together on a shoestring budget. Technically the biggest expense was lunch, which I always splurge on because I feel like a production with good food is a good production.

I'm trying to get this finished for this media showcase that is occurring on Dec. 8th, so it'll be done pretty soon. I'll post about it as things get done. I supposedly have another shoot set for this weekend, it's not as likely to happen though... we'll see...