So, my web designer, Alyssa also does some photography. She snapped some shots while we were filming and did some photoshoping which makes the picture from my last post look lame as hell. This is sort of the style we are looking for. Gabe should be heading over today to let me know what he thinks. If he gives the thumbs up we can start doing some of the special effects stuff.
This is an image I was playing around with from my new short film. This is my first attempt at horror. This short film isn’t really a complete story, it’s more of an experiment to see if I can nail down the dialogue and style that I’m looking for. Often times when you get an idea, it sounds awesome in your head. When you try to explain it to someone else, what comes out is verbal diareah. This short film is to see if this idea can work and if it’s worth the full time it’s going to take to write a full on feature length script for it. I’m absolutely in love with the characters and storyline. So it’s tough for me to write anything for it. Mainly because, in my head, it’s my baby and I don’t want to screw it up. So, this will be the next thing you guys see on this site. I’ll keep you all updated.
So, I want to shoot some stuff for Nice Guys Finish Last, unfortunately The Plague might take one of our actors from us. The main actor in the short got the flu. Luckily there is some stuff we can shoot with Valerie that only requires her. The greatest thing about owning all of my equipment is that I can pretty much shoot anything with a 3 person crew. Usually, I actually only need a 2 man crew, but with this short film, I’m shooting with two cameras. So, I need two camera operators and a boom mic operator. Sean has become my unofficial boom mic operator. He’s amazing at not moving and he has big burley boom mic operator arms. It’s almost like having a wise cracking stand that can move if needed. What can I say? He’s good at what he does. In a perfect world, I would have a five person crew. Two camera operators, a boom mic operator, a lighting person, and someone that’s telling the camera operators where to go and what to do. I like to focus on the actors. Camera work can be fun, but I absolutely hate being a camera operator and director at the same time. Which I can do, but it sucks. Usually, I end up with sub par stuff when I do that. I kind of suck as a camera operator. I usually end up trying to split my attention between directing and shooting and it never really works.
We shot the restaurant scenes for Nice Guys Finish Last and here’s what I have to say about that:
Thank fucking Christ they are done.
There was so much prep work, planning, and organization involved and just about everything went wrong up to the point of the shoot. Here’s a list of mishaps:
1. The first time I was supposed to shoot it, I fucked up and forgot to call people….. By people, I mean everyone. Opps.
2. The second time we were supposed to film it, the owner of the restaurant was going out of town for something. It turned out that we could still use it after all, so it worked out.
3. Extras cancelled on me, either three hours before the shoot or the night before. One persons excuse was that the gas would cost too much. Gabe says for this reason, I should start a black list, then when I’m famous and they call me to see if they can come to my release party, I can open up my black book and say “Say, you remember that time you were supposed to be an extra in my short film and said that the gas was too much the night before the shoot? Well, good news, you can save gas again and go fuck yourself in the process. Peace, bitch.” Of course there is a possibility this will never happen, but it does make me smile to think about it. Another person, after I shot a giagantic hole in they’re first excuse just said “……………….Yeah, I’m not going to make it.” Wow, they didn’t even hide the fact that they were telling me to go fuck myself. They may as well have said “Listen man, your piddly shit little short film doesn’t really interest me and in all honesty I just said I would do it, so I wouldn’t have to talk to you anymore over the phone when you asked me a week ago. The fact that you’re fucked now doesn’t really concern me because I’m lazy and you can choke on a dick.” I actually probably would have appreciated that more in all honesty. From now on, when looking for extras I’m going to say this “Listen, if you can’t make it or don’t want to go, let me know, because if you bail out at the last minute, it’s going to fuck me. It’s cool if you don’t want to go, just let me know, so I can get someone else if you’re not going to go.” Simple, honest, to the point. In the end this all worked out. I’m not sure how. All I know is, is that I had enough people for both scenes. Through some act of God, that worked out. Because I had like 6 people cancel on me.
5. One of the actresses playing a waitress lost her voice and literally couldn’t talk. She thought she would be unable to deliver her lines. Her voice came back and she was able to deliver dialogue, but even when her voice returned she had already committed to not showing up. I guilted her in to it. She’s not on my black list.
6. The other actress playing a waitress got stung in the eye by some sort of killer death bug 4 days before the shoot. Her eye swelled shut. It was swollen one day prior to the shoot. She didn’t think she was going to make it.
7. One of my camera men and two of my extras got lost on the way there.
8. My boom mic operator had to drive somewhere else last minute due to a medical emergency. So he was late as well. Luckily, Kenny was able to fill in until he got there.
9. Two of my other extras got there too late to be in the first scene and had to leave too early to be in the second one we shot. At least they showed up. I felt really bad, but what are you going to do?
10. Fucking Chris forgot the Clapper.
So, how do I feel now that it’s over? Like I just gave birth. I’m so glad it’s done. I looked at some of the footage yesterday and it came out really nice. I really am proud of these scenes. It was a lot of shit to pull together. I think if we can pull this off, we’re capable of so much more. It was sort of a benchmark for us. In fact, I think NGFL will be a benchmark for us. This thing is no joke. It’s a 17 page script with a lot going on. If we stay the same course, we’ll probably end up with the most polished and elaborate short film we’ve ever made.
I’m visiting my Dad all next week, so we all have a big break to let everything settle. When I get back, we’ll be getting right back to it. I want to finish up the other scenes ASAP.
So, I had planned to shoot a scene in a restaurant this Sunday, but it turns out the restaurant is not available to us this Sunday due to circumstances beyond my control. So, I had planned to shoot some other scenes this Sunday. But now, the restaurant scene is somehow back on. This is kind of standard procedure. Not much you can do about it, shit always goes wrong. Sometimes it gets fixed and sometimes it doesn’t. So, why the hell do I do this again? I like pain, disappointment, and stress. That’s why.
In other news, I wrote an E-Mail yesterday that I’m pretty proud of. After all of the mishaps, Chris sent me an E-Mail saying:
“Fuck! The devil does not want us to make this short film!”
My response:
“The devil isn’t in any scenes, so fuck him.”
I’m heading over to New York Film Academy today to meet with someone about the masters program. I took a 12 week course there and loved it. Comparing the stuff I did before film school to the stuff I did after film school is like comparing a Lamborghini to a Ford Focus. Maybe school is the answer, maybe it isn’t. If I have the opportunity to go though, I think I should. Lots of great directors went to film school. Steven fucking Spielberg for example. Yes, the “fucking” was totally necessary in that instance. Kevin Smith went to film school for like 1 semester up in Vancouver and then dropped out. Looking at it, it kind of goes both ways. Some great directors never went to film school, others have. Either way, I’m excited about visiting NYFA today. I really like the idea of getting a masters and film making is my passion. So I suppose it makes sense. All I know, is that if I get a masters, everyone is calling me “Doctor.” Does that make sense? Hell no. But whatever.
I’m currently trying to gather up 16 extras for a Nice Guys Finish Last scene this Sunday. I called pretty much everyone in my phone last night and we’ve been sending out E-Mails to a list that I came up with roughly a week ago. It’s going to be in Arcadia, California in a restaurant on Sunday from 2-6. E-Mail me if you’re interested.
In other news it appears the web site has gotten quite a few visitors recently. I’ve been getting tons of spam comments. I wish they were at least amusing spam. I once got an E-Mail that’s subject was “Destroy her pussy with a bigger love rocket!” I thought it was hysterical, so I saved it for months. But no, this is bullshit spam where there is just a BS link to God knows where. Where the hell is the originality in that?
I want these restaurant scenes to be over with. I keep stressing about it. Once these two scenes are done though, I can shoot the rest of the film with a three person crew. Two camera men and a boom mic operator. That’s really all I need. Of course it makes life easier if I have an extra set of hands available to me too, but I can get by with just three crew members.
I’ve been looking for a restaurant to film 2 scenes for Nice Guys Finish Last. I got the number of a place which I will not mention because they might sue me or something. I was told that this place lets film makers shoot there for free. So, I called them up and got the number of the owner. So I gave him a call. His first question was “What’s your location budget?” My response “Uhhhh, zero, I don’t have a budget, it’s an independent short film.” His response was “Eat a bag of shit.” He didn’t say it quite like that, but that’s what I got out of it. So I asked him how much he would charge. He said roughly $500 for 2 hours. I said “Eat a bag of shit.” Well, not quite like that, but that’s the general meaning of what I was trying to get across.
I’m pretty sure I could sell some shit and raise $500, shoot the scene in two hours and be done with it. But screw that in the neck. Why pay $500, for something that I could get for free? I just have to find the right place. I’ve shot in a coffee shop for free and I’ve had a friend shoot in an art gallery for free. I even shot in a Target once. Of course I didn’t really ask anyone, I just sort of set the camera up and did it. The employees making minimum wage didn’t really seem to give a shit. I don’t blame them. A manager walked up at one point, looked at us for roughly 3 seconds and then just kept walking. I’ll find a place. Maybe I’ll check some places out on Wednesday.
Last night I did some hardcore planning for Nice Guys Finish Last. This is the longest script I’ve ever worked with. It’s 17 pages long with a total of 21 scenes. While that doesn’t sound like much it’s a lot to manage and plan out. Luckily I am shooting it mocumentary style, which takes a little bit of pressure off of the planning. It looks like we’ll be using at least 2 cameras for each scene. It basically lets us cheat a little bit. We can keep the cameras hand held and still edit between two shots seamlessly. I’ve never edited with choices like this before. The concept sounds really cool. After my current project, I’m seriously looking forward to doing a goofy comedy that I can just have some fun with. Maybe Nice Guys Finish Last will break me out of my fear of using hand held cameras. We’ll see.
So, there is a part of Nice Guys Finish Last that needs to be shot in a restaurant. A friend of mine gave me the number of a restaurant that’s been known to be open to that sort of thing but I’ve been majorly lagging on calling them. So, I took the paper with the phone number on it to work today, in hopes that I could either call them on break or during work hours, because work is bullshit. Anyway, I was busy as hell today at work so I worked right through my break and had to leave early to make a delivery. So, I can call them when I get home, right? Think again Carl, you fail at life. I left the paper at work. Chris has been bugging me about setting a schedule. It all kind of depends on when this restaurant will let us shoot or if they will let us shoot at all. If not, then I have to find another place.
You would actually be surprised at how open most places are to letting you shoot there. Especially if they are smaller privately owned places. They are actually usually pretty excited just to have something going on there. I shot in a coffee shop once that was a great location and all I had to do to shoot there was ask. So, I’m confident that I’ll find a place.
P.S. Since when the hell is “majorly” not a word? Stupid English.
Putting together Red Hood, I realized that it needs another writer. I just don’t have it in me to write something that dark. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, everyone did a great job. It’s just that I’m a comedian. I like to make people laugh. I don’t really know how to scare people. Is it something that I could figure out? Probably, but right now, my mind is wondering in another direction.
I want to shoot Nice Guys Finish Last. It’s a comedy, it will be fun, and we’ll get to shoot in a style that I’ve never worked with before. I’m still on vacation, but I’m back home now. So I plan to come up with a shooting schedule for it today and see what we can do. It’s a pretty straight forward sort of a shoot. It stars 4 people. But never once are all of these four people in a scene together. There’s a part where 3 of them are in a scene together….Sort of. It could totally be cheated if I wanted to. There are a couple scenes where only one actor is in a scene in their own house. That makes things really easy. It makes the schedule really flexible.
I’m still working on Dead Girl. I think that trip to Buffalo to visit my Dad’s side of the family gave me an idea.