Production Journal 3: The End

As many of you reading this know or may have guessed from the title I have put an end to finishing my movie with actors. There are quite a few reasons for this which do not all involve me bitching about Leslie, who in all actuality was a cool chick who was extremely nice and friendly except for the fact that we butted heads a bit when it came to scheduling. So on to the other reasons:

1)It has taken just under two months to film 2/3 of this movie. There were constant delays due to my dedication to working around peoples jobs and social lives because I was trying to be a nice guy and also because I wasn't paying anybody so I couldn't make them be there whenever I wanted. This led to a lot of phone tag, rescheduling with my locations, backing out of locations at the last minute, and having to change locations. I started this movie because I thought it would be a fun project for the summer (and if possible to make a little cash either through grants or doing a screening). It has become more and more of a hassle then anything else at this point thus I'm giving it the axe.

2)I have secretly become stoked to follow through with the hand puppets idea because it will be fun to do and that is what doing this project was all about.

3)There isn't really a third reason. The film was becoming a source of unnecessary stress so I canned the part of it that was making me stressed.

This experience has not made me jaded about filmmaking though. I eagerly await the next film I get to make and the chance to edit this one together and maybe even get it into a festival (stranger things have happened then a half-live action/half-puppet show film being accepted).

I will keep you updated on the process of puppet making and voice-overs as these things progress.

Finding Answers, Ignoring Facts

I have gained membership into the Loch Ness Monster Adventure Club. My new title is the High Minister of General Badassity. To prove it I even have this certificate:
I would like to add that I also recieved a t-shirt. So there Cam, not all my shirts come from scary-go-round, I have some from WIGU too.

Clap Your Handpuppets Say Yeah!

So it appears that tomorrow I will likely be making the healthy and informed decision to end principle photography on The Off-Season, at least in the traditional "movies filmed with actors" sense. Despite the various set-backs everyone I worked with was pretty great with the exception of the actor who tried to direct the scene he was in for me and more recently my lead actress. She was from the start unwilling to make any sacrifices to film this movie, whereas all the others took time off from work, rescheduled plans, and went without sleep for rediculous amounts of time to help me out. These things taken into consideration are my excuse for bad mouthing her semi-anonimously via the internet. If she cannot commit to the filming schedule that I have created by tomorrow then alas filming will not continue.

However, I do have plans for finishing this movie with hand puppets. At least one of the leads has agreed to do voice work should I be forced to go through with this plan. I have not yet decided whether I will do entirely cardboard sets or if I will film some of the scenes in the more readily available locations (ie the ones where I don't actually have to film inside someone's business). My sister will likely be the voice of the lead actresses character, as she wants to be involved in my first film, and I will pick up the slack wherever needed.

So The Off-Season will live on in some incarnation or another. Who knows, I might even try and get it into some festivals. After all, as Cam put it, people love hand puppets and irreverance.

In semi-related news the name of my next short film (which I am currently writing) may or may not be How I Learned to Yell Cunt in a Crowded Pub. It does seem a bit long of a title but it gets the message across quite well I feel.

I Have Found Religion

All Worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster the all powerful, al dente creator of the known universe. I have been touched by His Noodly Appendage. In my discovery I have come to the conclusion that evolution is false and the evidence was planted by Him (the Flying Spaghetti Monster) and that he created the Earth to seem older than it really is. Whenever scientist radiometrically date something He is there changing their results with His Noodly Appendage. I firmly believe in His teachings that pirates, or the decline in the population of pirates, are the cause of global warming. A graph showing this correlation along with more information on Pastafarianism can bee seen here: http://www.venganza.org/

Also I believe that Pastafarianism should be given equal time alongside evolution in schools so that students can hear multiple theories of creation and thus choose the theory which makes the most sense to them. Also, teachers must respect that we believe that it is disrespectful to teach Pastafarianism without wearing His chosen outfit, a full pirate costume. Let us all remember that Pastafarianism is an old religion and has many followers the world over. In fact famed artist Michaelangelo once did this painting depicting Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Ramen,

Stuart

More Arts...

The new character is Kung Fu Kate because every comic has the obligatory Kung-Fu Master. Marvel has Iron Fist. DC has some fucking guy I can't remember but has probably been in Batman a bunch or something, I guess Lady Shiva. Oooh or Black Canary even though she has the whole sonic scream shit going on. Anyways I felt that it was needed. And seeing as how I know a girl named Katie who is all, "I like Tai Kwan Do" I made a martial arts super hero. Also, because I know shit all about Tai Kwan Do and Kung-Fu is heavily represented in other comics and TV/Movies and because I like aliteration, Kung Fu Kate was born. I drew a bunch of pictures and costume ideas and they all never came out quite how I wanted them too, well except the costume idea but lacking a good picture you didn't get to see it until now. So I present to you this picture:

Look at my arts

In case you did not know from time to time I do drawings. Yes I know it is hard to believe. Here are my two most recent. This is the aformentioned Whispered Apologies piece. I wish everything that I draw ended up looking like top-right panel. Before I put in the word bubbles the road background looked even more awesome. I have become fond of the intentionally sketchy borders and also the hand drawn word bubbles and may play around with those two things in the Masked Avenger. Basically I was trying to be randomish with this comic as I will not be responsible for the words filling those hand drawn bubbles. Look for it soon (hopefully) on the Whispered Apologies site.This started out simply as a sketch for potential panel ideas for the next page of the comic. However you may notice it is slightly more stylized than the product I have been putting forth in said comic recently. And I don't mean the sloppy border which was just a quick way to hold the picture together as it sat on a much larger piece of paper. A much more liberal use of perspective and the face is slightly more cartoony in the hair and eyes. This is not only quicker to draw but also I feel looks better. The background is also simpler which is something I may also incorporate into the comic.

Other experimentations to come will likely be focused on two things: using more shadows (to add depth and shading because only THEN does the true picture take shape) and finding ways to make the style of the comic more set and and easier and more enjoyable to draw. Easier/more enjoyable to draw = more comics.

The People In My Head

To start off I would like to state that I do not believe that I actually have different personalities/people living in my head. I mean seriously look at my profile picture; that is the picture of a thinking man bound by the law of Logic not some crazy person. Anywho for the purposes of the following post I will however be anthropomorphising/personifying (I can't remember which is more correct, I think it is the latter though) various aspects of my creative motivation/creativity. So sit back and enjoy this very superficial exploration of my psyche.

After a bit of a hot streak The Writer in me has taken a break. Last week I was all about writing and ideas just kept popping into my head for current scripts and such. But he is gone to wherever in my brain he goes when I find myself unable to write for an extended period of time.

Fortunately, The Artist has returned with a freaking vengeance. He is kicking every available blank piece of paper's ass and the bruises are taking the shape of awesome illustrations. I have just recently submitted a piece of pretty darn awesome comicry to Whispered Apologies . Also I have been browsing the sites of some excellent artists lately and have come away influenced and thusly my artistic products with be affected. I have been playing around with some style stuff for The Masked Avenger lately, trying to get away from my stark lines style and using more shadow and such. Pehaps a return to coloured art is not far off. It all really depends on how long The Artist sticks around.

In regards to the other people living in my head, The Director is in film hiatus induced hibernation but with the hiatus potentially coming to an end in the near future (re like 3-4 days from now) I sincerely hope he wakes the fuck up.

Also, I have been watching a lot of Entourage lately and I'll be damned if that hasn't stirred The Actor. I really wish I wasn't stuck in the least theatrically enclined town in the world right now cause I would really like to do some acting. Especially some improv as I have not done that in so very long and my bones they ache for improv.

Dang, this post was more verbose than usual. Perhaps the writer is back but in a more subtle fashion so as to not steal my attention from my new comicing endevours. Perhaps...

Spam: Not Just For E-Mail Anymore

Well I got some spam in the comments box of the Ruptured Fetus post so I closed the comments on that post as it was the only way to get rid of the offending comment. Feel free to post your comments in here though. I didn't even know that there existed people/companies who went around spamming blogger comments. I feel as though I have fallen behind on the happenings of the internets or eZone or whatever the kids are calling it these days. To sum up I just don't care if it is a rough quarter for the lumber industry.

Production Journal 2: Memories

Well production on "The Off-Season" is currently halted I have decided to regale you with a short anecdote from the first day of filming way way back over a month ago. The first shoot that we did was a scene in which the main character, Marten, is applying for a job at a music shop run by a death metal chick who had no name. In the actual movie should it ever be finished you will see that she asks him if he likes the band "Dying Fetus" (a band which exists). We had made a change on set to the original script with a band name that is quite possibly the greatest death metal band name known to man. That name is:

Ruptured Fetus and the Afterbirth Milkshakes

Unfortunately nobody could get through the scene without laughing so we went with the original unfortunate fetal imagery named band. Still though I defy you to come up with a better and more disgusting band name. Maybe you could if you were Bob Sagat but you aren't so you probably can't. The End.

"Off-Season" Production Photo

Here is the one production still that has been taken on the set of "the Off-Season" so far. This is Mike the actor playing the part of Marten. Note his bed head hair. Not seen in this shot is the nasty bong which smelled of "peanut butter and burnt hair" and the maggoty out door couch that we used in the scene.Hopefully the movie will get finished and I will have way more photos to show you. Or I will just go get drunk at a bar dance with some cougars and get pictures of that instead.

Stuart and the Story of Raoul the Annoying Non-Mexican

Here as promised a small piece of writing that I find humourous. Why? You might ask. Well, largely because the following events actually occurred. Most of the kids featured here are kids that I co-directed in the Fernie Secondary School production of Bye Bye Birdie, with the exception of the one who appears largely to be a dick and have something against the fine hardworking peoples of Mexico (and Antonio Banderas). But enough with the back story, read away:

FADE IN:
INT. SMALL MOVIE THEATRE
the theater is fairly packed by there is still some maneuverability as people are packed into groups. STUART is by his lonesome but wears an expression indicating that he is not bothered by this fact and is simply there to enjoy a movie. He is in his early twenties wearing a zip-up hoodie with a t-shirt underneath and jeans. He looks around to see if he recognizes anyone there. A group of younger boys seem to recognize him. ELI speaks up waving towards STUART.

ELI Hey, Stu!
STUART Eli.
ELI How's it going man.
STUART Oh you know not to bad.
ELI You here all by your lonesome?
STUART Yeah, all my friends are out of town.
ELI You want to join us.
STUART (with a bit of a smirk) I don't man I still haven't quite yet decided if I'm want to see, the comedy or the drama.

One of the boys, RYAN, steps forward.

RYAN We chose the drama. C'mon.
STUART I was kind of leaning towards the comedy.
RYAN Oh too good for the drama eh. There'll be comedy. I am comedy.

STUART takes a step back and looks over at ELI.

STUART Woah! What'd you do tell this guy I was a film student and now he's trying to get me to put him in my movie.
RYAN (to ELI) I thought you said he was a producer.
STUART What would you want a producer for? Director's cast the movie. Producer's just fund the the thing.
RYAN Oh oh so you're a director. Well then cast me. C'mon man I got range. Look at my range. You think I got range don't you?
STUART Maybe. But you look too young. You could play anywhere between 14 and 17 I need 19 to 22 for my movie. Besides its already cast.
RYAN What? You think I'm not old enough here look at my ID, I'm 19.

RYAN hands STUART his wallet open to his driver's license.

STUART looks at it and his expression shows that he thinks it is a fake.
ELI It's a fake.
RYAN See. April 26th, 1986. I'm 19.
STUART Yeah...No. Even if you are 19 I said that you look like you could play 14 to 17 so it doesn't matter how old you really are.
RYAN oh so you're saying that I have the range to play a 13 year old or a 17 year old. right. But not the range to play something older.
STUART (sarcastically) Yeah something like that.
RYAN How about you right me in a part. I can be... (he adopts a mexican accent) Raoul.
BOY #1 Yeah be a Mexican.
ELI yeah.
STUART Your not Mexican. Your a Prince Harry looking mother fucker.
RYAN I can too be mexican. Listen I am... (bad mexican accent) Antonio. Ban. Deras.
STUART (again with the sarcasm) That's funny. You're real funny. But I cast actors not comedians. So there will be no Raoul.
RYAN Whatever. I don't need you. I'll have my people contact your people and you won't like what they have to say.
STUART Oh, you have people now. Who's this guy? (points at BOY #1) Your agent?
BOY #1 That's right.
RYAN That's right so watch out.
STUART Watch out?! oh really, what if I black list you. How about that? You've just been black listed.
RYAN You can't black list me.

STUART just walks away lifting his arms in the "it's out of my hands now" gesture and shaking his head. He has a smile on his face that can only mean "what a bunch of tools."
FADE OUT.

Here's to possibly more writing and maybe a photoblog here if I ever do anything exciting.