How we made our unorthodox sci-fi-ish movie

another award

2012-01-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

European Trailer

2011-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

WORKING WITH NEIL LISK

2011-09-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

What a great blessing, having the opportunity to work and collaborate with an exceptional person like Neil Lisk. When ever he was on board each step of production benefited from his talent, professionalism, and heart.

Before a shooting schedule was even made Neil would have notes and ideas about tone, style, and ways to translate deeper meanings and themes cinematically. Once the locations were locked he would take pictures of each and every one, creating a detailed shot list. He’d then present a list of options, inclusive of what ‘glory’ shots could actually be afforded, always finding ways of transforming very little resources into what would appear to be much bigger productions on screen, even to the point of spending his own money on renting gear he thought would ad value to what the audience would see.

During production Neil dominated, first to arrive, last to leave, doing what ever it took, no matter how trivial, to keep things going. With very little time and even less money Neil was the ‘go to’ guy for making decisions when there was no time to hash things out. He could see the entire scope of a scene in his head, instinctively knowing how to get the coverage needed while never having an issue with the line. Very active in blocking, Neil would carefully watch actors run through their actions, figuring out all the necessary set ups. When time was at an absolute minimum, Neil would come up with a way of shooting entire scenes in just a master, while still keeping it visually interesting. When framing, Neil would spend as much time as necessary looking into the monitor with the production designer, moving props around until the picture looked absolutely perfect. Camera movement was another thing Neil was a stickler for, but only as it served the story. Every push, pull, or dolly move had to actually mean something.

Neil’s technological knowledge was without question, as was his ability to do multiple jobs at once. He brought a certain respect to the set, never making a final decision until it was sanctioned by the director, keeping criticisms and opinions only for those who needed to hear them. He was the first to admit he was wrong, never complained or had an ‘attitude’, even when doing something he didn’t totally agree with. Actors loved how Neil would always give them encouragement and space. His energy and professionalism being contagious.

Once principal photography was wrapped Neil would continue working, sitting through rough cuts, providing notes and advice during the entire editing process. Always a cheerleader during horrible early string outs, Neil was usually the one who’d find a solution for scenes that didn’t quite play out like they were on the page. “There’s a great little movie in here mate, don’t give up”. He’d sit through every color timing session, offering insight as well as an incredible eye. We’d think we have picture lock and then... eight more pages of notes from Neil Lisk.

Neil wasn’t perfect, he could be too logical, by the book, and occasionally drive people crazy with his perfectionism. But over all, Neil Lisk's about as close to perfect as a person could be.

DANCES WITH FILMS

2011-07-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Dances With Films, now in its 14th year, renowned as one of the last truly independent film festivals, champions the unflinching spirit at the very core of the independent film scene. While the vast majority of film fests rely heavily on celebrity, DWF relies on the innovation, talent, creativity and sweat equity that has always revolutionized the entertainment industry. And that reliance continues to prove successful with alumni moving on to write and direct celebrity-studded vehicles, star in blockbuster movies and network series, produce multi-million dollar films and create hit TV shows, even OSCAR® nominees... In a world of formulaic, homogenized film festivals Dances With Films continues to break the rules and bring you tomorrow’s stars today.

This was a really fun festival where someone from NoA participated at least one of the daily events every day. We had a lot of fun watching the movies, attending the panels, going to brunches, parties, but mostly meeting all the great people involved!!

Q & A at the Santa Cruz film festival

2011-05-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL

2011-05-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

Santa Cruz is a pretty amazing unique little funky beach town, with bitchin’ beaches, a rad boardwalk, vibrant down town, and an open minded population that looks and acts like no other. Just a cool laid back ‘tripy’ vibe. The perfect place to screen our flick!

Lord and Lady Deal arrive the first day of the fest on a Monday(we screen on Saturday). “You’re here, so early?” Real Deal replies “We’re here to work”. And work they do for the next two days as Lady P and Real Deal promote, promote, PROMOTE... also making nice with the friendly people at the festival. Daily calls come into LA, reporting press articles and radio interviews.

I arrive on Thursday, meet all the fine folks at the festival, and then am immediately put to work... stickers go on cards to be handed out, posters are put up, and people are talked into coming to the show....

We’re pretty excited, but there’s still a downside. Hardly any pre-sale tickets have been sold, making Deal and I wonder ‘will the whole damn audience be standing up for the Q & A?’. Lady P is extremely confident that is NOT going to happen.

We head to Stazz’s acoustic show at the Ugly Mug in Soquel. Everyone is blown away by her talent and we pimp our screening for the next night.

Friday rolls around and more of the cast and crew roll into Santa Cruz. Chris, Christopher, Sam, Tabetha, Bob, Gint, Gina, Santino, Tony...

Screening time approaches, the Real Deal and I do a projector test, and then:

People start showing up. Lots of them. Guess people in Santa Cruz don’t usually buy pre-sale tickets for movies. We even see some of the people from Stazz’s show at the Ugly Mug.

The flick plays amazingly well, with the audience positively reacting through out. Q and A lasts about twenty minuets. Cast and crew then hang out at the Crepe Place across the street, recapping the evening.

Saturday is the last day of the fest and Lord, Lady Deal, and myself have wonderful parting conversations with all the friendly folk we met before heading back on to LA, ready for our next film festival adventure.

Night of the Alien viewer reviews

2011-05-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

SOME OF THE REVIEWS FROM THE AUDIENCE WHO ATTENDED THE SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL - taken from their web site

Being a volunteer/helping out with hospitality coordination I went into the theatre knowing that a ton of members of the cast were going to be there. Hearing them cheer and clap during the beginning credits started the movie off with good energy and foreshadowed a film worth the excitement... Night of the Alien was an lol hilarious riot of a stoner yet identity seeking adventure! The story-line kept me interested and intrigued as to what would happen next and never failed to keep me surprised, laughing, and even grooving to the soundtrack. As over over the top (and even out of this world) as some of the characters were, its messages and depiction of human nature, love, and adventure seeking remained down to earth, realistic, and spot on for the demographic it represented. As a young adult myself I could personally relate to its identity (and love) seeking main characters. AWESOME JOB GUYS!

great movie and the whole concept was well performed and very entertaining loved it.

Totally blown away. Awesome flick!

Loved this movie! I went in without knowing what to expect and was blown away. Great acting, storyline, and dialog was awesome. Great job to the entire cast and crew!!!

Wow! What an amazing experience!!! Such a roller coaster ride of crazy characters, insane situations, incredible production value and a thoroughly exciting story. I loved it!

Completely outside the box, fantastical fun. Brilliant job by all involved.

Now that was a great road trip. Thoroughly entertaining performances by a great ensemble of actors. Laughed all the way through. Would love to go on that trip again!

OK, it's a future cult classic like Fear and Loathing in LV. But why should I care about these losers? And, yes, they are human beings and I was probably a boring stoner at that age too.

A fun and quirky movie with elements Cheech and Chong in its drug references and the chaos of those on the edges of society but with a lot of heart which comes through the great performances of the cast.

What a ride!! The characters, the music and the story were epic! I got to see it again

OKAY... WE DID GET ONE LIKE THIS:

Ouch. It's been a long time since I've been physically angry with a movie for wasting two hours of my life. Verging on incompetent. Or maybe I just needed to be seriously ripped ... which clearly the filmmakers were.

BUT EVERY OTHER WAS LIKE THIS:

A trip-e, entertaining, laugh-out-loud ride that I would like to take again! Amazing sound track, awesome cinematography, well developed characters and great fun!

SPECIAL SCREENING Friday May 13th

2011-04-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

http://santacruz.bside.com/2011/films/nightofthealien_vaughnverdi_santacruz2011

KANSAS CITY FILM FESTIVAL

2011-04-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

It’s cold and raining when Club Stencel picks me up at the Kansas City International Airport. Club rightly being a bit freaked about a family emergency and might have to be leaving town at any moment. Even still, he’s got a ton ‘o micro brewed beer and ready for a good time.

We drive to the KC film fest’s fearless leader Fred Andrews’ pad, where we’ll be spending the night. Fred, Club, and I have a film-festaculiar conversation and then head on over the the AMC Mainstreet Theater Movie Palace... and palace it is, where even the bathrooms look like the belong in a cinema sultan’s crib.

Club and I check out Don Lewis’ doc ‘Worst in Show’ about the worlds ugliest dogs and it’s pretty darn entertaining. The sound and picture here look amazing! But then again, it is like the most technology advanced theater in the world.

Festival platinum player Club Stencel just happens to be good pals with Don, of course, and who along with fellow movie mavin Mark Bell, break bread with us at Chipotle. We watch another doc, then along with festival jurist Marceil Wright, head on over to:

The Flying Saucer Drought Emporium: Oh man, there’s about as many beer choices here as there are food items on Jerry’s Famous Deli’s menu. From Delirium Nocturnum to Flying Dog Raging Bitch to Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale, and many others orders abound. I, am just sipping a coke. Tim De Paepe and Tom Horton drop by, both ordering cokes too, and the cinema wars begin. ‘Observe and Report rules’.... ‘no it doesn’t’... ‘Death Proof is way better than Planet Terror’.... ‘no it’s not’.... ‘Pulp Fiction is Tarantino’s best’... ‘no way Jackie Brown totally is’.... this goes on till we close the place at two in the morning.

Next morn Club discovers he’s got a couple more days before his family business so we travel to the Bottoms for breakfast at the Genessee Royal, this converted gas station with amazing food. John Nirenberger and De Paepe arrive and the conversation turns to, what else? Movies.

The Kid Friendlies arrive from LA and we drive out of the city to have some BBQ at Sneed’s. Next up is:

The screening, where there’s more people than expected, being this was sort of a work in progress ‘special screening’ type thing. The movie looks great and the Q&A goes pretty well.... I really have to keep reminding myself this is a movie that needs to ‘sink in’.

Next day is pretty much more eating in and around KC before going to a screening of Michael Biehn’s ‘Victim’. The crown jewel of the festival. Biehn and wife/co-star Jennifer Blanc do a long interview with tastemaker Jeff Goldsmith for his podcast, which is informative and interesting. I wander back to the hotel room sometime after one in the morning, only to discover:

Club Stencel has a wild party raging, which keeps right on raging till hotel security shuts it down a bit after three in the morning. But that doesn’t even stop party master Club, who takes the good times to another location, breaking up sometime after six AM.

On very little sleep the next morning Club and I head on over to the filmmakers brunch where there’s a Southern style spread that’s pretty darn tasty. Turns out the movie did do some ‘sinking in’ because lots of people are talking to me about it in a great way... unsolicited.

Later that night the KFs and I see a pretty interesting shorts program. And then it’s off to the awards where Don Lewis’ ‘Worst in Show’ wins best documentary.

Last day in KC has me and the Friendlies hanging out at Tim De Paepe’s super cool condo pad, inclusive of a state of the art screening room. Right as we are about to head back to LA we see a resident of De Paepe’s said condo complex stuck behind a broken parking lot gate. A young lawyer who need to be getting to the court house ASAP. So we give him a ride and along the way asks ‘what are you doing in KC?’ Once he hears the name of the movie we brought he says ‘that was playing at the AMC downtown, right?’... ‘Yes’.... ‘I read something about that movie’...

DIGITAL POSTING

2011-03-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Frantastic trailer

2011-03-19T16:35:00.001-07:00

Interview with Reed Papadopoulos

2011-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Stoner space ships

2011-01-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

Some of the early alien space ship ideas by CGI artist Robert Rossoff.

THE IDEA FOR A MOVIE

2011-01-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

The initial spark for musing Night of the Alien was simply a not so simple question.

“What if you picked up a hitchhiker, dressed like a B-movie alien, who claimed to actually BE an alien, and never once let up on that schtick?”

Taking it a bit further...

“What if this ‘alien’ was constantly spewing out universal truths and did something ‘kinda’ magical?”... kinda

Would you be driving around some crazy person, or might this ‘person’ actually be... an alien?

Hmmmmm.....

FINISHING IN FEBRUARY

2011-01-21T20:10:00.001-08:00

Is there an upside to making a movie on a budget of air? Well, there’s no crushing deadlines or ‘investor’ telling you what you can and can’t do, so can just let the creative risk taking fly... as one is able.

Downside? Well, there’s no investor keeping you on a crushing deadline so the flick can actually get finished as your services ‘donated’ continually keep getting doled out according to time and convenience.

Thus, a little production can get frustratingly stuck in the purgatory of waiting... a few more music cues here, bit ‘o audio sweetening there, more mixing, new van sound, roto scoping, digital face beatifying, final screening ready outputting...

Thank god this coming February the clouds finally appear to be opening to the heavens, putting that final completion clearly in sight.... or is it?

Thus far every set back been a some sort of blessing, so?

Fingers crossed...

Danny, hoarder or collector?

2011-01-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

What some folks might consider garbage, Danny considers a windowsill wonder.

The Bieber Theory

2011-01-17T17:39:00.001-08:00

A middle aged plain as can be English woman, living alone with a cat named Pebbles, or is she?... Plain as can be...

There better singers than Susan Boyle? Sure.

But the right story, at the right time, with some viral exposure, and talent... equals phenomenon... sometimes...

Anyone can blow up at anytime...

Ask that kid from Canada... making youtube videos... and then....

The speed of exposure... can’t argue with results...

More on the Music

2011-01-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

Eric Wolford, AKA DJ Wolfie, explains his thought process and state of mind for scoring Night of the Alien’s clothing store scene.

The Kardashian Theory

2011-01-11T15:54:00.001-08:00

Doesn’t matter what one does, if anything. The masses just gotta know who the heck you are. That’s it! Oh yeah. This, is the society in which we now live.

Exposure trumps content, makes sense, right? Who isn’t enchanted by the antics of Snooki? Google Snoo... and then... it knows... even before Snoop Dog... SNOOP DOG!

Is the secret to success really just as simple as having nothing more than a kinda gross, yet engaging personality plastered all over a cable reality show? Maybe.

What would Ted Williams, that homeless dude with a rich golden voice, STILL be doing if not for that viral video?

Yes, it’s true. The surest way of making it is putting every effort imaginable into getting your brand out... worrying about any actual content... well, later. Brand recognition, those talented folks able to pull that one off are entertainment’s true heros.

Content without exposure is like clapping in the forest, if no one’s listening... are you really clapping? If no one’s noticing, are you really entertaining?

the CGI guy

2011-01-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

Robert Rossoff chats about his thoughts on creating the CGI for Night of the Alien as well as his approach to movie making. Robert's visual effect credits also include Star Trek, Shrek, and Alice in Wonderland.

DOIN’ THE LIMBO

2011-01-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

Waiting.... to see where and when this flick is gonna screen. Yeah, there’s still be a bit ‘o posting yet to be tweaked, but nothing that can’t be rocked once there’s a call to action.

This is fursure the roughest stage of makin’ a movie... Getting a gang of creative types bonded for long hard hours of throwing down hard core. Wrangling semi-exotic locations and gear. Not a prob... Making sweet music, finding and clearing bitchen tunes, a bad ass opening title sequence, roto scoping and compositing till the cows come home. Done that.

What we can’t do is know the tastes of all those gosh darn festival programers, of which one will say “Why this is the movie I’ve been looking for”. He or she is there... somewhere... sipping a pikes roast, watching the clouds go by, sleeping in.

So we wait. For that next chess move...

some talk about the score

2010-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Statement of the Director

2010-11-15T13:34:00.001-08:00

Props and mad hailing to anyone who completes a flick. It’s lotsa work, work, WORK... the whole darn way. How does one do this sort of crazy thing when EXTREMELY short on resources? Look at what you actually have, write a script utilizing what you got, call in every favor, find a cast and crew as insane as you are, and GO FOR IT. Amazing thing is, when you have what some would believe to be an original compelling project ya just might get a few of those talented folks to throw down.

The first mantra of making Night of the Alien was “follow your gut”, no matter how illogical choices might seem. Here was subject matter and a cast that would never get ‘green lit’ under any other circumstances, yet it was was also a chance to create something no one had ever really seen before. Magic ALWAYS trumped logic, decisions made according to what just ‘felt’ right. Bottom line being not to have some ‘higher purpose’ or change any lost souls one lost soul at a time, but purely and simply to JUST ENTERTAIN, with a seamless mix of story-acting-visuals-music and tone.

A directors role is to inspire, providing an environment that facilitates the artistic self-actualization of every person involved. Movies are truly a group effort and when there’s no monetary reward the bliss comes from a satisfaction of being part of creating something uniquely special, exhausting yourselves eighteen hour days not to just follow some trend or find ‘distribution’, but to make the super coolest movie possible.

EVOLVE

2010-11-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Entertainment is commerce, so every possible effort must be made so every element in place guarantees the investment put in to said project makes a profit. Thus, it is most prudent to secure elements with a proven track record of success... actors, directors, producers, writers, who have knocked something fiscally out of the park. Another big hedge is tried and true story concepts, things people have seen, enjoyed, and bought lots of tickets for in the past. The understandable mantra of the big boys, the system. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, as long as formulas work, they will go on and on and on.

We also got the indie ‘studio’ world, where more ‘chances’ are taken, but all that bankableness is still there, gaining cred rather than getting that fat paycheck. The formulas are still there too, just done in a more thought provoking artsy kinda of way. Good stuff, sometimes.

Last and for sure least, is those flicks where hopeful ammeters fly by the seat of their pants to make something, anything. Most of what this particular group makes pretty much sucks. Even if it’s kinda pretty good, there’s still none of those hedge betting wonders to make it worth marketing. That’s why professionals make movies.

So, we as the public movie watching audience can always be guaranteed of fairly consistent choices of entertainment. But then again, novels had a their consistent ‘things’ through out time too, as had plays, painting, and music.

Yet every once in a while Picasso has to brush some cubes, four lads from Liverpool make a ‘concept’ album, James Joyce writes Ulysses. Something unbelievable, un-understandable. And those formentioned artists were already proven commodities.

You still need the math, mastery of technique, and structure. But art can not evolve unless that math, technique, and structure is every once in a while presented in an original way. ‘Original’ that doesn’t initially ‘seem’ marketable, at least to the hedge betters in charge. What’s this all mean? I don’t know, that artistic evolution only comes from ‘established’ artists every once and a while being ‘allowed’ to think out of the box.

But wait, there’s more. The fluke, something coming out of nowhere that shouldn’t, a force of unique creativity so strong, it takes hold of people’s imagination, defying the logic of the powers that be, undeniably making it’s way into mass conscious, thus becoming the next ‘big thing’ those ‘powers that be’ begin chasing.

Like everything, movies as an art form have to evolve, they must. The rougher road much less taken.

Night of the Alien trailer - characters

2010-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

character interlude

2010-10-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

meet Lucky

Pickin’ up some inserts

2010-10-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Actual production over? Nope.

After this little cast and crew screening in the depths of the show cave, where members of the posse, who hadn’t seen the movie like a thousand times, finally got their little peek. Super human man of a thousand jobs Kelly Jones, pointed something out. We needed inserts of characters, who after appearing early in the film, come back much later. There’s dialog in the movie summoning said characters to their destinations, but with out a visual, said characters were getting lost in the audience’s mind.

Real Deal goes into producer mode and a time is set to shoot inserts of LUCKY and EDDIE.

The day starts at the Real Deal’s ‘secret’ hideout parking lot, where a little set of Lucky’s lair has been built with some flats. Kelly Jones, Raz, and the actors arrive, joining Lord and Lady Deal, ready to DO THIS.

RD begins dressing the set, Kelly starts lighting for the movie camera, Raz sets up the behind the scenes camera, the actors put on their make up, Lady Deal is helping all.

After a tweaking issue with the monitor, we begin shooting Lucky. Since no sound or coverage is needed, everything goes quick and smooth for a change. Main issue being making sure the action syncs with the dialog we’ll be L-cutting over, being at picture lock means messing with that now would cause all kinds of work flow issues later.

As the set for Eddie is being set up we decide to take advantage of having an actor in character and having a set. So proceed with interviews of Lucky the character and Lucky the actor.

Next is Eddie’s insert. RD’s created a little intentionally low budget looking video shoot for Eddie to rock out to, we got this custom guitar from Hot Picks USA, Kelly is positioned way up high in his shooting perch. Away we go. Once again, no audio or coverage, so all goes well.

Kelly has recently become the kingpin of Wrightwood, so just having him around makes Raz suggest we interview him for the EPK. In typical KJ fashion, sound bite after sound bite flows out of his lips. The Deal does an interview as well and we wrap.

Easiest day ever.... MONTHS after we ‘thought’ shooting was wrapped.

PS.... these inserts have been dropped into the time line and work great.

Neil Lisk

2010-09-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Neil, an exceptional person. Truly. Kind, hard working, funny, dedicated, loving husband and father. A gentle soul. His talent as an artist, unparalleled. Rare it is to know someone who actually makes those around him better people. Not by any conscious effort, but by simply being humble, real, and true. One could not help but be the best they could in his presence. First to arrive, last to leave, no aspect of anything ever being ‘beneath’ him. He believed in others. A major facilitator in manifesting dreams. Light, angles, blocking, set ups, movement, depth effortlessly kept in his head. Multiple jobs unbelievably executed simultaneously. Never letting pettiness or ‘politics’ get in the way of larger goals. Kind and patient with anyone struggling, kept his opinions only for ears who needed to hear. Everything he worked on was better because of his monumental talent, everything. Thought the world of his wife and daughter. Genuinely cared about creating meaningful art. Always gave 100%, always. Intense and focused, yet finder of just the right moment to be light and joking. A true friend. He would never let you down. Fragile at times, with moments of frustration, worry, and doubt. Always believing one could do anything one set ones mind to. An influence and shining example in his craft, art, caring family life, and attitude toward life. Not a day will go by where someone does not think about Neil and smile, for every life he touched, for the rest of their life.

I was fortunate and blessed to direct his first feature and his last. Neil Lisk, a wonderful presence to forever ponder upon, irreplaceable on every conceivable level of what it is to be human. I love you :)

character interlude

2010-09-22T16:29:00.003-07:00

Ronald of Jarvis talks a bit about his life

story telling & editing

2010-09-09T11:18:00.001-07:00

This ENTIRE movie was pretty much hella tweaked, rebuilt, and rewritten during the editing process. Some of the story concepts that seemed pretty cool on paper just didn’t end up translating all that well on screen... so measures had to be taken.

Scenes were shuffled, moved, and split LIKE CRAZY... since a good part of the story is told in non-linear flashbacks, there was a lot to play around with and no real ‘wrong’ way of presenting things. The real time part of the tale remained linear, but any part of the story that didn’t have to be exactly set in time became fair game for being shuffled around. The non-linear or FLASHBACK sequences we’re placed every which way possible until just the right combination was found to give the story proper flow, comprehension, and sense of magic. Yeah, the first half of the movie was pretty much Frankensteined, inclusive of actually pulling lines from one scene and sticking them into another.

The second half of the flick presented a whole nother slew of issues. The movie becomes linear at this point(though flash backs in the original script went well into the second half of the flick), many of the scenes ‘felt’ long, slowing the movie down big time. So lots ‘o lines got cut, and lots of scenes got cross cut with other scenes. Any dialog that didn’t serve the story got axed, yeah this included lots ‘o funniness, but if it didn’t have to be there... GONE. In order to make the story pop and flow scenes featuring different characters taking place at the same time in different locations were cross cut. Longer scenes became many shorter scenes intercut between each other. Once again lines were pulled from one part of a scene and moved into another.

The goal is ALWAYS to make the best, most entertaining movie possible. So going to what ever lengths, and taking what ever time necessary to get there was a given. Being independent and answering to like, NO ONE, means we have that time... and though it’s taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears... ultimately FOUND A WAY of making this movie work in an entertaining, magical way.

CHARACTER INTERLUDE

2010-08-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

Danny talks about his bike gang

editing on FCP

2010-08-05T11:48:00.001-07:00

The movie was, and still is, edited with Apple’s Final Cut Pro, which is the gold standard for indie filmmaking. FCP is fairly easy to use and once familiar with, can pretty much cut at the speed of thought.

EVERYTHING we shot got ingested, almost two whole terabytes of raw data. The footage was then separated into scenes, set ups, and takes. Proper documenting is the most important element of editing. The time you spend sorting stuff out up front saves WAY more time figuring stuff out later.

Each scene got it own sequence, making it easy to logically jump around the footage. The ‘final cut’ actually ended up being nothing like the original script, so having all these sequenced scenes at your finger tips proved to be very handy.

EVERY zero and one of digital HD footage was looked at. First cut being the ‘string out’, or every scene laid out in it’s entirety in the exact order of the script. String out number one totally SUCKED, causing the director to go on suicide watch. BUT, this is just a starting point, NOT the finished movie, what happens before all the hours, hours, and HOURS of tweaking needed to get everything just right.

Biggest bitch was dealing with continuity, performance was top consideration, mostly trumping continuity in the decision making process. Lighting, great ad-libbing, and sound we’re factored in as well.

All in all it took getting up to version a 5.2 to get to picture lock.

work flow

2010-07-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

One of many things that can make or break a production, especially when going at break neck speed, is work flow. How images get in and out of the camera, then into an editing program.

What really saved our butts was SD memory cards(the same ones used in digital cameras), the format of the Panasonic HMC150. A 32 & 16 gig card gave us over 6 hours worth of recording time. Thus never having to stop to down load footage, bring an extra lap top, or hard drive, which would have been the case using the P2 format.

Each night after shooting, the SD cards were plugged into an adaptor(same one used with digital cameras and cell phones) plugged into the USB port of a mac pro tower. The footage was imported, binned, and documented before being backed up on a second hard drive. The SD cards were then cleared for the next day of shooting. Made for some pretty long nights, but luckily the ingesting was able to be multi-tasked along with documenting and binning. Backing up was done over night, clearing the SD chips early the next day.

Over all this work flow ‘worked’ pretty well. There was some downloading on set the days we were using the X200 camera with P2 cards. The only downtime when actually shooting was waiting for the SD cards to be cleared when they weren’t. Easy workflow is one good reason to shoot with an HMC150.

Character interlude

2010-07-12T08:10:00.001-07:00

meet Marty

SHOOT RECAP - continuity

2010-07-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

If there was one thing, just one thing, to have more use of during this shoot(besides of course TIME) it would not be camera gear, locations, lights, grips, gaffers, craft service, or sound equipment... it’d be... FULL TIME continuity.

Oh how this little project would have gone so much smoother with someone, taking note of all those actors being here, there, who’s hand was doing this, head turned like that. Yes, you can edit around this stuff when ya got lots of coverage, but shooting up to ten pages a day didn’t allow much of that. The actors did remarkably well, considering, but still TOTALLY paid in post... totally...

Paid in other ways too with basically no one keeping track of all those lines of dialog? In one example, the script had to actually be modified, solely to fix when one of the actors referred to on thing one way here and another way there... a flub that would need no correcting if we had a freaking continuity person.

Yes, the Real Deal had his crew were constantly taking pictures of sets, but props still kept moving around all over the place. A continuity person, any continuity person, would have been just what the Real Deal needed to keep his peeps spending more time on their real jobs.

And speaking of real jobs, it was left to the actors to keep track of their wardrobe, where and when. Luckily, our story takes place during a small amount of time, meaning very little ‘costume’ changes. But sure would have ben nice having someone besides an actor keeping track of all that stuff.

Having said all that, we actually did have a continuity person for about two days, inclusive of the 11 page mother of all scenes when we REALLY needed it.... and needless to say for those two days, Tom was the most popular person on set.

photos by Suzan Jones

Character Interlude

2010-07-04T13:36:00.001-07:00

meet Eddie

SHOOT RECAP - modifying scenes

2010-06-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

When each day is a new adventure of craziness and ain’t no time or $ for much pre-production, you’re gonna go a little off script... not necessarily a bad thing.

In the indie movie making world TIME is always a major issue. There is NEVER enough of it. So on those days(like, every day) when you is running behind, ya gotta make some modifications. This usually means cutting what ever possible out of a scene, still move the story, and save on set ups. Yes, this can and does usually come back to bite you in the ass so need to be very careful about what does go, but when you can’t get said location back... You’ve got to. For example, all that extra banter in the band rehearing scenes... in a room which took too WAY long to light, didn’t lend itself to master shots, and contained multiple characters... GONE

SOME STUFF PLAYS OUT NOT QUITE AS PLANNED Yes, there are times(on a movie no matter how big or small) where the initial vision of the flick is not necessarily what you end up getting. So gotta make the most of what you DID get. In our case, we actually ended up getting a more streamlined work... For example, the apparent tragedy of one of our actors almost dying, seriously HE ALMOST DIED, forced the production to take some time off during his recovery. Thus providing a bit ‘o unexpected extra time for the script to get tweaked, plugging plot holes, and smoothing out all that didn’t quite play out as ‘planned’.

ACTORS LIKE AD LIBBING the script was pretty much kept to, but a couple of those crazy thespians also just happen to be EXCELLENT improvisers.. so just let ‘em roll, getting in and out of scenes. Some of the funniest stuff in the movie came from this. Feeling out scenes also got better as the actors got to know each other. We shot the second part of the movie first and the first part last, which ended up working wonderfully. In the second half of the movie our heros(Fran and the Lord of Evil and Darkness) are in some rather weird and bizarre situations... tentative and ‘by the book’, good. In the first part of the flick our heros are just having a fun, drug induced, good ‘ol road trip.... actors being comfortable with each other, freely messing around, good too!

photos by Suzan Jones

character interlude

2010-06-24T12:28:00.001-07:00

Meet Danny Wycoff

REBELS ARE WE

2010-06-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Sitting around jawing one night with some of the other weird outsider-ish compadres working on this movie sorta got us coming to a bit ‘o a conclusion... that we’re kinda like rebels fighting the Empire. Ya know, strapped into beat up little x-wings, trying to blow up the mighty Death Star.

EMIPRE: LOTS of $ at stake....... the Empire is HUGE and under it’s far reaching umbrella A LOT more than just movies are made. They gotta keep making the big bucks to help pay for their enterprises losing $...

REBELS: $?? At stake??? We’re just trying to make something cool, different, and entertaining.

EMPIRE: It’s about math, HEDGING, we were just talking about $ at stake. Do we have the right ‘proven’ screenwriter-director-producer? Does the packaging add up? It’s not so much how good or what the project actually is, it’s who’s the ones creating it. No one’s gonna get fired if a movie staring Kelso and the chick from Grey’s Anatomy tanks. Kelso and that chick from Grey’s are money.... and if their wonderful work of fiction actually makes some bread, don’t even matter if it’s watchable.

REBELS: Just trying to make something cool, different, and entertaining here.

EMPIRE: Will test-test-TEST their product with the dumbest audiences possible in order to taylor their wares for the largest demographic possible.

REBELS: Cool, different, entertaining. Anyone?

EMPIRE: Keeps relaunching the same assets over and over and OVER again. But they’re proven franchises, right? Franchises that make.... there we go with that $ thing again.... Jaden Smith rules :)

REBELS: Don’t got any rights to 80s franchises, action series, or sitcoms.

EMPIRE: Has bucks, BIG bucks, enough to shove ANYTHING down ANYONE’S throat.

REBELS: Ah???

And yes, we are even Rebels even in the indie world... doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what an indie flick is SUPPOSED to be doing. Cuz even in the indie world in order to get your work seen you STILL need stars, a ‘defined’ genre(preferably action flick), your protagonist needs to have ‘defined’ goals, and there must be a ‘defined’ demographic who will go see your little movie.

We got NO stars, NO ‘defined’ genre, our protagonist is a pot smoking slacker, living off her dad, with absolutely NO goals... and demographic?? Who the hell knows.

All we set out to do was make something cool, different, and entertaining.

Is all that time shooting womp rats gonna help find a break through??... stay tuned...

SHOOT RECAP - make up and wardrobe

2010-06-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

In order to get proper looking aliens, crack heads, slackers, strippers, death metal lead singers, high maintenance mistresses, stoners, and thugs at least some form of make up is required. And we had exactly one, count ‘em ONE make up gal... the ever mighty Suzan Jones, also doubling as set photographer, boom operator, sound mixer, sometimes actress, and mom.

How’d Suzan pull this one off. Well, no one really knows for sure, but somehow SHE DID. Usually one of the first to arrive(after a one and a half hour drive... that’s right ONE AND A HALF HOURS) Suzan would immeaditaly tear into the actor in need of the most ‘camera ready’ make up, usually being one of the girls, who could all actually do their own make up if need be with Suzan doing touch ups.

There were some specialty ‘looks’, like the dark circles under Lucky’s crack head eyes and sores around his crack head mouth. The ‘alien’ required quite a bit of preparing as well.

Most fun was watching Suzan continually hopping down from the boom ladder to touch up an actor, before taking another behind the scenes pic... THAT was some multi-tasking.

Wardrobe was a whole nother matter. In the beginning we ‘thought’ the actors would be able to keep track of all their garb. Then there was DAY 4(see earlier post), making the Real Deals set up a ‘wardrobe central’ to keep track of stuff.

There wasn’t really a ‘costume designer’, so before we started shooting all the main actors brought several wardrobe choices to the Real Deal for review. The Deal being THEE production designer(and not being color blind) would then pick what worked best in context of the ‘look’ of the movie. All the other actors brought several wardrobe choices their first day on set and Deal would do his thing.

Everyone’s favorite Thug Julian got his whole get up at the 99 cent store.

Any wardrobe question became a Real Deal question(just another one his eighteen or so jobs).

All and all everything worked out pretty well, considering all the running and gunning. Suzan and RD have like 35 years production experience between them, so it really helped that they knew what the hell they were doing. The actors did a great job creating all of their ‘looks’ too.

So ya don’t always need rows and rows of Star Wagons to get results.

photos by Suzan Jones

SHOOT RECAP - blocking

2010-06-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

No storyboards were used in the making of this movie. Really? How could we? Well, running, gunning, and unknown quantities abounding.

Blocking was done according to time and coverage. Actors would rehearse the scene as they might ‘play it out’ naturally, the Set General would get all the coverage in his head and then shoot.

As per usual there was never enough time, so many times we’d have to just stud one take in order to get EVERYTHING in a master. This usually meant a little more time blocking, putting actors in just the right spots where we’d need the least amount of set ups.

The biggest blocking challenge was the mother of all scenes(day 10), where up to 11 characters were interacting at once. The General had ‘em go through the scene as they would naturally, which ended up looking like a stage play, not working at all. Waiting for their next marching orders, the actors started chatting in small groups, each one irrespective of the others. There was our answer.

The ten page scene(which has since been cut down and checker boarded), was split in two parts, each taking over an hour to block. But got all that time back in well conceived set ups, which were broken down to the minimum amount necessary.

Moral of the story... block-block-BLOCK to get the most out of your time and coverage.

photos by Suzan Jones

"Everybody hold for the train!"

2010-05-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

I was cast in this movie the way every actor dreams of being cast. I walked into Jetset Studios one day, came face to face with Rob and Vaughn, and Rob asked Vaughn, “How about him?” Vaughn nodded, turned to me and asked, “Want to be the lead in a movie?”

After a great table read where I got to know the most of the cast (many of them were people I already knew, which is always fun), we were off and running. There were many things that impressed the hell out of me on this shoot. The main thing was everybody’s unflinching commitment.

Many of us have been on countless movie sets, so we all know what a difference it makes if everybody is in good spirits and is, as Vaughn says, “Throw Down.” Well, everybody here was about as “Throw Down” as could be and it made for a great shooting experience. That’s not to say there were some drawbacks, of course. There always are. But they were quite minimal considering this was a no-budget movie where the majority of it was shot in a space where a train crossed every few minutes. (Poor Kelly.)

It is now months later. Shooting has finished. I can only imagine Vaughn is close to picture-lock. People ask me all the time what the movie is about and to this day I can’t help but say, “You got a minute?” After about five minutes of an explanation and seeing the wide-eyed expression of the listener, I always end up saying, “You’ll just have to see it.”

I for one, am very excited.

SHOOT RECAP - sets built and to build

2010-05-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

When you’re budget is less than it takes for Tom Cruise to exist for five seconds, ya gotta pick and choose where to go full auto. Luckily we had the Real Deal doing the sets, his over 20 years in the biz didn’t hurt either. Deal did all the picking and choosing, deciding what extremes, from leaving a location exactly as it was to building an entire set from scratch.

On the very first day was one such extreme, where Real Deal, his trusted Art Director Katia, and sidekick Hector(also an actor that day) built the Lord of Evil and Darkness entire lair from an empty room in the Kid Friendlies basement. Deal also created the front porch of Marty’s trashed house, using a bunch of props already around the KF’s front yard area.

D$ pad went to both extremes. $ abode is a production designers dream. Real Deal took one look at this wonder and said “gotta use this place and not changing a thing’. D$ back porch looked so AMAZING we switched up a scene just to use it. Back yard didn’t need much changing, just a puffy sword hitting 4x4, which kept getting knocked out of it’s base. The living room was an entirely different situation, where Deal did do his dealing, completely transforming the place with props-props-PROPS, inclusive of a big Asteroids arcade machine.

And speaking of props, the Deals went all out on ‘em for this flick. The downtown location and Gina’s we’re pretty much left intact, cept for ALL THE PROPS the deals got from all over Los Angeles, fully transforming said locations to fit our needs.

Over at Jet Set the Deal moved every piece of furniture to get just the right look for the master shot, transforming the place with what else, props. Most of ‘em this time made by master craftswoman Katia and the Deal himself.

Shannon’s place was the other extreme. A location as so perfect nothing was needed to be done. Just shooting.

Same went for Squaresville and the Candy store too.

POSTER IDEAS

2010-05-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

SHOOT RECAP - locations

2010-05-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

One of the Real Deal’s main mantras is GANG UP LOCATIONS, and who wouldn’t want to listen to the Real Deal. So to stay on schedule we shoot out as much as we could at each and every location.

Schedules being the BIG mess that they were, this turned out to be a great strategy. Not only did it allow for less days of shooting, it also meant being able to set up camp in one place then shoot, shoot, shoot.

Here’s the break down:

The Kid Friendlies pad was Marty’s house, the Lord of Evil and Darkness’ bedroom, and the location of an outdoor pay phone.

D$ pad was Ronald’s playroom, Reed’s kitchen, Reed’s backyard, Reed’s porch, and Lucky’s lair.

Gina’s pad was Ronald’s house, Ronald’s living room, King Taco’s bedroom, a mysterious place Fran walks to.

T Barlo’s was Esmeralda’s house and Reed’s living room.

The Jones’ was Fran’s family room, Fran’s Bathroom, a nondescript room, a random city street.

Shannon’s old pad was Fran’s kitchen, Fran’s bedroom, Fran’s living room.

Our mysterious down town location was all things the vortex of destiny interior and exterior, where characters play music, get stoned and talk shit about each other.

A road off the 14 served up all kinds exterior scene stuff.

So did another road WAY off the 14

Jet set was Voltage management’s lobby, Rick’s office, and a place to shoot green screen.

The Set General’s another place to shoot Green Screen

So was a Church parking lot

There were also some one offs like Squaresville

and the Candy store

And just out on the road and city in general.

Swordplay

2010-05-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Reed Papadopoulos is no stranger to me. In a way, I’ve known him for years, and so when Vaughn needed to give him a breath of life, we went to the source—Gint, of course.

The similarities between Reed and Gint are numerous. Gint injured both his arms fighting in a medieval combat sport tournament—so did Reed. Both have scars from the resulting surgery. Both wear the same green tunic. And both know the significance of lemons and cloves, baby.

So we raided Gint’s armory. Weapons, helmets, plate mail—he has it all, and we posted pics for Vaughn and Rob to review. Rob took what he needed, which was a lot--he was using the props and costumes for various locations.

When Gint showed up at my house the day of filming, I wasn’t sure what would happen when he and Reed met up. Would one of them disappear? Like Superman and Clark Kent, I wasn’t sure which was the guy from Krypton and which was the mild-mannered reporter. You never see them at the same time. But neither disappeared, and in fact they were happy to see each other since it had been a while.

They worked on a couple of moves with some foam swords. Santino joined in since he knows his way around a weapon. Cute but scary—I stayed out of the way.

Later in the evening, Reed went to Gint’s house to try on the armor and take a few swipes at the pell, which is a striking target. In the end, I was able to tell Reed and Gint apart, but they are still like brothers of the sword.

I think we can do better, part 1

2010-05-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

I had read the script a few weeks after Vaughn wrote it. I loved it. Quirky characters on a road trip who happen to save the world. You don't see that often. He talked about getting some "friends" of his as producers on the project to finance it, and I thought "OK, this script is definitely doable on an extremely low budget."

Fast-forward 5 months - The producers hadn't raised a dime, the SAG contract would cost $20,000 just to start it, and Vaughn said the producers wanted to wait 6 more months, which often turns into 6 years. So, Vaughn says "I am not waiting for these producers, I can do it myself, without SAG actors and I can shoot it in my 2 room apartment with no dough!" Realistic? Somewhat. Dramatic? Definitely! AWESOME! I think we can do better and I am on board.

What was I thinking? I've done many projects for people for free in the past and promised myself never again. This time not only was it free, but I would use my own funds, becoming a producer with Vaughn. I would be making a movie I love and believe in; maybe not a bad move. I love the indie film world, film making, and applying my craft: production design. Little did I know at that time, what kind of film we would end up with. SUPERB.

As mid-December approached, our actors fell into place. At a meeting, Vaughn and I were talking and into the office walks a guy who looks exactly like our main character. He is an actor, and we cast him right there and then. From the time I was committed, the project always felt to me that things fell into place. Even if our plans fell apart, I always said to Vaughn, "It's for the best" or "something better will rise from the setback." We had a table read for the cast and I was pumped up.

End of Part 1.

Vaughn wants to do what???

2010-05-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Rob and I were able to read the script for "Night of the Alien" back when Vaughn seemed to be pumping out a script a minute. They were all great, but that one stood out as truly unique. We loved it. Later, we heard that he was going to get it made and that he had some producers on board. Great! I don't remember how much later, but Rob met with Vaughn, and when he came back, said that the producers had backed out, and Vaughn planned to shoot the movie in his bedroom if need be. "Vaughn wants to do what??" Rob said we could do better. At first I was horrified at the thought of making a movie with zero money. How many projects had we done thus far for free or next to free? Hadn't we said we were not doing any more FREE projects?? But the more I thought about it, and the more time went by, more and more people were on board and it seemed like a doable thing.

Casting had started, consisting of many of Vaughn's friends. Rob went to a table read and thought they were great. Our mutual friend Neil, the brilliant DP was on board and Rob would be production designing and producing, along with Vaughn. We had an initial meet and greet and the incomparable Shakey's Pizza in West Hollywood. We met a lot of the actors and other awesome people who were ready and willing to "throw down" for the good of the project. Rob and I tried to collect people's availability, so we'd know how best to schedule things. We felt good, leaving that evening.

We spoke to our friend who is a veteran First AD. He liked the script and had offered to help, but had to back out in the end, due to another project. He did, however, give us a template for a schedule. If we were going to do this thing, we had to do it right! Not only did we need a daily shoot schedule to keep track of all the scenes and characters and locations, but we were making a movie here! Money or no money, it was a bonafide movie and we needed to treat it as such. We made a contact list, e-mail list, call sheet and schedule. This movie was coming together. Our friend who is a prop master, and who conveniently had recently worked on a bong-heavy movie was willing to loan us a bunch of props. We met him at his trailer and collected bongs of various sizes, fake guns, fake weed, fake money, rings, rolling papers, etc. We were on our way. We rented a few Renn Faire things from a local prop house, where we got a great deal. This was a real movie, afterall. We couldn't forget that. Luckily, Rob had just come off of big movie job, so he had a bit of money at his disposal, which he used here and there to pay for things. We got a great deal at our big location, where we ended up shooting 5 days. And though money was extremely tight, a movie wouldn't be a movie without craft service! Though we often were hitting up Trader Joe's close to their closing time, and fully exhausted at the end of a shoot day, we had to have breakfast items, snacks and drinks and a ton of coffee on board each day. Keeping up crew morale on a movie where no one was making any money was of the utmost importance.

Things went along. We started shooting before Christmas and got a lot done, but had to come back after the holidays to get the rest. Scheduling became harder for some, but we made it work. Any road block or obstacle we encountered, though they may have been frustrating, we tried to think of it as having happened for a reason. Something else was going to happen that would lead us in a different direction, which most often was better than the first plan.

I mostly handled props and craft service on a daily basis. I had to keep the food on the table stocked and drinks readily available. We went through pots of coffee like it was the only thing there keeping us going. Also, partway through the day, I'd have to work on the schedule for the next day, with an advance schedule of the upcoming days. That was often hard or impossible to do alone, since call times and scenes to be shot needed to be discussed with Vaughn, Rob and Neil.

The shooting was fun, but days were long. I got sick in the second half, after the holiday break. The longest day we had, I had to leave early, since I was just so sick. I could hardly breath and was not an asset at all. I felt awful leaving that night at 10PM (yes, 10PM was leaving early), knowing that they'd be there many hours later, to finish shooting, and to wrap out of that location for the last time. Rob got home at 4AM and I was so glad to hear everyone stuck around to help wrap.

Now that shooting is done, post production is well underway and things keep moving along. It's great to continue being a part of this miraculous production of such a truly unique film. Onward and upward. I am so happy that Sundance has started a new category for their festival, called Next. They allow 8 movies in the under $50K category. It's non-competitive, but could definitely allow us some buzz.

LAST DAY of SHOOTING STUFF

2010-05-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Mid-way thought posting it becomes clear. GOTTA SHOOT SOME MORE STUFF.

Could today be that day? Lets hope.

Early afternoon starts with a Set General and Raz pow wow about making a shot list. Raz has been compositing and we need more plates, especially for the frontal shots of the van. The General and Raz look at stuff, make a list, and off we go:

To Santa Clarita to shoot plates. Turn off onto a country road. The General gets in back, with all the math in his head for getting just the right shots needed along this stretch of road, inclusive of going the right speed. He shots right, left, straight ahead. Then:

More plates on the 14 & 5 freeways, staying in the left-ist of lanes for the greatest of depth. Then:

More plates on the road to nowhere in Burbank, took like forever to find, but is the road to nowhere. A little desert town in Burbank? Who’d a thought?

Wait for dusk. Then:

Shoot MORE plates in Eagle Rock, need a funky town look? Eagle Rock is pretty funky. Then:

Meet the Deals at Gina’s to get a newly needed establishing shot. One of the actors in this teeny-tiny scene is out of town so good ‘ol Gint is there to double. Ironically the costume said character’s been wearing in the movie actually belongs to Gint. The scene is wide, at night, so no one will hardly be be able to tell.

As per usual, we don’t have enough lights, so the General has Gina turn her car in the scene’s direction, turn on the cars lights, and Wha-la... scene is lit.

Grab another establishing shot in this same location. Then:

The General heads to East Hollywood for the last(WE HOPE) shot of the flick, conveniently the location is right by where another movie the General also shot is screening.

SHOOT RECAP - audio

2010-05-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Production audio consisted of a 442 mixer and mish mash of sennheiser lavs and boom, which had a fuller sound, but picked up all kinds of extra stuff that could be isolated by the lavs... long as the actors had ‘quiet’ clothing.

The sound department was expertly handled by the Jones family. THE WHOLE JONES FAMILY... Kelly, Suzan, Zeke, and Dekland, who(and don’t let the ages fool ya) both have work permits.

For the first day of shooting we used a boom and another sennheiser mounted on the camera. The boom sounded pretty good, but the mounted mic sounded horrible. So:

On the second day we used just the boom.

Same for days 3 - 5.... NOT too fun for Kelly, who thus far was pretty much a one man gang except when he was shooting then Suzan was a one girl gang, so during the forced break:

Kelly borrows five lavs and we stop using the boom, until:

The mother of all scenes, where up to eleven actors all had lines in the same scene, for that we used all the lavs and boom. Then:

Another forced break, we lost all the laves so borrowed one from Raz to go along with Kelly’s. This is how we shot all the green screen scenes.

Last couple days it was back to using two lavs and a boom.

Over all we got very good production sound on a budget of space air.

photos by Suzan Jones

Character interlude

2010-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Meet Reed Papadopoulos

ASCENT INTO MADNESS

2010-05-02T08:35:00.001-07:00

So Vaughn and I are at lunch one day and he tells me about this crazy idea he has for a script. Two friends on a road trip who meet and alien who wants to get on American idol. Okay....hmmm....sounds interesting....funny....are you taking any drugs I don't know about?...tell me more! We were walking on the street behind Aroma coffee in the Valley when he tells me this. One block away from where Robert Blake shot his wife, not that theirs the least bit of significance there, just trying to give you a picture. At this point Vaughn was fed up with trying to do something "studio" and he wanted to let the guns blaze and have some fun. We had been talking about this at great lengths in the days/weeks/months leading up to this. (Vaughn can talk, and so can I). He wanted to do something Beppo-ish, referring to his short "Beppo the Clown", and I couldn't agree more. If you haven't seen Beppo, you should. Its about a future where well-to-do people have their own personal clowns to entertain them, and it's pretty awesome. (Especially the two flamboyant flamer fellas, one being played by the hilarious Scott Ward and the other by some other awesome guy... ) Anyway, so we were discussing ideas for things we could shoot ourselves, and he tells me about this idea he has. It's about a couple of fringe folks who pick up a hitchhiking alien in the desert, whom they assume is just some lonely soul who got lost in the desert after a rave. They then encounter a few more oddballs who do a lot of drugs, shoot guns and play rock and roll really poorly. The alien has an amulet that can end the world, and he (he was a man at this point) wants the start a band to compete on American Idol, in order to spread his message of love and acceptance. He tells me it would be self contained and easy to shoot, most of it either taking place in the van or at the shack in the desert where the weirdos hang. Then he tells me he most likely has the van already secured. Okay???

We meet up and talk about the idea a few more times. Actually VV just rambles wildly over the course of a few hours and I nod. Maybe two weeks later he tells me to come over and do a table read of his new script, tentatively entitled Night of the Alien. Really? Already? Did an alien visit you at night and mind meld it to you??? So we do the reading, and its just the two of us doing all the characters at this point, or it may have been Gene Charles with us too, not sure. He was definitely there for one of the early ones. Now, its hard to digest something when you're reading it aloud for the first time, especially while acting out 28 different parts, but I remember liking it VERY much right away. It was wild and full of energy, jumping all over the place in time, just like the characters it was chronicling. While I was doing my reading, one of the characters I was doing really stuck with them, and I was locked in from that point on. I guess it was destiny. "Lemons and cloves..."

So we did a few more reads, adding people as we went, and the script got better and better. I have to say that it is now my favorite, or second favorite script VV has written, at least of the ones I have read anyway. The nutty thing is, now that its shot and in the edit room, the finished product is something entirely different. Just as crazy, just as funny, just different. Its crazy how the actual movie making process and a bunch of actors playing the characters will do that. Not to get too ahead of myself. So, everyone loves it and after one of the table reads, Vaughn tells me we are going to shoot it by the end of the year. Its now probably July and he says were going to shoot before New Years. Okay??? How??? Remember that the script seemed to fly out of him overnight. A couple of days later, and as if on cue, two members of Vaughn's posse step up and offer to produce. They start doing the legwork a producer must do, scheduling and paperwork, but get stuck somewhere in the middle of asking people for money and dealing with the Screen Actors Guild, which is one hell of a nasty bitch for anyone interested. At this point VV decides to take matters into his own hands. Hell bent on shooting by the end of the year, he gently parts ways with his producing friends, for the time being we hope, and begins to work on producing things himself. Okay? Don't we need money to shoot? And a crew maybe? Just asking... He tells me he wants to use Neil Lisk as our DP, but Neil is expensive, and since we have no money, this probably wont happen. Then, a few days later, as if the aliens came to him again in a recurring-abduction-nightmare-probing-mind meld sort of way, he tells me Neil is on board and willing to shoot for FREE, if we do it over the Holiday when he's not working. It is now October by the way. Just two short months from our start date. No biggie. Their are only a few little things left to do like finding money, a crew, locations and about 20 actors!!!

From that point on the rest is a blur. Rob and Pia Deal are there doing a ton of heavy lifting. Actors are being recommended and cast, then bailing at the last minute. Were shooting. People I recommended are showing up 4 hours late for shooting. I'm picking up lunch for 30 people at an El Pollo Loco in the barrio....and voila!!! The film is suddenly being edited and were talking about posters and log lines.

It's crazy what one madman can get a bunch of other maniacs to do if he's mad enough. I'm sure I'll probably wake up tomorrow with Vaughn telling me we won Sundance or he sold it to Fox Searchlight. Until then, I'll just keep being amazed.

SHOOT RECAP - Lighting

2010-04-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Was there really any lighting package on this shoot???... Well, that’d be, ah, almost non-existent... almost.

IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS - we pretty much had just this big bounce board, white cards, and a silver/gold reflector. Shooting out here mostly consisted of the usual running and gunning, while making quick adjustments with the little tools we did have. The monitor almost never came outside.

FOR INTERIORS - there was a couple small lights and c-stands from Gonzo, what ever Kelly had laying around, an arri kit for about eight days, and kino flos borrowed for the one green screen screen shot in a large garage... rest of the green screen being shot with natural light in a driveway and parking lot. Natural light was used much as possible, making all the necessary adjustments.

Biggest issue we had was fighting daylight, cuz we could NEVER shoot night for day. Some scenes suffered from this, ending up very much lacking in coverage. Same scenario over and over. First scene takes WAY too long to set up and finish. So the last scenes only get one or two takes and next to no coverage. But such is life on the budget of air.

And yet, the biggest advantage of not having much of a lighting rig meant having very little set ups to slow us down. Fighting day light actually acted like a first AD, FORCING us to stay on schedule. Would have been VERY hard to keep making our 10 pages a day if there were lots of lights and almost no crew to set that stuff up. The rare times we did have a lot of set ups, like in the mother of all locations, the Set General just lit the whole set and shot.

Bottom line is if you got a great DP who knows what the hell they’re doing, ya can get results under almost any circumstances.

Just gotta be a little creative.

Alien Invaders

2010-04-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

When Vaughn said he was going to produce another movie, of course I stepped up to the plate. Who wouldn't? His stories are fun, his vision is unique, and his enthusiasm is infectious. I've been watching him perfecting his craft for the last 10+ years, so I knew it would be a winner. "Tell me what you need," I said.

What did he need? My house. A location. Pack-rat by nature, I shuddered at the thought of having people invade my house and move my stuff around. But hey, anything for Vaughn.

I had three weeks off for winter break, so I had time to clear out the clutter in my house. Also in my plans for vacation were to paint a mural of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings on Santino's bedroom wall. I mentioned it to Vaughn and Rob but also that it might not be finished. Rob said, whatever you can do will be great.

So away went my clutter, and up went the mural. Big huge crates housed my extra stuff, and I crammed that into my garage and also my bedroom, which would act as my "untouchable" room; that is, a room where they wouldn't be filming so I was going to leave it in its messy state. We painted the mural--a bit unfinished but enough to present on film.

For the day of filming, I kenneled my dogs for the day and trapped my cats in my bedroom (one of my cats was an actor in one of the scenes so I wanted him on hand). Parking on my street is limited and we needed to accommodate Rob's truck. So, I parked my car strategically and blocked off an area in front of my house with trash cans so the truck would fit. Pia called me when they were pulling up at 9 am-ish, I removed the trash cans and re-parked the car. I felt like I was on the spy crew of Mission: Impossible.

Then came the transformation. When Vaughn and Rob and Neil had checked out my house in late November, I had very little vegetation in my front yard. But on this day in January, my fertile land had sprouted with foot-tall grasses. I told Rob--hey, let me cut that down for you. He reassured me--we're professionals, we'll take care of it. But you know, I wanted to pitch in, so I quickly cut down the green just enough for them to cover it up.

They unloaded the truck. Bags of landscaping rocks, potted plants, shovels, it kept coming. And wow what a job they did--first they laid down black tarp, planted desert plants, put landscaping rocks on top. It looked great. Rob said they'd remove everything before they left but I really wanted to keep it--it looked amazing and was what I wanted in my yard anyway.

Eventually Rob ran out of landscaping rocks, so I made a run to Home Depot to get more bags, the Mission: Impossible theme running through my head the whole time.

I had said to Rob and Pia--take what you need from the garage, and boy did they take me seriously! When I came back from Home Depot, my living room was transformed with wall hangings, boxes and bulky items removed from my garage for dressing the set, you name it. They found stuff I hadn't seen in years. I have no idea where they found that giant pink Care Bear. Rob and Pia said--don't worry, we'll put everything back as we found it. I knew they would-and yet, where did they find all that stuff anyway?

Funny--I spent my whole winter break clearing out the clutter in my house, just so Rob and company could create a more "deliberate" clutter that reflected the character in the story.

That day I made something like seven trips to get food, pick up Santino, pick up the dogs--I was constantly in and out. On my last trip, when I came back they had already broken the set and returned most of my things to the garage. Despite Rob's assurances that they would clean up absolutely everything, I wanted to help a little, so I put a crate into my room.

Sweeping things up, returning boxes to the garage, and then the place was cleared, just as they found it. As Rob made his last review of things in the living room, he counted the crates we had there in the morning. "Seven," he said, "we're supposed to have seven crates and I only count six." That seventh crate was the one I had put in my bedroom. Man oh man, he wasn't kidding when he said they were professionals.

Everyone left, like the end of a huge party. The truck pulled away, and I plopped onto my couch in a state of exhaustion and turned on my fully functioning t.v. The only difference between this and a party, though, was that there weren't puddles of beer and half-full soda cans laying around, and we get a movie out of it too.

Anyway, Vaughn and the crew didn't leave my house the way they found it. They left it BETTER than they found it--spotless floor and careful landscaping. All this for a little film about an alien.

ALIENS AND WEIRDOS AND WEED, OH MY!

2010-04-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Its poster tag line time, so let us consider something. What the hell is this movie? Is it -

A. An indie comedy

B. An indie slacker comedy

C. An indie slacker, stoner comedy

D. An indie slacker, stoner, sci fi comedy

E. An existential extraterrestrial road romp

F. All of the above

I like D and E, but F works fine too. What's your take?

Please leave your comments, and any ideas you have for the poster images. Don't worry if you're feeling LOST by all of this, because you could compare N.O.T.A. to the hit TV show LOST as well.

SHOOT RECAP - the camera

2010-04-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

This entire movie was shot on a Panasonic HMC150 and HVX200, mainly the 150, which was available 24-7.

The biggest advantage the 150 had for this type of shoot was the convenience and affordability of SD cards. Just a 32 and 16 gig card meant never having to stop to download any footage while filming. The camera’s small size(about 4 pounds) also allowed for inconspicuous running and gunning.

The Panasonic’s have a nice pastel look to them. A little more filmy than the Sony’s, which look so sharp you could cut yourself on the images. The camera’s stock lens is fairly wide angle. The set General HATED the 150 at first, but learned to embrace it’s ‘short comings’, inclusive of a depth of field that keeps EVERYTHING in focus. For the movie’s ‘look’ we kept the focal points consistent and just rocked out with that crazy depth of field.

As for battery life, we managed to just barely get by with one big and small one. The only time there was an issue was when the little battery ‘mysteriously’ didn’t get fully charged(see day 16).

We used an HVX200 on both big green screen days for extra coverage(see days 14 & 15). But unfortunately in all the chaos, didn’t end up matching the settings with the HMC150, luckily Raz was able to solve that issue in post. They mix pretty well.

The work horse of a tripod was one made by Libec, retailing for less that 200 bucks. Another piece of gear that performed well for the price.

All things considered the picture looks remarkably pro.

photos by Suzan Jones

A PRE COLOR CORRECTED PIC FROM EACH DAY OF SHOOTING

2010-04-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6

DAY 7

DAY 8

DAY 9

DAY 10

DAY 11

DAY 12

DAY 13

DAY 14

DAY 15

DAY 16

DAY 17

2010-04-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last day for shooting actual scenes.... WE HOPE

First round of actors arrive at said location(where we’re ganging two scenes at one place, the Real Deal way). After taking a good think about the lighting options(or lack of) the Set General decides it’s best to shoot the first scene at night rather than dusk.

And so into the car the General goes to shoot some plates for another scene set at dusk.

Upon the his Generals return, Lord and Lady Deal arrive with all the props, inclusive of a VERY heavy pay phone, which has gotta be lugged up a long-high-STEEP set of stairs.

Said fake heavy prop pay phone gets moved around and around until the perfect spot is found for all proper coverage with the least amount of set ups.... in this case two. An actor who’s in the next scene arrives and is immediately put to work holding a bounce card.

Another actor, coming later for this one set up ‘we might need it’ scene texts. He’s still on another set, running late.

The prop pay phone scene gets wrapped and the crew moves ahead in time and across town, actually about ten feet for the next scene. We’ve been at this location before, and being a house under construction, it looks quite a bit ‘different’. No problem, it’s night, we keep the shots tight, a perfect match... ish.

The actor on the other set texts again. Dude’s gonna be REALLY late. The Set General’s gotta catch an early plane the next morn for Alaska. So a decision is made to punt on the one set up ‘we might need it’ scene.

The actor texts back... ‘what do you mean by punt?’

The martini is wrapped and it’s all hands on deck to strike, including dragging that damn heavy prop pay phone back down those looooong STEEP stairs.

Last people standing are the Deals and General. The Real Deal can’t find one of his sandbags, so a call goes into Suzan Jones, who brought most of the gear. The multitasking wonder pulls over. Yes, she does have the sandbag.

And so it ends.... oh how we will miss you principal photography

P.S. as a result of Suzan doing make up, sound, and grip work, the only pics we got for this round ‘o shooting was a few taken with some cheap cell phone.

DAY 16

2010-03-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

This is a long one.

The Set General’s lair is the starting point for our brave little convoy, heading up to Wrightwood, where we’ll be spending the day and(and night) shooting in and around town.

But there’s a lot more goin’ on than just driving up to said location. The General has the camera out and begins shooting actors in the van, getting some plates too.

It looks like it’s about to rain at ANY moment. Typical, for this production.

We arrive at the comfy mountain abode of Suzan, Kelly, Zeke, and Dekland Jones. Multitasker Suzan has homemade cinnamon rolls a waitin’. Kelly is gathering gear. Zeke correctly explains how we should shoot the first scene. Dekland is dressed as a space man. Another actor arrives and away we go to the first location.

An ice cream/candy store, where production must keep stopping sos customers can get their treats. The freezers keep making lotsa noise, so we gotsta keep shutting ‘em down. Zeke and Dekland get yet ANOTHER gig, extras, but keep going CRAZY cuz they’re not supposed to be licking their ice cream cones. The camera battery runs dry. The Set General asks for another. The little extra battery has only 15 minutes of juice. Said battery was supposed to be FULLY CHARGED ‘allegedly’.

Lunch at a local pizza place, where some weird local dude keeps bugging us.

Back to the Jones, where big battery immediately goes onto the charger. But not for long, cuz we is off again for mas shooting, only with very little battery power unfortunately. The Set General gets all up in the actors grills, shoot-shoot-shooting all the way to the next location.

Off a dirt road we’re back to fighting sun and battery life, needing to get everything in just 14 minutes of camera time. It’s windy too, windy and COLD... most of the people in this little production ain’t properly prepared for this kinda weather. Yet everything still manages to get done, with extra special attention constantly being paid to how much juice is left on the battery.

An actor splits for home and everyone else squeezes into the van in search of a few good spots to shoot the final establishing shots, with only about 4 minutes of battery power. Back to the usual, fighting weather, sunlight, and battery time. But as per usual, everything some how manages to get done.

After missing a turn or two, we’re back to the Jones, it’s getting dark, an actor slips on a mound of snow, the battery goes back on the charger.

A night scene in the van, which is supposed to be parked some where in LA. only we’re parked on a mountain road in Wrightwood, it’s FREEZING and STARTING TO SNOW. Kelly and the General yank out C-stands, flags, Christmas lights, what ever they can to create a place we’re actually not. The camera gets plugged directly into an outlet. It’s still FREEZING. Not many set ups as little snow flakes fall on the crew’s heads.

Back to the warmth of the Jones mountain home to shoot three short scenes, requiring no coverage. First, a simulated television screen, consisting of the General waving his hand over one of Kelly’s lights. Second, some furniture is moved so it ‘appears’ like we’re in another room. Last, on to the bathroom, getting yet another ‘different’ looking location.

Are we done yet? No

While they’re here. Gotta do some wild lines with the actors...

A looooooong drive home.

Are we done yet? HELL NO!

One of the actors still has to run through some streets that aren’t in a little mountain town.

And so ends seventeen hours of movie making fury.

DAY 15

2010-03-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

NO RAIN!!!... Finally!!

Everyone’s back at the Set Generals, once again using two cameras. Camera number two this time belonging to Mr. Kelly Jones, who’s arrived from another gig with lots of movie making goodies. Only thing we don’t have is extra people. Case in point being the other half of the love story Suzan Jones, doing sound, operating a camera, holding a bounce card, and rocking the van ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!

Green screen scenes get wrapped and everyone breaks for lunch.

Till we all meet again down town, where much to everyones relief Lord and Lady Deal are waiting.

First up. Reshooting a scene from day 3 where the tone wasn’t quite right. Kelly has broken out even more of his toys, but this has gotta be quick. The location we’re shootin’ at also doubles as an alternative church on weekends. Sos weees gosta be beating all that alternative church traffic. But that’s not our only problem... ain’t gonna be much more sun, leaving very little time to shoot a NEW scene, which hasta now be done with very little coverage.

Bam-bam-BAM

Audio-less scenes at dusk.

Van gets driven back to the Set Generals, sos da General can get picked up, to:

Drive the van back down town for even more audio-less shooting.

The end of ANOTHER long day/night.

DAY 14

2010-03-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

The plan is to meet early at the Set General’s for shooting green screen in the General’s driveway. There’s just one problem:

It’s pouring rain..... POURING RAIN!!!!

Everyone goes from having a call to being on call.

Communication keeps going back and forth.. “is it raining over there?”.... “how about now?”... “how about over there?”

Mid-morning/early afternoon the decision is made to just chance it. Raz is there first, informing everyone that some of the streets around the General’s are now completely flooded. Everyone arrives ready to start shooting. ONLY:

It’s raining again... but not quite as much. So the General and Raz build a ‘rain protector’ for the camera. Raz has brought his too, so we’ll be getting lots more coverage.

The WHOLE Jones family make the one and a half hour drive. Zeke and Dekland push the van to create the ‘illusion’ it’s actually driving. Kelly mans one of the cameras. Suzan does make up, sound, and set photography. Raz is still there manning the other camera. The Set General’s going between DPing, babysitting his daughter, and heating up pizza for lunch.

Shoot, shoot, SHOOT till it’s too dark. Then on to another day.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 13

2010-03-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

First day back after the dreadful down time starts at six in the morning in the lovely hamlet of Palmdale. Everyone meets at a local Burger King, which soon doubles as a production office/make up trailer. Lady Deal has made all us movie banditos maps of todays first location on a deep desert highway. The exact number of cars needed from of our fleet is figured and away we go.

The Set General as per usual picks the spot to stop and shoot, which we do. But there’s a problem.

We need the road to be empty in both directions and THE CARS KEEP A COMIN’. There’s lots of starting, stopping, and WAITING! The only scene where the road doesn’t have to be completely empty is one where one character is pointing a gun at another character. So STILL gotta stop and pretend like we’re just hangin’ each time a car, truck, or SUV goes by. And then:

A STATE TROOPER STARTS DRIVING UP... we’re done... DONE!!!

Aren’t we?

The General gives the uniformed driver a little ‘dude I know you’re gonna shut us down’ wave. The Trooper waves back and keeps right on driving. COOL!!! We finish up with no more worries. Cept for the worry of time, cuz as per usual... we are behind.

Half the posse wraps, more actors are waiting at a predetermined location, and we have a HARD OUT. So gotta move.

The players for round two all meet up and head over to a location our little production was rained out of three weeks ago. The Set General finds the exact same spot we were last time, and then:

In a moment of inspiration everyone’s favorite General hops a fence, climbs a steep hill with the camera, and gets a super killer establishing shot. We press to the finish line, fighting passing traffic, a pedestrian who looks like Big foot, but mostly TIME. Hard outs suck, but we ain’t got no studio $... now do we.

photos by Suzan Jones

DREADFUL DOWN TIME

2010-02-22T14:22:00.001-08:00

Pretty much all that’s left is exteriors and green screen, also to be shot outside. We plan our week. AND THEN:

RAIN... can’t shoot! But that’s not all. Not by a looooong shot.

ONE OF OUR ACTORS ALMOST LIKE, DIES... for real...

Dude was getting only a couple hours sleep for way too long, coupled with massive stress along with an inherited heart condition caused a trip to the emergency room where our friends heart was almost stopped and then started again... we now have a lead actor out of action indefinitely. The movie takes a back seat cuz EVERYONE feels our friends health is of paramount importance.

Production’s on hold. Actor availability and weather has NOT been our friend.

It takes weeks to start up again.

DAY 12

2010-02-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Alas, the rest of this shoot must now be finished without the brave and powerful full time help of the Real Deal, in demand dude got a good paying gig. Yet, the mighty Deal hath still pledged to help when ever he can.

It’s freaking POURING RAIN when everyone meets at the location PRAYING for a little blue so we can shoot. Three actors will be wrapped(actually two won’t, but this won’t found out till later). It’s cold, the rain continues, and there’s no were to hang except under this adobe porch. A coffee and gas run is taken by Kelly Jones, where being in deep valley, takes like, forever to find any petrol, it’s now POURING so hard one gets soaked to the bone just going from Kelly’s car into Jack in the Box. Then, on the way back, ANOTHER PROBLEM:

The Kelly mobile as run over something, that or some pan-like thing fallen off the bottom of his ride. Either way Kelly’s transpo won’t move with that pan-like thing stuck to the bottom of it. The Set General does what he can in the POURING rain, SOAKING the General. Kelly joins him, getting soaked too. Said ride finally makes it’s way to under a small part of the balcony for a closer look. We’ve also been let into a dry area to chill.

Still POURING we got a crew and some actors, but can’t shoot a damn thing. But can so SOMETHING, Suzan Jones needs ta snap a few pics to be used in the movie later. The actors for that show up in the still POURING rain and a little photo shoot commences.

Three hours later, nothing’s been shot, and then:

A patch of blue. IT’S FINALLY STOPPED RAINING!!!!!

The van is quickly parked, green screen set up, actors in. We proceed, shooting each scene one side and side at a time, fighting bursts of light rain all the way. It gets done and everyone’s off till we meet again later at the next location.

The Jones’ head to the Set Generals where a hot lunch, proper English tea, and wonderful conversation ensues. Until:

Everyone meets back up at the next location. Lord and Lady Deal are there for this round, much to everyone’s joy. City streets can be seen from the windows where we’re shooting the first part of the scene. The rain has given them a ‘wet down’ look, greatly enhancing the production value. We move downstairs for the next part, where Lady Deal, White Gold, and Suzan Jones are all extras. Suzan wears a hat so as not be recognized as another character in the flick.

Camera rolls, actors act, we wrap.... little knowing DISASTER is about to strike... which shall be saved for another post.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 11

2010-02-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

LA is exited at FIVE IN THE FREAKING MORNING to set up our base camp/location deep in canyon country, the actor driving the van/prop/location has ONLY gotten two hours sleep. TWO HOURS SLEEP, and then:

The freaking van/prop/location’s engine light goes off. The van has to be pulled over. A frantic call goes into Kid Friendly, who says ‘proceed’. Proceed we do, only now the van is driving like ka-ka. Base camp is way up a hill, which the van is not able to really chug up. We stop again. Call the Real Deal, who already at the base camp shows up with the Set General. We try again, BARELY making it to base camp. After some consultation, it’s determined the van is just low on gas and the problems on the hill actually had to do with gas moving around in the tank. WE HOPE!

Once settled Lord and Lady Deal go to scout another location. Everyone else heads down the road to get gas for the van. The van gets gassed up and everything seems fine. THANK GOD!

Stop number one, first scene of the day, just happens to be by a big transformer(great for sound, NOT) and a rehab center, where the sound of people rehabbing is heard, loudly(great for sound, NOT). But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed. The Set General uses a lighter to simulate heat coming off the ground, because it’s supposed to be quite hot, but is actually quite cold.

We shoot the next scene, still near the transformer(great for sound, NOT), simulate an actor pissing with a water bottle, shoot a train, and then go back up the road.

The next scene is much longer, so gets broken into three parts, and then:

It starts RAINING!!!!! We somehow manage to get through the first part of the scene, fighting-fighting-FIGHTING rain all the way, but can’t go on with the second part, cuz:

WE GET RAINED OUT and gotta go back to base camp/location :(

COSTCO SANDWICHES

Another scene with animals, fish, in a tank. The actor in this one, who’s been affecting his voice for his character, is bending down, unfortunately making him not able to affect his voice properly. It takes ten takes to figure this out.

We get to the last scene of the night, an indoor/outdoor one, BUT:

IT’S STILL FREAKING RAINING!!! But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed. The Set General stands out in the rain set generaling. One half of the love story is doing sound as the other half is acting. The Set General’s impulsively commands an actress to slam the door, almost wreaking an expensive audio cord, making half of the love story explode, the other half is still acting. The sound of the rain hitting the gutters is ALL OVER the dialog. MORE to deal with in post. But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed.

We finish, it’s late, and now the actor who’s STILL had only two hours of sleep has to drive the van/prop/location all the way back to LA for another day.

DAY 10

2010-02-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

THE MOTHER OF ALL SCENES

Everyone’s back at 10AM with an open ended release time and nine pages of up to twelve characters to shoot. Another crack at last night’s completely changed on the spot scene would be nice. Can all this get done? Can any of it get done?

First off, blocking. The mother of all scenes is split into two parts. The General starts doing his thing with the actors... it’s not working. WAY too stagey. Time to pow wow. What’s the right ‘feel’? Looking around, the actors and crew have all formed little ‘clicks’, talking amongst themselves. That’s it! That’s the feel.

LETS BLOCK

The Set General creates a shot list in his head and away we go. The mother of all scenes is actually something like a bit of a Mozart opera, kind of. Four characters become eight, eight becomes ten, ten becomes eleven, eleven becomes twelve. The first part ends with eleven, so LOTS of coverage needs to be shot. It happens... well, some of it does.

Team Deal brings pizza. Most all of the cast is already there, so a pic with all of them is taken. Then with the crew too.

BACK TO WORK

Part one of the mother of all scenes gets finished, time to block part two. The characters have pretty much settled into their spots so there’s not quite as much blocking, but still need LOTS of coverage.

Gotta get through the first part of the second half of the mother of all scenes first. It’s lack luster, everyone’s fried. But this is the climax! It’s gotta be great. The difference between a pretty good flick and an amazing one. Where’s the energy gonna come from? WHERE?

The ROCK ‘N ROLL MISSILE? Who’s been waiting ALL DAY for his big moment.

The Missile, along with the eye of the missile’s energy starts bringing everyone’s energy back. But it’s STILL not enough, not enough UNTIL:

Danger has a giggle fit. DANGER, the actor who NEVER shows any emotion, he’s usually just hanging in his car, texting chicks with kickin’ bodies. Danger’s giggle fit becomes contagious and soon EVERYONE is laughing. Energy picks back up again(it’s also like, one in the morning), we get the power to push through and finally finish the mother of all scenes.

Another pow wow, will we be able to go back and reshoot the scene from last night? It’s about two in the morning and STILL have another short scene to shoot outside. The Set General has to get up early the next day, we’re already about 17 hours in.

The Real Deal asks if everyone can help load out as we shoot the scene outside. It’s all we can do. EVERYONE helps tear down. After a long day and night... the mother of all scenes is in the can.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 9

2010-02-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

EVERYONE shows up at 6AM, including our new best friend Tom FINALLY A CONTINUITY PERSON. Well, everyone BUT:

An actor, who’s stuck on the road with a flat tire. Another actor is sent to go find him, right as the lost actors PHONE GOES DEAD. What a way to start the day :(

Another actor is missing too. Actually, he’s just been sitting in his car, but has forgot a VERY important part of his wardrobe. Wasn’t this problem supposed to be solved after the last wardrobe mishap? Not with a tiny crew, who all has at least ten different jobs to keep track of. Dude now has to drive back to his pad in rush hour traffic. MEANWHILE:

The actor who went out to find the other actor CAN’T FIND HIM ANYWHERE! So much for an early start.

What to do?? Shoot some new inserts of the flyer we shot with an actress that was replaced with another one. We do that, walk out on the street to think, and then:

The actor with the flat tire rushes up all out of breath. HE WALKED ALL THE WAY TO THE SET. The actor still looking for him is called back. Meanwhile the actor with the forgotten wardrobe is STILL stuck in traffic. What now?

Reshoot part of another scene at this location that didn’t quite work the first time.

The actor who forgot his wardrobe arrives. Time to get down to business. Shooting a long scene, involving six characters. The Set General works out all the blocking, but three different colors of maker tape continues to confuse the actors. The scene is broken down into four parts and we shoot, doing the first part of the scene last. A free style band jam that exhausts all the actors, after take after take of jumping around, riffing like crazy.

YAK SHOWS UP WITH POLLO LOCO

We move into the other part of the set, which TEAM DEAL has been dressing all day, it’s a site to behold.

But as per usual we are WAY behind... one scene is knocked out before moving outside to shoot dusk for dawn. Tom’s still there cuing actors. A short scene with only two set ups, then it’s back inside.

We’ve got a hard out, so gotta move. Another scene is shot before going on to the last one of the day.

We rehearse/block the scene, realizing we got a BIG PROBLEM. The scene just ISN’T WORKING. A pow wow ensues as the clock continues ticking. We try one thing/then another. It’s still not feeling right, but gotta shoot. A few more tweaks, it’s feeling a bit better. But gotta go. The hard out is about half hour away and we still got about five set ups to shoot of a scene that’s just been re-written on the spot. Is what it is, so away we go.

We’re still shooting as the next group of people using this location begin filing in:

Right as we’re shooting THE LAP DANCE SEQUENCE. Yep, to all these fine folks it looks like we’re MAKING A PORN!

Team Deal continues putting ‘hot set’ signs all over our section of the location, right as we finish at the last possible second and split.

Tomorrow. THE MOTHER OF ALL SCENES

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 8

2010-01-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

The Set General is feeling much better today. Thank God! We load in, and THEN:

Everyone parked on the street in front of the location gets marked by the parking patrol as per the two hour parking limit. There’s ten hour metered parking across the street, so one of the actors goes to the local laundromat and gets a bunch of quarters.

Superwoman Suzan Jones sets up her computer and starts working of photos, a kitchen is prepped for the first scene, a bedroom starts getting blacked out, the backyard becomes a staging area.

The Real Deal checks everything off and so begins the first set up of the first scene. OR IS IT? The hum of the refrigerator is screwing up the sound and unplugging it becomes a real pain in the ass. Done. We continue blocking, blocking, blocking till the scene feels right. We shoot. We move:

On to the blacked out bedroom, where our seven year old first AD is controlling the lights and wrangling talent. It’s a small space, but the Set General as per usual figures out all the set ups and away we shoot.

THAI FOOD, except for those who still can’t eat it cuz of a BAD case of food poisoning.

Then..... disaster strikes :(

A text comes in - one of the actresses set to work the day after tomorrow has to bail on the movie. SHIT!!! NO time to recast.... OR IS THERE? Looks like superwoman Suzan Jones, who’s already doing about ten jobs, gets another one ACTING. Suzan, you are cast on the spot.

Back to the bedroom another issue rears it’s perplexing head. Do we shoot the last segment like it is in the script? Being in two locations, or just combine everything in the bedroom where we already are? A friendly debate ensues between the Real Deal and the Set General. Deal wants the production value of another set. The location we’re in looks great and doesn’t require much dressing. But the Set General points out how it’s only two lines, will take some time to light, everyone is tired, and we have a 6AM call time tomorrow.... Score one for RD, we decide to shoot in two rooms. THEN:

Disaster AGAIN.

One of the actors can’t make the 6AM call time.

More discussion and just a bit of panicking... well, more panicking for some than others. The General stoically remains concerned with lighting, we’ll solve that problem later... which we finally do as per the General’s suggestion of deciding to shoot dusk for dawn.

The last shot gets wrapped, and it’s time to tear down, load up, get very little sleep, and begin all this all over again.... and then, something wonderful:

Like an angel from heaven Cousin Nick appears out of thin air to help tear down and load up. Nick’s all business. We get out faster than expected, living to fight another day.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 7

2010-01-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

Another day of shooting is upon us, and the question on everyone’s mind is “how’s our hero the Real Deal feeling”. The answer? Well, as if he’s made of some kind of indestructible steel the Deal is fully healed and ready to go.

The Set General still feels like he’s gonna puke.

The plan is to shoot four different locations at D$ abode. Deal likes keepin’ it simple like that, so away we go. Staging areas are set up in the kitchen and front deck, the living room starts becoming completely transformed, a big bag of medieval fighting armor is hauled deep up into the mountainous backyard. WHERE:

Up on said hill Yak must figure out how to put on all said medieval fighting armor. The angles up here are weird, the helmut keeps rolling down the hill, but the Set General as per usual figures it all out(even though he still wants to puke)

Next, a scene tweaked so we can take advantage of D$ AMAZING back porch. Can’t buy production value like THIS kids. RD points out a wood carved heart. The General pans up. We shoot the scene. And move on to:

The kitchen, where we shoot our next scene uncomfortably right next to what has become the cast staging area. MEANWHILE Team Deal continues transforming the living room into a game room, complete with a real asteroids machine.

IN AND OUT BURGER

We’re fighting light AGAIN and have to JAM through the last day scene. Blast through night after night scene with our seven and eleven year old boom operators(they have permits). The Set General STILL wants to puke, but luckily finds the herbal cold shot he thought he lost. The transformed living room gets rapped and we move on up to:

The lair of D$ himself, a ‘lair’ that doesn’t need ANY prepping. This is D$’s world, dude just rolls that way. Karbo does a character based on someone the $ed one is VERY familiar with. D$ in stitches.

We make another day. Tear down and go on home.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 6

2010-01-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Today starts with team ‘Deal’ completely transforming super trooper Gina’s abode, inclusive of landscaping the front yard. The real one is under the weather, but continues doing his eighteen plus jobs. Wardrobe is hanging, craft service tent is up, large fake axes are being hung. Almost ready to go.

BUT ARE WE? The person who was supposed to bring the monitor FORGOT. So the Set General unhooks and pulls Gina’s TV, no worries Gina you will get your cable and Xbox back again(we hope)... color’s a bit off, but the General fully knows what the hell he’s doing.

For the first scene an actor steps in to do continuity, specifically for Donny Paradise’s ever changing jaunty hat. The last set up for this particular bit ‘o magic wraps and no one can seem to remember if Donny was wearing glasses way back in the first set up(a long master). The Set General checks. Donny was. So much for continuity. No worries we’ll cut into coverage before we ever see his specks.

At this juncture a large part of the cast has already arrived and people are EVERYWHERE. Suzan Jones is taking funny pictures, Gint is showing Yak how to wield a sword, a smoking area has formed over by the big truck. We’re fighting daylight so have to kick some major ass to finish the last day scene.

GINA BRINGS FOOD!!!!!!

Now, a scene with a cat. Oh boy, over an hour is spent with Gina bribing said kitty with tuna, trying to get him to do what we want, which he finally does... sort of.

Time is no longer on our side(like it’s ever) so the next scene, WITH FIVE PEOPLE, is blocked so it can be done all in one shot. No coverage.

The Set General feels like he’s going to puke :(

Our gang then pushes through night scene after night scene, till:

The martini... with... Wait for it:

ANOTHER CAT AND A KID!!!!! This time it’s Katia’s sweet docile kitty we’re using along with blond wonder Santino. Gotta figure a way to shoot this one sos this particular said kitty doesn’t run away and the Set General still feels like he’s gonna puke. Santino knows his lines cold and with a little direction from the general nails it.

It be a little slow at the junction, but some how manage to load out.

photos by Suzan Jones

"Night of the Alien" looking "Out of this World"

2010-01-19T10:31:00.000-08:00

In the beginning the question was asked, "How do we make a kick ass movie on no budget?" Well folks, it thrills me to inform you that we may have figured it out. 'Night of the Alien' rocks! I have seen most of the footage up to this point, and I can safely say that we have ourselves a kick ass movie. Of course, I am getting ahead of myself just a little. Everything has to be put down on a timeline and watched from beginning to end, but from what I can tell so far, we have something really special here. It looks great visually, as in big budget great. The actors are a bunch of scene stealers. Everything is cutting together well. Its total symmetry how this thing has come together. A miracle in the making, which I am very happy to be part of :)

Thank you Almighty Universe! (Now lets finish the f---ker ;)

ROUND TWO

2010-01-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

About to embark on another 10 days of fury.... can we actually shoot an entire feature in just 15 days? J. De La Cruz might be the only one who truly knows...

DAY 5

2010-01-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

It’s 6AM, everyone’s up and ready to go... EVERYONE. Better, cuz there’s a loooong scene to shoot before the Set General flies away to the deep south. Luckily, the set’s still pretty much set from the night before. So away we go, right into:

A strange little interlude where a mentally challenged man/child wakes up, only to discover he can now speak like Richard Burton, emoting woes of his condition, while taking a girl prisoner at gun point. Yes. There’s more sets up than usual, along with a long soliloquy complete with dolly push. The little crew catches fire as do the actors, and we reach our goal of finishing the complicated(for this shoot) scene before the Set General jets away.

Kelly Jones of Kelly and Suzan Jones a love story tags in as DP and Suzan Jones of Kelly and Suzan Jones a love story tags in on boom AND sound. They’re two boys Zeke and Deklin(sp?) tag in too, fanning fog, listening for trains, and holding big white cards. Next up, a scene with Yak, who just flew in himself, to act and do just about every other job on the set.

We begin outside, only to discover there’s a nosy neighbor hanging around, watching us, GETTING IN THE DAMN SHOT. The Real Deal makes his approach, and somehow gets that guy the hell away from us. Thank you Real Deal. But wait, if he wasn’t real deal enough, dude then spends the next half hour following the actors as they walk and talk with one of those big white cards.

Our peppy little production team goes inside, where the camera gets set WAY up on top of a ladder, looking like it’s gonna fall any moment and ruin the whole shoot. But wait. This is Kelly Jones, master rigger, camera ain’t going NOwhere. Block, light, and shoot.

PIZZA

Time to switch sets, of course there isn’t nearly enough lights. So AS USUAL, make due with what we got. Like a tidal wave of gripness all decks on hand start dressing and lighting. The master contains six characters with lots going on. We block, figure out the shot list.... oh shit, guitars and amps need greeking. Back to the scene, or scenes cuz we’re doing several. We blow through, one, two, three scenes. Ultra handy Cousin Nick mans the dolly, Kelly operates, Suzan is booming, the actors are, ah, acting. This last shot requires perfect timing. Seventeen takes later:

Cast and crew all gather round the monitor to watch the magic. There’s laughter and high fives all around. A GREAT WAY TO END ROUND ONE OF SHOOTING!!!

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 4

2010-01-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

Everyone arrives at the set bright and early, including said actor who got his times mixed up yesterday. We start getting ready to go. Only now, can’t find said actors wardrobe. EVERYONE begins frantically looking all over the set for a shirt, pants, and hat. They’re no where. Said actor thinks he might have forgotten them, so wakes his roommate. Not there. WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?! Everyone keep frantically looking. Nothing. The actor decides to drive back home, where he’s at least got some pants he can wear, and hopefully find the rest of his threads. There’s been no wardrobe person thus far on this shoot. But will be now, ANOTHER job for someone to be saddled with. The actor leaves. Another actor finally finds said actors shirt buried under the pillows in one of the couches. But no hat or pants.

THEN, the Set General approaches with a little problem. Actually, a BIG problem for this little production. Our super pro, amazing, much in demand Set General has been called in for another gig, and is HOPPING ON A PLANE TO ALABAMA TOMORROW! Dude’s gotta take it, gig pays huge. Our General has a little girl to feed and big house to pay off.

Four hours in. Nothing’s been shot, are waiting for an actor to show with his wardrobe, losing our Set General, and don’t know if we can get the mother of all locations back for any more shooting.

Decisions must be made, and made fast. The Real Deal will call the folks who run the location and see if we can change our call time tomorrow from 10:30AM to 6AM, the Set General will work right up to the time of going the airport, half of Kelly and Suzan Jones a love story will take over as DP(Kelly is one, so cool there), and punt on our last day of shooting at the mother of all locations, where we would have been shooting the mother of all scenes. Everyone involved is completely dedicated to finishing this movie. So that’s just how it’s gotta be. We will return!

Said actor arrives(dude is TOTALLY worth it) with hat and pair of pants, and away we go, more focused than ever.

Drude brings Lunch.

Then it’s back to work, where the actors continue getting stronger, we keep bravely fighting sound issues, and work like mad to make up for lost time.

photos by Suzan Jones

MOVIE ART

2009-12-30T10:14:00.001-08:00

by Suzan Jones

DAY 3

2009-12-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

First day of a four day stint at the mother of all locations, where one third of the entire movie is being shot. It’s 6AM, there is mucho to do, with lots to be loaded in, and two locations to be dressed. Once again we’re understaffed, so everyone is moving like mad to get everything ready.

Then some bad news. One of the actors, who’s in just about EVERY scene at this location, thought his call time was 8PM not 8AM! Dude is down in Orange county wrapping another shoot, but says he can get to down town LA at around noon. Do we re-cast him with one of the crew? Nah, just shoot around the guy and hope to god he actually does get here by noon.

First up, an exterior scene. But before we can start several of the crew have to move their rides because some guy who works in the building next door says we’re breaking the law by parking in front of his place. We aren’t, but it’s the first day, and don’t want to piss anyone off. It also becomes clear that shooting right by the railroad tracks, off a busy street, and under a flight path is going to be HELL on sound. Luckily everything else is pretty perfect.

First scene goes rather slowly. Everyone is still finding their way and the noise problem fully sucks, but just gotta live with it. The actor we’ve been waiting for finally shows(more than making up for lost time with his talent), we scout the area behind the building for our next locations, and once again get bogged down. This time, because there just wasn’t enough time to rehearse, so needed to flush some stuff out.

Drude uses his amazing logistical skills and finds a great place to get lunch. KICK ASS MEXICAN FOOD!

We move inside, where everyone’s working fast and furious to keep this crazy ship afloat. Each crew member doing the job of at least three. Everything gets lit, dressed, and on we go. The Set General does most of the blocking cuz he’s now running and gunning all the coverage in his head. All we have time for is the absolute minim of set ups to stay on schedule, we’re already way behind, with a hard out.

That hard out comes, and we live to fight another day.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 2

2009-12-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

Our next day of shooting actually began the night before, driving home in the pouring rain, realizing there was no one to let us into the office where we were shooting the next day. A call goes into Donny Paradise. Done.

Up and ready to go the next morning, the Real Deal and Katia start dressing the first of the three rooms being used for three scenes. Of course each one needs to be totally changed. We also have to track down the Hipster extra, who luckily works at the office we’re shooting at.

First up, our first scene with the Alien, so there’s gonna be some make up. Unfortunately we’re once again way under staffed with Suzan Jones our set photographer and make up person also doing sound with Abby on boom. Good thing there’s only one set up for this scene, so it goes by pretty quick, complete with the Real Deal plugging and unplugging Christmas lights.

The Hipster extra arrives, desks have been moved around, fake gold CDs, logos, signs, and cleared posters have been put up. We’re ready for the next scene. Or are we? The Set General comes up with yet another cool idea, resulting in an unorthodox shot you’ll just have to wait for the movie to see.

Our courageous crew moves into the conference room. One of the walls is all glass, so there’s reflection issues galore, especially of the boom. A few flags, cards, and lots of tweaking later, problem solved. Only two set ups here so this goes by pretty quick too, including a little movement with a skateboard dolly.

Gina brings food!!!!!

We then move into the garage where the question of the day is, is there enough available lighting to do some green screen shots with a car? The Set General has borrowed some kenos, the crew holds up some fans, Danger rocks the car(which he owns by the way). It works.

Jupiter James gets his hard out, the actors leave, the crew packs up and clears out.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY ONE

2009-12-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

It’s our first day of shooting, which happens after already pushing the date back because of 80% showers(a day which actually ended up being a clear one). We’re going for it, exteriors and all. Of course the day starts out with pouring rain. We’re all set up at a difficult to load in location, everyone is available. We have to do this.

The forecast calls for sporadic showers, so start rehearsing, waiting for the drizzle to dissipate. We then discover the amulet prop has been forgotten. A call goes into Kid Friendly, who’s driving the van(another BIG prop) to the location. The Kid has to drive back to West Hollywood, break into an apartment, and retrieve the amulet. Meanwhile, we decide to shoot the scene in the doorway, where the fact that it’s RAINING won’t really matter. The other set is still being built and can’t shoot there anyway because one of the actors isn’t available till the afternoon.

Most of the actors who are there have never met, so workshop the heck out of them, finding a comfortable place somewhat off book. By the lattice of coincidence two of the thespians playing Mexican ‘bad asses’ are both named Gonzalez. Julian Gonzalez looked hilarious in the get up he created for the part, even bringing a matching shirt for his cohort Hector Gonzalez. Would have been pretty funny, but the Real Deal pointed out how one of them had to actually look bad ass. The twin thing didn’t happen.

We then shoot a three page scene in three parts, fighting rain, airplanes, loud traffic, and an amulet that kept breaking. Yet, we get it done!

Our good pal and fellow cohort Gina brings over a wonderful lunch of homemade pasta .

Next up, a scene taking less than a minute of screen time, with a set that took about three days to create. The Real Deal, with help from Katia, created a dark carefully crafted lair for the Lord of Evil and Darkness in an empty room in the Kid Friendlies’ basement. An important scene establishing one of the lead characters so it had to be spot on, which it was! Lord Deal even went so far as to contact a coven, meeting up with the best witch in the world to get the props necessary to make everything authentic. We blocked the scene to get the angles of coverage necessary for Neil the Set General to best play it. One problem, the pagan alter is not in a place where it can be properly seen. We have a great respect for our pagan friends so moved some things around and wha-la, the alter is now in the shot. But the part of the set looking through the door isn’t, which was a bitch to get into this location. Can’t movie that. The actors do their thing, and it’s a wrap.

OR IS IT. It’s dark, POURING rain, and we need to load out down a long, narrow, dangerous set of concrete steps. What a sight, including four foot eleven sister Abby hauling a large table down the treacherous steps in a big ‘ol rain coat as buckets of water pours on down.

photos by Suzan Jones

THE PRODUCTION TEAM

2009-12-19T14:18:00.001-08:00

In no particular order:

Neil Lisk -THE SET GENERAL - Superstar star DP of 15 features and counting

Rob Howeth - THE REAL DEAL - Producer and Production Designer of the gods, dude’s been doing this over 20 years

Pia Helm - LADY DEAL - Behind the scenes goddess, all over the set and all over the schedule.

Kelly and Suzan Jones - A LOVE STORY - Sound, Make up, Lighting, Set Photography, extra camera, our two person wreaking crew.

Zeke and Decklin Jones - SET KIDS - Holding stuff up, fanning smoke, hanging with Santio, and watching for trains!

Russell Scott and Pat Young - THE JET SET BOYS - Executive producing, resource throwing, marketing maniacs.

Tony Barlo - MISTER MICRO-HIT - Locations, props, CLEARED SOUNDTRACK MUSIC!

Katia Kaplun - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - Art Director who can make anything from anything.

Louis Iacoviello -YAK ATTACK - Ass kicking and acting.

Nick Blake - COUSIN NICK - Set Swing man, another 20 year plus movie guy, who does it all.

Abby Verdi - SISTER ABBY - Film student workaholic, filling in everywhere!

Gina Amodeo - THE BLONDE WONDER’S MOTHER - Providing locations, food, cat, and the blonde wonder.

Ben & Rachel - THE KID FRIENDLIES - Locations, wardrobe, props, Van, acting, reliability you can take to the bank.

Andrew Kastner - DRUDE - Web master, food getter, momentum keeper.

Hector Gonzalez - ONE HALF OF THE GONZALEZ BROTHERS - Real Deal right hand man, actor, moving muscle.

MORE coming for round two!!!

5 days in

2009-12-17T16:04:00.001-08:00

Round one of shooting has been completed and we’ve now got about one third of the movie in the can. There’s been some set backs, lots to fight through, but by sheer will are doing it, and doing it well. Our little crew has become a machine with EVERYONE covering multiple tasks and positions. It’s been non-stop work, when not waiting for the rain, planes, and trains. Each person on this shoot matters, motivation, sprits, and talent is high. Day by day recaps on the way

OUT OF SITE IN OUT-ER SPACE!

2009-12-17T08:42:00.001-08:00

Spent my first day on set yesterday. The sets were great, the actors were excellent. This movie looks gooooood! We should have a cult classic on our hands. Cant wait to see it come together in an edit.

A Man for all Seasons

2009-12-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Rob “the Real Deal” Howeth... is EVERYWHERE! Building sets, making schedules, driving trucks, buying beads, emailing covens, meeting witches, casting roles, finding lights, painting walls, predicting the weather. He’s got a lotta trucks, a lotta props, and a LOTTA movie making knowledge.

Prepping

2009-12-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Some sets are so ‘there’ we can just show up and go. Others, are being built from scratch. The DP is English, Art Director Russian, Production Designer the Real Deal, who's also going to visit a witch tomorrow 'cuz that's what he does. He gets into character as much as the character does.

THEY GOT THE LOOK

2009-12-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

As she has since the beginning of time, mother nature is having her say in this production, raining out the first three days of shooting. Yet like every set back thus far, what seems like bummer actually becomes something positive. In this case, the extra time our stud British DP gets to meticulously go over the whole script with our stud production designer/producer/first AD/just about everything else Real Deal. These dudes work ALL THE TIME and listening to them discuss the the look and feel of the film is something like Browning and Keats waxing on poetry. Really, those few extra days are paying off big time.

Some of our people

2009-12-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

Actors

2009-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

There’s those who feel the need to motivate every line, craft every gesture, create a back story for each article of clothing their wearing. Others just show up and play make believe. Our ditty has three in all but half a page of the script, that’s a lot of acting. Making a movie is similar to mixing music, each element representing a different part of the spectrum, we’ve been working on balance, picking spots to pop, finding those undercurrents and places going on underneath the story. It has to feel real.

Scheduling

2009-11-30T20:48:00.000-08:00

Lots of locations, cast members, vacations, script revisions, MATH. See above for what it looks like.