Featherweight Sequel?

I screened "Featherweight Blues" in class last night, and I am happy say that it was well received. Professor Donn noted that I did a good job overall, and that there were only a few things that I needed to look out for next time. He saw right away that there was a blue tint on my face during the piano scenes. I hadn't noticed this before, but after he pointed this out, I realized that it came from my MacBook Pro. Next time, I'll put a piece of paper with the lyrics in front of me and not the computer itself. The other thing he pointed out was that, in the second verse of my song, I could have used different footage. He suggested maybe filming the featherweight boxer in different a different scene, like running down the street, doing push ups, or training with weights a la Rocky. I agreed. Overall, though, "Put A Bag of Frozen Peas On My Sore Bruise" was a hit.

"Carlos Gutierrez" and I are having a lot of fun at work right now. Every time I get a hit on YouTube, I run down to the mail room to tell him. Wouldn't it be cool if he became the next YouTube sensation? I told him to send the link to all his family and friends in the Philippines. I'd be happy if he gets half as many hits as the guy who told the world to leave Britney alone. My featherweight class boxer is slowly building his fan base. Right now I'm thinking SEQUEL!

Featherweight Blues

Hi All,

For those who don't know, I am taking a Digital Workflow course this term and my semester long project is to create an episodic series in the style of the 48 Hour Film Project. For project #3, I pulled the much dreaded musical genre. The other required elements didn't really make it easy for me either. How the heck was I going to make musical about a feather weight class boxer, incorporating frozen peas and the line "you can't stop me?" Luckily, I had an awesome actor. Dolby folks may recognize him. Check out my 3 minute film when you get a chance.

Regards,
Borm



Character:
Carlos Gutierrez, Featherweight Class Boxer.

Prop:
Frozen Peas.

Line of Dialogue:
"You can't stop me!!!"

Film Genre:
Musical.

I Need A Title!

As of right now, I still do not have a title for my musical about a featherweight class boxer named Carlos Gutierrez. If anyone has any suggestions, send them on over!

The Featherweight Musical. Done!

I am happy to say that I have finished editing this musical! After logging and capturing the footage, I jumped right into my FCP timeline. Every thing just fell into place, and before I knew it, the project was done. I was so excited, I ran over to Dr. Kemp's editing suite to show him and Sig. They both gave me two thumbs up. I will post the final product after Tuesday's screening in class.

Frozen Peas.

I spent $10 on peas this morning. TEN DOLLARS! I went to the freezer aisle at Safeway and picked up for different bags of frozen peas. I just couldn't decide which one looked the most photogenic, so I bought them all. I'll have my director of photography, Sig Thorsen, help me choose the best looking pack. I hope the rejected peas won't be too disappointed.

Today is the day that I film my musical about a featherweight class boxer and his bag of frozen peas, and I wasn't worried at all. I learned from the first two projects that it really is about workflow. As long as I come into this filming prepared, I know that will be ok. Sure enough, I was very prepared. I finished writing my parody of "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree" yesterday, so I spent the last 24 hours visualizing the look and feel of this film. I had the shot list in my head, which made Sig's job much easier. Professor Donn would be proud if he saw how prepared I was!

Sig and I arrived on location at about 11am. Since there was a screening at the Dolby theater later in the afternoon, we had to crank out the piano scenes first. It's a good thing our star was running a little late because that gave me a chance to jump into my tux and record the soundtrack. I paid an arm, a leg, and a few internal organs for that tuxedo, so I want to make sure that any opportunity I have to put it on, I will. As Sig set up the cameras, I recorded the parody using my USB Snowball. I went through about seven or eight takes before I got it right. I got way too emotional with the second verse of the song and found myself projecting more. As a result, there were some clips in the audio. It's a good thing Sig has a good ear, because I sure as heck didn't catch the blips. I was too busy getting into the song. In any case, after I got the perfect take, Sig filmed my scene and then we focused on Jeremy.

I'm glad Jeremy agreed to do this because he really made this film. I hit the jackpot with this guy because he definitely knows a thing or two about boxing. Jeremy noted that he had never acted in a film before, but I couldn't tell. He looked like a pro in front of the camera. We shot him in the locker room and then out in the parking lot. Because of Jeremy's professionalism, Sig's camera savvy, and a well populated shot list (good thing I had the lyrics down!), we were able to wrap up filming in a few hours. This is good because it's going to make my job editing a whole lot easier.

Crazy Busy October.

My mind and body are slowly recuperating from this past weekend's three ring circus known as the National Film Challenge. My eyeballs are not as red as they were earlier this week and my muscles are once again in its relaxed state. I am very tired, and I know where the root of fatigue comes from. It isn't just this last competition that's wearing me down, it's this whole month of October.

My body has been thrown into pandemonium this month because of this little film making hobby of mine. The first weekend of October was devoted to filming my ghost movie, "Bandido Goes Home." Week #2 robbed me of rapid eye movement as Sig, Tom, and I entered the Apple Insomnia Film Festival. The week after that was the National Film Challenge, and next week I will have to complete my project #3 for this Digital Workflow class. Did I mention that it has to be a musical? Boy oh boy. Four film projects in one month. Do you see why I am tired?

In any case, it is now time for me to move on to the next project. I have finally completed writing the parody to Tony Orlando's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree." I had thought about publishing the lyrics on this edition of Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files, but I've decided to keep my readers in suspense. This project is due next Tuesday, and I plan to film on Saturday and edit on Sunday. Sig will be helping me with the camera work this weekend, which I am grateful for. I also have lined up a guy at work to star in this flick. I'm still amazed that he agreed to do this. I guess people are more open minded about my film these days now that IDOM are NAAWFM. Because of this prestigious title, people are taking me a little bit more seriously as a film maker. I really like that!

I have everything I need lined up for this weekend's production. The only thing I am strugging with now is trying to transpose my piece. The piano rendition of "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree" is way out of my range and I would like more than anything to drop it a few octaves. I checked in Garage Band but had no luck. Apparently, you can only transpose the Apple loops and not anything else imported into Soundtrack Pro. I next moved to Sountrack Pro and still had issues. Does anyone out there know how I can transpose my piece? Below are two print screens, one of Garage Band and the other of Soundtrack Pro. Please take a look at these two pics and let me know how I can resolve this issue:



After all the technical issues I had with "Bandido Goes Home," I am taking project #3 very seriously, and making sure that I had all workflow issues taken care of up front. Right, this is the thing that's giving me migraines. Anyone? Anyone? Help?

NAAWFM

Anybody know what NAAWFM (pronounced naw-fum) is? Nationally Acclaimed Award Winning Film Makers. That's us! IDOM is NAAWFM. Nationally Acclaimed Award Winning Film Makers. I love saying that. This is definitely a great title, but unfortunately, our fans will have to take our word that we won. I am very bummed to say that Visa has decided that we cannot post Exit anywhere :-( We signed our lives away to them, so we have to do what they Visa tells us. Unfortunately, that means that can't openly share our little fantasy masterpiece. Oh well.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mark Ruppert [mailto:mark@48hourfilm.com]
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 12:47 PM
To: '48 Hour Film Project'
Subject: Final Update on 48HFP Visa Invitational 10.19

Hello Filmmakers—

We have heard from OMD and Visa, they have decided that they do not want to have any of the Visa “Life Takes” Invitational films to be distributed in any way. Unfortunately, at this time, they will not be on www.48.tv and you are not permitted to put the films up on your personal website or third party websites (e.g., YouTube). Reminder: per the agreement that each of you signed, Visa retains the rights to your submitted film.

As some of you may know, Visa has recently announced plans to make itself a publicly traded company. To that end, they are going through a number of transitions and are taking a conservative approach when it comes to Visa content.

We’re disappointed that your great work won’t have more exposure. Please contact us with any questions.

Mark and Liz

Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston
Executive Producers
48 Hour Film Project, Inc.

Please Vote For "Which?" !!

Sig, Tom, and I have entered yet another film competition and we would greatly appreciate your vote! Two weekends ago, The Crack of Donn, the spin off of IT DONNED ON ME, participated in the Apple Insomnia Film Festival and had to create a 3 minute film in 24 hours. Boy, this was not an easy task, but my team got our film in before the 6am cut off time!

You will need an Apple account to vote. If you don't have an account already, it's easy to sign up and it's free. Here's how to vote:

1. Click Here.
2. Go to "rate this project" on the right side, and choose a rating (make sure it's four stars!). Feel free to leave a comment if you like.

That’s it! Please forward this to all your family and friends. Your vote may be the deciding factor in getting our team into the finals. Thanks for your support.

Re: IDOM'ers, Ready For The NFC?

Standing in line at the post office, waiting to send our film off, I notice a sign on the far back wall: "Postmarks will not be given after 8:00pm. All items accepted after this time will be processed the next day" I glance at my watch... 9:30. Some quick mental calculations led me to believe I may have missed the postmark deadline. I figured that was it... the jig was up. We were doomed, done for, beaten down, kaput. The show was over, the band had gone home, the aardvark had... done whatever aardvarks do when they are done with whatever it is they do. I started searching around on my phone for anywhere that might take a later drop-off. Finally, my turn comes...

Me:
"I noticed you don't do postmarks this late....I just need to get this stamped and dated to confirm we shipped it today."

Postmistress:
"Fill out this form. NEXT!"

And so we made it... the actual 'postmark' will be the 23rd, but it has a USPS-generated postage label with the 22nd on it as well as a big red ink stamp with the date and location it was accepted at, and I have a certificate of mailing with the same thing as well as the dated receipt, so I think we've satisfied the requirement of documenting the mailing date. I didn't think to do tracking - at the time I was so relieved that we'd actually made it that I just filled out the form she gave me without thinking about it until after I'd already left - so we'll just have to wait for confirmation from them. Now it's up to the judges! I wonder how many films actually made the deadline? I wonder how many films are actually any good? I wonder how many films have talking horses? I wonder what aardvarks do? Good work everyone! Time to relax and enjoy the holidays... your filmmaking deadlines are over for this year! Unless you're in my class....

Evan

The Signature.

I played a little trick on Tom Flowers. He emailed me earlier and asked if we had come up with a title for our fantasy flick. I responded yes and made up this wild name just to play with him:

HAY! Yo! Ga.
A Pony's Nonzensical Journey.

Tom fell for it. I wonder what ran through his head? I guess nothing surprises him anymore, afterall, we did make a movie about a Vietnamese speaking horse. Go figure, huh? In any case, Sig set him straight and told him the real title. hee hee.

Speaking of Sig, I received a phone call from one half of my love ladies this morning. Sig called to inform me that I did not sign any of the paperwork. Real good, considering that I am the producer and all. I told her that I'll leave work a little earlier to get all the documents signed. I was going to sneak out early anyway to watch my Colts play our division rival, the Jaguars, so this is actually good timing. I'll just watch the game at Rick's place instead of in my living room. I left work at 3:30pm and headed over to the editing suite. When I arrived, Rob, Sig, and Dinah were watching over Evan's shoulders as he plugged along with the compositing. I really felt the finish line was near! We all sat around the G5 and watched our fantasy become a reality. A few hours later, we had a finished product and Evan shipped it off to the airport post office for our postmark. Signed, sealed, delivered! Below are some random pics from the weekend.

We're Not Hosed Yet!

I noted in yesterday's blog entry that W.C. Fields once said "Never work with animals or children." The Hollywood legend also once said, "The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep." We really should listen to Mr. Fields...


I guess it's really not insomnia if one chooses to stay awake. I tried to keep my eye lids open, but it just didn't happen. At about 3am this morning, I passed out on Rick's futon. I seem to recall Rob and The Love Ladies sneaking out at about that hour, but it all seemed like a dream. I managed to sneak in 4 hours of shut eye, which definitely was enough to get me going on Sunday. Rick and I knew that we had to plug in as much as we could on our FCP time line, so we jumped right in. Sig, Rob, and Dinah did a great job a few hours earlier dragging in all the clips, so it was up to Rick and I to plug in the audio. At 6:30am, it looked bleak, and all I heard from the Richie Cunningham look-a-like all morning long was "we're hosed...we are so hosed...HOSED." I kept saying over and over again that once we get the foley in, things will look good. Rick wasn't convinced, but I did it anyway. Sure enough, once we found our didgeridoo music, a couple a horse noises, and a sample of my Vietnamese, things started to come together.

Evan showed up at about 9:30am followed by everyone else in the group. All the IDOM'ers looked beat. We congregated in front of Rick's G5 and contemplated the script. We looked at all the Yogi's lines and tried to piece them all together to make a story. Once we had an idea of what we wanted, we headed over to Emerald Market for lunch where we sat in the patio area piecing the story together. We also came up with the title, "Retreat." Occasionally, our pessimistic red-headed chiropractor would comment about us being hosed, but I did notice that those outbursts were fewer than in the morning. I do believe that Rick was feeling more confident at that point. I knew I was, and I bet the other IDOM'ers were too. With that feeling of accomplishment, we marched back to the editing suite to complete our fantasy masterpiece. I knew that my voice over work was up next so I mentally prepared for the occasion. It was very important to me to keep some level of cultural sensitivity to this project so I really made sure that my grammar was correct. Whenever I was in doubt, I call my older sisters for assistance. Below are some out takes from that voice over session.

I've never met a Vietnamese horse before, so it was exciting to see our little midget horse from The Serendipity Ranch come to life! I can't wait to show this film to family and Vietnamese friends. We completed the voice over work in about one hour and continued to plug along with our film. Things were looking good! That is, until Rick pulled out the ironing board. The oblivious chiropractor set up the table and started to iron his long sleeve button down shirt. All of a sudden, POOF!! Then all the lights went out. The cinema display on his desk went blank as well. It donned on me that Rick's iron short circuited everything and as a result, we had a that brief blackout. I looked up at the pitch black screen and sullenly proclaimed, "WE'RE HOSED." This black out definitely rattled me, but when I learned that we had only lost 10 minutes worth of work and that it was easily salvageable, I eased up. I'm sure Rick was repeating the hose line over and over again in his head, but he kept composure and fixed the problem.

Lessons learned:

1. Always save your work.
2. Never turn on any appliances near your G5!
   

With that, we decided to call it the night and return in the morning to complete the project. We had an 11:59pm Monday deadline, so there was still plenty of time. We're not hosed yet!

"Never Work With Animals Or Children." - W.C. Fields

W.C. Fields once said "Never work with animals or children." Did IDOM listen to those words of wisdom? Nope. It never donned on us that W.C. Fields might be on to something. Twice now, we have made movies featuring animals. If you count that Vietnamese horn dog humping that old lady in "Urgent Care," then make that three. Three IDOM films featuring animals. When will we learn?


It Donned On Me stepped so far out of the box that I cannot find the lid. The National Film Challenge handed us three choices for genre this time around: fantasy, musical, or western. When we met last night, I suggested that we stay far far away from the musical genre and try something other than fantasy since that is was we did with "Exit.' That left us with the western. I called Rick Kemp right away and asked if we could get access to his patient's horse ranch, and fortunately, they said yes. Everyone seemed cool with the idea of the western, so we all sat at my dining table, closed up our mental umbrellas, and waited for the brain storm to soak us. This is what transpired:

• Evan had this idea to create a Kung Fu spoof. In it, a female David Carradine-esque yogi runs away to the American wild west after having avenged the death of her teacher, a blind Vietnamese guru who taught the secrets of the downward dog. With her trusted didgeridoo over her left shoulder, the Yogi travels to the Serendipity Ranch in Old West Half Moon Bay to find work as a midget horse handler.
  
• One afternoon, an evil rival rancher breaks into the Serendipity Ranch to kidnap the midget horse to extract its DNA to impregnate all the horses on coast. That way, the next generations of horses in Half Moon Bay and along the coast would be short and useless, while all of the rival rancher's would be stallions. The Yogi catches on to this and uses her yoga moves to bring the justice to the Serendipity Ranch.

• All of a sudden, Rick blurted out, "The horse speaks! This will be Mr. Ed meets Kung Fu." I then added, "Well, the horse would have to speak in Vietnamese." In the corner of my eye, I could see Tom Flowers roll his eyes. In front of me, I could see Sig take another sip of her wine. I looked to the right of Sig and saw Rob smiling. Hmm.
  
• We continued to brainstorm and decided that the midget Vietnamese horse would have a philosophical discussion with the Yogi. It then donned on me that we no longer had a western. I brought this to the group's attention and we all agreed to change our genre to fantasy. I could see a huge smile on Rob's face. I think he wanted to make a fantasy all along.
• We wrapped up at about midnight and agreed to meet at The Serendipity Ranch by 10am. Mike and my Love Ladies made plans to meet up at my house.

I woke up on Saturday morning and quickly took a shot of caffeine. I knew that we were going to have another long day shooting this Mr. Ed meets Kung Fu flick, so I wanted to go into this prepared. Mike showed up at about 8:30am followed by my love ladies, Sig and Dinah. The four of us went to Safeway to pick up some food for team, and then headed over the hill to The Serendipity Ranch. I swear, when I approached the gate, I felt like I was entering the serene settings of a rehab center. I felt like Lindsay Lohan, only a decade older, about 100 pounds heavier, a few inches shorter, male, and Vietnamese. In any case, the four of us drove into the ranch and saw horses every where. I parked the car, stepped out, and met up with the rest of the group.

The IDOM team congregated in the ranch and quickly got to work. The seven of us jumped on to the little Kubota go cart and Rick took the wheel. We drove up and down the Serendipity hills scouting for locations. I felt like I was on some sort of African safari, minus the elephants, gazelles, and lions. I turned to Dinah and asked if this was anything like Zimbabwe, and she replied, "it's much more humid there." I'm fairly certain that she was going to add more, but the ride was so bumpy that she probably felt it wasn't worth it. I swear, that ride was so bumpy that all of us were gettin' jiggy with it. Nah! Nah! Nah! Nah! Sorry, I had to make that Will Smith reference. In any case, we found the location we wanted and Sig got to work with Evan's camera.

After Sig got the shots she needed, we headed back to the ranch. I swear, going down hill on that little put put of a go cart was much more challenging that going up. At times, I thought I was going to fly out of that front seat an into a pile of horse ca ca. You like how I censored my language there? I think the last time I used the term "ca ca" was back in kindergarden. We made it back down to the ranch in one piece, and the team jumped right into production. While Dinah got to work on Justine's make up, Rob and Sig continued to get multi-angle shots. Tom assisted Rob with the B-roll material, Rick became the midget horse wrangler, and Mike and I ran around like the good production assistants we are. Evan stood back and watched.




Justine did a fine job as our yoga instructor and I have to say that Junior the Horse brought his A game. It was fun watching the two of them act out their scenes. There definitely was chemistry there. We finished filming by about 6pm and headed back to Rick's editing suite to prepare for that long long long night of logging, capturing, and editing. I brought along my over night bag because I knew I was going to crash on his futon. We dropped off all our stuff and went to dinner at The Canyon Inn. Afterwards, we stopped off at the market to stock up on the caffeine. I made sure that had enough to keep me up through the night.

The 2007 National Film Challenge Has Commenced!!

Team It Donned On Me, the 2007 National Film Challenge has commenced!! The following is your film genre and your elements for the 2007 National Film Challenge:

GENRE:
Fantasy or Musical or Western

CHARACTER:
Drew or Diane Smuthers, Yoga Instructor

PROP:
A Garden Tool

LINE OF DIALOGUE:
I have no time for silly games!


Your given GENRE must be your main genre. You can mix genres, but it should be obvious to a judge and the audience that your main genre is Fantasy or Musical or Western.


The CHARACTER must be obvious to a judge and to the audience as well. It does not have to be the main character, but at the end of the movie they should be able to know that there was a character named Drew or Diane Smuthers, Yoga Instructor in your movie.

Feel free to be creative with your PROP, but just make sure that it appears somewhere in your movie.

The LINE OF DIALOGUE must be communicated verbatim in the film.


Don't forget to fill out all of your paperwork! All the necessary forms can be found at:

http://www.filmchallenge.org/filmdocs.htm

Your finished film must be postmarked by Monday, October 22. Your best bet is to send it via US Postal Service (with tracking) or Fed Ex. You do not need to overnight the film to us. As long as it is postmarked with a store-generated label on 10/22/07 your film will be considered on time and eligible for awards.


The film must be sent to:

National Film Challenge
c/o KDHX-TV
625 N. Euclid Avenue, Suite 100
Saint Louis, Missouri 63108

If you have questions about the rules over the weekend please refer to our rules section and our FAQ section. Since there are hundreds of teams competing I cannot guarantee that I will be able to respond to all email questions in a timely manner.


Let the writing, filming and editing begin! Good luck, have fun and be safe!

Doug Whyte
National Film Challenge Producer

An Audience With Lynn Ruth Miller

For those who are new to Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files, the above picture is not a promotional shot for the Harold & Maude sequel. The senior citizen that you see is Lynn Ruth Miller, a bay area comedian who starred in IDOM's first 48 Hour Film Project, "Urgent Care." I met Ms. Miller on the set of this film, and ever since our infamous scene in that ambulance, we have become good friends, and have developed a solid professional relationship. Odd couple, yes, but we definitely have some sort of chemistry that always seem to put us both on the same page.

I am Lynn Ruth Miller's official marketing manager, and let me tell you, molding her image certainly is challenging. This lady is pretty versatile. Not only does she do raunchy sketches about senior sex for her comedy act, but she also has a zany musical cabaret show and a story telling performance where she engages her audience with poignant anecdotes from her life. While Lynn Ruth performed her show, "An Audience With Lynn Ruth Miller," at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland this summer, a producer absolutely loved her show, and wanted to bring it to London. It all happened so quickly. I remember how excited she was when she broke the news to me after her late night comedy act in Scotland. I've always known that Lynn Ruth Miller had the potential to make it big, and this producer's interest in her show confirmed it. I told Lynn Ruth that she desperately needed a marketing makeover, and I was going to help her do it.

My first major task was to get Lynn Ruth's story telling show onto DVD. The past few months have been extremely busy with 48 hour film projects, film festivals, and Digital Workflow assignments, but I am committed to getting this budding star on the map, so in between all the rendering, I squeezed her in. I am very happy and relieved to say that the DVD has been completed. Having strict deadlines definitely helps. Lynn Ruth is scheduled to fly out to London on Monday morning, so all I have to do now is make duplicate copies for her for distribution. I managed to complete this project in between The Apple Insomnia Film Festival, The National Film Challenge, and projects for Professor Donn's Digital Workflow class. Yes, a whole lot on my plate, but these are things that I want to do. People tell me all the time that I have way too much time on my hands. I wish that were the case. Between my day job, school, video competitions, film festivals, and my job as Lynn Ruth's marketing manager, I barely have time to brush teeth. It used to really bother me when people say this, but these days, my response to them is simple: "I make time to do the things I love." Below is an excerpt from that show called "40 Birkhead Place."

Life Takes...

So here I am sitting at my desk staring at my work monitor. I am experiencing that late afternoon craving from some sugar to give me that boost I need to deal with the slew of angry Korean customers who are just getting into the office. 5pm is when all the phone calls from Asia come in, and it seems that, lately, they've all been from Korea. I prepare myself for these calls by injecting refined sugar into my system via the junk that my my company provides in the corporate vending machine. I'm really craving a Butterfingers bar right now.

Those who have seen IT DONNED ON ME's submission for the Visa "Life Takes" Invitational may recognize the vending machine above. This was the machine that the janitor in "Exit" used to swipe his Visa card through for a Snickers bar. I approached this machine a few minutes ago to get my sugar fix when I noticed a new item in the C4 slot. To my surprise, my company now carries sour gummy bears made by "Harmony." Imagine if this snack was available a few weeks a back. Our janitor could have purchased this instead of that snickers bar. Imagine that: Life takes Harmony...Gummy Bears!


I ended up getting that bag of sour bears. I noticed that the label indicated that each bear has an injection of vitamin C, so at least choosing the bag of gummy bears is somewhat healthier than that Butterfingers bar. Flawed logic, I know, but at least I am now prepared to take these calls from the angry Koreans. Harmony ... harmony ... harmony ... just keep repeating that, Borm...

Project #3. The Required Elements.

A musical?? A musical about a featherweight class boxer?! Frozen peas?! Boy oh boy. This may be my toughest draw yet!

It doesn't help that this has been the busiest October ever. The last time I can recall an October being so jammed packed with deadlines was back in my UCD days when I had O-Chem experiments to do, Genetics midterms to take, and Anthropology term papers to write all crammed into the Halloween month. At least this time, it is a good kind of stress. October 2007 has been very busy for me. The first weekend of this month was devoted to my ghost cat film, "Bandido Goes Home." This past weekend, I sacrificed sleep for the Apple Insomnia Film Festival. This weekend is all about The National Film Challenge, and next weekend I will have to finish up project #3. B-U-S-Y!! But it's all good. It is very important to ake time for things you love, and I sure love what I'm doing. :-)

Character:
Carlos Gutierrez, Featherweight Class Boxer.

Prop:
Frozen Peas.

Line of Dialogue:
"You can't stop me!!!"

Film Genre:
Musical.

The Crack Of Donn Presents: WHICH?

Which?

It was a wonderful 24 hours. Tom, Tony and I (with help from Lynn Ruth, Dennie and Mike) had to do it all! We planned, filmed and edited. We missed the rest of you. It is easy, in hindsight, to think we might have done some things differently, but with only 24 hours you just have to keep plowing ahead. I like the movie we made, and now we have to get all our friends and colleagues to vote for it so we end up in the top 25 nation-wide. Tony will be providing information on how the voting can be done. I'm looking forward to working with the whole team this coming weekend. It would be nice to have a mid-week meeting to talk about the assets we have available for the weekend. Tony promises to blog about our Insomnia experience, and I can't wait to hear what he has to say. There wasn't much time for taking photos, but I did see him snap a few.

-Sig

It's a good thing that today is Sunday, because if I had to be at work, I'd probably fall asleep in the Dolby lunch room. I'm so tired. My eyes are still throbbing from last night. Making a movie in 48 hours is one thing, but making one in 24 hours is quite something else. Tom, Sig, and I did just that, and what a great experience it was. With the help of Lynn Ruth Miller, Denny Vann, and Mike Eyvazov, we were able to create a film that asks the question, "Which?" Which witch will prevail? Which spell will win over? Once our video is officially posted on the Apple website and the competition gets underway, you will be able to find the answer to these questions! Below is a bullet point chronology of our day. Please note that the times are rough estimates.

• 6:12am - Tony retrieves required elements.
• 9:05am - The Crack of Donn team arrives.
• 9:17am - Sig comes up with a Halloween themed plot about two witches.
• 9:21am - Denny arrives followed by Mike.
  
• 10:03am - Lynn Ruth Miller arrives.
• 11:45am - The script is completed.
• 12:00pm - Sig and Denny runs home to pick up costumes. Mike goes home to get bum clothes. Tony, Lynn Ruth, and Tom head to IHOP to work on the shot list.
• 1:04pm - Everyone returns back at the house to get into costume and make up. Amazingly enough, Tony becomes Dinah deSpenza for the day.
  
• 3:00pm - Filming starts at the bunch across the street from Borm's house.
• 3:45pm - Location change due to excessive wind.
• 5:30pm - It's a wrap.
• 6:45pm - Tony, Sig, and Tom goes to Mimi's cafe to discuss workflow. All three Cracks of Donn order the Asian chicken salad.
• 9:00pm - The three Cracks of Donn head to Sig's editing suite to create "Which." While Tony edits on the main time line, Sig and Tom does foley work.
• 12:03am - Edit, edit, edit...
• 2:04am - More editing.
• 3:14am - Tom heads home while Tony and Sig continues to edit away.
• 5:01am - Project completed and exported.
  
• 5:48am - After seven tries, "Which" is finally uploaded. Tony and Sig do the dance of joy.

It's Not Insomnia If Your Eyes Are Blood Shot And Throbbing And All You Really Want To Do Is Sleep....

Right now, it is the crack of dawn, and The Crack Of Donn has just uploaded "Which?" onto the Apple webite. Sig and I did the dance of joy when we received the confirmation. Because of all the traffic on the Apple website, we didn't get our movie uploaded until the seventh try. Do you know how nerve wracking it is to wait for your project to upload as the Apple clock is counting down? I swear, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. In any case, it is 6 friggin' a.m. and I really need to go home to get some shut eye. I will post pics and commentary on the filming and editing of this Insomnia Film Festival entry when I recuperate. Keep refreshing Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files. Special thanks to Sig, Tom, Lynn Ruth, Denny, and Mike for making this happen. I think you'll be very happy with finished product.

The Required Elements For Insomnia.

It is the crack of donn and I hauled my butt out of bed to retrieve the required elements for the Apple Insomnia Film Festival. To my surprise, there is no genre! In fact, the field was wide open, and there is a lot of room for creativity! Tom and Sig will be meeting me in a few minutes, followed by our group of esteemed performers: Lynn Ruth Miller, Denise Vann, and Michael Eyvazov. Those who have seen Urgent Care may remember these three characters. I'm pumped up and ready to fly. I have no idea what we are going to do, but I do live across the street from a park bench and I do own a tuxedo. My tux came in handy at The Visa "Life Takes" Invitational Awards Ceremony a few weekends ago, so I'm going to convince Sig & Tom into using it for this competition. This tux is a lucky one, so who knows, we may win the top prize!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Apple Insomnia Film Festival [mailto:insomniafilm@apple.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 6:18 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: It’s time to make your masterpiece.

Filmmakers, start your cameras. The big moment has arrived, and you’ve got just 24 hours—until 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow, October 14—to make and post your three-minute entry for the Insomnia Film Festival.

Start by choosing three of the top-secret elements revealed below (you can also find them at http://www.apple.com/education/insomnia/elements.html) to include in your film. In the opening shot, be sure to list the name of your team and whichever elements you’ve selected.

Remember to leave at least an hour to post your film to the Insomnia Gallery before the deadline; as 9:00 a.m. creeps up, heavy traffic can slow things down. Now get rolling.

2007 Film Elements (choose any three):

Location:
Park Bench

Prop:
Bird Cage

Character Name:
Robin Darjeeling

Background Sound:
Radio Static

Costume:
Tuxedo

Camera Angle:
Dutch Angle

Narrative Device:
Dream Sequence

Editing Technique:
Match Cut

Dialogue:
“Don’t tempt me.”

Makeup:
Old Person


Good luck!
- Insomnia Team

I Can't Sleep Anyway...

The Insomnia Film Festival is back—and while the world sleeps, you could be making film history. Calling all high school and college filmmakers.

On Saturday, October 13 at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern time), we’ll post a top-secret list of elements — special props, dialogue, settings — you get the idea. Choose any three to include in your movie. Then all you and your team have to do is write, cast, shoot, edit, score, and upload your 3-minute masterpiece within 24 hours. No problem, right?

Once the films are in, your friends, family, and adoring fans will be able to watch them online and rate their favorites. The 25 entries with the highest rating on November 9 at 12:00 a.m. EST will be screened by industry professionals, including Barry Sonnenfeld, James Mangold, and Nora Ephron.

If your film is the biggest hit with either the public or the pros, each member of your team will receive a MacBook Pro, Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio, and Shake so you can get started on that first sequel. How’s that for a Hollywood ending?

It's All About The Workflow...

Workflow is a highly subjective thing - what works best for one person may make no sense to another. Because of this it's not something I can teach you in an absolute sense - it's something that each person will discover in the process of producing their own projects. Workflow also doesn't matter too much in terms of a single project - you can certainly develop a strategy for any given project, but that strategy is likely to change as the project progresses. However the lessons from the first project can inform your strategy on the next project.

I just reread the syllabus for this Digital Workflow class, and the last sentence of the above passage stuck out like a sore thumb for me. I learned quite a few lessons working on this second project. I really need to re-examine my workflow. I bit off way more than I could chew by attempting to film and edit in HD. To make a really long story short, I filmed in HD and captured the footage in iMovie because Final Cut Pro wouldn't recognize Rick and Sig's HD cameras. iMove down converted my file to SD and letter boxed the file, which took many many hours. Once this arduous task completed, I imported the compressed file back into Final Cut Pro and had to resize it because iMovie shrunk it to a size so small that I had to squint, even with my contact lens on. As a result of all this, my film turned out completely pixelated, stretched, and pretty much F@$*-ed up! Bottom line: my workflow was way off. I saw the red flags early on, but I dug myself deeper into the hole. Oh well.

I realized how much my lack of knowledge and experience of HD came to life when my film was shown on the big screen. I keep my FCP timeline and canvas fairly small, so I really couldn't tell exactly how out whack the file was! Of course, Professor Donn was very diplomatic in his critique of my work, and I do take all his constructive feedback into perspective. The technical side of things will take some time for me to absorb, as the left side of my brain is not as sharp as the eastern hemisphere of my rather large cranium. I'm going to have to pick up an HD For Dummies book as a reference guide, and continue to film in this format even if it means making more mistakes that will, no doubt, cause me more migraines. That's fine. I'll do what I have to do to get myself out of this standard definition mode and into the wonderful world of HD!

In addition to my technical work flow issues, Professor Donn also provided valuable feedback on composition. He pointed out areas that could use improvement, which I definitely agree with. I plan to re-edit this project, and these are the things I will be concentrating on:

• Using color correction to match up the different camera angles.
• Cutting down the film to the three minute requirement. I have a chronic problem with going over the time limit, so this is always a challenge. However, Professor Donn pointed out certain scenes that I could cut out. I didn't think about it at the time, but I realized that those particular scenes were not necessary to the plot.
• Figuring out how to really work camera angles for the next project.
  

Making "Bandido Goes Home" has been a huge learning experience. I have a better understanding of what I need to do for the next project. Will it be an HD masterpiece? Far from. I'll have to do a few dozen more films to reach that goal! I haven't given up on this ghost cat movie though. I do plan to recapture all the footage and re-edit the movie. I had so much fun having a seance at my house that I would be doing myself and my crew a huge disservice by dropping this project altogether! I'll definitely post the film once it is completed, but in the mean time, I will share some crazy pics from that crazy little seance.

Get Your Damn Ghost Cat Butt Outta Here!

Editing in HD is proving to be one big migraine. First I had problems getting the camera to communicate with Final Cut Pro, then I get stuck in iMovie and have to wait hours (I kid you not, it was HOURS) for my project to letter box itself. Now, I have to wait for render to complete every time I make a change. I swear, the render time is so long that my clothes are going out of style. I am very frustrated. It is very clear that I am inexperienced in this HD world. It's a little bit after 11pm and I am only half way through my project. I probably would have finished hours ago had I not had to wait for rendering. I'm sure there's some setting in FCP that I could click on, but I just don't know where it is. Did I bite off way more than I could chew?

My MacBook Pro Is Possessed By A Ghost Cat!

I'm having some serious work flow issues. I've been sitting on this guacamole green Ikea couch all day trying to log and capture, but there's just something in my Final Cut Pro settings that is not allowing me to do so. Why won't my FCP recognize these two HD cameras? Rick and Sig are stumped by this as well, and after scratching our heads for about an hour, we threw in the towel and decided to capture in iMovie.



Well, as you can see from the print screen above, iMovie is not all that user friendly either. I have a really bad headache. I'm not sure if it's brain freeze from the frozen pineapples that I just shoved in mouth or because of all these technical difficulties, but whatever it is, it's really making me feel down. I'm beginning to wonder if this ghost cat is doing all it can to prevent me from making this film!

It's A Wrap!

We have a wrap! "Bandido Goes Home" can now go into post production. This scares the hell out of me. How am I going to piece this film together by Tuesday?? Did I bite off more than I can chew? We'll just have to wait and see. Below are some snapshots of the shoot. I'll keep you all in suspense by not posting any pics of the actors. Oh boy, The Divalicious Dinah deSpenza did an incredible job transforming Brenda Moore into the medium and Joanne into the trailer trash hick. Kirk looked very dapper in his Pierre Cardin and canine accessory, and that mullet really stood out on Mike.

I'd like to thank my cast and crew for all your help. I will do my best not to disappoint you!