Jeff Crispi Rocks

I managed to tweak my schedule so that I could attend the Avalon Micro Film Festival. I guess I'm making up for lost time for missing out on the whole "Doggie Style" experience last year. For those who are new to Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files, I am referring to It Donned On Me's 2007 San Jose Film Project submission. I know that last line probably sounded a bit perverse, so I had to make that clarification. In any case, I really do feel like I missed out last year due to family obligations, so when Jeff Crispi invited me to attend this event (where "Doggie Style" would be screened) I did what I could to get there.

The Avalon Micro Film Festival is the brain child of Jeff Crispi. What started out as "The East Bay Micro Film Festival," a screening that took place in Mr. Crispi's home, has turned into a film festival tour in New York, Oakland, the South Bay, and eventually San Francisco. This film festival is really making a name for itself, and I am proud that It Donned On Me is a part of it. Not only was "Doggie Style" screened, but so was "TwirlyBoy." I was very impressed by the selection of high caliber films that Jeff put together. I got to meet a few of the filmmakers as well as some of the actors, some of whom were hysterical. On the schedule for the evening (in no particular order):

"Renounced" - Angelo Bell
"Consumed" - Subject To Change
"Love Hurts" - Christian Simmons
"Doggie Style" - It Donned On Me
"El Invencion" Trailer - Andres Garcia Franco
"Sunshine Bob" - Christian Simmons
"All Nighter" - Ryota Mori
"Max" - Rick Kemp
"Crickets" - Kari Navil
"The Key Master" - Ryota Mori
"El Ride" - Veronica Rodriguez
"Tracker" - Steffan Shultz
"Pencil Face" - Christian Simmons
"TwirlyBoy" - It Donned On Me

After every film screened, Jeff had a question and answer session with the filmmakers. As TwirlyBoy, I got to be a part of the panel! Initially, it felt weird to be up there, but the other filmmakers were so supportive and fun that I completely chilled out and ran with it. The audience asked very insightful questions, but what was even better was hearing the filmmakers responses. When all questions were answered, Evan--who just happened to be the executive producer of this film festival--played some of the filmmaker's other works. It was well after 11pm, but I was still engrossed on the screen. However, as the clock ticked closer to midnight, I had to call it quits. I thanked everyone, especially Jeff, for the great evening.

The Avalon Micro Film Festival is an intimate engagement where the audience member really gets to know the filmmaker and his or her art. I like that. Jeff Crispi is doing something good for the film community. Jeff, if you're reading this, you rock!

Avalon Micro Film Festival 2008 Summer Edition

Tonight is the Avalon Micro Film Festival in Sunnyvale, and I am bummed that I won't be able to make it. Whenever I can, I try to make it out to all the screenings of IDOM's work. Unfortunately, I have some family obligations that I can't get out of. The next stop for the festival is New York, and I will try my best to make it out to The Big Apple. I'm pretty sure the organizer will screen one of our films again. Below is the description of the festival that Evan posted on the IDOM site:

Once again several of IDOM's films will be screening as part of the 2008 Avalon Micro Film Festival. The Summer edition will be taking place this Saturday, August 30th at The Quarter Note in Sunnyvale at 8pm. IDOM's films "Doggie Style" and "Tail" will be screening on Saturday along with a dozen other short films including "Max" - a short film by IDOM member Rick Kemp written by and starring Mickey Joseph, star of our first 48H film "Urgent Care". The screening will be followed by a Q&A with several of the filmmakers in attendance.

The Avalon Micro Film Festival is a truly grassroots production started and run by Jeff Crispi, one of the stars of "Doggie Style." From a single screening last year Jeff has grown the festival to four scheduled screenings this year spanning both coasts, so if you miss this week's screening you'll still have a chance to catch the fall or winter shows (in Oakland & New York, respectively - I'll post details as they are finalized). So come on out to support both truly independent filmmaking and independent exhibition as well as have a great time at the movies.

Above is a shot of Jeff Crispi and Dinah deSpenza, a.k.a Don and Dawn August of "Doggie Style." This little family reunion (Don and Dawn are siblings, in case you didn't know that) took place at last week's screening of TwirlyBoy. Next year, regardless of what genre we pull, I say we incorporate these PR Specialists into the script. They, of course, would represent TwirlyBoy!

True Confessions

There's something I really need to get off my chest. This is something that's been eating away at me ever since the TwirlyBoy premiere. I am afraid that I've been lying to everybody, and it's now time to come clean. The truth of the matter is that I did not do my own twirly stunts. I actually had a body double, and her name is Tatiana Ogryzo, world class ribbon twirler from the 90's. We didn't credit her in our film because I didn't wanted anyone to know. Well, it's time to give credit where credit is due. ;-P



Oh, another thing, those weren't Ho Ho's I gave out at the TwirlyBoy screening. They were knock offs. Ho Ho's cost $1.29 for a three pack versus $1 for a box of 12 of Little Debbie's Swiss Rolls. I chose the economical route. They look like Ho Ho's, they taste like Ho Ho's, in my book they are Ho Ho's! Can you imagine TwirlyBoy demanding the Ho Ho knock off? "I WANT MY LITTLE DEBBIE'S SWISS ROLLS!" In any case, if I have offended anyone by being deceitful, I am sorry.

And The Award Goes To...

We are a week away from the Awards Ceremony for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project! Yippee! I am crossing my fingers that TwirlyBoy will garner a hand full of nominations. If I had it my way, this would be the results:



It Donned On Me would twirl away with every award, if I were a judge! An IDOM sweep! Of course, I am a slightly biased. So for the sake of being impartial, I will remove TwirlyBoy from the list and vote for what I feel is the best of the best of 2008. Please note that these are my personal picks and not predictions. If I were to pick the best of 2008, minus TwirlyBoy, they would be the following:

Best Use of Prop
"Lost and Found" - P-Town Pictures (romance)

Best Use of Character
"From Coffee To Drumstick" - Outlaw Media Productions (fantasy)

Best Use of Line of Dialogue
"Marble Bag" - Block Cipher (romance)

Best Costumes
"High Stakes Hookey" - UbseyMovies (period piece)

Best Special Effects
"Bodbrane and the Wizard of Spas" - Beyond Forever Studios (fantasy)

Best Art Direction
"Vagrant Realty" - Turnabout Pictures

Best Sound Design
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)

Best Musical Score
"Rock Me Kokopelli" - tinyandsmall.com (period piece)

Best Cinematography
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)

Best Editing
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)

Best Writing
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Best Acting
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Best Directing
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)

Best Film
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Rock Me Kokopelli

It's been a full week since the first screening of the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project. I am a bit antsy because I have to wait another full week (and a day!) for the awards ceremony. TwirlyBoy seemed like it was very well received by the audience, so i'm hoping we get some nominations. The waiting game is always tough, but I will survive. At first I was afraid, I was petrified, but like I said, I will survive. I'm really looking forward to the September 4th awards show.

I think it's time for another IDOM party. It Donned On Me had a productive summer, and it's time to celebrate both "Tail" and "TwirlyBoy." This would also be a good time to screen "Rock Me Kokopelli," the period piece by IDOM renegades Joe Kirsch and Kirk Moore. These two created their own film for the SJ48HFP, which was premiered last week in Group A. I made it out to Cinema 12 last Wednesday night to support them and the other film makers. I don't believe that any other IDOM'ers have not seen their film yet, and I understand that Joe is in the process of doing some tweaks. We'll definitely have to screen "Rock Me Kokopelli at the next IDOM party!

it DONNED on me

Ok, I have a funny little story. There I was sitting on the guacamole green Ikea couch updating Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files when my iPhone beeps. I checked the screen and saw that an email came in from a co-worker. I initially thought it was a work issue and was about to put the iPhone away, but when I saw the subject heading "It Donned On Me," I had to check. I opened up the email, and this is what I saw:

Hey dood. Just checking on this, just in case. Not to sharp-shoot ya or nothin'. You know that the usual expression is written "it dawned on me", yes? I assumed you have a friend named Don or that there's a pun in there with the Godfather or something, but then I thought maybe I better check just to be sure…This is one of those things like when you've got something in your teeth--I wasn't even sure if I should mention it, but then I figured I better mention it. Right. Sorry if this is know-it-all pain-in-the-assery.

Funny! I love that people wonder about our name, because it means that they are talking about us! I emailed the guy back and explained that our director is named Evan Donn, and that It Donned On Me is simply a play on his name. For those who may not know, I was put on the spot last year when I signed us up for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. I had less than a minute to come up with a group name. The first moniker that came to mind was "The Crack of Donn." For all you dirty minded peeps out there, I'd like to clarify that the "crack" refers to us taking a crack at this competition! In any case, it dawned on me that this name probably wouldn't go over well with the team, so I had to come up with something else. It then dawned on me that we should be called "IT DONNED ON ME!" The name stuck and the rest is history.

On that note, I'd like to close out this blog by posting the IT DONNED ON ME story, which Evan has updated on the IDOM website. We've only been together as a team a little over a year, but we have accomplished quite a bit!

The ongoing 'It Donned On Me' saga...

For the past few years Evan Donn has been teaching classes in After Effects and Final Cut Pro in the Multimedia department at College Of San Mateo. Every semester there were a couple of students who just wouldn't go home when the class was over, staying after with a seemingly endless stream of questions about every imaginable aspect of video production. Many of them returned semester after semester for whichever class Evan was teaching at the time.

In the spring of 2006 Evan taught a new class called DV Workflow which consisted almost entirely of these "irregulars". DV Workflow became essentially an 'everything but the kitchen sink' type of class covering the entire process of video production with an emphasis on producing video for the web.

As part of DV Workflow every member of the class had to produce an episodic video series for the web. This led to various members teaming up to work on each others' videos as well as providing valuable input on the finished videos during class screenings. When the class ended everyone felt that the working dynamic of the group was worth continuing.

Led by Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen they dubbed themselves 'The Evan Donn School of Film' and began holding quarterly screenings of everyone's current work. In 2006 several members of the group attended one of the 48 Hour Film screenings, and they all walked out with the same thought - we can do that.

From that point on the quarterly screenings took on a new direction as 'challenges' were thrown out with criteria similar to the 48 Hour Film Project. This helped prepare the team members for the challenge of building a short film around a character, prop and line of dialogue.

As the 2007 competition drew closer Mr. Nguyen once again took the lead and signed up the team for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. Put on the spot to come up with a team name he considered and rejected many possibilities before the ideal name 'donned' on him...

Despite their history the San Francisco competition was the first time all members of the team had worked together on a single project. Everyone jumped right in and the result was our first short film - 'Urgent Care'.

Despite incredible audience reaction to the film, 'Urgent Care' failed to win either the audience or juried competition for San Francisco. However, the team was selected by competition sponsor Visa as one of ten teams from San Francisco to compete in their national "Life Takes" Invitational against teams from New York and Los Angeles.

With only one film in the can, Evan decided the team needed a little more practice before the Visa competition. Unbeknownst to the team, he signed them up for the nearby San Jose 48 Hour Film Project and announced it at the cast & crew party for 'Urgent Care'. Fortunately everyone jumped at the chance to hone their skills and prove that the success of the first film wasn't just luck. The result of that effort is 'Doggie Style', the second official film from It Donned On Me.

In September the team came together once again to complete another 48 hour film for the Visa "Life Takes" Invitational. In collaboration with members of the a capella group "Flying Without Instruments" they completed the fantasy film "EXIT".

In October, 2007 the team completed their fourth 48 hour project, the National Film Challenge, producing "Retreat", an existential tale of a horse seeking enlightenment. After this they took a break from high-speed filmmaking for the holidays in order to prepare for the 2008 season.

In March 2008 IDOM kicked off the 2008 filmmaking season with the International Documentary Challenge, producing our first non-fiction film, "Stick & Pound". Selected as a finalist in the competition, 'Stick & Pound' screened in Toronto at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival where the team brought home Documentary Challenge awards for Best Cinematography and Best Directing!

After an amazing first year of competition IDOM came full circle, returning for the second time to the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Challenge and successfully completing our 6th film, "Tail". 'Tail' brought home the award for 'Best Sound Design' as well as being nominated for Best use of Dialoge and Best Cinematography

Just a few weeks later it was once again time for the San Jose 48 Hour Film project. Despite a rough start IDOM pulled together and created 'TwirlyBoy', possibly our strangest film so far.

With seven very different films completed in a years time some would say it's time to take a break, but not IDOM - this is just the beginning as IDOM tackles new projects and goes in new directions in the quest to become the greatest competitive filmmaking team of all time!

Stay Tuned!

Twirly Cast & Crew

Twirly Blooper

You gotta love bloopers. We had our fair share of TwirlyBoy outtakes during the filming of this peculiar road movie. One of my most memorable moments occurred during the scene where TwirlyBoy is talking on the phone while tightening his gluts on the hula chair. A minor hula malfunction occurred, giving Twirly a little scare. Fortunately, the spiky haired ribbon twirler finished the scene without any injury.

More From The SJ48HFP Screening

What I love the 48 Hour Film Project is that I get to meet people who share the same passion for film making as I do. As I gave out Ho Ho's to every audience member in the theater, a familiar face approached me. I had to do a double take, but when I got closer, I recognized who it was: Liz Langston, the co-founder and executive producer of the 48 Hour Film Project! I gushed to her, "It's me! Tony! From It Donned On Me! I met you at the Visa Life Takes Invitationals!" She immediately smiled, gave me a big hug, then turned to her friend and said, "This is Tony. The last time I saw him, he was jumping up and down on stage!" It was definitely a pleasant surprise to see Liz at this event.



I am also glad that I had the opportunity to meet up with Barkada, Inc. I've been a big fan of their work ever since their time travel flick, "Saving The Future From The Past," which they made for the 2007 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project. They followed that one up with the hilarious musical "A Keesh For Hershel." If it weren't for the the 48HFP, I never would have met these guys. Barkada is awesome, and I hope that someday in the near future we could work together.



The awards ceremony for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project is not going to happen for another week and a half. I'm getting excited for that night, and I hope that TwirlyBoy will take home multiple awards. I'll be antsy for the next week and half. Can't wait!

Tony's Picks For The SJ48HFP Audience Awards

I'm still recuperating from last night's screening of TwirlyBoy. My body is actually sore from all that twirling in the theater! It was fun to see all the films from last night as well as from the night before. There are some really good submissions this year.

My personal favorites from the two screenings include "Marble Bag" by Block Cipher, "Vagrant Realty" by Turnabout Pictures, "Dia de los Dead" by Vision 6, "High Stakes Hooky" by UbseyMovies, "The Animals" by EyeQ Films, and "The Best Thing" by Barkada, Inc. All these films had something special. I liked the quirkiness of "Marble Bag, the humor of "Vagrant Realty," the full package of Dia de los Dead," the nostalgia of "High Stakes Hooky," the style of "The Animals," and the production values of "The Best Thing." Kudos to these teams for producing such great films.





Choosing the Audience Award is tough, but for Group A, I would give it to Vision 6's holiday film, "Dia de los Dead," a poignant film about three friends trying to cope with their friend's death. This film was a well packaged piece, complete with excellent writing, great performances, and superb production values. As for Group B, I am going to go out on a limb and vote for "TwirlyBoy." Surprise surprise, eh? I gotta vote for IDOM! However, if TwirlyBoy were not in the running, then I would definitely vote for Barkada, Inc.'s "The Best Thing." For a team who has made their mark making laugh out loud flicks, Barkada really scored with their drama about death. I'm not sure what it is, but both films dealing with death made the biggest impression on me. In any case, both of these films will definitely receive nominations for all the major categories. I hope TwirlyBoy does too!

Group A, Wednesday, August 20, 2008
"The Road Ahead" - Mi Casa Su Casa Productions (road movie)
"Bodbrane and the Wizard of Spas" - Beyond Forever Studios (fantasy)
"Nobody Gets Me" - Midnight Cowbells (horror)
"Marble Bag" - Block Cipher (romance)
"Vagrant Realty" - Turnabout Pictures
"The Curious Augustus Shank" - RadioActive Studios (spy)
"Lost In Translation" - SJ Crew (detective/cop)
"Rock Me Kokopelli" - tinyandsmall.com (period piece)
"Musical Forty-Eight" - Aido Group and Live Collective (musical)
"inheritance" - Blue Ribbon Productions" (drama)
"Attrition" - Short & Sweet (thriller/suspense)
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)
"High Stakes Hookey" - UbseyMovies (period piece)

Group B, Thursday, August 21, 2008
"Rocking Dreams" - Fremont Film Forum (musical)
"Late For Practice" - Chula Vista Entertainment (thriller/suspense)
"Lost and Found" - P-Town Pictures (romance)
"Firecracker" - Team Filmzombi (holiday)
"One Step Ahead" - ChaozFilms Productions (film de femme)
"Survived" - CA Tamil Talkies (film de femme)
"St. Angela" - Rising Sun Studios (comedy)
"BamBoozle" - STRIKETEAM (detective/cop)
"Second Chance" - Rebellian Studios (suspense/thriller)
"Death For Rent" - MYF Media Productions (horror)
"From Coffee To Drumstick" - Outlaw Media Productions (fantasy)
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)
"TwirlyBoy" - It Donned On Me (road movie)

TwirlyBoy Screening

What a crazy night. Evan Donn recapped the evening best on the IDOM page:

'TwirlyBoy' closed out last night's screening with a bang, ending a night of great films with the audience both entertained and confused as they asked themselves "what just happened?" To top it all off, IDOM Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen appeared in full TwirlyBoy regalia (including a costume change!) and bribed the audience with free Ho Ho's and some spectacular ribbon twirling. Win or lose, at least we won't be forgotten! There was even some talk of a possible sequel... hmm, "TwirlyBoy 2: Electric Boogaloo" perhaps?

If you couldn't make it out to the screening you can enjoy TwirlyBoy from the comfort of your own home RIGHT NOW!



Indeed, IDOM's Chief Instigator went over the top for this screening. I really wanted everyone to remember 'Twirly Boy', so I brought a Ho Ho for every audience member. I had a total of 250 Ho Hos in my bag, and I gave them all away! Shameless propaganda, I know, but like I said before, I will do anything in my pursuit to get the IDOM logo tattooed in every audience member's brain. I probably looked like a dork twirling around in my thermal undies with the Ed Grimley 'do, but that's perfectly fine because I do believe that I achieved my goal of making a lasting impression on the audience. Like Evan said, "win or lose, at least we won't be forgotten!"



There will forever be a special place in my heart for TwirlyBoy. This has been an incredible experience, perhaps one of the best in my history with It Donned On Me. The reason why is because I missed last year's event due to family obligations, which really bummed me out. I came into this competition wanting to savor every moment, and boy did I ever. I'd like to thank my fellow IDOM'ers for having the faith in me and casting me in this role. I am so there for the TwirlyBoy sequel!

Twirly Pics

TwirlyBoy, The Movie Poster

It's a little after 2am and I am close to passing out. The past few days have been pretty intense and I think it's all catching up with me now. I spent the last couple of hours piecing together the TwirlyBoy poster, and I am happy to say that after a few rough drafts, I completed a movie poster that I am proud of. When production ends, my work begins. As the Chief Instigator, my job is to market all our films, so it is vital for me to get the movie poster, postcards, and blog updates completed in a timely manner.

I take it upon myself to take these extra steps because I am proud of IDOM and I want people to see our work. I strongly feel that doing all this is necessary in order to get our name out there. How many movie studios out there just make a film and hope that it will sell? Marketing is a very important part of the process, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that every film we make will donn on everybody. Someone has to do it! Our work speaks for itself, but a little PR will take it even further.

What Just Happened?!?

I'm still asking myself "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" over the weekend. I'm really not sure how we got to the finish line, but somehow we did. I am happy, tired, excited, and relieved. After having missed the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project last year, I really wanted tomake the most of this year's event. At this time, I need to finish up the "TwirlyBoy" poster so that I can get it to the printer in time for Thursday night's screening. Hence, I will now bring this blog to a halt. Before I make my exit, I will plagiarize Evan Donn. Below is an excerpt from the IDOM website, courtesy of Mr. Donn himself.

What just happened?! That was the required line of dialogue for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project, and also a good description of our weekend! It seems we'd become complacent after our last couple projects ('Tail' and 'Stick & Pound') went very smoothly, and we assumed that would always be the case... not this weekend!

Our usual M.O. is to wrap up writing the story/script by midnight Friday so we can get some sleep before an early start on Saturday. This time we didn't wrap up until 2:30 am - and we didn't even have a full story at that point!. Saturday kicked off late with low morale as we all sensed that things weren't going well, but we plunged back into brainstorming mode and finished up the story. This pushed back our shoot start time until early afternoon but it was worth it, as once the story started to come together our enthusiasm returned as well. Our shoot ran late into the evening and our first rough cut wasn't ready until 3:30 - and we still had material to shoot! We kicked back off at 8:30 Sunday morning and wrapped the shoot in a few more hours, leaving us just the afternoon to finish the edit.

Unfortunately this late schedule meant we ran out of time to record an original score (sorry Dante!). We found some good CC-licensed tracks on Jamendo which brought everything together well and wrapped post with just over an hour to spare - just in time in fact, as it took nearly an hour to get to the drop off in San Jose! We made it though, with just 7 minutes to spare - probably our closest drop off so far!

Despite the struggles we pulled off a film we're all proud of - 'TwirlyBoy'. It's a strange name. It's an even stranger film. Strange, but good. And like every other competition we've done so far I don't think there's any way any of us could have envisioned the film we'd end up with before last weekend...

'TwirlyBoy' will premier on Thursday, August 21st at the Group B screening, which takes place at the Camera 12 Cinema in San Jose at 7:30pm. If you're planning to come be sure to buy tickets ahead of time as it's likely to sell out. If you can't make the screening don't worry - we'll post 'TwirlyBoy' here on the site in glorious HD on Thursday night!

TwirlyBoy

Thanks to Matthew Sloan, we have our movie title: TwirlyBoy. I tried to pitch TwirlyBoy Does Not Want To Go To Beijing, but Evan rolled his eyes at me. I guess I'll be ok with the truncated version. Twirly Boy. It really does have a nice ring to it.



9:48am.
Sunday morning. We were about nine hours away from the deadline, and we still had some scenes to shoot. Yikes! This was definitely a crazy jam packed day, but I am always up for the challenge. At about 10am, we all hit the road to shoot those last few scenes. Evan will have to do some color correction because the sun did not come out for us. As I sat in the convertible in my TwirlyBoy suit, all I could think of was getting pulled over by the police. It didn't help that I was standing up on the front passenger seat twirling my ribbons. I kept telling myself that it was Sunday morning and all the cops were probably at IHOP. Fortunately for us, they probably were.

10:30am.
After driving around for about 45 minutes, Evan got the shots that he needed. Matthew was done for weekend, but TwirlyBoy still had one final scene to shoot. I was bummed to see my partner in crime leave, but all good things must come to an end. I had a lot of fun with the dapper British gent this weekend. There was definitely chemistry between us, and I am very excited to see the final product. The two of us really nailed this.



2:31pm.
CRUNCH TIME!! With the clock ticking away, every IDOM'er cranked away towards that finish line. I took the liberty of working on the credits. Evan edited, Rob reviewed and logged the cam 2 footage, Sig and Dinah finished up the paperwork, Mike and Tom hunted down our talent for signatures, and Rick searched for Creative Commons licensed music.

7:23pm.
With only seven minutes to spare, TwirlyBoy crossed the finish line! I think this is the closest we've ever come to elimination. I swear, the ride to San Jose to drop off the final product was a road movie in itself, where the star of the film is the temperamental GPS device! My blood pressure reached dangerous levels during this ride, but none of that mattered once I handed in that envelope. I was happy and relieved that we did it once again. TwirlyBoy is number seven for It Donned On Me, and we keep getting better and better. I can't wait until the screening.

The Road To Beijing

Three hours of sleep, hurray! We all agreed to meet back at my place at 10am, but since I had about 15 action items on my to do list, I got up at 7:30am to prepare for the filming of this road movie. As Dinah snoozed away in the guest room, I took my sick kitty to the vet to get her fluids. The last thing I wanted was to have my cat Poppy die on me during production! I am happy to report that after getting 200ml injected into her geriatric feline body, Poppy regained her poppiness. In any case, when I brought the cat back to the house, Dinah woke up, Mike arrived, and the three of us took off to find accessories for my TwirlyBoy costume. We only had one hour, so we raced through Joann Fabrics and Longs Drugs, scrambling for supplies.



10:34am.
After completing our little scavenger hunt, the three of us returned to the house and I immediately jumped into the shower. Dinah and Mike ventured off to Safeway to buy some food for the cast and crew and shortly after, Evan, Rick, and our actor, Matthew Sloan, arrived on set. I jumped out in my TwirlyBoy suit complete with the Ed Grimley 'do and introduced myself to Mr. Sloan. He had no idea why I looked the way I looked. Rick hadn't explained to him what we were doing yet, so he must have thought I was a freak. That's ok, I'm used to that kind of reaction from people.



11:08am.
Tom Flowers and Rob Carey arrive on set. The two coast side chumps missed the final exit and ended up crossing the San Mateo Bridge. That's actually not the first time this happened to an IDOM'er. Wanda Mazur had to cough up the toll when she missed the exit during the filming of "Urgent Care" last year. In any case, Tom and Rob's tardiness did not halt production because we were still trying to come up with a story! Hence we did not start shooting until after noon.

12:33pm.
The story of the Olympic ribbon twirler who refuses to go to Beijing is finally completed! Matthew Sloan will play Johnathon Thomas, the sports agent, and yours truly will be TwirlyBoy. Tom Flowers will play Johnathon's boss, Rick's friend Daphna will play a sexy woman, and both Evan and Rick will be cast as band members. I'm sorry that I cannot give any more information on the plot because this was all that I knew! Evan took Matthew out on the street to work on the first scene as I change into my Twirly hazmat suit.



1:08pm.
Evan commenced filming and directed the sports agent and TwirlyBoy in the road scenes. Underneath that hazmat suit is my thermal underwear TwirlyBoy costume. I was boiling. Matthew didn't have it any easier, as he had to carry all of TwirlyBoy's luggages to the car. He also got punched out by our director. Matthew definitely had the more physical role, but I had to suffer in that suit. We both deserve Academy Awards just for our endearing these harsh conditions!



1:27pm.
TwirlyBoy sweats it out in the convertible. Even with oxygen blowing into the suit, I was dying. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave the vehicle because the costume was just too cumbersome, so it was best to stay put. I didn't complain, for I am a professional. I may not be SAG, but I am dedicated to my craft!



2:49pm.
While I sweated away in the convertible, filming continued. Evan and Rob finished up Matthew's solo scenes and then we jumped right into Tom's scene in front of the green screen. I wonder how he's going to look in Beijing?



5:47pm.
It's a good thing Rob has a wide angle lens on his camera. If he didn't, then it is quite possible that Evan would have had to ride on the hood of the convertible in order to get the head on shot of TwirlyBoy and the sports agent. Can you imagine Director Donn as a hood ornament? In any case, Rob duct taped down his camera to the dashboard and Matthew and I drove off. The two of us improvised the scene all the way through. Hopefully, Evan will be able take bits and pieces of our banter and edit them together. Matthew drove around for about 15 minutes before pulling over to the local mini mart to film the Ho Ho and ho scenes. We had to work fast because the sun was going down!



10:04pm.
Unfortunately, the sun went down and we weren't able to get all the shots that we needed. You can't really argue with Mother Nature, so we sucked it up and planned for an early morning shoot on Sunday. We headed back to my place, took a dinner break, and jumped right into the telephone scenes between the sports agent and TwirlyBoy. Poor Matthew, I thought his eyeballs were going to fall out because of the allergies to my cats! Nonetheless, he pulled out the scene. I, too, had a difficult time, but mine were not allergy related. I had to do the scene on the hula chair, and my biggest fear was flying off of that that thing. I almost did, too!



12:24am.
At about 11pm, we all drove out to Cheers in Pacifica to film the final scene of our road movie. The Wander-Ins, Rick's kid's band, graciously agreed to let us use their drum kit for the final shot. We rocked out to The Wander-Ins surf music, and when they finished their set, we jumped onto the stage for scene. It felt weird being at this bar in my TwirlyBoy suit, but I stayed in character. The only time I broke character was when I saw Tom Flowers jump out onto the dance floor with Daphna and boogied to the surf version of 'White Wedding.' That was quite the scene! In any case, Evan said we had to crank this scene in less than three takes, so I had to really focus. Luckily, I was able to do it in two. The funny thing was that I misunderstood the director, and rather than fake drumming, I actually pounded away. Now that was embarrassing...



2:44am.
Another late night. Another early morning. It was already 3am and I had to be up in a few hours to film the twirly scenes. I guess I shouldn't complain. Evan was up later than I was, and the poor guy had to sleep on my couch. Unfortunately, I only have one guest room, and Dinah had dibs on it already. I really can't put him and her in the same room because that would be a little too weird. So, he slept on the couch. I did provide him with a fluffy pillow and a comforter. I just hope my cat didn't attack him in the middle of the night.

Boy oh boy, it was a very very long day. I am happy that we are halfway through the weekend, and I am confident that we will finish this road film and that it will be awesome! On a final note, it wouldn't be an IDOM 48 Hour Film Project without a sleeping Rob shot...

Road Movie Again!

Here we go again. It Donned On Me just picked up the Best Sound Design Award for "Tail" and now we're jumping into another 48 Hour Film Project. Another weekend of junk food, no sleep, and running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Why do we put ourselves through this? Oh yeah, because it's fun and we absolutely love it.

6:34pm.
Rick, Dinah, and I arrived at Camera Cinemas 3 in San Jose a little after 6pm and went straight to the meeting place. It was fun to see familiar faces in the room, as some teams from the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project and last year's San Jose competition were present. The producers took us into the small theater in the back, and we eagerly waited as they gave the run down on logistics. When it was time for our screening group to approach the stage to pull our genres out of a hat, my left leg got stuck between the aisles, and as a result, I ended up in the front dead last. This was not a great position to be in, as the anticipation made me go crazy. Do you know how hard it is to stand by while your competitors are pulling their genres? Comedy, drama, horror, spy movie, film de femme...oh boy, what the heck are we going to get!? In the back of my mind I was thinking anything but historical fiction. I really can't tell you why, but there's something about that genre that made me nervous.


As I watched each group pick their genres, I mentally kept track of what everyone pulled. I began to freak out because that historical fiction slip was still in the hat! Fortunately, the girl ahead of me pulled that genre, so I let out a big sigh of relief before diving into the hat. I stuck my hand in and felt around. There were only two slips of paper left in that hat, and I had no idea what they were. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo, catch a tiger by it's toe.......ROAD MOVIE.

I have to admit, I was less than thrilled to have received this genre, since we have already made a little road movie called "Urgent Care" for last year's San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. I really wanted something different, but at least we didn't pull historical fiction! The funny thing is that we later learned that the team who pulled historical fiction changed for the wild card genre. This got me to wondering, maybe we should have done the same thing. I was really annoyed that we pulled a repeat genre, but in the end, things really do happen for a reason. Plus, "Urgent Care" was technically not a "road movie." Just because we had an ambulance driving along Highway 280 does not really make it a road movie, so this year will be our chance to actually make a film that truly fits the genre.

Genre:
Road Movie

Character:
Chris or Christy Doyle, drummer

Prop:
Pin

Line of Dialogue:
“What just happened?”



8:51pm.
Evan, Rick, Tom, Rob, Dinah, Rick's lady friend Colleen, and I met up at my place and we all sat at my dining table and brainstormed ideas for this road movie. There were plenty of ideas flying around--some more absurd than others--but no story. What we had to work with was a dapper British gentleman, a convertible, a hazardous material suit, and possibly a bee suit. Here's a sample of some of those random thoughts:

• A guy is lying in the middle of the the road. He is contemplating something. Suicide maybe? Monologues on the side of road, perhaps?
  
• Urgent Care: The Sequel. Granny ends up killing the EMT during a wild afternoon of nookie in the ambulance. She ends up driving that ambulance around town trying to get rid of the body.
  
• A movie about roads!
  
• A guy is walking down the road and he sees a bee. The two of them walk together on this road and does something interesting or meaningful.
• An Olympic rhythmic gymnast goes on a road trip to Beijing. Of course, the gymnast is from Saigon and only speaks Vietnamese.
  
• A guy goes on a date with a girl who is confined to a bubble. She has to wear a hazmat suit to protect her respiration. She has some sort of disease. In the end, he kisses her and he dies.
  
• A comic road trip. A comedian drives around the city and tells jokes.
  
• It's not a road movie, it's a RUDE movie. We tell the judges that we misunderstood the genre and made a rude, crude, and crass film a la the Farrelly brothers rather than a road movie!

11:48pm.
Nothing. We kept throwing ideas out, but there was still no story line! I brought out Vietnamese thinking caps for everyone hoping that inspiration would hit us, but nada. I had to walk away to reboot my creative hard drive, so I disappeared for about an hour to find my bee suit. Unfortunately, I came up empty. No bee suit, no story line, 11pm, uh oh! To top it off, everyone's blood sugar began to drop. Having champagne at the beginning of the brainstorming session relaxed us, but what we really needed was food! So, I sent the red headed chiropractor out for nourishment. While he was out and about getting donuts and chips, Rob went delirious. Check it out:



1:30am.
After hours of throwing ideas back and forth, we came to the conclusion that all we had we had was an idea. At 1:30am, we decided that it would be best to call it the night and come back in the morning to try to piece together a story for that idea. The premise: a Vietnamese ribbon twirler goes on a road trip with a dapper English gentleman. That's all we had! We all agreed to congregate at my place a few hours later. All I knew was that I was going to be this ribbon twirler, so before I went to bed, I prepared for this role by jumping online to do some research on rhythmic gymnastics.

2:47am.
At about 3am in the morning, it donned on me that IDOM was officially in unchartered territory. Never before have we walked away from a Friday night brainstorming session without a story! Boy oh boy...

SF48HFP Winners

The Judges Have Spoken!

Best Use of Prop
"The Hazard of the Trade" by Solo Bello

Best Use of Character
“Gus the Fifth” by Dramatic Gopher Productions

Best Use of Line of Dialogue
“A Few Pointers” by Sleepytime

Best Costumes
“How the Bunny Got the Bear” by Fogbelt 2880

Best Special Effects
“187” by CurlyHairedPeople

Best Art Direction
“The Trade” by Redhanded

Best Sound Design
“Tail” by It Donned On Me

Best Musical Score
“A Keesh for Hershel” by Barkada Inc.

Best Cinematography
“The Last Job” by Emerging Artist Productions

Best Editing
“Hard Labor” by 80 Babies

Best Writing
“A Woman’s Intuition” by Paraffin Productions

Best Acting
“A Woman’s Intuition” by Paraffin Productions

Best Directing
“Servo” by Chaka Khan

Jury Selection Award
“Basket Case” by BSSP

Best Film
“Burn” by Platypus

Sounds Good To Me!

WOO HOO!!

Tonight's screening of the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Challenge finalists was so much fun. Evan, Dinah, Mike, Erin-Kate, and I met up at Fat City, eager to see if "Tail" would walk away with any awards. To our delight, our little film took home the Best Sound Design prize! Woo HOO! We received nominations for the Best Use of Dialogue and Best Cinematography categories as well. Evan noted that the overall quality of the films was really impressive, and I do agree whole heartedly. It was so much fun to see all the finalists at Fat City. What made me smile was the fact that everyone in the room shared the exact same excitement that I did. I am very glad to be a part of this 48HFP community.



I guess the SF48HFP is now officially over. Although I am sad to this event come to a close, I am excited that IDOM now has another piece in the vault. I am also pretty stoked the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project, which starts up in two days!

"Tail" is now posted on the main IDOM website, so check it out when you get a chance. Oh, another, I do have to give credit where credit is due. When asked how she felt about winning the Best Sound Design award, Dinah deSpenza gushed, "Sounds Good To Me!" Very punny. I liked that so much, I used it for this blog entry title.

Awards Screening

Hi Everyone,

Looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow. Just some quick notes about the event tomorrow:

• We will be screening 14 films (posted on the Web site)
• For each award, I will be showing a 20-30 second clip of each of the nominees
• There will be about 120 chairs set up, so come early if you want a seat
• There is no food at the venue, so eat beforehand. However, we will be giving away FREE popcorn
• I want to start screening the films by 7:15pm.
• Don't forget your camera for photo opps.
  

See you tomorrow!
Elena

Finalist

I am very happy to announce that TAIL is a finalist in the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project! Our film made the top 14 and will be screened on August 13th at the awards ceremony. Good Stuff!

From: sanfrancisco-bounces@lists.48hourfilm.com
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 1:49 PM
To: sanfrancisco@lists.48hourfilm.com
Subject: San Francisco 48HFP - Awards Screening Info!

Dear San Francisco 48 hour filmmakers and fans,

The Awards Screening for the San Francisco 48HFP is coming this Wednesday! We hope you're as excited as we are. Come and support your fellow filmmakers and see these 14 fabulous films!

Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Time: 7 – 9pm
Place: Fat City, 1314 11th Street, San Francisco
What: Announce and screen the San Francisco winning films!
Cost: $1-$5 sliding scale


The Line-Up:

80 Babies
"Hard Labor"

BSSP
"Basket Case"

Barkada Inc.
"A Keesh for Hershel"

Chaka Khan
"Servo"

CurlyHairedPeople
"187"

Dramatic Gopher Productions
"Gus the Fifth"

Emerging Artist Productions
"The Last Job"

Fogbelt 2880
"How the Bunny Got the Bear"

It Donned On Me
"Tail"

Paraffin Productions
"A Woman's Intuition"

Platypus
"Burn"

Sleepytime
"A Few Pointers"

Solo Bello
"The Hazard of the Trade"

Team Redhanded
"The Trade"

Stoned Again?

Uh Oh. Am I getting another unwelcomed visit from Mr. Kidney Stone? It's highly probable. I spent the whole night hacking up a spleen and now there's a sharp pain on my right side. If I am getting a blast from past, then I will provide my readers with my very own blast from the past. Most of you have probably already seen "Stoned," my 4 minute tale of internal physiological pain and how it affects the mind. This is actually my favorite piece so I don't mind showing it again and again. I'm in pain, give me a break...

Avalon Micro Film Festival

'Stick & Pound', 'Doggie Style' and 'Tail' are scheduled to screen at the 2008 Avalon Micro Film Festival on Saturday, August 30th. Unfortuanately, I won't be able to attend because of a prior engagement. First I miss Kosovo and now Sunnyvale!

080808

August 8, 2008 is supposed to be the luckiest day of the year, so I am taking the time to pray to the luck gods to bestow some good fortune on IDOM, as the best in the best of the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project will be announced next week. I found myself asking this question over and over again today, "How the heck did we get to this point??" A year ago, a random group of community college students got together to make a little film called "Urgent Care" and now here we are: Internationally Acclaimed Award Winning Film Makers. Was it luck that got us here? Perhaps. I like to think of it more as hard work, talent, chemistry, and passion. It Donned On Me has consistently delivered high quality productions, all of which has received some sort of accolade. I said it once before, and I'll say it again, I am one proud Chief Instigator. That said, I will still cross my fingers, rub my rabbit's foot, and put on my lucky horse shoe Colts jersey on this very lucky day. Hey, it doesn't hurt!