Three shooting days left...here comes the heat!

Mood: Melted

The Marathon is almost over...the problem is I'm not racing anyone. It's so hard to push to the finish line when no one is chasing. This film h

as been defined in my mind by trying to schedule it. I've never done so many different jobs on a film at once, but the schedule has been my main job. Odd... I thought it would be directing, lol. Now that the film's last days are scheduled my energy level has shifted. My every day panic is being replaced by thought of promoting this film. It's just not time yet. Oh...and it's getting hot.

Not shooting and editing a rough cut every day or so has brought me into a strange calm. Almost

walking through a fog. A steamy, humid fog. It may be underlying sadness of ending the film and saying goodbye to the cast. It may be the anticipation of getting into post production. Or it may be that I am soooooooooo Damn tired of this "shooting beard"!

We'll be sure to post the video of this beast getting shaved off. Maybe it will be our first promotional video. See, that's what's going on in my head. Off to promotional head again. I guess we gotta keep moving but I'd feel better staying in the moment. Never in this pre or post-production have I been completely in the moment. Maybe this is a good thing? I'm always a few seconds ahead on set. I have an entire rough cut that represents 90+ of all the shot footage. This system with a full crew and a pay check would be amazing. Let's hope people love this one enough to get a budget again. If not...A lot of this cast will be kept in the Cypher stables. They're a good bunch of kids and for the most part getting my shooting style. More importantly they were willing to give their all, for no monetary reward.

Again the triangle rule of production is proven true. "You need three things to make a production. Money, Time and People, but you still will make an amazing

production with Time and People with heart". Heart can trump money :)

Feeding the frame not hugging the skeleton

Mood: Calm and Curious

When you write a script you give birth. Like a kid you don't know if you will like it very much or at all but you will love it till the day you die.

I see a screenplay as a skeleton that we hold on to during the rehearsals. To teach each other about the world we are about to populate. But once the actors become the characters I loose sight of the skeleton. Muscle and tissue begin to form around it and a living entity becomes clear.

What's hard is that other writers and directors live and die by the script. That means that most actors are used to that style of directing. It takes a bit of effort to free actors to live in the moment, outside of the script. Now though I have learned a different problem. Sometime, for some actors...the moments aren't the same. That's great for theatre but you have to edit film. In fifteen years you would have thought I would have had this problem already but I haven't. I had to learn how to keep a stallion wild but to only run on the track. I'm finding right now for actors like this coverage is the key. You have a much better chance to match them up if you have multiple cameras, lol.

I have turned the shoot into a one camera shoot because it was speeding up the shoots. Now I am bouncing between. Tomorrow I shoot the big dramatic end to the film and it needs to be one of these scenes. Perfect cuts but full emotional range. I'm confident that this is working. The answer to every problem I come across as a director is "Be like water." If you don't bend you will break and take a bunch of people and a feature film with you....and what a disaster that would be.

1 hour and 11 mins...I think it's gonna be done :)

Mood: Tired Optimization

So, on April 30th, I made what seemed like a rash decision to people around me and started another feature film. The year before I had written a screenplay for the sole purpose of being cost effective and create something between major budgets. Somehow after the first rehearsal for that screenplay an agent/manager found me and decided that they could could get budgets for not only that screenplay but multiple screenplays. I gave them a year.

Back to April 30th. I went ahead and cast the film. Started securing locations and on April 30th started shooting the 90 minute Horror feature,

"Ghost Hunted".

In a basement in Brooklyn, the cast of the hit show "Urban Ghost Hunters" are investigating reports of violent possessions and ghostly sightings. Barely settled in they quickly realize they are in trouble when their own personal demons start to show up. Will this team make it out of this lock up?

The shoot has been wild because I'm the only crew member who is on every shoot lol. That means they're days where I set up lights, do make up, set the cameras and check the sound. All before I have rehearsed the actors. It's been a trip. Also as I think I wrote before this cast would NEVER natural cross paths lol. Their schedules are amazingly opposite.

Some how though...we are almost done. 1 hour and 11 minutes out of 90 ain't to shabby. I'll take that for less than two months of shooting this. Let's see how long the last 19 mins will take lol.

1/3 ain't too shaby...still have an hour left though lol

So my new film has passed the 30 min mark or usable final footage. Not bad for about a month of shooting. Granted, shot in tiny, sparse moments. In two weeks there is a huge chunk about to be shot and that may bring us very close to the hour mark. At that point I will feel like their is no way we won't finish. That would be a great moment. I have never wanted to finish shooting so quickly. Not because I don't enjoy it and love this cast. But because with no budget there is a HUGE chance of not finishing this thing in a reasonable time.

Luckily we seem to be on pace and the footage looks great. I'll let out a small clue...it's a horror movie :)

1 year, 6 assistants and we've come full circle.

In the last 15 years, Cypher Productions and I have partnered with over 50 artists to create 4 feature films. Each project has a different life and is created by a different family. New issues and surprises. More years to draw from. Somehow though, if I'm lucky...there's a familiar part that shows up. I'm there again. If anyone reads this blog I apologize for my spotty posts but preproduction and early production is tasking.

This film (which I won't release the name of yet) has reached it's stride. It's an odd gate with a slight limp but it's moving and becoming it's own. As we get further into the process I will release more information. Look forward to another production soon.

Notes from a Filmmaker: Sun, May 23rd, 2010

We have...Distribution :)
Current mood: Hyped

Watch movies online! You can watch three of our features films right on your computer! Try it today!

Notes from a Filmmaker: Thurs, Feb 25th, 2010

Getting soft...but I lost all this weight?
Current mood: pumped but scared.

Happy New Year!!!

So since October things have been so odd. We had a great time with the Obama video and actually won the Huffington Post Poll for best video. Unfortunately the judges thought kids were too cute to lose. I kinda thought so too.

Jina has started grad school (so time is scarce) and I have had countless bookings! Followed by an equal number of cancellations. I would say 09 went out like a nap.

Among those bookings were many music videos that suffered from my clients economic recession. The film is still selling but it definitely slowed after the Presidential bail out speeches. We have been approached by an online distributor for the films and that is very exciting. We have had a lot of over seas requests and now we can fill them. Another client (sort of) was a Producer I know who approached me to write a new screenplay around a warehouse that people are trapped in. He believed he had the budget and the actors and I went to town. Four days later I pretty much had a screenplay called "freight".

Like anything you make for people it's great but need a little here and there. Now it's a screenplay called "cargo". Same idea different name...same cancellation lol. This time I got a spark though. I can write a silly ass script in no time for any location. Why not do one for myself and make it under $500. So that's going on now. It should be done in a week. I am planning on shooting the whole thing in my building and using old tapes and old friends. More on that one after copyright and storyboards.

Another fun occurrence has been the return of the "KID FLICKS" program. I have entered it into Pepsi's refresh everything contest and expect to win $50,000 to make movies with inner city kids again. That will be a blast.

So now that it seems 2010 is getting booked up...Lilly has come up with a great idea we will be filming this year. More on that after copyright, lol. We're also planning to kick off screenings again of "Last Night in Brooklyn" in Rochester. Stay tunned for that one.