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| DO NOT COME TO MY XANGA. I THINK THERE'S A VIRUS ON IT OR SOMETHING. I THINK IT GOT HACKED. IT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES YOU DOWNLOAD A FILE CALLED DOWNLOAD-1-1 OR SOMETHING.
GOODBYE XANGA FOREVER AGAIN
I"M ON TUMBLR. IF U WANTS TO KNOW JUST ASK ME ON FB OR SOMETHING. | | |
| so yeah, it's august 24th and i'm still working on 'one fall'. wrapping on this film has been a nightmare of sorts and is the reason why i've been getting more work. fortunately for me, i could use the work and i don't mind it one bit. this is not the case for all the other people who were involved. all but the accountant have jumped ship. it's just me and him cleaning up whatever mess is left.
on wednesday, after another full day at 'one fall', i'm gonna head on over to brooklyn to partake in another indie film called 'colin hearts kay'. i'm gonna be an extra in a chinese restaurant scene. here's the blurb found on their website:
When Brooklyn-based cartoonist Colin Jenson breaks up with longtime girlfriend Kay Ho, he pulls out all the stops to win her back including dragging her into the illustrated world of his cartoons. Life definitely imitates art in this micro-budget gem that seeks to answer the age old question: What is Love?
i watched their trailer and came away impressed by the production quality despite the film's paltry $50,000 budget. that is surreal and most likely a mistake. it probably should be closer to $500,000. somebody forgot a zero. i'm almost sure of it. even still, for the amount of animation they're doing, it is still a daunting task with that budget. i'm hoping to be able to befriend some crew people and ask them questions about the film. will update you guys after i go through with it.
click here to see the trailer
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| one of the underperforming departments on this film was the camera crew. they were arrogant, demanding, and - worst of all - inept. it's bad enough that their attitudes were not agreeable with the rest of the crew, but they fudged up a lot of pictures by not properly maintaining the conditions of the film. this led to the additional work days for me so i'm not complaining. i've been able to delve deeper into the relationships i've forged on this project and learn more about general production stuff. so thank you camera crew. i'm probably the only one who feels grateful to you guys.
the re-shoot day was a big joke. we rented stage space in long island city to do a bunch of pickups. this whole film's been one big vanity project for him and this final day of shooting was the cherry on top for him. the pickups were mostly close-ups of the lead/director. i'm sure he had fun having all the shoots focus on him.
i have one day left on this film. i don't know what my next job is. i might be called in by the prod. coordinator of 'one fall' or maybe the prod. manager might use me for her next job. either way, i have a secure spot waiting for me when the prod. accountant comes back from his much needed vacation. he just applied for a job in new orleans so i may be working there for a few weeks. they'd put us up at a hotel and feed us during shoot days. tony, the prod. accountant, told me it's like summer camp for adults. sounds fun to me.
new orleans and michigan are two locations that have been decimated economically and are providing a lot of incentives for studios to film there. it'd be awesome if i could convince tony to apply for an opening in michigan. it'd be doubly awesome if that opportunity was situated near ann arbor. basically i'd be paid to live in ann arbor for a few weeks/months. that's be pretty amazing. | | |
| i haven't gotten around to seeing all the films i want to see before the summer is over but here goes a list of the ones i have seen so far. i watched 6 films in theaters this summer and i tried to stay away from the bad ones (but a couple managed to sneak in). i'm going to list them from worst to first.
6. g.i. joe
i went to watch this with low expectations and came out more disappointed than i thought i'd be. let's start with the good things: 3 actors showed up for their roles (lee byung hun, joseph gordon-levitt, and the destro guy) and sienna miller and the redhead who played scarlett looked great on screen. marlon wayans had the best lines but i can't believe him being an expert marksman. this was a major problem actually.. almost all of the actors were not believable in their roles. the romance between duke and the baroness was absolutely laughable. the love interest between ripcord and scarlett was even worse (sigh). at least half of the film was CGI and it paled in comparison to the CGI in transformers 2. brendan fraser's cameo was retarded. and apparently storm shadow is a korean living in a japanese monastery learning how to be a ninja. this film just makes no sense.
5. transformers 2
i had a lot of fun when i watched the first transformers so i was eagerly anticipating its sequel. early reviews trashed the film, and the insidious critiques didn't stop once the film made its worldwide release. my expectations were severely tempered and i braced for the worst. sadly, i was really disappointed with this film. i think shia labeauf, or however you spell his name, is a fine actor. he was the only redeeming thing about this film. michael bay's signature camera move- the one where he rotates it around 1 or 2 central characters during a pivotal scene- were way too overdone, as were the slow motion walking/running sequences. bay used to use his rotating camera move on important things. remember when he did it in the rock? it was badass. or when travolta and cage were pointing guns at each other? that's when the rotating camera move is appropriate. not when shia and megan fox are arguing about who should say i love you first on his front lawn. the CGI looked great at times but the fight scenes became a blurry mess making it hard to differentiate who was fighting who. also, the twin bots were apparently illiterate fools raised in the ghetto and were fluent in ebonics. plain ignorance...
4. the hangover
there is a huge difference between no. 5 and no. 4 in this ranking. the hangover was an enjoyable, adult comedy. it has been characterized as a comedy noir but i don't really agree. the first half may fit that description but the latter half was overly cheerful and not as gritty as i would have liked (aside from the end credits which made me laugh my ass off). i appreciated the homage to 'rain man' (and i sensed a little bit of 'u turn' in there). the characters were likable and spot on with their performances, especially zack galifianakis. the cameos were meh for me. this isn't my favorite todd phillips' offering but i enjoyed it nonetheless.
3. up
what else can i say that hasn't been said about this film? pure pixar magic. not nearly as good as finding nemo (which may be the best pixar film to date) but it was a very solid, beautiful film as per usual. i loved all the good characters in this film. the quality of pixar scripts is getting better and better with each film. this film had the best line pixar has ever given when dug confesses to carl, "i was hiding under your porch because i love you!" this film had incredibly beautiful backdrops, animation, and story. to top it off, michael giacchino does another excellent job with the score as he did with ratatouille and the incredibles. the music was perfect in establishing a dreamy, nostalgic feel to the story.
p.s- i almost cried at the beginning sequence of ellie's life. if they had something like that at the end of the film i would've bawled.
2. 500 days of summer
i was incredibly impressed with marc webb's feature directorial debut. the story focuses on tom and summer and their relationship that spans 500 days. the film jumps around a lot from different days but the flow was seamless and the story seemed almost linear because of it! the story broke down relationships into their simplest forms- in order for a relationship to work, boy must love girl and girl must love boy. just because one party wants it to work out so bad, won't make it happen. it captured the ups and downs of love in such a whimsical, yet serious way with a lot of different visual variations along the way. i thought the story was told beautifully. the different editing styles were refreshing and amusing (the french black and white films starring himself, the reality vs perception scene, the scene where he walks away from the party and the LA backdrop is erased from the canvas, etc). the performances from the 2 leads were very good. joseph gordon-levitt is gonna be a force to be reckoned with. this film just goes to show how great the product can be when a little thought and a little extra effort is given to its vision.
1. star trek
i'm not gonna dwell on this too long because i wrote about this weeks ago, but star trek still sits at the top for me as best movie of the summer. awesome acting, great script, tight storyline/editing, CGI done right.. the prototypical summer blockbuster. | | |
| the fourth week of shooting came and went much like week 3 did - office work during the week and working on set during the weekend. the shooting schedule has been 6 of 7 days and apparently this isn't recommended. 6 is the max shooting days in a row a production can take before incurring major penalties enforced by SAG and other unions. according to the production accountant on this film, 5 would've been better. 5 would've provided an extra day of rest. that rest could have prevented the ineluctable fatigue that resulted in less efficient shooting days. the producers decided on 6 to cut costs and the production probably suffered for it.
this film is supposed to be submitted to sundance but the word on the street is that this film is a big pile of doo-doo. the acting is too cheesy, the story isn't original enough, and the script is sub-par. it would've been cool to be in the credits of a sundance sleeper hit but unless the editors work their magic like clinton did to kim jong-il, then i doubt this film will create any buzz.
principal shooting wrapped on monday but i've been still working. i've helped with some non-editing post-production stuff like returning rented equipment, finishing up payroll, etc. also, the producers plan on doing pick-ups at a stage to clean up whatever shots they feel they need to get redone.
today was supposed to be my last day but the accountant needs me next week and by the grace of God they're offering to pay me to work even though i'm still an intern. he also wants me to be his number 1 assistant for his future jobs. the production coordinator of the film also offered to bring me on to her next project. as bleak as it looked for me 6 weeks ago, today presents a completely different outlook. i worked hard enough to impress the higher ups in production and now i've been presented with more opportunities. my desire is not to stay in production, but i think i can learn a tremendous amount about what i want to do and meet people who can lead me to where i want to be. i'm extremely grateful.
last week, the mother of 2 sons, who i've been tutoring for the past 8 weeks and have been my only source of income, told me she wouldn't be needing lessons anymore. this friday is my last lesson with them. i wasn't overly distraught at the thought that i'd have no income again. instead, it was more reassuring to me since the tutoring gig was inconvenient and forced. peace swept over me as i felt comforted that God was the one closing this door. what that meant to me was that He was about to open another. sure enough, prayers pertaining to this dilemma have been answered. God is good.
p.s- big ups to john kang for letting me crash 4-5 days a week at his midtown apt. it really allowed me to have enough energy to work hard and maintain a positive attitude instead of the usual surly moods. i really appreciate the hospitality. | | |
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