New Trailer

Rob recently posted the trailer online for the short film we made. Yes, the film is only five minutes long. But the trailer is only 40 seconds or so, appropriately sized. And the trailer has a lot of the coolest bits, including some lines that aren't in the movie. Everything a true trailer should have... Enjoy!

I've been having some trouble with the video not playing through blogspot, so here is the link to the trailer on the DRF website. Enjoy!

http://digitalrealityfilms.net/Chrononauts_trailer1.html

5-Day Film Contest: Day 5

After my six hours at the tiller at Pella Windows, I voted in the election, making my voice count. Well, making it count toward the electoral college. My voice counts for very little. At the most, it offsets and negates the vote of one of my friends who voted for the other guy.

I headed over to Rob's for the final hours of work on our short film contest entry. I got there and he was working on some visual effects while Adam was putting all the waivers and permission forms in order. Rob was exhibiting his traditional "stressed-out" posture of hunching over the computer screen while Adam and I went outside to film those last couple of pickup shots for the film, shots that ultimately went unused in the cut for the contest. They had worked on cutting down the film to the proper length during the day, so it was just the matter of finishing the effects and then fixing the sound and dropping in some sound effects. They were working on that, and I was sitting in the corner trying not to hurry them. They both have technical experience on the editing program, and there's only one computer. So it was a little frustrating not to be able to help very much.

Until photocopies were needed! Rob's printer ran out of ink while printing out some of the waivers, so I grabbed the originals and ran out to Office Depot to do some literally last-minute printing. Rushing back with the papers, I found them more or less done with the edit, just fighting with the computer to drop in the last few sound effects. Rob cut the sound and visual effects into our WWII battle sequence in about 10-15 minutes, which even impressed him later when he thought about it. We rushed over to the college where we needed to drop it (I drove like a maniac but broke very few traffic laws.) When we got to the school, Adam dove out of the car and sprinted across campus in order to get in under the wire. We later heard that he did make it in time, and the person at the desk advised him to relax now that he was in time.

After we could all relax, we went out for a few beers and dinner to celebrate the completion of the project. We talked a bit about some other projects coming up, talked about expanding our current idea into a longer project or even into a webseries. Lots of exciting ideas came out on the table, and I certainly hope that the three of us work on something else in the future. Of course, the most exciting thing on my table right now is the new script for "Reggie Donovan's Best Day Ever." It's due Friday, so I better get started. Better quit this job at the window place....

5-Day Film Project: Day 3

So I'm still over here at Rob's office, working on the last set of pickup shots for our film project. We did a bunch of stuff to finish out the missing pieces of the movie, and now we're waiting for Rob to test-fire a few of the greenscreen effect shots into the rough cut of the movie. We want to make sure that all of the effect shots are going to work before we move off to another location to get a few more scenes. It is kinda fun to be working on these different types of projects, and I'm watching myself act against a green background so Rob can drop me into other backgrounds. So far, they are looking pretty good. We're moving to another location now, so I'll try to write more on this later. Lots of fun behind-the-scenes.

5-Day Film Shoot Day 2 - UPDATED

Sunday marked the second day of shooting on the short film. I had a workshop to teach in the afternoon, so I was only around during the morning to finish my shots, but it was a lot of fun. We went out to someone’s house in Southampton, PA, and he is a WWII re-enactor. He has a basement full of uniforms and supplies, a working jeep, a machine gun emplacement, and even an air cannon to simulate explosions. Using a bug sprayer as a mini fog machine, we shot scenes for a little mini-action sequence on a French battlefield in 1944. The single coolest part was the air cannon. Adam and I ran away from the camera, we hit our mark, and then we jumped forward into the air and to the ground. As soon as we jumped, Mike set off the air cannon that blew debris into the air and a blast of smoke covered us up. When Adam and I stood up, we got a round of applause from the extras playing WWII soldiers. It was a fantastic feeling, even on such a small scale as this. Sure, I may have banged up my shoulder a little bit, but that's a small price to pay. The shot looked awesome on the little monitor on the camera, so I can't wait to see it on the big screen.

We had a little bit of trouble finding our location which led to a little time crunch while we were there, but overall it was a smooth day. The WWII re-enactors were really good about their part, setting up the machine gun and moving the Jeep whenever we needed them to. They had the enthusiasm and the energy to keep running up and down a little hill take after take. We were using a mosquito fogger to give the place a smoky appearance, the clouds of war blowing across the land.

One setup had us running behind the three American GIs, up a little path between two bushes, emerging into the main section of the backyard. The first time we did the shot, the GIs ran forward, Adam and I ran along behind them. As we got up around the corner and Rob called the "cut," the GI's all turned around to face me. I was looking at them through a heavy mist of smoke, all of them in full gear, breathing heavy, the Army Jeep behind them, the machine gun emplacement off to the right.... It was a pretty amazing sight, and it actually felt like we had travelled in time a bit (as per the idea of our movie.) On just this small scale, it was wild. On a bigger scale, it has to be exceptional.

Called out

For those of you that have been reading lately, I’m sorry that there have been no new updates posted. This is a funny thing, because the busier I am, the less time I have to write. But I’m busy, so any entry that I have to file would be that much more interesting. So it’s a destructive circle, and I will try to do better. I’ll also try to catch up on some Eurydice reflections, a photo gallery, and a report of the film I’ve been shooting this weekend. I’m working with friends on a five-day film project competition, and today is our last scheduled day of filming on the project. Rob is going to spend Election Day tomorrow editing the movie and getting it into shape for submission by the deadline.

The contest gave us guidelines for the film we had to make, including a genre, theme, prop, and line of dialogue. Rob was very interested in making something with an action-movie style for this project, so he and his buddy Adam came up with the idea of a chase scene through different time periods. Adam and I play time-travelers, and we are trying to prevent the bad guys from getting the capital-D Device. The project was ambitious from the start, and it was significantly hampered by our large group of characters but small group of actors. Some necessary rewriting and some creative filmmaking later, the project got a little simpler, but we did film the scenes we needed to film more-or-less on schedule. Another day or two of principal photography, and then a whole day spent editing, and then I’m sure Rob is going to sleep for at least a day when it’s done. Maybe until the official premiere…

Industrial Audition + Extras

Yesterday afternoon I made my way into Philly for another audition for an industrial. My agent sent me in on it, so I knew that I had to say yes if I want her to keep sending me in for other auditions. (Note: I want her to keep sending me in for other auditions.) Unlike my previous audition, this one was more of a scene with real dialogue, and I was reading it with a casting assistant at the office. I knew that I had to go in and be very natural, not try to "act" the script at all but just let the words come out. I struggled with that style in my audition a few weeks ago, so it was part of my preparation for this one. I thought I did a good job with it yesterday, and the CA said that I gave a good read. That was encouraging, even if nothing comes from this specific audition. I don't expect to hit the ball out the park my first time up, but I do hope I continue to get better the more I try.

After the audition, I checked around in some local bookstores, and then found a sports bar where I could watch the Phillies in Game 2 of the NLCS. And watch them I did, having two back-to-back 4-run innings. The bar was cheering, I was cheering, the entire city of Philadelphia was cheering. I didn't get to see the end of the game, but I saw enough to have hope in my heart as I drove over to West Philly to see a production of "The Trial" by Franz Kafka. I know all the founders of CTC, having worked with them before, and it was really great to see them all agan. I was also there as a reviewer, and I'll be posting my review here on my blog as soon as I submit it to the paper.

I liked the show. I really did. The show was very heavily stylized in terms of everything: performance, lighting, set. I'm usually not one who enjoys that type of theatre; I like my plays a little more traditional. But I'm also a theatrical professional, so I can see what the production was trying to do, and I can see that they accomplished in successfully. So the play is a good one. It gets a good review, because I think it's fundamentally a strong production. It's not the kind of production that really connects with me, but it's still a good production.

Ports in Storms

Last week, I auditioned for a production of "Last Night of Ballyhoo," and I was not called back for the role I wanted. However, I got a call from the artistic director this week, asking me if I wanted to understudy two of the roles in the show. The offer wasn't to understudy one of the roles that I really wanted to play, but I felt like I shouldn't be choosy. I've auditioned for him a few times, for a few different shows, but he has never been able to offer me a role yet. So while this is still not a proper role in a mainstage show, I'll get a chance to have him see my work. I have wanted to work at this theatre for a few years now, so this is a good way to get my foot in the proverbial door. I don't really hold any of those understudy-type hopes that I'll have to go on and play the role one night (but let's face it. That would be cool.) But rather I see it as an opportunity to work with the theatre, and hopefully this opportunity will translate into a role in another show down the line.

Plus, I've never been an understudy before. When I was at the 'Row doing my internship, I had roles that I had to know in case I needed to go on. I also had roles in which I only had minimal time to prepare for a performance. Many of them were children shows or school tours, but very few of them were evening mainstage shows. This is much more of a professional setup for an understudy position, a much smaller time commitment, but much higher expectations. It'll be an interesting way to spend November.