Spring Fever 2007

Here we are at the last day of May. Almost halfway through 2007 already. I've been a busy boy. It will take me the rest of the year to finish the films I've shot this year. As if I won't start any more projects. Even though I probably shouldn't until some of this and last year's work have been finished. Maybe just a couple of sixty second spots for kicks to keep the monthly juices flowing. I spent last night and this morning looking at Dangerous Writing. It's looking really good and won't take long to cut that together. If we're not careful, it will be finished prior to Made Crooked. Which has been abandoned while we have been shooting DW.
What a glorious Spring. The Mets have the best record in the National League. They seem to have completely rid themselves of their hapless ways the past couple of years. They sit solidly on top of the NL East while the Yankees are out of contention and in last place of the AL East. I'm as happy to see the Yankees stink as I am to see the Mets prosper. I hate the Yankees with a passion. Living in New York as a Mets fan during the years the Yankees won several World Series was hell. Yankee fans are awful. I'd be in a deli at eleven o'clock on a Monday night and some mook that just moved to New York after college would say some crap to me about my Mets hat. Or even worse, heckle Henry when he was a baby for wearing a Piazza jersey. The worst of it was the countless idiots that were Yankees this, Yankees that, but couldn't name a single player on the team aside from Derek Jeter. My opinion is that Yankees fans are Yankees fans and Mets fans are baseball fans. I may hate the Yankees, but I can still tell you who is in their lineup. Some of my friends are Yankee fans, but I try not to hold it against them. It's not easy. I'm passionate about baseball. I read the box scores every night. It used to be in the morning before the internet. Two of my children are playing Little League, and while neither seems destined for the big leagues, I'm loving them in their little uniforms.
I leave in two days for a workshop in Maine with Doug Hart. Hart was Gordon WIllis's 1st AC for many years. He wrote the book and teaches the premier course for camera assistants. We'll be working with both 35mm and HD cameras. I've made the decision to steer my set technician career toward the camera department. There's a need in the local market and it suits my sense of organization and willingness to take on the high-pressure position of being responsible for the picture being in focus. I'll also be able to work later into my life than I would as a grip/electrician.
Honestly I would rather not have to think about anything but directing. However, I'm not a commercial director and I can no longer put my family in the position to wait for the elusive big payoff from directing independent films. I need to earn a living and loading film, teching HiDef and pulling focus is the way I plan to do it from here on out. I've bounced around in different departments for long enough. People like to know who they're dealing with in this industry. Director-writer-producer-grip-editor-production designer-acting coach-electrician-rental house manager-actor-cinematographer is far too many hyphens. This last year has been about shedding hyphens. I'll never be one to keep it simple, but I can continue to streamline things a bit.
I don't think I'll be blogging while I'm away, so enjoy the first ten days of June and I'll fill you in on my training and the return to Dangerous Writing when I return.

Pasta and bagels,
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 179

Krzysztof Keislowski could shoot as close as he wanted, he could shoot straight into my eyes. He was allowed, because he said what I wanted and I understood it. It was like a complicity that has no boundaries.

Juliette Binoche

This Man Has My Back

Dennis Brenhaug has done more for my filmmaking than anybody in a long, long time. He has my back in the truest sense, pushing me to take more time, to follow my vision. He's a producer in the old school vein - concerned more about the film than the budget and the schedule.
Thanks to David Millstone for capturing such a perfect image.

Ezra and The Professor

DW Days 6 & 7

It's probably needless to say that I'm a bit tired. We've been going at it steadily since Saturday. We got out of the loft location and hit the streets. No permits, no lockdowns -- we threw ourselves at the mercy of the public. It didn't turn out too bad. I really should give Marcus Aurelius an associate producer credit on this one. Every time something goes "wrong" it brings up a new perspective that helps serve the film. On Memorial Day we were in front of Stumptown on Belmont. Thanks to Stumptown for sure. They let us do whatever we wanted without a peep of complaint or interruption. Our takes are on the longish side as we are shooting most of this film in one-ers. We would get almost there, passersby walking through the frame unaware of the camera giving us free atmosphere and then they would notice the camera and do a huge triple take into the lens. We ran one scene 25 times or so. That was my first scene as a bit player in the film, written the day before, so I was all too happy to get warmed up and tweak the dialogue as we did it. Next up we had a more important scene. We ran that one about forty times. I was stressed out for the first fifteen takes, worried we wouldn't make our day if civilians kept ruining our takes. I talked to Dennis and said let's not worry about scene 3 today, let's just get out of the scenes involving Stumptown and our day-playing actress Maura. That took the pressure off of the next twenty-five takes. In doing so we realized the scene was bogging down in the middle. We adjusted. We did the scene so many times that the actors just talked to each other, assuming the take would be no good anyway. Furthermore by dropping Scene 3 from the day we realized that it wasn't needed as Scene 4 got us right into the story better. Deciding that allows us to look at a later scene relating to Sc 3 that was bothering me anyway. So we can take both of them off of our advance schedule and the story and our schedule are better for it.
Day 7 went well up until the sun dipped behind the West Hills during the second take of our coverage last night. Aurelius speaks again. I was going to shoot coverage on that scene because a very brutal murder takes place. I thought I would let the most violent part of it play just out of frame. But I think after seeing it in the master that I will stick with my avoidance of coverage in this film and let the brutality show. Anybody recall the cabbie strangulation in the Dekalogue? We scouted yesterday's location in the morning. I took a look at my scouting photos today and realized that when we go back it should be in the AM. We should reshoot the entire sequence rather than just the end. Not only is the light better, but the time of day is better for the story and in the rush of last night I compromised on some of our angles. Now that the actors have done it, we can shoot out of sequence and get our important bits up front.
Anything that happens at all, happens as it should. Almost makes me believe in God.

!Viva!
Signore Direttore

Ezra Answers the Call

Visitors on DW Location

My happiest moments on set were when my family was there.

DW - Day Five

We just wrapped day five of our twelve day schedule. I'm feeling much better about the way I experienced communicating with cast and crew. We had a new grip on board, also named Ezra, that was a pleasant addition to our small band of filmmakers. I liked all of our shots. Most of which I storyboarded an hour before arriving to set. I had this big breakdown in mind for Ezra, but I never got past the idea of it. I never was able to see it. I trusted that was an indication that I needed to rethink the story. I opted to make it much simpler. Which fits the minimalist tone of the rest of the film much better. I've been wanting to shoot a film like this for a long time.
I also added a scene and a couple of new characters today. Gives me a chance to do some acting, which I enjoy. The character I'm playing is a good chance to make fun of myself. Always a good idea.

Buona Sera,
Signore Direttore

A Pursuit Race

I was very excited to get back to shooting yesterday. We had a good day and got lots of really great stuff. Performances were very good. Everyone did a fantastic job. Joey not only did a great job on screen but he jumped in and helped with breaking down locations and loading gear. I liked all of our shots yesterday. We did some frenetic dolly shots, a very tranquil and oblique long shot and a couple of very slow dolly moves - a push in and a glacial crab. The crab was so slow that you couldn't tell the camera was moving. My hope is that it is akin to the moves in Goodbye South Goodbye where you think the camera hasn't moved and then you realize the frame has shifted during the shot.
We had a good day. Yes, I said it again. When you get your shots and take the time to make sure you give everybody a chance to do their best work beyond a usable take, you've had a good day. Especially when you have a tiny crew and jump to four locations. I need to remind myself we had a good day because I have some remorse about it. I felt like I was fighting the clock all day. Someone was a half an hour late - during which I took deep breaths and promised myself not to look at my watch until they showed up. First shot was at my place, so I slowly set up equipment and reminded myself that everybody was doing their best. However I only have so much stamina for that patience crap. I noticed that patience got thin as one thing after another went wrong - car crash on Hawthorne, wardrobe miscommunication, ran out of batteries for sound, fight choreography, tricky camera move (I was operating camera), specialty props, babysitter took forever getting the kids out of the house, random duder wanted to talk about learning to direct, neighbors' home improvement projects, et cetera. All the while I felt like we were racing the clock - in a pursuit race with time.
My ideal when things go wrong is to say and feel that I'm glad it happened, remembering Aurelius: Anything that happens at all, happens as it should. But sometimes I can't meet calamity with serenity. I feel my stress level spill into the way I talk to actors, to the way I direct them. It makes them want to do a good job, so as to be one less stressor to their director. It brings tension to their perfomance and ignores that they are not responsible for my stress level nor should they even sense it. I say shitty things like, "Acting 101, don't blah blah" What a dick. How about, "Hey guys, that was great. Remember your blocking basics and shift if someone gets between you and the camera."?
The bottom line is I'm asking a lot of myself on this one. Maybe it's not supposed to feel good the whole way. Maybe that's expecting too much of myself. Maybe I have to live and learn like the rest of the human race. Maybe. I get really caught up in worry that I'm letting people down emotionally, my own behavioral performance anxiety. It's a downward spiral. Without making excuses for untoward behavior, I don't have the opportunity to decompress much between shots or setups. I'm going to have to trust that the cast and crew realize this, yet still feel my support. That's really the key, that we're all supporting each other. It feels like all eyes are on me sometimes, and they are, but it's a two way street. A street that we're paving as we go. I want to experience those rough patches with a smile. Not only for the people that are essential to realizing this vision, but for myself as well. We all deserve it. Being able to do this is a gift. A glorious, wonderful privilege.

!viva!
Signore Direttore

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Folk Wisdom 026

When trees are planted and their roots aren't given enough time to grow deeply into the soil, they're sure to fall during a storm.

Back to Work

Tomorrow we resume shooting Dangerous Writing. I haven't exactly had the week off. I foolishly thought I might get some other things done in between shooting weekends. Live and learn. There's always way more work to do than I ever admit to myself.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's scenes. We've got some fun stuff on the schedule, covering a lot of ground. The page counts are not as spectacular as the first weekend. We're back down to earth. I think we only shoot a couple of pages on Sunday.
The prop gun arrived today. It's pretty convincing. I have some new ideas about the story. It's really working on me. I spent the morning going through the story in my head, with careful attention to transistions. Found some good stuff. I think that's a strong skill that I've acquired though hard work -- being able to keep the whole script in my head. I've worked with a few directors that seem to have the backstory to every scene in mind or their projection of what the story is about, but rarely have I worked with directors that really know their story in a way that allows it to breath and change and grow as its being told. I'm not precious but I know what to guard. Or so I think. This could be a friggin disaster in the end. Which is okay by me, (to quote Elliot Gould's Phillip Marlowe in Altman's The Long Goodbye.) I'm not afraid to fail.

Sleepy/Anxious
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 178

The will must be stronger than the skill.

Muhammed Ali

Nasty Private

When I was in advanced training in the Army, we got called out of the barracks one morning, lined up facing one another and told to call each other nasty privates. We were called upon to suffer this humiliation for failing to pass a barracks inspection.
Why has this come to mind?
I just realized I haven't taken a shower since last Thursday or Friday.

More French than Italian,
Signore Direttore

Ezra Rosen at Work

The Master Says 177

Fear of rejection, give that up. See, all fear, you have to give up. All hope, you have to give up.
Because there's no such thing as hope in Hollywood. There either is doing it or not doing it.

James Coburn

The Master Says 176

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us...

Marcel Proust

The Master Says 175

Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.

William Faulkner

Three Days Later

Over the past three days I've been a bit busy. We shot forty-five pages of our film Dangerous Writing. How is that possible? I know how it's possible, but I don't know how to tell you in a sentence or two. Mostly I feel very fortunate. I definitely have worked hard, as have a handful of others, but in a lot of ways I feel like it has simply presented itself to us.
Like today, we did the first shot of the movie as our last shot of the day. There was some static on the microphone cable. We were ready to go except for that. We spent the next half an hour trying to figure it out. We had an HMI bouncing into the room. It was our last resort aside from needing to replace equipment. We turned off the light. Solved our sound issue. The light coming in the window was perfect on its own. As we prepared to roll, David said he had lost his prep. I inwardly grinned. Not because I don't trust his preparation, but it seemed like a good thing to me intuitively. We rolled our first take. Pretty good. Couple of adjustments. Going again. It was good. More than good. Something in my gut thought that we had it, but how could it be that easy? Watched playback. Unanimous approval. That's a wrap. We resume shooting Saturday night. I can't wait.

A bit tired,
Signore DIrettore

DoP of Tommorow

Nicola brought the kids when she stopped by to do makeup for Dangerous Writing this morning. We gave Henry a turn behind the camera. He looks pretty good back there.