MY FIRST TIME
Everyone remembers their first time. I didn't know all it takes to have some real fun is a girl and a video camera. The filmmaker in me cringes at the crude craft: flat perspective, no coverage, the jarring jumpcuts. Maybe this is why #1 is the only one who appears in more than one of my films... we had to grow together.
#1
IMPROVING MY CRAFT
This time, I sprung for a hotel that charged by the night instead of the hour. I set up the shot with a diagonal perspective and staged out action in more depth. Speaking of action, I have a lot more planned before my actress became "difficult." I do think the soft light creates a romantic mood much better than the next film.
#2
I TOOK A STAB AT FILMING AT NIGHT
Some punk ass left a comment on YouTube about liking the verite style. I guess "verite" is a fancy term for "when you shoot at night, get some damn lights." Don't read so much into the knife....sometimes a knife is just a knife.
#3
"ENOUGH" WITH MY FIRST GIRL
Was able to control light and I moved the camera, too. I don't like all the fancy editing in murder scenes in movies. I wanted this to be simple. I got so excited at the end that I lost control of the camera. (The excitement was from getting the shot as a filmmaker, you nosey perverts.) I am sick of answering emails about this Carla woman. I don't know who she is.... I only use professionals. I have the paperwork at Circus Video. Can't you see we use a freaking safe word?!?
#4
MY PARTNER IN CRIME
After watching my first films, Large Arms caught the bug for my specialty filmmaking. I let him pick his first subject. She was, well, a screamer. Yeah, yeah, stab me in the heart...I was too excited about being behind the camera for the first time to even think about hiring a lighting guy. A young film student hanging around Circus told me the green had something to do with filters or color temperature. Whatever, it was all Greek to me.
#5
ACTRESS GIVES US TWO THUMBS...UP!
Spielberg junior followd me up to the top of Lee Plaza one day and tells me that some commie filmmaker Eisenstein whose first name ends in "gay" said "All filmmaking is conflict." I told him that Charles Manson said, "They shoved all the love in the back." I thought that would get rid of him.
#6
FILM SCHOOL DROP OUT
THE MOTOR CITY WAY!
The little twink rents #5 and #6 and knocks them for their "tableaus" being too similar and static. I listened with an open mind and I even helped him with his thesis. You can read his filmmaking essay here:
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FLUIDS CAMERA
This is where things really started to click with us and our craft. We didn't do any rehearsals at all. What you see is what you get, we just let the fluid camera do its thing. I have to give the actress credit, she really kept her cool about her She could have lost her temper (it was a grueling shoot in the heat) but she had a good light shirt on her shoulders. So many other actresses lost their minds and had to be dragged on to the set by their head and shoulders.
#8
WAITING FOR THE LIGHTS, TO GO DOWN
We learned our lesson. Shooting during the day sucks. It's just ugly. It takes a cunning DP to lick this problem and find some way to mask the light. As an artist, you try to capture the natural beauty of something but there was just too much to cut out here. I guess the m oral of the story is we are sticking to interiors.
#9
HATCHET JOB
Where's the magic? I guess Large Arms' heart just wasn't in it but the he does bury the hatchet... in hers. I knew one way or another, he would make her disappear.
#10
#11 WENT OFF LIKE CLOCKWORK AND YOU CAN SEE IT IN # 12
A (LARGE) TOUCH OF EVIL
There are way more cuts to people than in the editing of this 10-minute uninterrupted take. Large Arms did a great job of orchestrating this tour de FORCE torture scene. We leave it untouched in the final film as a gesture toward my friend and our finest hour as artists.
#12
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